Brand new from the Warner Archives, it's the HD home video debut of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3: Leatherface. The first Leatherface from 1990, not the 2017 one. Yeah, the remakes have even started cribbing the previous films' sub-titles; and no, the 2017 is in no way a remake of the 1990 version - all they have in common is the titular character and some basic themes. So I guess it's really kind of an arbitrary distinction calling the films after The Return remakes. They're just... some more Texas Chainsaw movies.
Update 3/6/2018: A mysterious oval appears!? Scroll down to the very bottom of this post for some additional discussion (and screenshots!) about the reports of a faulty oval people have been reporting during the night shots of Warner's new blu.
Anyway, I've always liked TCM3. It's the first non-Hooperinstallment, and some ambitious elements from the original script were never filmed. Plus, the theatrical version was heavily cut, so I can see why it had a rough time winning audiences. But especially since we got the unrated version (first we got a restored, unrated cut on laserdisc... then the DVD restored even a bit more footage), Leatherface holds up as a pretty effective, bloody horror film in its own right. It's directed by Jeff Burr, a Texan director who made From a Whisper To a Scream and a fairly satisfying sequel to The Stepfather, and for a New Line franchise film, plays things refreshingly straight.
In theory, this is a direct sequel to the third film, if you can accept that Leatherface somehow found an equally murderous, cannibalistic family to adopt him and grandpa after the events of TCM2. "Like attracts like," explains screenwriter David J. Schow in the special features. Caroline Williams even returns in a silent cameo as Stretch. But anyway, this film begins a tradition of Leatherface finding himself with a brand new killer family in every subsequent film. This time he's got psycho parents, a wicked killer little girl, a Chop Top-reminiscent cousin who runs the local gas station and Viggo Mortensen as his brother Tex. Meanwhile, our protagonists the She-Wolf of London herself, Kate Hodge, and Ken Foree ofDawn Of the Dead. So overall, it's a very strong cast delivering a series of memorable performances, with Mortensen and the little girl stealing the show, and only Foree phoning it in a little bit (when a new character reveals herself, he says, 'who the heck are you," exasperated and showing no signs that he just barely survived a jump attack by a psychotic chainsaw-wielding maniac wearing human skin for a mask literally seconds earlier).
Story-wise, they do play it probably a little too safe. Another kidnapped woman is tied down and forced to participate in another gonzo dinner scene after being chased through the woods for the first half of the film. It's a bit crazy that they all just keep returning to this same set piece. For all their faults, none of the other franchise horrors, like Nightmare On Elm Street or Hellraiser, stuck to the same script so closely. In that sense, it's almost like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacres play as remakes of the first more than the later "remakes" did. But hey, if you have to rehash a scene time and again, the psycho dinner is a great one. This film (at least in its current, unrated form) is thoroughly gruesome, with some great effect gags by KNB, and has some fun, heavy metal theme music. Every time I let a few years go by and then return to Leatherface, I'm surprised by absorbing and entertaining a watch it still is.
Surprisingly, there aren't a whole ton of iterations of this film on home video. New Line updated their laserdisc version with a fairly definitive DVD edition that was ported out to different regions around the world, naturally, and served as the single, definitive edition of this film for many years. It had the R and unrated cuts, and was a fairly rich, anamorphic special edition. We didn't really need anything more. But now in the HD age, we really do. And finally, just this week, Warner Archives have delivered, with a sweet blu-ray edition. Now, typically, WA disappoints in terms of special features (Demon Seed, you make me sad); but fortunately, though they haven't produced anything new, they did port over everything from New Line's DVD (Time Warner bought New Line, so it's not like they had to license it). So let's see how much of an upgrade we've got out of this deal.
2003 New Line R-rated DVD top; 2003 New Line unrated DVD mid;
2018 Warner Archives blu bottom.
2003 New Line unrated DVD
Oh, I'd say quite a substantial upgrade! I was always happy with the DVD, but it's nice to see how much better things can be. The colors are a lot more natural - goodbye, orange skin tones. Warners has chosen to open the framing up a bit to 1.78:1 (the DVD was a slightly windowboxed 1.82:1), but this is clearly an all new scan that actually reveals more on all four sides. Also, if we take that second set of shots just two frames back, we see [left, but you'll have to click to enlarge to really see what I'm talking about] that the DVD was interlaced. It really made horizontal pans look glitchy, so it's great to see that done away with. Detail is really clarified - look at Viggo's 5 o'clock shadow, which is just a soft color distinction on the DVD. Speaking of DVD distinction, the transfers of the R and unrated cuts are identical, except for the fact that the R is missing about 5 minutes of footage; I just included both to be thorough.
