Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Review: Ray Harryhausen – Special Effects Titan / Cert: PG / Director: Gilles Penso / Screenplay: Gilles Penso / Starring: Ray Harryhausen, James Cameron, Peter Jackson/ Release Date: Out Now

When asked where he drew inspiration for the characteristics and demeanour of Mighty Joe Young, stop motion legend Ray Harryhausen smiles, nods, and says; “I thought I’d get in the mood by eating celery and carrots for my tea break so that I felt like a gorilla”. And Ray carried that childlike sense of wonderment with him throughout a career spanning over 3 decades – Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan is a comprehensive chronicle of that career. Writer/Director Gilles Penso takes us on a journey from Ray’s first movie, 1953’s The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, all the way to his final feature, 1981’s Clash of the Titans, after which the innovations in CGI began to overshadow and overtake stop-motion.

But start with a bang it does. The documentary opens with tribute from today’s most celebrated science fiction auteurs; Peter Jackson, Terry Gilliam, Guillermo Del Toro, James Cameron, and one Tim Burton. Their unbridled enthusiasm paints Ray as a true pioneer and father to the special effects industry, whose influence has only grown over the decades. And later, when modern masterpieces such as Jurassic Park, Avatar and Pan’s Labyrynth are examined, it is easy to see the overwhelming degree to which Ray has inspired the current landscape of cinematic fantasy.

Perhaps fittingly, the scale of Harryhausen’s operation becomes evident very early on. The many prototypes and concept art stills shown throughout the documentary, prove that the amazing creatures we all saw on the silver screen were but the tip of Harryhausen’s craft. Each movie monster’s inception, creation and implementation is lovingly deconstructed, with particular attention given to Mighty Joe Young, the Sinbad creatures, and the endlessly impressive giant octopus from It Came from Beneath the Sea.

Plus, there cannot be enough said about Jason and the Argonauts, which was essentially a 90-minute showcase for his stop-motion magic. Those skeleton warriors, man, whoa.

The disc offers a plethora of special features – we get to delve deeper into the designs and the construction of the models themselves in the ‘Treasure Trove’ segment, and though at times it comes across as rather grandiose, hearing Penso and his producer Alexandre Poncet discuss the merits of each model will give the viewer moments of pure wonderment. The sound mixing however, was unfortunately handled by King Kong himself.

In addition, there are a number of lengthy Q&A sessions with Ray himself, a collection of trailers he worked on (made even more fascinating after watching the main feature), and a Super 8 reel of behind-the-scenes footage from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad that is just remarkable. A rare treat for anyone even remotely interested in cinema.

A small gripe we had with the Blu-ray disc was the sometimes stark differences in picture quality between the documentary footage and the surprisingly well scaled-up clips from the classic monster movies that inspired Ray and his subsequent work. Some of the interview segments, especially those including Ray’s long time friend Ray Bradbury, have a coarse, almost scratchy quality to them, whilst others seem to differentiate in their frame rates. The juxtaposition of these and the visually alluring movie clips may be a little jarring for the more hardcore of you out there.

All in all, what is presented here is not so much documentary but more a loving tribute by fans of his work for other fans of his work. The one or two personal anecdotes offered by friends and family in the documentary are too often tied to his professional achievements, leaving the audience with an incomplete sense of who the man behind the monster is. But, whilst this Blu-ray might not make waves outside of the hardcore sci-fi community, it is a worthy tribute to perhaps the most influential pioneer in the history of movie magic. 

Extras: Audio commentaries / Interview outtakes / 8 deleted scenes / On the set of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad / Trailers / Message to Ray

Review: Dead Mine / Cert: 18 / Director: Steven Sheil / Screenplay: Ziad Semaan, Steven Sheil / Starring: Aryo Bayu, Afwan, Andre / Release Date: Out Now

Dead Mine is a co-production between HBO Asia, in its first original production, and Infinite Frameworks. It has decent production values and chiselled, good-looking cast members from a variety of countries. The problem is that Dead Mine doesn’t have one original bone in its body.

