We Watched... We Waited... Now Our Time Has Come. Lifeforce, the Director's Cut in 4k!

Lifeforce has a hell of a pedigree.  It's a script by Dan O'Bannon, adapting Colin Wilson's novel Space Vampires, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.  For Cannon, this was their entry into blockbuster budgeted special effects epics meant to compete with the likes of Star Wars and Krull.  For Hooper, this was his homage to Hammer; the kind of film they'd be making had they still been making them in the 80s.  In terms of box office, this movie wasn't such a success, but in terms of what's up on the screen, I'd say both parties pulled off exactly what they were going for.  This is the Hammer summer tent-pole release that never was.  It stars Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter, Trick Or Treats), Peter Firth (Equus, Northanger Abbey), Patrick Stewart and most iconically, Mathilda May.  The effects are lead by Star Wars' own John Dykstra and there's an amazing score by Henry Mancini and The London Symphony Orchestra.  In short, it's a blast.

Significantly, there are two cuts of this film: the theatrical cut and the international cut.  The latter is over fifteen minutes longer, with many alternate shots and takes.  I recommend movie-censorship.com's detailed break-down if you really want to study the differences.  Now, calling the longer version the International version can be misleading, implying that it's an extended alternate cut, sure, but maybe excessively lengthy or extended arbitrarily.  One need only dip your toes into the film's many special features (more on them later) to hear that this is unquestionably the director's cut.  It's the whole crew's preferred cut.  The distributors (Trimark) took the film away from the filmmakers, and even Cannon, and cut it down against everybody's wishes.  They also changed the title from the novel-accurate Space Vampires, though some of the crew concede that may've been a wiser choice.

The original Vestron laserdisc of Lifeforce was a cropped, fuzzy 1:33 presentation of the theatrical cut that barely felt better than watching a VHS, so it was a big deal when MGM introduced the director's cut in 2.35:1 in 1995.  And it's that second laser that MGM carried over to DVD back in 1998.  Unfortunately, as you could probably guess of a disc that old, it was non-anamorphic; and all of these discs were barebones.  They reissued it on DVD in 2005, and I copped it at the time hoping for an upgrade, but sadly the actual contents of the disc were the same.  So it was a big deal when Scream Factory and Arrow released special editions of both cuts in 2013.  I went with Arrow because they had more extras, and their steelbook retained the original poster art.  And when the film was remastered in 4k, both companies released it again.

But I figured a proper 4k disc would be coming around the corner soon enough, and predictably, Scream released an actual UHD release in 2022.  But what's this?  They only put the theatrical cut on 4k?  Yes, it's proven to be one in a long, infuriating line of Scream Factory cheaping out on their 4k editions (see also: Army of Darkness, Exorcist III, Night Of the Creeps, etc).  I understand times are tough and budgets can't be unlimited, but I'm sure not gonna pay for a UHD when the only version I'm ever going to watch is still BD-only!  So I kept the faith in Arrow and sure enough, now in 2025, they've released both cuts in true Ultra 4k HD via their latest 2-disc limited edition.  It even has some more, new extras.

1) 2005 MGM DVD; 2) 2013 arrow BD; 3) 2025 Arrow UHD.

Well, the back of the MGM case says it's 2.35:1, but it's actually 2.42:1, cropping a little more around the edges than Arrow's actual 2.35 discs.  But it's really the non-anamorphic part that makes it unacceptable now, even by SD standards.  Also, whoops!  Is the DVD missing a red filter for the early space tunnel sequence?  Lifeforce was released in 70mm, so it's primed to benefit from the higher resolution of a UHD than almost any other movie actually shot on film.  And that bears out.  Besides just much better encoded film grain, the UHD has more real detail.  Like, you can read the word "MEDICAL" on the doctor's badge in the first set of shots on the UHD, but not the DVD or BD, where you can't even make out the semblance of letters.

Arrow's new booklet keys us into some interesting facts about their image.  Specifically, that they're using Scream's transfer for the theatrical cut, which was scanned from the original 35mm negative (yes, the film was shot in 35 and blown up for 70mm prints... so I guess the increased detail is actually just the natural benefit of a fresh 4k scan) in HDR10/ Dolby Vision.  But then Arrow restored the international cut in 2024 by scanning a 35mm interpositive in 4k and compositing that in on their own.  So most of this is the 2022 transfer with newly scanned IP footage spliced in.  Above, I took the first set of shots from the theatrical cut and the second is a shot only in the international cut.  I have to say, I never spotted the seams in motion, but zooming into the footage on PC, the grain is definitely less defined.  You can barely make any out in that last screenshot, which is also true of the older blu.  So yeah, the difference in quality is there, but I can't imagine using it as an excuse not to release the composite cut in 4k.