Audio-wise, I suppose a few fans might be slightly disappointed. The DVD offered listeners a choice between a DTS ES 6.1 Surround mix, Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround mix and the original Stereo Surround stereo. Warner's blu just gives us the 5.1 mix, albeit in lossless DTS-HD. But goodbye, fancy 6.1 and goodbye presumably original stereo mix. Both discs also include optional English subtitles, though.
Again, Warner Bros didn't cook us up any new special features, but they did carry everything over from the DVD except for some bonus New Line trailers, some light DVD-Rom content and an insert with chapter titles. First, there's a packed audio commentary with Burr, Schow, Greg Nicotero, William Butler, R.A. Mihailoff (he played Leatherface) and executive producer Mark Odesky. It's so packed because the laserdisc originally included two audio commentaries, and the DVD/ blu features an edited together hybrid cut of the two. Overall, that's just fine, as it never hits a stand-still and is jam-packed with great information and anecdotes. On the minus side, the editing is a little sloppy, with two soundbites repeated twice, verbatim - somebody clearly lost track of which clips he'd already used! Besides the commentary, there's a 30-minute 'making of' with all the same people from the commentary (plus another producer), which repeats a lot of the same stuff from the commentary, but also has some exclusive stuff.
One thing that's great about the commentary and this doc is that they were recorded long after the film, and people aren't afraid to talk about what went wrong, or even openly disagree with each other. Did you know Burr, for example, was fired from this film and then rehired because they couldn't find a replacement over the weekend? Burr talks about getting fired, the producers talk about firing him. Yeah, the extras are very forthcoming, which is a treat. And sure, 30-minutes probably seems a little short for those of us used to Scream Factory's lush feature-length docs, but this is edited so tightly, it has just as much content, just shown at a break-neck speed with no leisurely credits or film clips.
2003 New Line DVD top; 2018 Warner Archives blu bottom.
Besides those extras, we get a roughly ten minute featurette on additional deleted footage. It's not just deleted scenes, as it also features on-camera interviews with Burr and Nicotero talking about what went wrong and why they didn't make the cut; but also includes the footage itself. And they include an alternate ending, which is interesting and quite different. It's hard to say which ending I prefer, actually; this one or the one they wound up including in the final film. They both have their pros and cons. And finally, they end with the famous trailer. Even if you usually skip the trailers, if you've never seen this one, be sure to check it out. It's wildly different from anything actually seen in the film. All the extras are in in the same SD condition as they were on the DVD except upconverted and happily, they corrected the interlacing. In fact, the trailer looks like it might've been genuinely restored in HD.
Ultimately, this is an extremely satisfying upgrade from Warner Archives, and I'm happy to finally put my old DVD to rest. Don't mourn the R-rated cut; it's just an inferior version of the film. And I doubt we'll see a triple-dip of this title for a very long time, so I'm quite confident recommending this edition, as well as TCM3 in general, assuming you go for this kind of film. _____________________
So okay, about this oval. I first noticed it being discussed in the blu-ray.com forums, and was a little concerned that I failed to notice something other members seemed to think was glaringly obvious. Now, some people like to immediately dismiss the credibility of members on an online forum, so how about a post with photographic evidence by one of the leaders of the industry, Don May, Jr? We've got to take this seriously. And if you want more oval photos, scroll through that blu-ray thread, and others have posted the same sighting, although frustratingly, they're all cell-phone photos of their screens/ projections, not proper screenshots.
So, like I said, I watched this film (initial watch on a 65" Sony 4k TV with a Samsung UBD-M8500, and then analyzed for PQ on my PC), and didn't notice a thing. That's kind of embarrassing. Otherreviewsaren'tmentioningiteither. But going back to the blu again, knowing about this oval, I still don't see anything. Some people are saying it's very subtle, or lowering their screen brightness got rid of it. So I'm taking some fresh screenshots - remember to click through to see them full size in complete resolution:
2018 Warner Archives blu.
For the first shot, I picked a super dark shot, so there wouldn't be much variant lighting to confuse the issue. And the last two shots are from the time-codes Don cites in the comments of his instagram post, so theoretically the oval is there. But is the oval there? It sure doesn't look like the photos people are posting. And for the record, my copy is not a "screener" disc (nobody ever sends me those... sigh) that might be different from what everybody else has; it's just a regular retail copy I ordered from Bullmoose.
