The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Ultimate Edition
Studio: Dark Sky Films
Rated: R
WorkNameSort: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Ultimate Edition, The
The best thing about this two-disc ‘ultimate editionâ?� of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre may be its nifty tin-box packaging from B-movie distributor Dark Sky Films. What’s inside, though, is strictly for the shocking snuff film’s hard-core devotees ‘ there are three hours-plus of bonus material, but I was just as happy with the ‘special editionâ?� released three years ago. An enjoyable addition, though, is the feature-length making-of documentary, Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth, which tries to be the Hearts of Darkness to Massacre’s Apocalypse Now. It’s successful at illuminating the grueling, often torturous methods that lent the film its semidocumentary aesthetic, but loses its way when it delves into the forgettable sequels. Another hour-plus documentary, Flesh Wounds, is essentially seven shorts about unexplored aspects of the film’s production and legacy, but most of them are monotonous and redundant. (A couple are scored with incidental music seemingly culled from Home & Garden Television.) The image, however, is slightly crisper than the previous edition, bolstering clarity while retaining the movie’s lo-fi grime.
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2006.