For the audio, MGM just gave us a 5.1 mix (obviously not original for a 1985 movie) with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.  In 2013, Arrow preserved that 5.1 mix in lossless DTS-HD, but also gave us the original stereo in LPCM, with just the English subs.  For the record, Scream did the same with their release, except their 2.0 was also DTS-HD.  Anyway, now in 2025, Arrow keeps both of those tracks (and subs) but also adds a third Dolby Atmos mix, which was apparently also made (for the theatrical cut) by Scream.  Then Arrow went ahead and produced their own Dolby Atmos mix for the International cut as well.

MGM started us off with the bare minimum special features: an equally non-anamorphic trailer and an insert booklet with notes.  It's Scream Factory and Arrow who brought the extras to the table, and many were the same across their dual releases.  For starters, both have audio commentaries with Hooper (excellent despite his moderator constantly cutting him off) and effects artist Nick Maley, who worked more on the make-up side of the effects.  Both also have three excellent on-camera interviews with Hooper, Railsback (a little short) and Mathilda May.  Seriously, if you're only willing to spend a little bit of time with Lifeforce, just watch these.  Then there's the trailer and some TV spots.

Scream Factory also, briefly, had one other extra: a vintage half-hour documentary called The Making Of..... Lifeforce.  I say "briefly" because, apparently Shout Factory assumed they had the rights to this along with the film itself, but apparently they didn't and got in trouble for it, so they had to re-issue the disc with this removed.  Only people who pre-ordered or scored very early copies have the version with this doc on it, which is a shame, because it's excellent.  Unlike every other extra for this film, including on future releases, this is full of behind-the-scenes footage.  It has quick interviews with the cast and crew on location, including some not otherwise interviewed on any Lifeforce release, but more important is all the impressive footage of the amazing giant sets, explosions and scores of extras running around in "walking shriveled" make-up.  I'd be even more bothered by the loss of this doc, however, if it hadn't already been released on laserdisc, not as an extra for the film, but as its own release.  It's The Making Of..... Lifeforce on one side, and The Making Of..... Invaders From Mars (the Hooper remake, natch) on the other.  It's a shame neither Scream nor Arrow could make a deal to include this on any of their releases, but at least it's out there.

So, anyway, that wraps it up for Scream Factory's extras.  It also came with reversible artwork, a slipcover, and a poster if you pre-ordered directly from Shout.  But Arrow had more.  First off, they've got a third commentary with effects artist Douglas Smith, who did more of the outer space visuals.  This one's a little dry (the moderator is full of "CGI just doesn't feel as real as physical effects" observations that plagued every commentary from that time), but Smith has some good memories fans will enjoy hearing.  And they've got an original feature-length retrospective documentary.  It's often redundant if you've watched the other extras, but there's also some candid talk (i.e. about drug use on set) that nobody got into in other features, and some cast and crew members nobody else got to talk to them, so it's definitely worth your time.  Arrow also has an isolated music and effects track (in LPCM stereo) nobody else included.  Their release also included a 28-page booklet by Bill Warrens and a slipcover, though as I already mentioned, their alternate steelbook release looks much better for using the iconic original artwork.

That's been the whole story for extras until now.   Arrow's and Scream Factory's respective 2017 and 2018 remastered editions didn't include any new extras, nor does Scream's 2022 UHD.  But now in 2025, yes, Arrow has included some new stuff.  First of all, there's over 45-minutes of never before released interviews with Hooper and several other crew members shot for the 2014 Cannon Films documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films.  Hooper in particular repeats a lot of anecdotes we've heard already, but there's new stuff here, too, particularly (as you'd expect) involving their working relationship with Golan and Globus.  And there's a new, roughly fifteen minute comparison between the theatrical and television versions of Lifeforce[above], which uses several alternate shots and other edits to make it broadcast safe.  They've also thrown in the original credits sequence without the text covering it.  This release includes a new, completely different 24-page booklet by Frank Collins, an art-card for Bastard Swordsman from their recent 'Shawscope Volume 3' boxed set, reversible artwork and a slipcover... though disappointingly, they've ditched the original artwork again.