It only gets more puzzling the deeper you dig into this. Check out this email reply from Warner Archives that another member posted on the blu-ray forums. They write, "We apologize for the inconvenience, I'll be honest I'm not sure if all
the copies have the same issue. I will request information so we can
send you a replacement, they can check the new copy before sent the
tittle[sic]." So, there are just some bad copies out there? That seems like it would be pretty unlikely, since we're talking about something that appears intrinsic to the disc's transfer. Certainly, my screenshots don't look like the photos people are posting (for instance, these). But wait. Let's crank up the gamma on one of my shots...
2018 Warner Archives blu with the gamma boosted by 5 in Paint Shop Pro.
There's the oval! Just where Don said it was. So yep, it's present on my copy, just like everybody else's. We're not talking about a bad batch here, so getting a replacement copy from Warners shouldn't help until they actually make a correction (hey, they could add the stereo mix while they're at it). I'm guessing its visibility is dependent on your television's calibration; and people using projectors may be getting it worse than everybody else. I spent a lot of time following online guides to adjust all the settings on my TV, and for me, the oval is invisible, which suggests how this got past Warner's QC. But obviously your mileage will vary depending on what type of set and player you've got. It's clearly actually there on the disc, so I hope Warner starts taking these concerns seriously, instead of just removing peoples' questions on Facebook. But if you're thinking of passing on this disc, bare in mind, most of us couldn't even find the oval after we heard about it, so it very well may not wind up being an issue for you at all.
Alright, From a Whisper To a Scream has been my most anticipated Scream Factory release of the year. Not of all time, mind you... after all, they did that amazing Nightbreedrestoration and gave special edition blu-rays to some DVD debuts like Terrorvision and Without Warning. But for 2015, this is the one I've been watching the calendar for; and man, I am not disappointed.
I wouldn't argue that this is the best film in their line-up, but I do have fond memories of it since the 80s when it was known as The Offspring. I originally rented it for a sleepover and it left an impression on me, so years later I kept trying to find that movie with the scene where the civil war era kids played pin-the-limb-on-the-corpse. That and the rat scene from Epitaph were two cinematic moments I was always telling my friends they had to see. But I could never quite remember the title. I know I rented Offerings and Burnt Offerings twice apiece because of that. I mean, it doesn't help that The Offspirng's title and box art really didn't match the film, making it look more like Village Of the Damned meets It's Alive. So I was pretty delighted when I checked out MGM's DVD just because it was an anthology horror film by Jeff Burr, and it turned out to be that film. This blu-ray already had that advantage going for it.
But it's a pretty neat film in its own right. Like I said, it's a horror anthology, a la Tales From the Crypt, but with updated blood and 80s sensibilities (for both good and ill). One of its appeals is certainly how ambitious it is. It's full of great, varied special effects and memorable sequences like the "pin the limb" scene. It has a diverse cast including Clu Gulagher, Cameron Mithcell, Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker's Susan Tyrrell and of course Vincent Price in his final horror film, unless you count Dead Heat. And, since the premise of the film is that the town historian of Oldfield is telling a reporter its gruesome past, each sequence of the anthology takes place in a different time period: the 80s, the 50s, the 30s and the 1860s. So it's not just a period piece, it's several. For a low budget independent film by a first-time director, that's especially impressive. And at the same time, it's clearly personal for Burr (in its production if not the content itself), which gives this film an extra resonance most of its peers lack. In other words, it's not a cynically made formula follower that panders to a lowly horror audience; it's a passion project.
Now, I see this movie get a surprising amount of flack for what a fun and creative venture it is. I guess I can think of a couple reasons for that... It's all played in a sort of broad, larger than life style, a la the old EC Comics stories. So I kinda get it when I hear "the acting sucks," but I also think that's kinda crazy. Like, the Gulaghers are great in this; they're just not playing 100% naturalism - but how can you not love their performances? Also, Vincent Price probably draws a lot of the wrong audience, expecting more of a gentler, old time-y kind of horror film. I get that. Scream Factory's put out two big Vincent Price Collection boxed sets, and they didn't include this, presumably because it really doesn't fit in tonally with his other work. If you're looking for another Raven, this isn't really the film for you... although Dr. Phibes is starting to get warmer.
