The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (2-Disc Ultimate Edition)

It has been called "grisly," "sick," and "perverse," as well as "raw," "unshakeable," and "the movie that redefined horror." It was attacked by churches, banned by governments, and acclaimed by only the bravest of critics. It stunned audiences worldwide and set a new standard in movie terror forever. In 1974, writer-producer-directorTobe Hooper unleashed this dark, visionary tale about a group of five young friends who face a nightmare of torment at the hands of a depraved Texas clan. Today it remains unequaled as a landmark of outlaw filmmaking and unparalleled in its impact as perhaps the most frightening motion picture ever made.

Dark Sky Films presents this masterpiece like you've never seen or heard it before, newly transferred in High Definition from the 16mm camera originals, remixed in 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo Surround, and featuring never-before-seen Bonus Features produced exclusively for this definitive collection.

Bonus Features:

• Steelbook Packaging
• Feature-length commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danzinger, and art director Robert A. Burns
• Feature-length commentary with director Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl, and actor Gunnar Hansen
• Theatrical Trailers & TV and Radio Spots
• "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth"
• "Flesh Wounds"
• A Tour of the TCSM house with Gunnar Hansen
• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
• Blooper Reel
• "The Shocking Truth" Outtakes
• Still Gallery

This sensational, extremely influential, 1974 low-budget horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Salem's Lot), may be notorious for its title, but it's also a damn fine piece of moviemaking. And it's blood-curdling scary, too. Loosely based on the true crimes of Ed Gein (also a partial inspiration for Psycho), the original Jeffrey Dahmer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers who pick up a hitchhiker and wind up in a backwoods horror chamber where they're held captive, tortured, chopped up, and impaled on meat hooks by a demented cannibalistic family, including a character known as Leatherface who maniacally wields one helluva chainsaw. The movie's powerful sense of dread is heightened by its grainy, semi-documentary style--but it also has a wicked sense of humor (and not that camp, self-referential variety that became so tiresome in subsequent horror films of the '70s, '80s, and '90s). OK, in case you couldn't tell, it's "not for everyone." But as a landmark in the development of the horror/slasher genre, it ranks with Psycho, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. --Jim Emerson