That all adds up to Arrow's 2-disc UHD set easily being the definitive edition.  I hope you held out and didn't get suckered in my Scream's edition.  And I hope fans support this superior release, and it in turn helps nudge Scream into putting all of their films' versions onto UHD, not just the theatrical cuts.  Let's reverse this depressing trend.  More sales of a higher quality product ought to win out over cutting corners to save a few bucks.

The One and Only True Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Well, gee, somehow I've done all the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, even "Part 5," but not the original original.  Some of those other films are cool (The Beginning, 3D and 2017's Leatherface?  Not so much), but Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel's 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a legit horror classic; a great film that holds up perfectly to this day.  So we're going to correct this egregious oversight.  From Pioneer's non-anamorphic DVD to Turbine's UHD, this is THE Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Update 2/28/20 - 5/31/23: This kind of reminds me of when Blue Underground said there was no point in releasing Shock Waves on blu because it was 16mm, so it wouldn't benefit from being upgraded to HD.  Of course, years later, their eventual blu wound up looking observably better than the DVD.  After Turbine's TCM UHD sans-HDR, fan demand has lead to new 4k Ultra HD discs with it.  Do they similarly disprove the notion that this low budget 16mm wouldn't benefit from it?  Let's take a look!

Every time I rewatch this one, I'm surprised how strong every element of this film is.  The performances, the production design, the music, the writing, the editing and direction are all so damn good.  This isn't just effective because it got in early and managed to shock audiences before they were desensitized; this is an excellently crafted films made by virtual amateurs that all the major studios consistently fail to match, decade after decade.  A genuine masterpiece.

Chain Saw is, I suppose, the next step after Psycho: a disturbing film that takes loose, tabloid-esque inspiration from true crime horror and turns it into twisted psychological theater.  Both films capture mental illnesses in a more raw, realistic film than any of their peers and mix it up with an over-the-top exploitative thrill ride.  And both famously pushed the envelope of what was acceptable to put on screen; the difference is that decades later, Hitchcock's shock pieces now feel quaint, whereas most horror even today is afraid to go as far as Hooper went.  But they wind up closer together than further apart, since both are more than capable of standing up as compelling art pieces once you get past their initial shock value.  They're great twisted tales.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre debuted on DVD back in 1998, with a barebones, non-anamorphic DVD from Pioneer.  They re-released it in 2003 with new artwork, but it was the same disc, which is the first one we'll be looking at here.  Then Dark Sky got the rights, remastered the film and proper, 2-disc special edition in 2006.  We've got that one, too.  They put that same transfer on blu in 2008, but they replaced that with an even more loaded 40th Anniversary edition blu with a 4k remaster in 2014, which we've also got on hand.  And in the US, that's still the definitive edition.  They've re-issued it multiple times, in limited steelbooks, Best Buy and FYE exclusives, and even a special 5-disc set that comes in a box shaped like the truck from the film's finale, but it's all basically that same 40th edition.  In Germany, however, Turbine took it one step farther, giving us the 4k master in actual 4k with a BD/ UHD combo-pack in 2016.  That 3-disc set was later repackaged as a steelbook release in 2019, which we'll be looking at here.  And most recently, it's been remastered, again in 4k, but this time with HDR.  It was released in the US by Dark Sky, Germany by Turbine (yes, again) and the UK be Second Light, the last of which I've got for us today.

1) 2003 Pioneer DVD; 2) 2006 Dark Sky DVD; 3) 2014 Dark Sky BD;
4) 2019 Turbine BD; 5) 2019 Turbine UHD; 6) 2023 Second Sight UHD.

Pioneer's DVD insert describes their initial release as a "letterboxed high-definition SuperScan... painstakingly restored from the original 16mm ECO negatives."  Unfortunately, compressed into non-anamorphic 520x300 resolution, it's hard to appreciate that.  It's soft and riddled with compression noise, which is only worsened by the fact that it's interlaced.  It's also missing some picture along the left, because they've framed it at an unusual 1.72:1, which Dark Sky restores to 1.78:1.  They also make an interesting point about the film's colors and levels saying that the look they're presenting was "redesigned to reflect Hooper's original vision of higher contrast images and color. The hot sun now casts an amber hue upon the dry Texas landscape."  So, looking at the different color timings above, this makes me guess that the Dark Sky DVD might be the most authentic scan of the elements, but the warmer tones and yellower skies of the other editions might be Hooper's preference?

