The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

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Fletch F. Fletch
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:54 pm
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#1 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:32 pm

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere (I did a search and didn't find anything immediately):
Dark Sky Films' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Ultimate Edition will be released on September 26th. This two-disc set of the 1974 horror classic will include an anamorphic widescreen transfer (from a new high-definition transfer of the 16mm camera negative), along with new Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo mixes and the original mono track.

Bonus materials will include a new commentary track with stars Marilyn Burns, Alan Danziger, Paul A. Partain and Production Designer Robert A. Burns, a second track with Tobe Hooper, Director of Photography Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen (ported over from Pioneer's release), deleted & alternate footage, trailers, TV spots, radio spots and still galleries. Making its Stateside debut on disc 2 is David Gregory's 2000 documentary "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth" with outtakes, the new "Flesh Wounds" featurette featuring new interviews with various cast & crew members, a tour of the house with Gunnar Hansen, plus other goodies. Retail is $29.99.
An early review with screenshot comparisons with the Elite disc (I believe it has all the extras from that edition ported over as well):

http://horrordvds.com/modules.php?name= ... cle&id=468

Looks like it is definitely worth the double dip!

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Mr Sausage
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#2 Post by Mr Sausage » Fri Aug 18, 2006 4:13 pm

Is it just my eyes, or does Leatherface on that cover look like he's skipping happily through the fields with a new chainsaw?

Narshty
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#3 Post by Narshty » Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:22 pm

I was thinking the same thing - he does rather look like he's having the best birthday a boy ever had.

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Fletch F. Fletch
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#4 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:28 am

Narshty wrote:I was thinking the same thing - he does rather look like he's having the best birthday a boy ever had.
heh! That reminds me of the appreciation of the film in that gahd awful Mark Harmon movie Summer School where two high school students interpret the movie as a sympathetic portrait of Leatherface...
David: Oh, I've got to tell you, I love this film. It had passion and a plucky spirit. And, the characters had integrity, like when Leatherface went on that strict diet of human flesh, he had to cut out chicken and fish completely.
Francis "Chainsaw" Grimp: Dave, I agree with you. I'll go a step further, sure Leatherface, he wore a mask made out of human skin, and he hung people on meat-hooks, but hey, we've all got quirks, I got 'em, you've got 'em Dave, that's what makes this character so, so compelling.

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The Invunche
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#5 Post by The Invunche » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:38 am

Hey, Summer School rawks!

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manicsounds
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#6 Post by manicsounds » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:31 am

I received this a few days ago, and watched it today.
Dark Sky has really done some amazing work on this.
it looks and sounds incredible.

I watched 1 documantary so far, but there still is a lot more to go thorugh.

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Gordon
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am

#7 Post by Gordon » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:44 am

Yes, it's a superb package, but "Flesh Wounds" was concieved as a 12-part documentary, but was curtailed to 7 parts during filming. It's really weird seeing the house redecorated as a cozy family restaurant. It also got me wondering what Gunnar Hansen's books are like. This DVD is a classic example of how good a 16mm film from the 70s can look in the right hands - and it is progressive, in case you were wondering.

Looking forward to MGM's SE of TCM 2 next month! :D

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davebert
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#8 Post by davebert » Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:38 pm

Don't forget that classy all-metal case! I had no idea this was actually worth double-dipping on; I simply assumed when a customer asked that it was a slightly new case to get the movie back in front of people in time for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning pile thats about to hit our theaters.

And I actually had a four-hour class on Monday spent trying to place TCM as a sympathetic portrait of Leatherface (and the rest of the family, given the impact of deindustrialization on their bloody but blue collar work). I never noticed that the camera follows just Leatherface for an awfully long time, and even has several shots from his point of view...

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Gordon
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#9 Post by Gordon » Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:19 pm

Reading this thread, I was suddenly struck by the thought that... this film has no value. Oh. This has happened to me a lot lately - realising that films I used to 'appreciate' have now revealed themselves to have absolutely no value. It is time for a revaluation of all films hitherto deemed to be of value by myself. A realistic undertaking?

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davebert
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#10 Post by davebert » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:04 pm

Just don't bother re-evaluating The Skateboard Kid. It's a certified time-tested classic.

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blindside8zao
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#11 Post by blindside8zao » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:28 am

you sound like descartes or something.

paa400
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#12 Post by paa400 » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:15 am

I agree-the film has no value-its pure garbage but I love watching it sometimes-I dont know why-nostalghia? The 70's? The soundtrack and freaky set designs?

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Dylan
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#13 Post by Dylan » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:08 am

Somehow I hadn't seen this film as a horror fiend little boy (where, all those years ago, I saw literally 100s of horror films, most of them among the biggest pieces of crap on God's green Earth), but I finally caught it on IFC a few months ago, and I think it's good.

Right from the first, beautifully-composed sequence (with the flashes at night so you can barely see what you're looking at, then cutting to the daytime shot of a sculpture of human remains) I was pretty much hooked, and I really didn't expect to be. Then Tobe Hooper does what almost NO horror films these days ever do, and that's actually providing a solid act one before the horror begins. It is also very well made with a lot of interesting, at times dynamic filmmaking (like that dolly shot under the swing, as well as all of the camera movements, which are in surprising abundance). The murder scenes are genuinely horrific, perhaps the most effective ever put on film after “Psycho,â€

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Fletch F. Fletch
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#14 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:42 am

Dylan wrote:Can you imagine sitting in a theatre with an audience in 1974 watching it?
That would be amazing.

