The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Marcus Nispel's remake of Tobe Hooper's grisly horror classic is a pale reflection of the original, but it's superior to recent slasher junk, as well as the various other sequels and retreads that have preceded it over the past three decades. While retaining the period flavor and basic plot of Hooper's picture--a bunch of college kids traveling through the Lone Star state encounter a family of murderous psychos, with terrifying results--it's not a slavish copy, altering some details and increasing the gore level. But the technical devices--apart from a splashy tracking shot in a suicide-by-bullet sequence early on--are fairly reflective of the ones Hooper employed, and as remakes go, this one is more faithful to its source than most. Still, the unhappy fact is that the story, however well-told, can't recapture the frisson of the 1974 version, which was not only a gruesomely efficient little thriller, but also--coming at the very end of the Vietnam experience--boasted a powerful subtext that this remake lacks. Ultimately, Nispel's movie manipulates the genre conventions skillfully, but never achieves the almost primordial depths of Hooper's grotesque, unforgettable original. Optional. [Note: Available as a single-disc ($27.95) or two-disc ($39.95) “special edition,” DVD extras on the two-disc set include three audio essays: “Production” with director Marcus Nispel, producer Michael Bay, executive producer Andrew Form, executive producer Brad Fuller, and New Line co-chairman/co-CEO Robert Shaye; “Technical” with Nispel, cinematographer Daniel Pearl, production designer Greg Blair, art director Scott Gallagher, supervising sound editor Trevor Jolly, and composer Steve Jablonsky; and “Story” with Nispel, Bay, screenwriter Scott Kosar, Fuller, Form, and costars Jessica Biel, Erica Leerhsen, Eric Balfour, Jonathan Tucker, Mike Vogel, and Andrew Bryniarski; as well as the 76-minute “making of” documentary “Chainsaw Redux: Making a Massacre,” seven “Severed Parts” deleted/alternate scenes (16 min.) with onscreen director intros--including an alternate opening and ending, the graphically violent (viewer discretion) 24-minute documentary “Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainville,” three screen tests, the music video “Suffocate” by Motograter, production concept art by Scott Gallagher gallery, “Leatherface” concept art by Scott Stoddard gallery, and DVD-ROM features (including script-to-screen and a storyboard viewer). Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a not-up-to-the-original remake.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Oct. 13, 2009—New Line, 98 min., R, $28.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre boasts a great transfer and a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras include three audio essays: “Production” with director Marcus Nispel, producer Michael Bay, executive producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, and New Line co-chairman/co-CEO Robert Shaye; “Technical” with Nispel, cinematographer Daniel Pearl, production designer Greg Blair, art director Scott Gallagher, supervising sound editor Trevor Jolly, and composer Steve Jablonsky; and “Story” with Nispel, Bay, screenwriter Scott Kosar, Fuller, Form, and costars Jessica Biel, Erica Leerhsen, Eric Balfour, Jonathan Tucker, Mike Vogel, and Andrew Bryniarski. Also included are the “making-of” documentary “Chainsaw Redux: Making a Massacre” (76 min.), an “Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainville” profile of the real-life killer (24 min.), seven “Severed Parts” deleted/alternate scenes (16 min.), screen tests (7 min.), the music video “Suffocate” by Motograter, and trailers. Bottom line: this uneven horror remake makes an extras-laden debut on Blu-ray.]