10 Horror Movies That Nearly Killed Actors

When you're making a movie called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, then there's one thing you really can't afford to miss, and that's chainsaws. As such, the actor playing Leatherface (the late great Gunnar Hansen) got some serious licks in with a real live death saw.

Tobe Hooper's classic slasher flick was an infamous near-death fest, as the working conditions were shockingly lax. The set had a host of issues, with two of the most dangerous being the blistering heat and the use of realistic props, the scariest of which was the titular chainsaw.

That damn instrument had plenty of near calls, with one of the most frightening coming in Kirk's death scene, when Hansen brought the working chainsaw within 3 inches of actor William Vail's face. Yikes! But, the movie's biggest money shot was where death came closest.

The infamous final shot of Sally escaping on a truck and Leatherface angrily flailing his weapon looks terrifyingly real to this day, because it was. Hansen was required to swing the working tool around, whilst contending with a lack of eyesight from his mask, the sweltering heat and a stinking costume (which he wasn't allowed to change out of during the whole shoot).

It's a miracle that final shot didn't result in a real chainsaw massacre.