At any rate, this film was shot on 16mm, which means detail is inherently low, and so there's some question how useful higher-def presentations are.  Well, one look at the DVD makes it obvious that the original DVD isn't high enough.  But the gains going from the Dark Sky DVD to the BDs and eventually to the UHD are more subtle.  Every iteration after the first has more detail and life to the image.  But even looking at the Dark Sky DVD, it's clearly softer, with the film grain just semi-visible as smoothed over blotches.  Despite being just 16, the new 4k scan really is a beautiful upgrade.  If you're still holding onto a DVD thinking this film doesn't need an upgrade, think again.  But how about the UHD?  It has no HDR and uses the same 4k master, so the only real distinction is in the still higher resolution disc.  And there the difference really is hard to spot on first glance.

2014 Dark Sky BD left; 2019 Turbine UHD right.

It is there, though.   Well, first of all, they also matte their UHD (but not their blu-ray) to a slightly tighter 1.85:1.  But moving beyond that, if you get in real close, you can see areas on the blus where individual specks of grain are unresolved, and we get tiny macroblocks.  Even the UHD does if you really scour, but much less and more grain is more clearly defined.  But are you ever going to see this in motion?  I'm going to say probably not, especially if you don't have a huge TV.  But you might get a less direct sense of watching something more authentically filmic.  To put it in real terms, yes, the UHD is the best edition and objectively superior to the blu.  But if you've got a blu, I'd say it's a very slim upgrade, and just in terms of PQ, should be a low priority upgrade.

And the new Dolby Vision/ HDR10 version?  Well, first of all, the Second Sight shots will, like any HDR shot, look darker on an SD display.  But viewed on a proper HD screen, I'd say the colors look a little more saturated, particularly in the reds, but not much.  It's still 1.85:1 with virtually identical framing (it shifts about one pixel's worth to the right).  Grain is slightly better captured now, especially in areas like the sky of the first set of shots, or the orange reflector, where it's washed out on the Turbine.  This gives it a slightly sharper look.  And actually, some film damage has been cleaned up (note the spot on the van door, for example, above the front handle, that's present on the Turbine but not the SS in the second set of shots).  Most viewers probably won't notice the difference outside of a direct comparison like this, so I'm not sure if the distinction is important, but it is there.  For the record, Second Sight has the best transfer.

As far as audio, the original DVDs used the original audio elements "to create a digitally remastered stereo surround soundtrack."  They had no subtitle options.  Dark Sky, then and went and recovered the original mono track... but, it turned out, with a few sound effects missing.  They also included the newer stereo mix as well as their own 5.1 mix.  And yes, they created optional English and Spanish subtitles.  For their 40th blu, then, they kept all three sound mixes and also made a newer 7.1 mix, in lossless DTS-HD and LPCM, and kept the subtitles.  Because the mono track was flawed, though, they replaced it with a downmix of their 7.1 track, which made things less authentic, not more.  In the Turbine set, we get mono, stereo and 7.1 in DTS-HD, plus newer Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D 13.1 mixes.  It's a bit of overkill, but as you'll soon see, that's the name of the game with that set.  They also have four versions of the German track, plus optional English and German subs.  And finally, Second Sight has the original mono in LPCM, a Dolby Atmos mix and English subtitles.

The extras for this film just keep getting to the point of being overwhelming, but happily, not too redundant. The original DVDs basically bring us the extras package from the Elite laserdisc: a great audio commentary by Hooper, Gunnar Hansen and cinematographer Daniel Pearl, a brief featurette on the sets and props, deleted/ alternate scenes, a brief gag reel, and a bunch of trailers, TV spots and stills galleries.  Then Dark Sky kept all of that but added a bunch more including a second audio commentary by stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger and infamous production designer Robert A. Burns, which is more of a light-hearted chatty affair.  They also include a brief featurette where Hansen revisits the house they filmed in and two feature length documentaries.  The first, The Shocking Truth, made by Blue Underground, is still the definitive, over-all TCM doc.  Then the second, Flesh Wounds, made by Red Shirt's Michael Felsher, seems deliberately designed to compliment the other pre-existing special features, and present only new, additional info about TCM rather than retelling all the stories and anecdotes from the other docs and commentaries.  That helps a lot.  Dark Sky's DVD set also includes additional outtakes from The Shocking Truth, some additional bonus trailers, and came in a cool steelbook.

