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In order to appreciate a film like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," one must view it in the context of its time. Released only a year after the devastating events that provide its story, tensions among audiences were certainly higher than usual, and the reaction was one that continues to enthrall movie lovers to this day. In August of 1973, after investigating the desecration of several graves, a group of five teenagers decided it might be fun to visit the house in which group member Sally (Marilyn Burns) and her invalid brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) once lived. When they discover that they are almost out of gas, they ventured to inquire about some extra fuel from the neighbors behind the house, unaware that they were walking into the home of a family of redneck cannibalistic serial murderers. ***

Gaining a much higher degree of unease from its basis in truth, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is that unique brand of classic horror that is scary because it feels real. While it's clear that this served as the source of inspiration for serial killers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, none of them have been able to match the unease of the Sawyers. The real appeal of Hooper's film, however, is its innocence in regards to its genre: no big-breasted beauties getting chopped into fish bait here; no good-looking Hollywood actors running and screaming from a masked murderer who keeps coming back sequel after sequel. Here, the elements are as crude and raw as they come, with images of grotesquerie and mayhem that are dizzying in their composition and electrifying in their final impact on the viewer. This is as far from the exploitativeness of a film like "The Last House on the Left" as one can get, and a lot more rewarding as well.

Boasting the same 1.85:1 non-anamorphic transfer as the previous 1998 release, this reissue of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" looks decent enough, but given the movie's age, certain blemishes are unavoidable. The source print is actually cleaner than I expected, with an overall lack of film grain and a visible reduction of speckle and scratches. Contrast and shadow detail, however, are poorly defined and lack depth, while blacks are weak as well. Color saturation is generally mediocre, with fleshtones that fluctuate too often to be truly accurate, and poor textures. Clarity is also lacking, with soft edges and enhancement halos abundant. While it's not as bad as the VHS versions I've seen, this one could have used a clean-up job. ***

The sound is credited as Dolby 2.0 Surround, but has really been mastered in Chace Stereo Surround. The results aren't exactly reference quality, but given the nature of the monaural source track (also included here), it's not such a bad remaster. There is some slight surround usage and .1 LFE engagement here, but both are weak and undefined, with much of the activity taking place in the front and center channels. Dialogue is audible but hollow and unnatural, and screams aplently sound very shrill at times. Sound effects, particularly the buzzing of that saw, are lacking in definition.

Basically there's nothing different about the material included on this re-release of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," except for its cover design, which features a rather flimsy plastic sleeve that encases the actual DVD case. ***

Everything has been carried over for this release, beginning with a collection of deleted scenes and extra footage, all presented with text introductions explaining the context of the scene and why it was removed. This is followed by a shot breakdown in which we see the different angles from which Kirk's death was shot, all played out in progression to give us a sense of how the final scene was cut together. Up next is a gallery of trailers for this film and its sequels (oddly enough, no trailer for the forthcoming remake was inserted), followed by a blooper reel, some footage of the props and set design created in an actual house, and photo galleries devoted to production photos advertising material.