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

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Long before “gritty” was an industry buzzword, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre epitomized the term. As such, one might be wary that a 4K restoration could hinder the viewing experience, but that is not at all the case. Utilizing the 4K scan from the aforementioned Blu-ray, which was approved by Hooper, and now with a wider color gamut courtesy of HDR, the picture is presented in staggering clarity while maintaining the 16mm film grain. The oppressive heat is virtually palpable. Dark Sky Films has announced the long-awaited UHD release of the 1974 horror classic THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, the groundbreaking thriller that has often been imitated but never equaled. The film will arrive in the 4K restored version, complemented by a frightening array of bonus materials, on February 28, 2023. Note: this reviewer has only the US Dark Skies 2008 blu-ray to help in comparisons, with no other home video versions seen to compare this new 4K image against. better mid-range values, the same additional cleanup and color corrections done for the 4K transfer described above, and of course

The point of 'Texas Chainsaw' is hardly its plot. As directed by Tobe Hooper and shot by cinematographer Daniel Pearl, the film aims only to reproduce the structure and syntax of a nightmare. It accomplishes that with astonishing fidelity. On one level of craftsmanship, 'Texas Chainsaw' would seem to be a mess. Screen direction frequently shifts, eye-lines don't match from one shot to the next, and the low-budget conditions often wreak havoc with continuity of lighting, performance, and dialogue. Yet there's a sustained through-line of (il)logic, that may not make "sense" on a conscious level, but feels subconsciously correct. Much like a bad dream where, no matter how hard you try to run, your legs just won't cooperate, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' captures that primal, irrational terror andmilksit for every last drop of effectiveness. Audio commentary with Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Editor J. Larry Carroll, Sound Recordist Ted Nicolaou mostly muted as expected yet many primaries are the exception, including red and its warmer cousins. Even so, it's not a 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 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.Audio Commentary with Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, Robert A. Burns, and David Gregory they'll still likely be eclipsed by Second Sight's upcoming remastered 4K edition. Like I said, well-represented. The reasons why that happens aren’t necessarily easy to quantify, because with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the whole is much greater than the sum of its individual parts. It was produced on a low budget under difficult circumstances, and what was going on behind the camera became intertwined with what was happening in front of it. The conditions were brutal, with everyone working long days for seven hours a week, and since there wasn’t enough money for multiple versions of each costume, the actors wore the same clothing every day in the sweltering Texas heat. The real suffering that the actors experienced is visible on camera, and the unrelenting nature of Hooper’s direction mean that tensions remained high regardless of whether or not the camera was rolling. It wasn’t quite method acting, but it was definitely method filmmaking, and it had a tangible effect on the finished product. presentations and deluxe Limited Editions -- has unleashed their own treatment of Tobe Hooper's 1974 horror classic The Texas Chain Saw

Of course, I say all this with the knowledge that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's built-in grindhouse aesthetic means that even a "bad" 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.” Second Sight has remained elusive about the "additional restoration work" done for this new 2160p, HDR-enhanced transfer, other than the fact that short piece features Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of "Masks in Horror Cinema: Eyes Without Faces", who offers her thoughts and observationsThe 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 1 As tired as the tropes are to us now, we should not forget that this is the film that established the Final Girl and gave us the masked killer in the shadows. Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a post-modern classic.

A second collection -- appropriately dubbed "New Deleted Scenes & Outtakes" -- was first included on MPI's 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray, but for

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 4K Audio

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Still front-heavy and faithful to the source, random noises are heard echoing throughout the Sawyer house, adding to the creepiness and making for a satisfying hemispheric soundfield. The real highlight is hearing footsteps on the second floor of the abandoned Hardesty homestead while Franklin whines, and later, when Sally runs frantically around the Sawyer house, we hear the brothers yelling in hysterics and chasing after her in the distance. Granted, a few Foley effects still feel a bit fake, most notably at the beginning with vehicles speeding down the highway, but thankfully, these moments are far and few in between without distracting too much from the film's overall enjoyment.But not everyone loved it. Los Angeles film critic Linda Gross famously condemned it. Other critics – like the late Roger Ebert – split it down the middle, deriding it for its violence but praising it for its tension. For a moment at least, it seemed the horror community finally had their Citizen Kane. Writer-producer-director Hooper issued no apologies. Rumored to be inspired by the murders of Ed Gein, Hooper writes about a different slice of this American life by showcasing the heinous actions of the Sawyer clan, disposed of their livelihood by the slaughterhouse shutdowns occurring throughout the nation.