For their 40th Anniversary blu-ray, Dark Sky kept everything and also cooked up a few more nice treats.  There're two additional audio commentaries, including a new Hooper one, where the director of Shocking Truth quizzes him for for the few remaining niggling answers he's been left wondering over the years, and an interesting crew commentary by Pearl, editor J. Larry Carroll and sound recordist Ted Nicolaou.  During their new 4k scan, they uncovered some more deleted scenes and outtakes, different from the ones already released on the DVDs, though most are without sound.  And they conducted new, on-camera interviews with actress Teri McMinn, who up 'till now had never participated in TCM interviews and such, "grandpa" actor John Dugan, J. Carroll and production manager Ron Bozman.  Felsher did these as well, and they again seemed specifically designed to fill in the gaps of the existing Chain Saw coverage, which I really appreciate.  Plus they add some vintage radio spots.  Also, if you bought the limited edition "Black Maria" version, the one in truck packaging, you got an additional bonus disc that consists of an hour long discussion between Hooper and William Friedkin.

Teri McMinn happily rejoins the family.

And Turbine?  Happily, they also retain all the legacy extras we've covered so far, except for that exclusive Hooper/ Friedkin talk.  And they add some more, too.  There's an isolated music and effects track, in DTS-HD 7.1, and a brief featurette that compares key scenes from the original film to the 2003 remake, which is more valuable if you don't already own the remake.  Even better, they include the Horror's Hallowed Grounds TCM episode, which blows the old house tour featurette away (although that's still on here, too).  And best of all, they include the original TCM documentary: 1988's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait, which specifically interviews all the cast members who played members of the killer family.  And is most valuable because that includes Jim Siedow, who passed away before he could be included in most of the other TCM special features.

Now, I read on DVDCompare that on the Turbine release, "'A Family Portrait' is in a mix of German and English audio, with German subtitles for the English portions," which is correct, so I hung onto my 2000 MTI Home Video DVD.  But, while that quote did turn out to be true, it's misleading by omission since Turbine also includes a second audio track of the complete, original English audio.  That German/ English mix thing is just a second, alternate language option for German audiences we English natives don't need to bother with.  Oh and yes, both are the extended "Revisited" version.  I don't think there's any way to get the original version, which was originally actually ten minutes longer and included an interview with Chief Gorehound #1 Chas Balun, outside of the original VHS release.  So yeah, there's no reason to hang onto the separate DVD, unless... the picture quality's any better on the blu?

1) 2000 MTI DVD; 2) 2019 Turbine BD.

Nope, it's just the same.  The film was shot on video tape, so there's no real room to grow.  MTI released this as a standalone on blu (or BD-R, strictly speaking) in 2016 and caught a lot of flack for the PQ, but it's not like there was a negative to go back to or anything.  Anyway, the discs aren't 100% identical.  They're both fullscreen, of course, but the DVD is 1.32:1 while the blu is slightly wider at 1.36:1.  That's partially because Turbine cropped the bar of random video noise along the bottom edge, and but it's also a teensy bit squished, which the blu corrects.  Both versions are interlaced and soft to the point of downright blurriness, which again I'm sure goes right back to the original tapes, but the colors are slightly, like 1%, more robust and attractive.  So not only is the quality of the stand-alone not any preferable, it's actually a smidgen better on Turbine's release.  And there are no extras apart from a couple trailers; so go ahead and chuck those DVDs, kids.

When you look at the massive list of extras that've piled up over the decades, it can look overwhelming and you'll probably be tempted to skim through a lot, if not skip things completely.  But it's all surprisingly watchable as a massive whole.  Sure, you'll hear a few of the most famous anecdotes two or three times.  But in general, it all works well together.  The only little one I'd recommend maybe jumping over is the house tour, since the Hallowed Grounds and two documentaries also revisit the same house.  Some talk to different people - Flesh Wounds talks to the head of the TCM fan club and Hallowed Grounds talks to one of the owners who's embraced the fanbase coming to visit the home - so they all feel fresh and original.  But one of the docs even uses footage from the Gunnar house tour featurette, so that's really the one you can save yourself a few minutes by passing over.

And Second Sight's new set?  It's equally stacked.  Almost everything that's on the Turbine is carried over, but not absolutely everything.  Lost, unfortunately, is Family Portrait, the newer set of silent deleted scenes, the brief blooper/ outtake reel and that little comparison video between this and the remake.  And no, this doesn't have that Friedkin/ Henkel interview either - that seems to be a tightly held Dark Sky exclusive.  But Second Sight has come up with a bunch of new stuff, actually making this release flusher than ever.

