Last Updated on January 30, 2025
PLOT: Friends, colleagues, filmmakers, and fellow actors share personal stories and discuss the dichotomy between the maniacal chainsaw-wielding character he played on-screen and the very intelligent, creative, soft-spoken man he actually was in real life.
REVIEW: Documentary retrospectives are a great way to honor someone who made an impact on others through film. Whether it’s Dario Argento Panico or even David Lynch: Life of Art, any kind of insight is a gift to fans. And while most horror film fans know Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he was so much more than that. With insight from Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Kane Hodder, and many other horror greats, Dinner with Leatherface sets out to show how he was never defined by the character and shine a light on his creative pursuits which may be unknown to many.
What you get out of Dinner with Leatherface is really dependent on your own history with horror. Because outside of a few select big titles, Gunnar resided in a decidedly low-budget side of the horror genre. Given my own appreciation for this style of film, it was great to see Gunnar getting such a highlight. His performances really stood out from the other hammy acting going on in them and it’s a shame we didn’t get him in bigger fare. The narrative of the doc moves all over the place, never too constrained by chronology and more focused on telling an interesting story. So while discussing the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they’re not afraid to get into the newer Gun Media video game.
As expected, Texas Chainsaw has a major presence in the doc but I was impressed with how much it doesn’t feel overbearing. It clearly was a massive part of Gunnar’s life but this mostly serves to show how much of a family the cast and crew had become in the years since. Conventions really seemed to draw them even closer. This can be said of many on the convention circuit at the time, as Gunnar formed a friendship with many of them, and they get in a word on the man himself.
I was happy to see the severely underrated Brutal Comedy get a shoutout in the film. I’ve always felt it was one of Gunnar’s best roles so it’s nice to see it get proper praise. Like much of Gunnar’s underseen work, I can’t recommend it enough. It also serves as a nice transition into who Gunnar was as, according to those he worked with, his character in the film is more like the real Gunnar than any of the psycho’s he played.
One element I really wasn’t expecting from Dinner with Leatherface is that it feels like it was made over a decade ago. Whether it’s the interview subjects or the footage being shown, they manage to recreate the mid-2010s horror documentary feel. But this aesthetic has its drawbacks, with plenty of digitally blown-up images that could have used a bit of polishing or some awkward lower thirds pop-outs. I appreciated the simplicity. The interview footage being utilized spans a pretty wide amount of time, making me wonder when they initially filmed for this project. Gunnar appears via archive footage and he lights up the screen every time he’s around. For someone who’s considered so scary on screen, the man really was just a giant teddy bear. It was fascinating to see all the non-film work that Hansen got up to in his life. Having just known him as an actor, it was inspiring to see his efforts as a historian or poet. His writing spanned from a book on the making of Chainsaw to poetry all the way to a historical look at the Barrier Islands.
One of the saddest parts of the doc is when all of his contemporaries go over the projects in the works at the time of his death. He sadly passed away at just 68 years old and left a lot on the table. The reaction to his death shows just how great of a person Gunnar was, as everyone had such praise for the man. And it’s all such genuine adoration, with plenty of tears and personal anecdotes about how he positively affected their life. I really enjoyed Dinner with Leatherface and, like any good documentary, introduced me to a layered human being that was more than just his role on the big screen. It doesn’t feel like they’re trying to sell me on anything other than the wonderful human being that he was. Gunnar Hansen was clearly a special person and someone worth striving to be. In the words of the man himself: “Gunnar Hansen: He had his own action figure.”
DINNER WITH LEATHERFACE RELEASES ON BLURAY/DVD/DIGITAL ON FEBRUARY 25TH, 2025.
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