Gunnar Hansen Movies

Liam Neeson stars in producer/director Joe Carnahan's tense adventure thriller about a group of tough-as-nails oil rig workers who must fight for their lives in the Alaskan wilderness after their airplane crashes miles from civilization. With supplies running short and hungry wolves closing in, the shaken survivors face a fate worse than death if they don't act fast. Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, and Frank Grillo co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Thomas Smugala helms the direct-to-video drama Apocalypse and the Beauty Queen. The film concerns 26-year-old cover girl Amber, who absconds from Manhattan when her age yields a devastating rejection from modeling. After she flees to a small town, the titular apocalypse occurs and destroys the country. Amber relies on her cunning and ingenuity to band the locals together, and helps them collect supplies and ammunition and stockpile food, but suddenly the power goes to her head and threatens to spin severely out of control. Meanwhile, a friend slyly and viciously manipulates the people of the community through Amber; then a guard falls in love with one of the underlings and brings Amber's authority and control to an end. The film co-stars horror icon Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A man struggling to save the life of another finds himself drawn into a strange netherworld he didn't know existed in this stylish thriller. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) is a psychiatrist living in New York City with his girlfriend, Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts), who was once one of his patients. However, it's another one of his patients who becomes the focus of his obsessions when Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), a disturbed young man whom Foster took over from a colleague, announces during a session that he intends to commit suicide in three days, on his 21st birthday. Sam takes the threat quite seriously and tries to track down Henry, who seems to have disappeared. Sam speaks to a number of Henry's friends and acquaintances -- his mother (Kate Burton), the man he claimed was his father, Dr. Leon Patterson (Bob Hoskins), a waitress who regularly served Henry at the coffee shop where she works (Elizabeth Reaser), and his former therapist Dr. Beth Levy (Janeane Garofalo). As Sam talks to people in Henry's circle, he finds he's learning more about himself than the man he's supposed to save, and he begins to drift into an emotional netherworld where the supposedly dead and the living cross paths. Stay was directed by Marc Forster, who had previously enjoyed breakthrough hits with two very different films, Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The true-life quest of a terminally-ill ten-year-old boy who longs to capture the most beautiful butterfly on the planet comes to life on the screen in a touching drama directed by Léa Pool and starring Academy Award-winner William Hurt. In order to appreciate life to its fullest, an ageing entomologist learns that sometimes all you have to do is come out of your cocoon. When the young boy's mother convinces the renowned insect-expert to accompany her son on the journey of a lifetime, the courage that the terminally-ill child shows in realizing his dream inspires a man who has lived his entire life in a lab to get outside, connect with his fellow man, and experience the wonder of nature firsthand. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A serial killer is hours away from her execution. In the meanwhile, she bides her time by titillating, among other things, her executioner with a handful of stories of previously executed criminals, which she learned of through their ghosts. ~ Rovi

This very low-budget horror anthology stars Gunnar Hansen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's original "Leatherface") as the grizzled proprietor of a cut-rate carnival sideshow who treats the teenage patrons to a quartet of gruesome tales. The vignettes -- involving a den of werewolves, a resurrected mummy, a mutant baby, and a deformed hermit -- are used as backstory by the "Freakmaker," who explains the nefarious means by which the assorted hideous attractions came to his carnival domain. These stories, like countless horror anthologies of the sort, point the way toward the inevitable fate of the narrator's captive audience. The static, poorly acted segments are less interesting than the fairly spooky framing story, but fans of classier omnibus films, such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, will see the punch line coming from a mile away. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Several cast members from Tobe Hooper's influential and groundbreaking landmark in '70s horror share their memories in this direct-to-video documentary. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait, director Brad Shellady interviews Gunnar Hansen (who played Leatherface), Jim Siedow (who played The Cook, and was the only member of the cast who also appeared in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Edwin Neal (who played The Hitchhiker), and John Dugan (who played Grandfather and also served as a production assistant). The actors talk about how they were cast, share stories about the film's often trying shooting schedule (especially the grueling 26-hour shoot for the dinner sequence), and discuss the film's influence and legacy, as well as how their work in the movie influenced their careers, for good or ill. Brief clips from the movie are also included, though Hooper's 1986 sequel is not covered in any detail. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Promotional materials for this Michigan-based occult turkey (aka Devil Master) proudly proclaimed, "At last! The truth about demons!" So much for truth in advertising... unless the ads refer to the personal demons haunting writer/producer/director/honeywagon driver Donald G. Jackson and his partner in crime Jerry "Nine Fingers" Younkins, who helped finance the film with insurance money after injuring his hand. Younkins also plays the title character -- a dorky, kung-fu hippie satanist who conjures demons to whack various backsliding ex-members of his cult. Gory antics ensue, including a squirm-inducing scene wherein one victim gets an arrow to the crotch... which could be seen as a metaphor for this film's overall effect on the viewer. "Leatherface" Gunnar Hansen also puts in a quick cameo as an occult historian. Amazingly, this no-budget nonsense was the subject of a little-seen documentary titled Demon Lover Diary. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

A young woods-walking female scientist tangles with a roving murderer when she's just trying to do her job. ~ Rovi