First of all, there's a new audio commentary by experts Amanda Reyes and Bill Ackerman, who do a pretty good job of finding eclectic information to add that hasn't already been covered by the slew of pre-existing extras.  They're pretty high energy and fun to listen to, too.  Then there's an all new, feature-length documentary called The Legacy Of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  This one focuses on critics and other filmmakers rather than participants of the original film, again I believe it's because they were conscious of not just repeating what the other extras already cover... and they do an okay job.  A lot of this is just sharing uninteresting "I was _ years old when I saw Chain Saw"-style memories and obvious opinions, but they got some interesting people, including the co-directors of the 2013 remake.  It's borderline: an easy one to skip if you've already watched a ton of TCM features, but perfectly watchable if you've still got the patience.

There's also a new video essay by critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, which is honestly kind of weak.  Apparently she's written a book about masks in horror films, so she's hear to talk about masks in TCM; but it's just a few minutes long, so it feels like she's just briefly outlining the basic fundamentals before it's already over.  They should've given her more time to really dig into some of the more interesting ideas that are presumably found in her book or just skipped it.  More rewarding are two vintage on-camera interviews with Hooper and Henkel, which are extended pieces from their interviews in Shocking Truth.  More Henkel is always a boon.

If you sprung for their limited edition, you also got a hefty 190-page hardcover book, six art cards and a slipcase, plus blu-ray copies of the film and extras.  Or you can just get the single UHD edition, which includes all of the on-disc extras, but none of the swag.

So, does this crazy, old 16mm film need a 4k Ultra HD edition with HDR?  Well, there's no doubt Second Sight's latest transfer is the best yet.  But even coupled with the new special features, fans might question if it's reason enough to re-buy this film once again.  I mean, definitely if you still have the old Pioneer DVD or something.  But otherwise, it depends if you're just one of those people who needs to have the absolute best version of this film in heir collection.  It turns out I was.  Of course, it helps that it's a masterpiece.

The Ultimate Buzz! Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 from Vinegar Syndrome

Man, I've resisted buying another copy of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 for a long time. I used to own it on VHS, but skipped the fullscreen laserdisc from Image. But I couldn't resist 1996 special edition from Elite with the 10 minutes of completely insane deleted footage, including Joe Bob Briggs and Leatherface slaughtering a parking garage full of sports fans. Happy with the Elite laser, I had no interest in MGM's initial 2000 DVD, which was barebones and non-anamorphic. But then I got pulled back in for their 2006 "Gruesome Edition," which included a feature length documentary and two new audio commentaries. That was it, though. I didn't get their 2012 blu-ray or Arrow's 2013 special edition with a couple new interviews and Tobe Hooper's early films. But Scream Factory has pulled me back in with this awesome, new 2-disc set. This is really it now.

Update 4/2/16 - 11/2/22: Well, go ahead and throw your old discs off the Prairie Dell Matterhorn, because Vinegar Syndrome has just released a brand new, 3-disc BD/ 4k Ultra HD combo with a brand new 4k restoration and more extras than you can handle.

If you haven't seen it, you're really missing something. Chainsaw 2 sees Hooper returning to direct the ultimate gonzo follow-up to his original. It stars Dennis Hopper as a cop who might be nuttier than Leatherface's cannibalistic family. To give you an idea: he decides the only way to go after them is to buy a couple chainsaws of his own and massacre them via their own methods. The family now live in a secret underground lair beneath a civil war theme park, and use their victims to make prize-winning chili. If this is starting to sound like a screwball parody, well maybe it is in a slightly subversive way; but it still plays things straight and manages to be even darker and more disturbing than the original. Caroline Williams' ordeal in this film is downright harrowing, and with Tom Savini now on board for the special effects, the gruesome splatter is out of control.

Like the original, this film is definitely not going to appeal to everyone, running off potential viewers for all of the same reasons and then some. Even serious horror fans might be put off by the schizophrenic tone of this film. And wait till you see the deleted scenes, which would've taken the film in an entirely different direction. You can tell the filmmakers were having a hard time deciding exactly what this film was going to be. But I like that about it. It's genuinely crazy, not some slick polished studio B-film that sticks to a formula, like some of the later films. This one is both the most out there, and also so faithful to the first that it begins to feel like a remake rather than a sequel. Sorta like Evil Dead 2. I mean, once they decided to have another psychotic dinner sequence, where a victim is tied to a chair and forced to dine with the family's corpse-like grandpa, it set a tradition that every Chainsaw sequel was going to have to feature this scene. ...Well, except the remakes, but we all know what the true last sequel is.

But come on, you can't deny that Hopper is a great leading man for a horror film, or that Bill Moseley delivers an utterly unforgettable performance as the iconic Chop Top. Scenes like the opening highway attack show that Hooper is a truly talented filmmaker rather than the one hit wonder he's sometimes written off as. The soundtrack's terrific - the opening credits remind me of Funhouse, which is a very good thing - Savini's effects are of course fantastic, and the production design is really something to see. And it's impossible to be bored by a story too insane to ever really be sure what you're going to see next.

