THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
Tobe Hooper’s horror masterpiece has arrived on 4K Ultra to terrify audiences all over again. I’ll never forget seeing it for the first time back when I was a young, horror-loving teen. And that came long after I saw it mentioned and spoofed in the Mark Harmon comedy, Summer School. It was gruesome, grotesque, vicious and culminated in a jaw-dropping finale.
Dark Sky Films presents Hooper’s 1974 film in a new director approved 4K restoration on UHD and promises you haven’t seen or heard The Texas Chain Saw Massacre like this before. The film shook audiences with its tagline of “What happened is true. Now the motion picture that’s just as real” This was essentially fake marketing, as it was loosely inspired by Ed Gein, but largely fictionalized outside of the cannibalism angle. We would later see this type of marketing hook used with The Blair Witch Project. Like the great horrors movies of the day, it came with a low budget and was filmed on 16mm giving it that ultra real look to it. The cast and crew played around with the minimal resources they had. It certainly looked like a documentary of what happened to a bunch of hippies who came face to face with a disturbing family and their son “Leatherface”. The great Gunnar Hansen was relentless in portraying Leatherface and has become a horror icon. Watching him whip around the chainsaw like a toy is horrific in and of itself. You can’t talk about this film without mentioning final girl Sally, played by Marilyn Burns. She’s screaming her face off, running for her life after watching her friends butchered by Leatherface.
The violence was more than film distributors could tolerate, and Hooper had a hard time getting his film released. It was banned in multiple countries, but in time, became a cult classic. Many attribute this film to defining the many tropes of the slasher genre, including the lumbering masked killer with a deadly weapon. It would go on to spawn eights sequels/reboots/remakes for nine total entries in the franchise along with video games and comic books.
The 2-disc set comes with the following special features:
DISC 1: 4K UHD (Feature Film)
- 4 feature commentaries with the likes of Tobe Hooper, Gunnar Hansen, Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Marilyn Burns, and more
DISC 2: BLU-RAY (Bonus Disc)
- NEW Feature-Length Documentary: The Legacy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- The Cinefamily Presents FRIEDKIN/HOOPER: A Conversation About The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Between William Friedkin and Tobe Hooper
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth
- Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of the Saw
- A tour of the TCSM House with Gunnar Hansen
- Grandpa’s Tales: An Interview with Actor John Dugan
and much much more, including a two-sided fold out poster! There are over 400 minutes of special features in this new release.
