New 2-Disc Region 1 NTSC DVD of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) in the works! (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Knutzen]

It'll be nice to retire my laserdisc.

 

[Blake Siefken]

I hope the new transfer makes the film look brand new, I never thought the crappy picture added anything to the feel of the film. Also, during the scenes inside the van at the begining, you can't see out the windows. I remember them talking about it on the Pioneer commentary. I wonder if it's possible to fix that with a new transfer.

 

[Jack Johnson]

I know this isn't the thread, but I imagine some Tobe Hooper fans will be reading... SO:

You should check out Hoop's amazing episode of Masters of Horror--"Dance of the Dead"--which will hopefully pop up on Showtime again (and will eventually be issued on dvd). It's brazen, incendiary work, and some of the director's best.

Because it's incredibly assaultive, stylistically speaking, it's been embraced by precious few and rejected by many with assumedly more mainstream taste.

Personally, I thought it was a great match of material to director, and Hooper--always a mad, visceral filmmaker--is completely unbound here... "Dance of the Dead" is off the hook, and there's a poetry to it. Highly recommended.



--Jack

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Why isn't the Family Portrait doc being included on this release?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Tremendous news. But MPI are such an unpredictable company (where art thou Becket DVD?) that I won't be holding my breath.

 

[Scott Temple]

Amazon.com has it for pre-order. The release date is September 26th.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...v=glance&n=130

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Not from MPI, but from Dark Sky Films, a company of very high standards. Their recent DVD of Magic looks fantastic. I emailed them for the full specs; I'll post them if and when I recieve a reply.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Is that the official cover art?


I reeeally can't wait for this release... but c'mon!

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

So is there any word on whether the "Family Portrait Revisited" doc will be included?

 

[Scott Temple]

I don't think it's going to be, but I've heard that it's not that great anyway. It was made back in 1986 or 1988 and they only interviewed Gunnar Hansen, Jim Siedow, Edwin Neal, and John Dugan. I think it's about one hour long and supposedly it goes for real cheap on DVD. I've heard a lot of people say they've found it in the Wal*Mart $5.00 bin. I haven't seen The Shocking Truth documentary either, but almost everyone who has says it blows the Family Portrait documentary right out of the water. As to what is being included, Dark Sky hasn't officially announced, but many DVD sites are reporting

(New items are in bold.)

• A brand new 16x9 enhanced transfer taken from a HD master, downconverted to standard definition - The most important feature
• Original mono soundtrack (from Pioneer's DVD)
• 2.0 Stereo soundtrack (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
• Commentary by Tobe Hooper, Daniel Pearl, and Gunnar Hansen (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Commentary by Marilyn Burns, Paul Partain, Allen Danziger, Bob Burns, and David Gregory
• "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth" - an 80 minute documentary from 2000
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Footage (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Blooper Reel (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Props and Set Footage (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Photo Galleries (from Pioneer's DVD)
• TV Spots (from Pioneer's DVD)
• Radio Spots
• Trailers (from Pioneer's DVD)
• A documentary produced by Red Shirt Pictures, featuring new interviews with various cast & crew members and footage from all the major locations used in the first film.

Pics from the new transfer

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I don't see any pic, Scott. BTW, where did you get them from?

 

[Scott Temple]

I found it at DVD Talk.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....4&page=2&pp=25

Post #49, near the bottom of the page.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

wow, those screen grabs look incredible!

 

[Scott Temple]

Yeah, I'm amazed at how beautiful it looks. And I'm sure these pictures don't do it justice. It will probably look even better when we actually see it. Pioneer's flawed transfer pales in comparison to this new one from Dark Sky. I did a comparison at the Friday the 13th Forum. Post #254.

 

[Scott Temple]

http://www.darkskyfilms.com/Display.asp?ID=38

IFC (Independent Film Channel, Channel 550 on DirecTV Satellite) is airing the original 1974 "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" tonight at midnight (Eastern) and again at 3:00 AM Eastern. The 1974 original very rarely gets shown on television anymore, as opposed to the 2003 remake which is always on. The interesting thing is, which transfer will they use? Could it possibly be the transfer on Dark Sky's upcoming DVD? Obviously, IFC's broadcast won't be HD (neither will the DVD, but the DVD will benefit from 16x9 enhancement), but it could be from the same source, presented in 4x3 letterbox.

 

[BrettGallman]

Those screen caps look great. I'll definately be picking this up later this year. It's about time this movie got a good treatment on DVD.

 

[ScottR]

The new caps do look great, but don't the old ones look like they are cropped less on the top and right?

 

[Scott Temple]

Early Review of Dark Sky's TCM DVD

Fangoria's Review

 

[ScottR]

I thought people complained about the current version being cropped but this one looks even more so.

 

[Vincent_P]

Screen-caps please to show that the new version is "cropped" compared to the old one?

Don May told me that the exact OPPOSITE is true, that the newer High-Def telecines allowed him to show MORE of the original 16mm frame on all four sides compared to what he was able to do back when he did the LaserDisc transfer for Elite. So please, show some screen caps showing the same frame from the Elite transfer circa 1996 compared with this new HD transfer, and then we'll talk about aledged "cropping".

Vincent