Unfortunately for this review, I don't have my old laserdisc anymore. The 2006 DVD pretty much rendered it redundant. But I've got that DVD right here. Oh, and Scream Factory's new 2-disc set actually features two transfers: a brand new 2k scan of the interpositive, and the original HD master that the previous blu-rays used. That's an unusual decision, suggesting maybe both transfers are compromised and they're giving us the choice of which to take, like Arrow's restoration of Nightmare City. But thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the situation this time. Cliff MacMillan of Scream Factory has publicly explained (with a little additional extrapolation by myself) that essentially their new transfer is the new best, but they've retained the older one for completists since Hooper approved, and his DP supervised, that one. That's reassuring, but still, it's even better to have the guesswork taken off the table completely, thanks to Vinegar Syndrome giving us a new, definitive edition with a fresh 4k scan of the original camera negative on both BD and UHD.

1) MGM 2006 DVD; 2) SF 2016 original BD; 3) SF updated 2k scan BD.

Alright, let's start with the older discs. Unsurprisingly, the color timing of the older BD scan is closer to the DVD, although it's not the same master just tossed onto an HD blu-ray disc. Quick evidence of that is the white spec on the right-hand side of the building in second screenshot in the final set (you might need to enlarge it to full size to see it), which is not only cleaned up on the new scan, but not even on the old DVD's transfer. And yes, I checked every frame just in case I'm off by one frame; no such speck ever appears on the DVD. But still, it's basically like Scream's original master is an HD version of the MGM DVD, with a warmer tone and the new 2k scan having slightly cooler colors.  Another interesting detail: the older DVD is 1.78:1, while both blu transfers are slightly matted to 1.85:1. The framing is slightly different across all three, but it's slim enough that the only thing you'd really be able to catch outside of direct comparisons like this is the bit of extra picture on the top and bottom of the DVD.

SF's 2016 original blu left, and their new 2k scan right.

So between the Scream Factory blus, the finer points and edges are a little clearer on the new scan, although both are pretty solid in terms of detail and getting down to the grain. But everything's just a little clearer on the new one. The wires going off the top of the roof in the third set of shots disappear less into the sky, for example. A more substantial difference, though, is in the shadows. A lot more detail is brought to view in the new scan where it's just flattened to solid black in the older scan. Okay, I probably could've chosen a more exciting shot to from the film to make this example of, but look at the detail of the leaves above. You can see so much more in the new scan on the right than the left where... I don't like to throw the phrase "black crush" around too loosely, but that's essentially what we've got a very mild case of in the old transfer. I actually might prefer the color timing of the older version slightly (although the whites are truer in the new scan... look at the cop cars in the first set of shots), but it doesn't outweigh how much better the new scan looks overall.

4) VS 2022 BD; 5) VS 2022 UHD.

Vinegar Syndrome's new restoration is still in 1.85:1, but pulls back to reveal slightly more picture along all four sides.  It's also decidedly sharper (even their BD), with more finely captured grain.  Although there is one slight quirk: the very top of the image - less than 1/100th of the total height - is a lot softer, with grain smoothed away.  It's on the BD and the UHD.  I don't think you'd ever notice it in motion, so it never rises to the level of distraction; but you see it in screenshots and it is a little peculiar.  Anyway, SF's transfer was very nice for its time, so VS's killer scan may not be as obviously vastly superior as you'd expect, especially since they used an IP instead of the OCN.  But there's no doubt VS has a tighter scan, stronger encode, and yes, nicer colors, especially with the HDR.  The crazy colors of the underground lair really suck you in, but even the early Texan daylight scenes look more natural... for example, don't the cops' lips look overly pink on the older discs?  And of course, VS doesn't have the black crush of SF's older transfer.

Vinegar Syndrome just has one audio option, the only one you need, the original stereo mix in DTS-HD.  Scream gives us the choice between DTS-HD 5.1 and DTS-HD 2.0 Surround tracks on both versions, which is nice. I don't care at all about the 5.1 remix, and I'm 100% fine with VS having dropped it, but it was nice of SF to have hung onto it. All three releases also have optional English subtitles. The DVD only had a Dolby 2.0 track, but it also has a French dub and Spanish & French subtitles.

