DVDs in Review

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Blu-ray)

Title: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Release date: November 3 2008

Certificate: 18

Format: Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £19.99

Rating: 4/5

After (yet another) triumphant re-release on DVD, Tobe Hooper's genre-defining classic horror slasher gets the Blu-ray treatment.

Second Sight's (cringingly)'Seriously Ultimate Edition', gives high-def viewers a chance to view a film that isn't really regarded for its picturesque clarity and production expenses. But that hardly matters.

'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' is nothing short of a classic of the genre. Its tone is genuinely creepy, filled with brooding snapshots of social outcasts set to high octane thrills and ultra violence.

The effect is shatteringly powerful and never unrealistic. The characters are not stupid - they're victims of circumstance doing what any others would do given their unfathomable situation.

The victims make mistakes, scream at the top of their lungs and react with just the right balance of curiosity and terror to aid this film's documentary style 16mm film stock.

In terms of photography, 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' is surprisingly inventive and dynamic.

Instead of just adopting for the typical shaky camerawork of a low budget horror, cinematographer Daniel Pearl is gracefully elegant even when filming grotesque situations. Its gliding calmness is unsettling and only adds to the helpless tone.

As such, it certainly isn't cheery entertainment and refrains from the usual teen cannon fodder trap of sex and poorly conceived jokes.

At less than an hour and a half with no extra padding, 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' feels vitally raw, and while a lot of violence does actually cut away there's no denying how brutal this is.

Don't expect an amazingly clear print - it isn't, but that's its charm. The remastering is top notch, but just remember how cheaply this was filmed in the first place.

Extras include two in depth commentaries, feature length documentaries, interviews, outtakes, deleted scenes, trailers, a tour of the infamous house from Leatherface himself.