The Film
Time and tide might have diluted the impact of director Tobe Hooper's 1974 masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a tad, as the words and images of death and slaughter throughout its first act reflect the bleakness of the era, while setting us up for the terror to come. Much of its ability to frighten is born of its abruptness: the suddenness of the killings of the unfortunate youngsters, even the jarring final edit of the movie itself. The sequels, prequels and remakes, even the better of the bunch, are merely imitators, whereas Massacre owes its enduring success to its audacious originality. All the splashy special effects-heavy horror movies since (including Hooper's own Poltergeist, if you believe he directed it and not producer Steven Spielberg) have moved audiences away from the grittiness of this landmark, a damned shame, as its low-rent harshness only works for it.
The Picture
Mastered from the original 16mm camera negative, the 1.85:1 image somehow miraculously balances inherent film grain with the picture detail so essential to the mood. The resulting image is generally clean and stable, although a bit softer than we might expect for Blu-ray. We are treated to bloody reds, lush green grass, bold blue skies, and a nostalgic golden warmth to sunrise and sunset sequences. Compared to an upconversion of the 2006 "Ultimate Collection" DVD, this newly released native 1080p version is at least free of the artifacting that might be introduced by an upscaling player.
This disc suffers from its own issues however, such as twitchiness in soft-focus backgrounds. Blacks are generally deep and realistic, although in scenes of high contrast such as a brightly lit doorway and a darker room beyond, shadowy areas of the frame can take on a distracting digital haze. Unforgiving shots like the glow of the sun or moon against a black sky reveal a nasty combination of grain and artifacting. And at the top of Chapter 10 when the pickup truck's lights shine directly into the camera, the bright whites tend to blow out the image with an unnatural, very digital appearance, worst around the edges of the orbs.
The Sound
The audio options on this disc are surprisingly varied. It defaults to a standard-resolution DTS 5.1, which appears to be a slight improvement over the Dolby Digital 5.1 remix created for the DVD. Rear-channel use is restrained, reserved for the placement of a passing car or insects buzzing, and some believable directionality when Leatherface brandishes his weapon of choice. While the most devout purists will opt for the original mono (actually a dual-mono format which my PlayStation 3 called "Dolby Digital 2 Ch."), my own preference is the Linear PCM 2.0 Lossless remix, the ideal compromise as it offers simpler, more authentic presentation but at higher quality.
The Extras
All of the standard-definition extras from the Ultimate Edition have been ported over here. The in-depth, 73-minute documentary The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth is joined by seven-and-a-half minutes of outtakes, while the 72-minute Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of the Saw examines the phenomenon from multiple points of view: the cameraman, the iconic house, freaky actor Edwin Neal, deceased players, the makeup designer, the world of horror conventions and "Leatherface" himself, Gunnar Hansen. Gunnar also leads his own eight-minute, modern-day "Tour of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre House," which is now a quaint restaurant.
There are two-and-a-half minutes of bloopers, and ten times that much in deleted scenes and feature film outtakes, some without audio. One of the two still photo galleries details the transformation of a young actor into the impossibly wrinkled Grandpa, and the pair of commentaries brings together key members of the cast and for their laid-back reflections. The only new extra here is the "Off the Hook: Teri McMinn," a 17-minute interview with the charming co-star.
Final Thoughts
Worthy of all the praise lavished upon it these past 34 years, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is commemorated on this Blu-ray in its most comprehensive, best-looking/best-sounding edition to date.
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