Now, the MGM Gruesome Edition was already pretty well covered in the extras department. It had two audio commentaries: one by Tobe Hooper and moderator David Gregory (who directed Lost Souls, as well as a ton of DVD documentaries, including several Chainsaw ones) and another by Bill Moseley, Caroline Williams, Tom Savini, and moderator Michael Felsher. It also featured the excellent and thorough, full-length documentary, It Runs In the Family, plus the infamous and essential deleted scenes. It also had the trailer, a photo gallery and included a simple insert. Really, that's all any film really needs.

But of course Scream Factory is going to top that. They bring over everything I just listed from the DVD, though unfortunately, the deleted scenes are still sourced from the same low-quality workprint tape they've always been [pictured, left]. Every time this film gets released, I cross my fingers that original film materials of that footage will be found, but it hasn't worked yet. But it's hard to get too bogged down in that when they've brought us so many new features, including a third audio commentary, this time by crew members Richard Kooris the DP, Mrs. Kooris the script supervisor, production designer Cary White, and property master Michael Sullivan. Then, oh gosh, let's see. Like I said, everything from the DVD is back, including the documentary It Runs In the Family. But this blu set also has thirty minutes of additional material from that doc - extras of extras! And there's almost 45 minutes worth of behind-the-scenes footage from Chainsaw 2 itself.

There's a substantial collection of fresh on-camera interviews with makeup effects artists Bart Mixon, Gabe Bartalos, Gino Crognale and John Vulich, actors Chris Douridas and Barry Kinyon (the two infamous kids in from the highway kill - it's a kick to hear from them again), editor Alain Jakubowicz and Leatherface actor/ stuntman Bob Elmore. Elmore was also interviewed on the Arrow blu, but this is not the same one; this is new. We get another episode of Horror's Hallowed Grounds for this film, too, which I always love. We also get two trailers and seven TV spots, plus this set comes with reversible artwork and a slipcover. If you order direct from Scream, they throw in an 18"x24" poster [pictured, right], which matches the slipcover artwork.

And VS's extras?  Oh boy, strap yourself in for a month-long marathon.  First of all, I'm happy to report, everything from the MGM and Scream Factory releases are carried over.  All of it.  Though, no, the deleted scenes still aren't sourced from anything better than that ratty old workprint tape.  But that's not all.  VS have also brought in the Stephen Thrower interview that had previously been exclusive to the Arrow blu.  And they've licensed over 40-minutes of never before seen footage interviewing Hooper and co-producer Cynthia Hargrave shot for the Electric Boogaloo documentary.

That alone would make it a definitive collection of special features, but VS have also conducted an entire additional disc's worth of on-camera interviews.  We get Tom Savini (it seems like some audio is missing from this feature, but we hear everything Savini is saying, so it's no biggie), Caroline Williams (over half an hour), effects artist Gabe Bartalos, effects artist Barton Mixon, Bill Johnson (who played Leatherface whenever Elmore wasn't), Kirk Sisco, and Barry Kinyon.  Plus, there's another new featurette called Beneath the Battle Land: Remembering the Lair that pulls more from their interviews with Williams, Kinyon, Johnson and Sisco.  Yes, it's often redundant taken in conjunction with the preexisting extras.  Only Sisco (who plays the detective Hopper talks to on the highway) is a new subject that wasn't included in the doc or other interviews.  But these new interviews do allow most of their subjects to get more in-depth, especially those who'd only appeared in the documentary previously.  You can't say VS didn't go the extra mile.  They recorded a fourth audio commentary, too, this time with expert Patrick Bromley, who does quite a good job, though he does struggle with the fact that, after all of these special features, there isn't much left for him to say that we haven't already heard.  That was already a problem on the SF set: you'd keep hearing the same anecdotes about how they used real skeletons ordered from India, for example, over and over until you wanted to become a skeleton yourself.  These new extras add even more repetition, which can make this set a bit of a grind.  But there is new info and insight to be gleaned, too, if you're prepared to dig through it all.

Vinegar Syndrome has released this set as a limited edition (although at 10,000 copies, I wouldn't let FOMO drive you into a panic) exclusive to their website, with a hard case and slipcover.  Or you can get it without, in just a plain black amary case.  Both versions have reversible artwork.

So the DVD rendered the laserdisc obsolete, the Blu-rays rendered the DVD obsolete, and now the UHD has rendered all that came before it obsolete.  Although the Arrow is still worth it if you're interested in Hooper's early works.  But otherwise, this is all the TCM2 you'll ever need.  The film is a blast, and so is Vinegar Syndrome's release.  Truly impressive.