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Gunnar Hansen's portrayal of Leatherface in TCM stands head and shoulders above any masked killer with a butcher knife, for me at least. Hansen prepared for the role by spending time in an aslyum until no-one could tell the difference twixt him and the real inmates. He brought to that character a sense of pathos which only makes Leatherface even more terrifying. His role remains the most convincing portrayal, not only of that character, but of any movie villain.
The film was released in 1974. All these years on, no-one has surpassed Hansen's performance of the horror archetype that has come to be known as "the masked killer".
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