The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: 40th Anniversary Restoration, 1974.
Directed by Tobe Hooper.
Starring Marilyn Burns, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain and John Dugan.
SYNOPSIS:
A day in the Texan backwoods turns into a nightmare for a group of young hippies as they encounter a family of chainsaw-wielding cannibals.
Tobe Hooper’s classic tour-de-force of terror The Texas Chain Saw Massacre turns 40 this year – hence the title – and the wizards at Second Sight Films have put together a spanking 2-disc Blu-ray set that not only has as many extras as you can fit on a disc – including some brand new commentaries by Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and other crew members, plus some never-seen-before featurettes – but features a marvellous 4K restoration of the film that may be the total opposite of the grindhouse aesthetic of the movie but hey – it’s only one of the greatest horror movies of all time been given a polish to looks as good as it’s ever going to. You should be grateful.
Is a plot description necessary? If you’ve never seen the film before then it may be helpful but everything you need to know is in the title; there’s a massacre with a chain saw (or chainsaw, but it’s two words in the original title) and it’s set in Texas, so what more do you need? Ok then, Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) and three of their friends go to the sticks of Texas after hearing that some graves in the cemetery where their grandfather is buried have been vandalised. After checking out the graves and taking in some local wisdom they go to the Hardesty’s old family home to have a look about but they wander too far and fall foul to the family of cannibalistic rednecks that live on the adjacent farm, sparking off a fight for survival as the hulking brute Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) tries to make sausages out of them with his sharpened, and very noisy, weapon of choice.
Despite the to-the-point title and the outlining details of the plot The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a surprisingly blood-free outing, its horror more one of tone and seemingly unending dread that is the main reason why the BBFC refused to give the film a certificate for so many years – how can you make cuts to a film that hits a level of terror and keeps it going without showing anything especially graphic? It is a film that has many different layers to it and has been pulled apart and grilled by critics and scholars since its original release so if you really want to get to the meat of it then there is plenty of literature already out there for you to digest should you feel the need to do so. For the purposes of this review it goes without saying that the film is still a powerful punch to the senses all these years later – a fact borne out by the production line of sequels, remakes and sequels to remakes that keep getting made but fail to recapture what it was that made this film so enduring – and that in Leatherface, Tobe Hooper and co-writer Kim Henkel created a cinematic villain more terrifying than Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead because he’s not supernatural and doesn’t have regenerative powers; he’s a man, and a man you could meet if you were to wander off the main highways into areas you don’t know.
But if you already own this film on one of the many different DVD or Blu-ray editions over the years then is it worth investing in it again? Most of the extras – including the feature-length The Shocking Truth documentary – were available on previous releases and how many different ways of commenting on the film does Tobe Hooper have? Well, to start with the 4K restoration looks amazing; not amazing as in Prometheus/Pacific Rim amazing as this is an old film shot on 16mm but short of being there on the original shoot and looking through Tobe Hooper’s camera then this is as close to perfection as you’re likely to see. There is grain here and there plus a few specks that were probably impossible to completely clean up but that adds to the nature of the film and, let’s be honest, if it was 100% totally free of all blemishes then the film may lose something. As it is, it’s as clean as you would want it to be whilst retaining its original 1970’s flavour. Sound was also an important element of the film – who can forget those opening flashbulbs and the strange noises that accompanied them? – and the 7.1 mix on this release doesn’t disappoint, with the relentless buzzing of the chainsaw and Marilyn Burns’ blood-curdling screams as effective as if they were in the room with you.
The new bonus material works out to about an hour of different featurettes, including an interview with actor John Dugan – who plays the cannibal’s ancient Grandpa in the film – where he discusses how he landed the role and his experiences in making the film, a tour of the filming locations, an interview with editor J. Larry Carroll where he talks about how challenging it was to make the film in the scorching Texas heat and some new deleted scenes and outtakes. To be honest, there’s nothing new here that’s essential but the six hours of commentaries make for some interesting listening (and give you an excuse to watch it again with a different voice each time).
So yes, it is worth a double-dip if you already own it, if only to see how glorious it looks and sounds, and if you’re quick you can pick up a rather tasty Steelbook edition for a bit of extra sparkle. The new bonus features don’t add much to what you already know and only the hardcore are really likely to visit those more than once, but for the sheer experience of being a bag of nerves for 84 minutes while a family of maniacs run riot through your home cinema system then it’s definitely worth it. Highly recommended.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★/ Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
