The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Special Edition) [DVD]

As a lifelong fan of horror films, I am ashamed to say that it took the death of director Tobe Hooper to finally prompt me to order a DVD copy of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Though this movie has been a horror staple ever since it opened amid enormous controversy in 1974, I’d somehow avoided viewing the film despite it being easily available for decades via videotape, and then DVD. And I must admit, I stayed away because most low budget gore movies from back in the day are just about unwatchable…think Herschell Gordon Lewis. But with the passing of Hooper, and the tremendous praise poured upon CHAINSAW, I decided to finally check out what I had been missing out on all these years, all the while wondering if the movie would still hold up.I can definitely say that TCM more than holds its own and lives up to the hype; in fact it towers over all the remakes, reboots, and the hundreds of rip-offs that have come down the road in the years since. TCM is arguably the most perfect representation of pure terror ever put on a movie screen, and, like Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, one of filmdom’s great visual recreations of a nightmare. One of the many genius moves Hooper made was to go heavy on the sensory overload – the jarring metallic clanging noise, the ominous breeze blowing over the hot Texas landscape, insects skittering about, a dead Armadillo in the road, a blazing red sun in a black sky, a full moon revealing itself behind wispy clouds in the night, a quick shot of listless cattle awaiting slaughter, a room filled with furniture made of human bones, the clucking chicken in a birdcage – to create a false face rural America behind which lies dread and horror unimaginable. The plot, what there is of it, concerns a van full of college students traveling through the boondocks of Texas to visit and old family homestead; of course they run out of gas and walk right into the clutches of the cannibalistic Sawyer clan, where one by one, they are butchered like the cattle in the pens they passed earlier. Only Sally manages to escape, but not before enduring one of the most horrific nights of terror any character has ever been through in any movie ever. That was Hooper’s other genius move, that there be no buildup of tension before the villains revealed themselves to their victims, they just walk straight into the frame without fear or hesitation and kill their defenseless prey. There had never before been a character quite like Leatherface before TCM, with his hulking frame, mask of human skin, butcher’s apron, and a roaring chainsaw that never freezes up. From the moment he steps out of the dark and guts Sally’s annoying crippled brother, Franklyn, through the relentless chase in the woods, to the ghastly family “dinner” scene with Grandpa, to the final escape on the highway, we are treated to a sequence of pure terror like no other. Yes, it is repetitive, and even today, almost unwatchable in parts, yet the very fact that it plays out like a scratched record is what makes it feel like a nightmare without end. No wonder movie goers at a sneak preview back in 1974 walked out and threatened to beat up the theater manager.Hooper’s other genius moves were to make us believe we have seen far more gore than is really on the screen, like when Pam is hung up on the meat hook before Leatherface begins carving up Kirk; his use of dark humor, as when Leatherface looks furtively looks out the window and then sits down an beats his head in frustration, as if these kids who keep wondering into the house were interrupting him from baking a pie in the kitchen. I love the camera work by cinematographer Daniel Pearl, especially the low angle tracking shot of Pam getting up from the swing and walking toward the Sawyer house until it fills the frame, along with Leatherface’s pursuit of Sally through the country side, whining chainsaw in hand. And who can forget Leatherface’s defiant final dance in the middle of the highway? The film was shot in 16MM and then blown up to 35MM, which helped give it that classic grainy look, which is one of its most memorable aspects. So too is John Larroquette’s opening narration, where he does his best Orson Welles.Hooper got great performances out of his cast of unknowns, most of whom were ready to kill him after the grueling shoot on location in triple digit heat during the summer of 1973, where some of the working days stretched to over twenty hours in a race to get the movie done before equipment rentals expired. One stand out is Paul Partain as Franklyn, a truly irksome character with a Texas twang. We never see Gunner Hansen’s face, but he creates the iconic Leatherface through squeals, grunts and body language alone. That he wears a tie is even more unnerving. It is a horror performance that rivals Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster. That is John Henry Faulk, whose lawsuit famously ended the Hollywood blacklist, as the man at the cemetery in the opening scene. Like Tobe Hooper, most of the cast has passed on now, and it is sad to know that most of them were done out of residuals and payments over the years by unscrupulous distributors.One of the joys of watching TCM now is the snapshot it gives us of the Nixon era 70’s, with its shaggy hair and bad fashions, it was also a time when the Vietnam War, the Manson family, the Texas Tower killer (one the first mass spree killings), and the Weather Underground bombings were in the very recent past; a dark time in an America filled with dread and random violence (sound familiar?). All of this darkness and tension is palpable in the film. As it stands, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, is a classic in the fear-the-rural-South genre, where outsiders become stranded in Dixie and at the mercy of malevolent locals; a fear that was compounded in the wake of the murder of three Northern civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi, in the summer of 1964. In that, TCM belongs in the same company as DELIVERANCE, MACON COUNTY LINE, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS, and SOUTHERN COMFORT.One of the best things about the excellent DVD copy I received is the audio commentary by Hooper himself, along with Gunner Hansen and Daniel Pearl, in they are quite honest about the troubles on the set while making the film. There are many influences for TCM, including the crimes of Ed Gein, along with the first movie take on that character, Hitchcock’s PSYCHO. But the one influence no one seems to mention, but to me is obvious, is Scooby Doo, the cartoon where a bunch of kids travel across the country in a van encountering various monsters, who usually turn out to be some villain wearing a costume. In this way, TCM is like the Scooby Doo episode from Hell, where the mask wearing Big Bad slices and dices up the kids.Tobe Hooper never quite got the respect of that some of his contemporaries (John Carpenter, George Romero, William Friedkin) who made great horror films back in the 70’s, but his legacy is a solid one. He would go on make a great TV adaptation of Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT, the classic POLTERGEIST, and the unique scifi horror film, LIFEFORCE among others. But it will be THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE that he will most be remembered for, a fierce, uncompromising gift to all of us who love to be scared in the best possible way.And bonus points to anyone who remembers the Mark Harmon 80’s comedy, SUMMER SCHOOL and that great joke whose punch line is, “New film from district, Safe Use of Power Tools.” That’s Hooper’s legacy too.

