DVD & BluRay

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: SPECIAL EDITION

Second Sight, cert 18; Bluray, 2-disc set £15.99

Fans of gory movies have been getting a buzz out of this blood-soaked horror since it first sent viewers fleeing from cinemas in 1974.

There have been better scary movies before and since Chainsaw, but people are pre-programmed to be shocked and wait anxiously for the vroom, vroom sound as villain of the piece, Leatherface (because of his hideous mask) revs up his fearsome saw. The storyline’s simple, and the characters (er, victims more like) are thinly developed. I have doubts about the narrated claim that it’s based on fact too. So here you have it, five teenagers in a camper van pick up a dodgy, insanely giggling hitchhiker and dump him out after he tries to slash a disabled member of the group. Just wait until they meet the rest of his loving family! After visiting a creepy old deserted house and failing to spot some sinister clues regarding the occupants, one of the guys heads to a farmhouse nearby to borrow some petrol… and disappears inside. When his girlfriend goes looking for him she vanishes too. Then the camera takes us inside and it’s a hair-raising scene of weird relics and altars hewn from human bones. The bodies of captured victims hang from meat hooks. The family has a roadside barbecue stand nearby, but I think I’d avoid their burgers! The big question is, will anybody get out of this alive as they’re picked off one by one? This new twodisc edition features a restored version of the film, a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack, audio commentaries and an interview with writer-director Tobe Hooper.