10 Most Bad-ass Chainsaw Users In Film

Of course, however formidable some of our chainsaw-wielding line-up may be, there was never any competition whatsoever for the top spot.

Our enduring fascination with the chainsaw is indelibly linked with one of the greatest, most influential horror movies of all time: Tobe Hooper's 1974 masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As such, no figure is so synonymous with the lethal implement than Gunnar Hansen's Leatherface.

The original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is another film that is all too often misremembered as being a far gorier, more explicit affair than it really is. In truth, only a few drops of blood are ever shown in the film, nor does it contain much in the way of sexual content or strong language. As such, Hooper and co actually pushed for a PG certificate on release. (Hard to believe, but then 1975 saw the far more gruesome Jaws released as a PG, so you never can tell.)

However, the real visceral power and terror of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre isn't about bloodshed: it's about the incessant sense of threat, the overwhelming sense of imminent doom facing our beleaguered final girl Sally (the remarkable Marilyn Burns).

The buzz of that chainsaw, the awareness of what it could feasibly do, and the fact that it is in the hands of someone so physically imposing and clearly unhinged as Hansen's hulking menace in a human skin mask: this above all is what makes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre absolutely terrifying to this day.