Most serious fans of horror are already familiar with director Tobe Hooper's magnum opus THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, but for those who aren't, here's a basic rundown:In the early 1970s, a group of friends are traveling through rural Texas on their way to visit the ancestral home of Sally and Franklin, two members of said group. A chance encounter with a bizarre hitchhiker is the first in a long string of unimaginable horrors that eventually lead to death for some members of the group. Included in these shocking events are whacks on the head with a sledgehammer, folks hanging from meat-hooks, and, of course, the titular chainsaw killing. One member of the group actually gets a vis-à-vis meeting with those responsible for all the carnage, a cannibalistic family that includes, among others, a blood-drinking grandfather and big brute that wears a mask made of preserved human flesh.One of the first contemporary slasher films, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is also often cited by filmgoers as one of the scariest and most disturbing. And THAT even after 30 years since its first release! One of the reasons the film is still so effective as a shocker is its sense of realism. The film begins with a voice-over that proffers the film as a depiction of true events. This is a quite effective device--one "borrowed" by several later films--as it plants a subliminal seed in the mind of the audience and thereby makes the film's images seem all the more startling and realistic. The film was also shot in 16mm and then resized to 35mm for theatrical release, and as many cinema aficionados know, this resizing often results in a detracting grainy quality to the overall aesthetics of a film. But with THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, the resulting graininess gives the film a documentary-like feel that only serves to heighten the illusion that one is watching real-life events. In addition, most of the actors in the film were basically inexperienced unknowns, but their actions and delivery of dialogue come across as very authentic and sincere, and such acting makes the audience relate more fully with the characters, which in turn helps the production to seem less like commercial entertainment and more like slice-of-life filmmaking.Hooper has often stated that his inspiration for the film's plot was the infamous necrophiliac and purported cannibal Edward Gein, a real-life ghoul whose reported deeds frightened Hooper in his youth. For those who don't already know, Ed Gein was a backwoodsy Wisconsin farmer who, during the 1950s, raided cemeteries and collected various body parts from the corpses. He is known to have made clothing and household items from the preserved skin and bones of his "trophies," and, although it was never substantiated, it was rumored that he ate some of the human flesh. Gein was caught and arrested in 1957 after actually killing the proprietor of a hardware store, then taking her body to his barn and preparing it in the manner of a hunter dressing a deer. It is true that Hooper's film retains some of the elements of the real-life case--specifically the mask of human flesh and the bodies on meat-hooks--but it can hardly be considered a retelling of Gein's activities. Nonetheless, Hooper's aesthetic approach to directing, together with the film's aforementioned production values, enable Hooper to successfully recreate on film the fear he felt as a child when listening to stories of Gein's grisly exploits.Despite the film's reputation for being chock-full of blood and gore, there is really very few scenes of actual bloodletting. Most of the violence and gore is implied via set dressings (lots of bones and blood spatter), the lead-ins to the killings, and the bizarre behavior of the nefarious family of flesh-eating miscreants. Still, the acting is genuine enough and the narrative intense enought that both work to embellish the gruesomeness in the mind of the viewer, and many filmgoers who have seen the film only once swear that it is the most graphically violent and the bloodiest film they have ever seen.As mentioned above, the acting in this film--specifically that of the then-unknowns portraying the group of friends--comes across as very genuine and slice-of-life. Playing Sally, Marilyn Burns is especially effective as she emotes true terror through her facial expressions...and her screaming. Yes, Ms. Burns is one of the first in a long line of slasher-film Scream Queens, and she's also one of the best.All true fans of classic horror or slasher films will want to add this groundbreaking film to their collections. So that you can see it in its intended widescreen aspect ratio, be sure to purchase one of the recent DVD versions of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Most of these DVD editions also include a cool feature commentary with director Tobe Hooper, director of photography Daniel Pearl, and the actor who wielded that titular chainsaw, Gunnar Hansen. Some of the DVDs also include other extras like deleted scenes, alternate footage, bloopers, and other fun stuff.

