Search - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on DVD

Shana V. from PATTERSON, CA
Reviewed on 9/16/2012...

I don't see why so many people love this movie. The film is grainy, and it looks too fake. I was bored the whole time. I regret getting this one.

1 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Sonia L. (timbodi) from SALEM, OR
Reviewed on 4/11/2008...

Classic early slasher, post-Psycho/Exorcist, pre-Halloween/Nightmare on Elm Street. The slasher horror genre is just starting out here and Tobe Hooper made the best of the low budget and made a grainy film with camerawork so raw, it's unsettling. I saw the very end two years before I saw the film itself. The ending is spectacular.

3 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Excellent Movie, Excellent DVD, Excellent Special Features!

Kitten With a Whip | The Hellmouth | 05/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, the movie. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is probably one of the scariest movies ever made. It was unique for its time, and there's still nothing quite like it today. The plot doesn't sound like much- 2 women and 3 men make a drive to rural Texas to check out a graveyard that has been 'defiled', and to also relax and enjoy themselves. This last part of their vacation plan doesn't go real smoothly, as they make the mistake of wandering into an area where an insane, backwoods, inbred, cannibalistic sociopathic family live. Things get more and more horrifying from there.I've heard people complain this movie isn't scary and not gory enough. As far as the gore, it is fairly low-key by today's standards (though I'm sure my mother wouldn't want to watch it, and it couldn't be shown un-cut on regular network TV). There's not a lot of blood till the end of the movie, but the acting is so good, and the screams of the victims so wrenching, your imagination fills in the rest and it actually is painful to watch. I will agree that the movie is kind of slow to get started- I admit the first time I saw it as a teenager I was getting impatient for some action. However, the last half of the movie more than makes up for it.But if you think this movie isn't scary, I seriously doubt you've watched alone, at home, at night, with all the lights off. The first time I saw it was in the daytime, and it still made my hair stand on end. When I got the Special Edition DVD I unwisely watched it after midnight with the lights off. I couldn't sleep until the sun came up. The opening scene of the rotting corpse in the cemetery wired to a headstone alone made my skin crawl. The scene where Pam first discovers Leatherface's room, with the furniture made of bones and the chickens in bird-cages, gets scarier each time I see it. The last 20 minutes, at the dinner table, has to be one of the most grueling and realistic scenes to sit through ever made. The final few images--well, over 10 years went by between the last time I saw the movie and the time I watched it on DVD a few weeks ago, and I *still* could remember those shots so vividly it was like I saw it yesterday.The DVD is incredible-the transfer is so crisp that it seems like the movie was filmed last year instead of in the early 70's. Since I'd only seen it on "pan & scan" VHS, I never really appreciated how beautiful some shots of the rural setting are, and also how well-thought out and carefully put together most of the cinematography is. Breathtaking, actually. Until the commentary pointed it out, I never realized how perfect and effective the long, continuous shot of Pam hesitantly getting up off the porch swing and slowly walking to the screen door is. This movie does not look at all amateurish, even though it was made on an extremely low budget.The DVD is packed with cool and interesting special features. First, the commentary by Tobe Hooper, Gunnar Hansen aka Leatherface, and director of photography Daniel Pearl is fascinating. There's lots of subtle but powerful elements in the movie I missed till now-for instance, the lack of almost any score or soundtrack that gives it a documentary feel, making it that much more disturbing. Hardcore fans of this movie know already this was NOT an easy shoot by any standards, but their accounts of how much energy and work it took to get certain things right, not to mention the really tortuous things many of the actors went through...well, if any actor deserves to be paid millions for a movie, this cast certainly earned it. The dinner scene was the most horrendous- they could only do one take, it went on for 20+ hours, and this was in 110 degree heat with no air conditioning. Gunnar Hansen said that by the end, he was so out of it he started to think he wasn't acting. Kind of gives the tag line "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" a whole new meaning.There's also some deleted and alternate scenes, including some "lost footage" never available before. With many of them, you can read the script excerpt of the scene first. There's a hilarious blooper reel-the quality isn't that great, but you'll laugh your butt off. There's lots of production notes and stills, along with shots of rare publicity material. A couple scenes are broken down shot by shot, with Hooper explaining why he made the directing and editing choices he did. There's even more, I just don't have room for it all. The menu is also pretty great. I highly recommend the Special Edition to anyone who is a fan of TCM. You'll be able to spend hours enjoying it, and they couldn't have done a better job. My recommendation (for what it's worth) is to get this one fast, because it would be a shame if it went out of print and so many people missed this wonderful collector's edition."

Finally...the way a masterpiece should be presented!

Brad | 05/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Words can't even describe the sheer horror, intensity, and insanity that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre provides. If you don't know the story by now, do yourself a favor and watch this extremely necessary horror film. TCM is definately in my Top 5 favorite horror films and nobody can play Leatherface like good old Gunnar Hansen. But Andrew Byrniarsky does come close. The first time I saw this film, I was speechless. I didn't know whether I enjoyed the film or hated it because I was in shock and awe. People today may say "Oh this movie is terrible because the acting is awful and it's not even scary" or "The remake is so much better". I ask these people to look closer at this magnificent film. It is one of the most terrifying, brutal, and in your face movies I have ever seen. It's just completely ruthless and is not ashamed to get its point across. The remake I thought was excellent but seriously doesn't even touch the original. It's a completely different movie. You can't just watch the original once and then judge it...you have to watch it more than once so you can understand the insanity of the Sawyer family, the intensity of the house, the terror from the kids, and the sound of the saw. You'll really learn to appreciate it especially in this brand new special edition to the US. The extra features found on these two discs I believe are already accessible in the UK special edition release of this. But in case you don't know the extra features, here they are (some are new additions):

DISC ONE

*NEW High Definition transfer from the 16mm camera originals
*NEW 5.1 English and 2.0 Stereo Surround Soundtracks
*Digitally Remastered Original Mono Soundtrack
*Feature-length commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger, and art director Robert A. Burns
*Feature-length commentary with director, Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and actor Gunnar Hansen
*Theatrical Trailers
*TV Spots
*Radio Spots

DISC TWO

*"Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth" Documentary
*"Flesh Wounds" Documentary
*A Tour of the TCM house with Gunnar Hansen
*Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
*Blooper Reel
*Outtakes from "The Shocking Truth"
*Still Gallery

This special edition will definately get my buy. I've been longing for a 5.1 Dolby Digital track and an anamorphic widescreen transfer. This should be one of the greatest DVD's ever made.

This is the movie that Rex Reed called: "The most horrifying motion picture I have ever seen"

Buy it now!!!"

The Freakiest Movie I've Ever Seen

tee-vee-stevie | 03/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a massive horror fan from the UK (where this film is banned) I had to wait many years to see this film, and after all the hype and expectations which I had built up I was half expecting to be dissapointed when i finally watched it...how wrong could I be? This film had me gripped instantly. The film builds up suspense like no other and when the murders do actually happen they are not ruined, like many other horrors, by almost comical deaths, they are nasty! This film is gritty and raw, with documentary like visuals which only add further to the sense of fear which you can almost smell. The acting is brilliant, its laid back yet energetic at the same time. Never have I seen fear portrayed as realistically as Marilyn Burns haunting display in this movie (but then again I never looked at myself in the mirror while watching the film). All of the factors in this film mix to make an evil couldron of depravity, that'll make you too afraid to look but even more scared when you close your eyes. This film is the freakiest i've ever seen and to say i enjoyed it seems kind'a sick as the killings are so realistic and depraved, but there's no denying it, I loved it."