One thing that always strikes about this movie is the absence of gore. A lot of people are killed but either off-camera or in a way that it isn't overtly gory like so many films now. I really admire that because it lets your imagination fill in the blanks and that is a lot scarier than anything anyone can put up on the screen. If anything, the film is so horrific because of the unrelenting fear you feel for Marilyn Burns' character as she is continually terrorized by Leatherface and his "family." Pretty powerful stuff.

Movie-Brat
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Ultimate Edition

#15 Post by Movie-Brat » Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:52 pm

In case anyone hasn't seen this. Nicholas Winding Refn introduces a 4k restoration of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Cannes as well as the fact that he explains it's what got him to make movies in the first place.

http://www.slashfilm.com/refn-texas-chain-saw-massacre/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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manicsounds
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#16 Post by manicsounds » Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:45 am

So now that the new 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray is out, it is correcting the flaw of the previous Blu-ray, now having lossless audio for all audio tracks, 7.1, 5.1, 2.0, and 1.0.
(The previous US and UK release only had the 2.0 stereo track as lossless.)

Anyway, it seems all the extras are carried over, and adds 2 new commentary tracks, because we all know there can never be enough talk about Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Well, I never got the older Blu-ray since it really wasn't an upgrade enough from the steelbook DVD. Got this one ordered though.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#17 Post by EddieLarkin » Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:49 am

Most importantly, it offers a vast improvement in image quality over the previous transfer.

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JamesF
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#18 Post by JamesF » Fri Sep 19, 2014 11:01 am

EddieLarkin wrote:Most importantly, it offers a vast improvement in image quality over the previous transfer.
Has this been proved yet? Obviously a 4K scan is better than 2K, but the last restoration was performed by Synapse's Don May Jr, whose record is unequalled when it comes to these things.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#19 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Sep 19, 2014 11:56 am

I've every confidence that the older restoration was done to the highest standards of the time, but I'd say an almost 10 year difference in scanning/restoration technology plays a bigger part than even the fact this new restoration is twice the resolution. Enjoy these comparisons:

New, Old
New, Old
New, Old

The old transfer looks positively video in comparison. Now if only Second Sight can see to it to not totally screw up the encoding like they did with Re-Animator.

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tenia
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#20 Post by tenia » Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:03 pm

It looks indeed like the 4K scan really gives big positives compared to the older scan. Even on a 16mm-shot film, it's interesting to see such improvements on the grain restitution but also the overall definition (and it's only on caps, I can't even think how it differs in motion).

David M.
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#21 Post by David M. » Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:13 pm

The old transfer looks positively video in comparison. Now if only Second Sight can see to it to not totally screw up the encoding
They won't. We made sure of it ;)

In fact I think you will be very pleasantly surprised when you compare the encoding to the US release. (That could be seen a contentious thing for me to write, but it's scientifically verifiable).

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Koukol
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#22 Post by Koukol » Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:29 pm

TCM is a Masterpiece in terror.

I can't say there's a more horrifying film made yet.
The fact that it's so disturbing without showing the gore impresses me.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#23 Post by EddieLarkin » Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:04 pm

David M. wrote:They won't. We made sure of it ;)

In fact I think you will be very pleasantly surprised when you compare the encoding to the US release. (That could be seen a contentious thing for me to write, but it's scientifically verifiable).
The only reason I was holding off on getting the U.S. release (since it's pretty damn cheap) is because I figured there would be an off chance you'd do the encoding on the SS disc since you've worked with them before (was Possession your only other disc for them?) and it'd end up even better than the U.S. disc. Jolly good to here that's going to be the case!

Out of interest, if you're okay to share, what's it like compressing a 4K transfer? Is this the first one you've done commercially? I recall you saying once before that the best encoding can result in a 1080p master looking indistinguishable from the 2K source. If that's not the case with a 4K source, what are we losing out on?

David M.
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#24 Post by David M. » Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:20 pm

Out of interest, if you're okay to share, what's it like compressing a 4K transfer? Is this the first one you've done commercially?
No, I did HANDS OVER THE CITY for Eureka which was also scanned at 4K. And more recently, SALVATORE GIULIANO for Arrow. There's not much difference in the process in this case since we're still encoding a 1080p image for BD. Even the "2K" scans like TIME BANDITS, THE FURY, and everything else James White and his team at Deluxe have been done on an oversampled 3K imager, so in each case I'm dealing with an image that originally had more pixels than we can convey on the format.

All of these, whether or not they originated at 3K, 4K, 6K etc, are much more difficult to compress than older Spirit Datacine era transfers just because they have a lot more high frequency content which is the enemy of compression. Texas Chainsaw in particular is incredibly difficult because of the coarse grain.
I figured there would be an off chance you'd do the encoding on the SS disc since you've worked with them before
I've worked with SS tons of times, mainly with bonus features though rather than this type of stuff.
Last edited by David M. on Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)

#25 Post by swo17 » Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:21 pm

David M. wrote:
Out of interest, if you're okay to share, what's it like compressing a 4K transfer? Is this the first one you've done commercially?
No, I did HANDS OVER THE CITY for Eureka which was also scanned at 4K.
Oh, so that's why it looked amazing.

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