Ogólnie wszystko ok, ale przy odbiorze należy zapłacić opłatę celną, więc dochodzi to do kosztów zamówienia. Także lepiej jednak zamówić na Amazonie uk, gdyż oni opłacają z góry wszelkie opłaty celne.

Ein Wort zu dieser Dokumentation.An sich bin ich kein so großer Fan von Dokumentationen doch diese Doku erzählt euch Dinge die ihr bestimmt noch nicht wusstet. Im großen und ganzen möchte ich nicht zu viel verraten😉Wer ein Fan des Original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ist wird diese Dokumentation interessant und lehrreich finden.Schlusswort :Ich empfehle jedem Horrorfan diese Dokumentation gesehen zu haben 💀❤️Mfg. Pave Shame

Case was a little beat up, but I can't complain, it was like 6 bucks.

Seguramente la mejor edición jamás publicada de la película ¡y en edición limitada de 1100 unidades!Los discos sólo tienen la opción de audio y subtítulos en inglés y alemán, pero si te defiendes en cualquiera de los dos idiomas y estás dispuesto a hacer un esfuerzo, esta pedazo edición merece la pena.Si el dinero es un problema, aún quedan algunas copias circulando por ahí de la edición estándar limitada a 5000 unidades (aunque las primeras 1100 son las que vienen incluidas en esta caja) o la metálica, tambien de Turbine, ambas con la misma particularidad de contener la versión remasterizada en 2K.La calidad de imagen del blu-ray sí supone una mejora con respecto a cualquier edición previa (incluyendo la "Seriously ultimate edition" de 2009) ya que el film presenta un granulado aún perceptible, pero sensiblemente inferior a anteriores ediciones blu-ray.Los contenidos extra son los mismos de otros blu-ray pero con la adición de 2 nuevos audiocomentarios y algunos otros pequeños documentales y entrevistas.Por último, y lo que hace fantástica esta edición es la inclusión de la figura de Leatherface de NECA (precio de mercado 30-40 euros), la camiseta talla XL, las postales, dos superposters de 83x59 cm y la impresionante ilustración de la caja (la misma que figura en la portada del blu-ray y en uno de los posters).

La película original, excelente para el tiempo en el que se realizó, viene hablada en inglés y con subtítulos en español, que tienen alguna que otra falta de ortografía, pero sin mayor importancia, recomendable.