Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 | 8:54 a.m.
The movie "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" inspired Nick Palumbo to become a horror filmmaker when he was 10.
Today the 32-year-old writer/director is experiencing a dream come true Gunnar Hansen, who was the star of the 1974 horror classic, is the featured player in the Las Vegas resident's second independent film, "Sinister," set to begin shooting in Seattle in March.
"Gunnar Hansen is a true horror legend," Palumbo said recently as he and his 55-year-old idol met to discuss the project. "I think 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' was the best horror film ever made."
The film was produced for $140,000 by a group of aspiring young filmmakers around Austin, Texas, and Hansen says it has grossed about $100 million worldwide.
"I was paid $800," said Hansen, a professional freelance writer who lives near Bar Harbor, Maine.
Tobe Hooper -- who went on to make "Poltergeist" with Steven Spielberg -- was "Chainsaw's" writer, producer and director.
Hansen had just completed graduate school at the University of Texas, with degrees in English literature and Scandinavian studies, when he was cast as Leatherface, the chainsaw-wielding psycho.
"The movie revived the horror genre," he said. "It gave horror films a kick. It was different from the others. In most horror films there are times when you know you are safe for a few minutes. In 'Chainsaw,' that never happens. The movie grabs you by the throat and drags you along for 90 minutes. There's not a moment in that film where you feel safe."
The success of "Chainsaw" had other unforeseen consequences.
"The film really made people aware of independent filmmaking," Palumbo said. "They saw that these young kids in the middle of Texas could conquer the world for $100,000 without Hollywood being involved. More people in film schools should talk about that film."
Palumbo says he saw the movie for the first time at a drive-in in 1980.
"New Line Cinema had just re-released it," he said. "I was born in 1970, so I was too young to see it when it first came out.
"None of the other horror films I had seen up until then -- such as 'Friday the 13th' and 'Dawn of the Dead' -- affected me like 'Chainsaw.' It is virtually bloodless, but it had a great impact on me. Once I got over the shock and realized the movie wasn't real, it made me want want to be a filmmaker."
Palumbo, a Las Vegas resident off-and-on since the late '80s, studied film at Columbia College in Los Angeles from 1989-'91 and then worked on other producers' low-budget projects until he decided to take the plunge himself in 2000.
He made "Nutbag" in Las Vegas for $42,000.
"I maxed out my credit cards," Palumbo, head of Fright Flix Productions, said.
The film, which features lots of blood and nudity, has grossed more than $150,000, according to Palumbo.
Bolstered by its modest success, the filmmaker began work on "Sinister," a tale of murder seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl.
"It's a very original horror film," Palumbo said. "It's never been done before -- the characters, the plot are unique. Twenty-five years from now people will look back and remember this movie."
He pitched the script to Hansen two years ago at a horror film festival in New York City. Hansen liked what he read.
"A lot of horror films now are trying to be funny," Hansen said. "I think that undermines horror movies. If you laugh in a horror movie, you've distanced yourself from your characters. In a horror movie, you've got to have some commitment to the characters.
"When they make a movie like 'Scream,' where they play for laughs, it's very hard to be frightened. There is no attempt in this movie to be funny. This is a serious horror movie. You develop a pretty intense relationship with the main characters. You really become frightened for them."
Palumbo criticized today's horror film releases.
He's not a fan of "The Blair Witch Project," the independent film shot in 1999 for $60,000 that grossed about $140 million.
"It didn't do anything for me," he said.
Hansen said the movie was a success because of marketing.
"The distributors of the film paraded a documentary about events that led up to the movie," he said. "They spent 10 times more on promoting it than it cost to make it."
Palumbo says most horror films made in Hollywood are formulaic.
"Hollywood makes bubble-gum horror films," he said. "There is no depth to the films. They're just making films to make money. They don't really care about the project."
Palumbo throws himself into his projects.
He raised $75,000 to make a trailer (basically a preview) of "Sinister," featuring Hansen as the star.
Using the trailer, he raised $2 million to shoot the film, set for a Halloween release.
Palumbo said the film is being made in Seattle because of the atmosphere created by the heavy rain.
"The rain is a character in the film," he said.
But Hansen is a central character, a role he is beginning to enjoy.
After "Chainsaw" was released, Hansen was offered roles in a number of films, but he rejected them. He wanted to concentrate on his writing career.
"In 1978 I had a chance to be in 'The Hills Have Eyes,' Wes Cravens' first big movie," Hansen said. "I was asked to be in Robert Redford's 'The Great Waldo Pepper' (1975). I turned them down because I was committed to writing, which is what I still do.
"But over the years, I decided I was silly not to be doing films when they were being offered to me."
None of his 13 low-budget feature films have been particularly memorable. All of them have been in the horror genre.
"A couple of them were more comedy than horror," he said.
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