The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: (4K UHD and Blu-ray) Limited edition

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We were only sent the 4K UHD disc from this set by Second Sight but it appears that all the extras are on this disc AND repeated across the accompanying two 1080p discs: A movie that redefined horror, tells the story of a group of five friends who take a road trip and find themselves at the mercy of a depraved Texan clan, among them one of the all-time horror icons, the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface –played by the inimitableGunnar Hansen.It’s not long before their idyllic drive becomes a macabre nightmare… Another highlight is a 45-min conversation between Hooper and fellow master of horror William Friedkin that preceded a 40th anniversary screening presented by Cinefamily in Los Angeles. Hooper is reserved compared to the gregarious Exorcist director, but it’s a treat to hear the two old friends candidly chat about the movie that, as Friedkin puts it, “transcends the genre.”

Fresh out of theaters, currently available on VOD and now streaming exclusively on SCREAMBOX, Bloody Disgusting’s Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls is coming home for the holidays, arriving as a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray on December 19, loaded with bonus features, extended/deleted scenes, commentaries and an exclusive slipcover. Now here’s a grisly little item. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is as violent and gruesome and blood-soaked as the title promises—a real Grand Guignol of a movie. It’s also without any apparent purpose, unless the creation of disgust and fright is a purpose. And yet in its own way, the movie is some kind of weird, off-the-wall achievement. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to make a movie like this, and yet it’s well-made, well-acted, and all too effective.” Alongside these feature length pieces are several new video extras. Behind the Mask is a brief but interesting video essay on the role of masks in horror cinema in general, as well as with reference to Leatherface specifically. Cutting Chainsaw is an 11 minute interview with editor J. Larry Carroll. Grandpaw’s Tales talks to John Dugan, who was buried under all the prosthetics to play the grandfather, for 16 minutes. There are some particularly interesting things I hadn’t heard before in Dugan’s interview, including that he got the job largely because Kim Henkel was his brother in law and that, at least for him, Henkel was more hands on in directing performance, while Hooper handled camera and lighting. The real coup among the newer interviews is the fact that Teri McMinn, who for years didn’t talk about the film, sits down for 17 minutes on her role as Pam. She’s clearly come round to appreciating the film (after some initial reticence over the famous swing shot) and is one of the most engaging interviewees. Finally, production manager Ron Bozman sits down for 16 minutes on the business end of the film. Hooper apparently thought that if he kept the amount of blood shown down in his movie, called initially Leatherface, he would get away with a PG certificate and therefore get a larger audience and more money. Whether he was joking when he imparted this little fact, I am unsure. What I am sure about is that his plan didn’t work. In fact the reaction went the other way. In Britain it was banned outright in 1975 until 1999 when the censors changed their policy and passed the movie uncut. It did make the video shelves at the start of the video entertainment revolution in an ‘uncensored’ cut, however, like most movies that had a title like this baby; it was subsequently accused of being a video nasty. thanks to Second Sight's reliably great disc encoding, which does an outstanding job of preserving its filmic texture where lesser studios

Commentary with Writer-Producer-Director Tobe Hooper, Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, and Actor Gunnar Hansen The English Dolby Atmos mix included sounds basically the same as it does on the Dark Sky Films 4K release. Given this 1974 film has an original mono mix (which is also supplied in LPCM 1.0) the Atmos mix cannot be expected to be as impactful as a contemporary mix. Still, the sound is upgraded nicely, and the channels are well used, with lots of atmospherics and some sound effects moved into the surrounds, and good saturation of ambience in the height channels. Second Sight loses the audio battle by only including two audio mixes. There is no 2.0 stereo mix, lossless 7.1, or 5.1 mix included, but those are minor omissions. The Supplements However, Shane isn't just a movie guy. He also loves video games. Super Mario Sunshine, The Last of Us Part 1 and 2, and Batman: Arkham City are some of his favorites. Music plays a big part in his life as well. Given that Shane's a big horror fan, you might be surprised to learn that he's a pop guy. Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, The Jonas Brothers, and Demi Lovato play on repeat while he's writing. most major departments, many of which can easily be spotted if your setup supports Dolby Vision. Second Sight's surgical precision with the HDR Audio Commentary with Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, Robert A. Burns, and David Gregory