But if you can get past those little hang-ups, I can't imagine many of Scream Factory's audience being disappointed by this. It never fails to deliver the goods.And my anticipation for this release was only somewhat based on the film itself. Honestly, when I saw the announcement last October, I thought I was "fine with my DVD for this one." I didn't get really excited until I heard what an awesome special edition they had lined up. So let's not waste any more time and delve. I've also got my old MGM DVD on hand so we can appreciate the differences.
Scream Factory's 2015 blu-ray on top; MGM's 2005 DVD below.
Whoa! Look how much better that looks. I figured this was just going to be one of those cases of Scream getting the same HD master MGM used for their DVD and just giving it the natural boost of being on blu, which would've been perfectly fine. The case doesn't mention a new scan or anything, but look at the colors, the crispness of the edges, the contrast. Maybe not a whole new scan, but somebody did something good with this transfer. And the detail is great; check out Clu's forehead in the first pair of shots. Not to get too personal, but you can see detail in the top picture there that's washed out of the second. Overall, this title feels like a bigger upgrade than a lot of other blu-rays taken from already high quality DVDs.
The flip side of MGM's 2005 DVD.
One little thing the DVD had going for it, though, is that it was a flipper disc. Yeah, I know you're thinking that's a bad thing, not a good one; but the point is it had an exclusive fullscreen transfer on the other side. And what's more, that version was open matte, so as you can see, it actually has a decent chunk more picture on the top and bottom. Of course, there's no question that the 1.85:1 transfer on the A-side and blu-ray is the preferred, correct and more attractive framing. But it at least gives the DVD a little, special curiosity value for the dedicated fan.
Less appealing is that dreadful "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR, WOULD YOU?" commercial that autoplays on both sides of the DVD. But that and the trailer are the only extras on MGM's release. Does Scream Factory top that? Oh boy howdy.
First of all, not to be outdone in even the slightest capacity, Scream has both the original theatrical trailer and an annoying autoplay commercial (this time for Shout TV). But now we really get to it. We have two audio commentaries, one by Jeff Burr and one with co-writers and producer Darin Scott and C. Courtney Joyner. Both are a lot of fun, full of very entertaining anecdotes about making this film, and they do a pretty good job of not stepping on each others' toes and repeating all the same stories. You'll be laughing, and yet they work on a dry informational level as well. There is an awkward gap right in the middle of the second commentary, where they took a break or something went wrong on a technical level for a couple minutes worth of dead air; but it's a minor quibble about a great feature.
Then we come to the documentaries. Return To Oldfield fills in every single possible bit you could want about this film, clocking in at just about two hours, making it longer than the feature film itself. All the surviving major players are on hand, even Clu Gulagher and a vintage interview with Cameron Mitchell. When they come to the civil war segment, even a couple of the original children turn up. The second documentary is a little shorter but still feature length, and is all about the humble beginnings of Burr and other local filmmakers as they grew up making super 8 films from youth to college. It's really involved with a surprising amount of participants, including their parents, childhood friends and high school teachers, but it's also more than a little self-indulgent. It's upbeat and cheery, but by the hour mark, you're really starting to ask yourself if you care at all about all these amateur super 8 films made by children you've never heard of. It does set up From a Whisper To a Scream, though, as the ultimate culmination of that journey detailed in this documentary, like he's finally made the ultimate Super 8 movie... on 35mm.
And there are a couple other odds and ends. If you're like me and usually skip the stills galleries, still check this one out. It features a video introduction by Burr and he narrates the rest. So it's actually a neat little featurette that runs over ten minutes. Then there are some extra TV spots that advertise the film as The Offspring; and Scream has included some really cool reversible cover art with the original Offspring title (yes on the spine, too) and poster.
This is a film I really wouldn't have ever expected to see a special edition for. I think we just got lucky that Joyner'sDaniel Griffith's Ballyhoo Productions [Oops! Minor correction: see the first comment below] was already regularly making extras for Shout's MST3K sets and stuff; so they already had him "in house" when they acquired his film amongst MGM's massive catalog. So hopefully this blu-ray brings some new fans to this film, because it's a good time, and now looks better than ever.