Of course, the film remains notorious not as much for its visual and thematic concerns but for its pure gut-wrenching impact. Certainly, the film's most iconic image is that of Leatherface waving his chainsaw, and it's this raw brute force of purpose that continues to engender the film to its legion of fans. Hooper's film is now synonymous with no-bullshit, old-school horror. That may be a disputable legacy, but it's a legacy nonetheless. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre may have become dated in the intervening decades (the fashions and overall cheapness of the enterprise now distract from rather than enhance the film's cinéma vérité style), but it made its mark in its day and then some. For that, and the sheer passion and aspirations of craftsmanship that Hooper and his filmmaking team displayed, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has cemented a rightful place in the canon of classic horror films. Hooper and cinematographer Daniel Pearl (who also shot the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake) balance the deluge of raw, grisly imagery — including people hanging from meat hooks and furniture fashioned from body parts — with nimble craftsmanship. Iconic shots — such as Leatherface’s stark reveal, the low angle dolly following Pam to the house, extreme close ups on Sally’s eye, and Leatherface’s deranged chainsaw dance bathed in orange sunlight — are breathtaking in 4K. In Roger Ebert’s largely dismissive two-star review of Tobe Hooper’s iconic horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, he opened with the following paragraph: When combined with the ragged 16 mm cinematography, all of those factors combine to give The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a convincing atmosphere that’s simply unmatched. It’s not quite documentary realism, as Hooper was fond of theatrical overacting and wild stylistic flourishes like the infamous eyeball montage during Sally’s freakout at the dinner table, but it’s still a similar effect. In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the aesthetic and the atmosphere become a unified whole. Form merges with content until the two are nearly indistinguishable from each other, and the whole is indeed greater than the sum of all of these individual components. Horror movies often rely on atmosphere to increase their effectiveness, but in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, atmosphere isn’t just an additional layer to enhance the story; instead, it is the story. The overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of the film is the primary reason why audiences imagine seeing things that they really don’t.Shot on 16mm, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (TCSM) was supposed to and should look suitably rough and downright grotty…however Second Sight have taken the existing 4K scan of the original camera negative made by the rights holders in 2016 (one that has been used to produce multiple other 4K releases of the film in other territories) and done a beautiful new restoration to it. And it’s this that forms the basis of the native 3840 x 2160p resolution image that adorns this new 4K release. The image retains a theatrically accurate 1.85:1 aspect ratio and utilises 10-bit video depth, WCG and both HDR10/Dolby Vision passes, and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec. The Legacy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – a new feature length documentary produced by Second Sight Films course -- it's still a fairly solid runner-up for those who haven't moved on to 4K yet. If you've no plans to do so in the near future and don't care

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-ray 2NDBR4180 18 Region Free 4K UHD/ Region B Blu-ray -Release Date: 10 April 2023 Running Time: 83 mins never before seen on home video. Colors are likewise more faithfully rendered, and a few subtle tone shifts have also been carefully corrected; one Co-written by Hooper and Kim Henkel, the plot follows a group of five teenagers — Sally ( Marilyn Burns), her paraplegic brother Franklin ( Paul A. Partain), Jerry ( Allen Danziger), Kirk ( William Vail) and Pam ( Teri McMinn) — on an idyllic road trip to a familial home in rural Texas. They encounter a maniacal family of cannibalistic killers, among them a chainsaw-wielding, human skin-wearing butcher colloquially known as Leatherface ( Gunnar Hansen). The on-disc extras are identical on both formats; they're squeezed onto the 4K disc along with the movie, and spread out on both Blu-rays -- Disc 1Loosely inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the most effective horror films of all time. More than merely scary or macabre, it’s truly unnerving. Deceptively short at only 83 minutes, it’s something of an endurance test. The performances are manic across the board, likely exacerbated by the arduous shooting conditions, and Robert A. Burns‘ ( Re-Animator, The Hills Have Eyes) art direction is equally unhinged.