The archetypes and cardboard cut-outs that come together at the start are led by a shady CEO rich kid and include the usual gruff mercenaries for hire as well as some pretty female scientist types. This squad is looking for General Yamashita’s gold deep in the Indonesian jungle. The gold is said to be in an old World War II bunker used by the Japanese. After being attacked by some local militia, the crew are stuck down the tunnels and shafts that make up the bunker and something sinister is revealed to be down there with them.

The beginning of the film elicits nothing but groans. The characters are shallow and obvious and the motivations are all clichéd. The performances are awful across the board, the actors doing no more than hitting their marks and reading their lines. Once the group get stuck down the tunnels, then things get a bit more interesting. We know as an audience that ‘something’ is down there with them and we see shadows and hear noises. Trouble is, just as the film seems like it might be going down a reasonably creepy path, it then ruins any goodwill it may have earned with a reveal of what is actually transpiring in the mine. Turns out the ‘gold’ is no more than a codeword for some kind of hideous experiment with undead soldiers. Cue a rip-off of Aliens and Outpost. There are a couple of shots which are so reminiscent of another horror film from 2005 that is regarded as a classic, that I am amazed there isn’t a court case in progress. The film gets more ridiculous from here and any tension or appeal evaporates completely.

There is nothing wrong with imitation or homage providing it’s done well and with a sense of propriety. However, Dead Mine has no real excuse for much of its borrowings and the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Steven Sheil’s film is very much a case of ‘must try harder’.  

Extras: Interviews, Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes

Review: Sick Boy / Cert: 18 / Director: Tim T. Cunningham / Screenplay: Tim T. Cunningham / Starring: Skye McCole Bartusiak, Mark Donato, Debbie Rochon / Release Date: Out Now

When you watch a lot of low budget horror films, one thing sadly becomes clear: more often than not, people don’t realise their limitations and their reach exceeds their grasp. So it’s incredibly refreshing to finally watch something that not only takes advantage of its limits but downright celebrates them, resulting in perhaps the best direct-to-DVD horror film for ages.

Sick Boy is, at its core, a unique take on the zombie myth, one done so well and with such love that it never feels like you are watching another film in the endless cycle of cheapo undead clag. We start with a frustrated girl named Lucy (Bartusiak) who quits her dental assistant job, much to the frustration of her fiancé Chris (Donato). From here she ends up taking a babysitting job from her actress friend who has just booked an acting gig. Lucy goes to the home of Dr Helen Gordan (Rochon) and is informed that her well-paid job is just to stay at the house whilst Jeremy stays in his room and to call the doctor if anything happens. Jeremy apparently has some kind of immune deficiency illness and his father is ‘out of town’. As the nights wear on it becomes clear that something more is going on with young Jeremy.

We’re talking a super low-budget movie with the only real locations being the insides of houses. As a result it has this earthy, Grindhouse feel. The aesthetic is raw and grungy and it helps the sense of dread that builds as the film goes on. The characters and dialogue all feel very real and authentic. The arguments that Lucy and Chris have around money and life are very real arguments that seem to occur every day and their characters feel like living, breathing people.

The film feels a lot like House of the Devil in that it builds and builds a sense of dread and unease throughout its first hour. When the reveal comes and the carnage starts, it’s anything but predictable in the way it plays out and for such a low-budget film, they don’t scrimp on the gore either.

Sadly in the times we find ourselves in, Sick Boy is likely to go unnoticed, but back 30 years ago this would have been a film to be celebrated alongside The Evil Dead, Phantasm and Near Dark. It’s a very strong film from director Tim T.Cunningham, who hopefully we will see a lot more from in the future.

Extras: Trailer

Review: Dexter – Season 7 / Cert: 15 / Director: Various / Screenplay: Various / Starring: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Ray Stevenson, Yvonne Stahovski, Lauren Velez / Release Date: June 3rd

As reliable as the Miami sunshine, everyone’s favourite serial killer returns for a seventh season. This time, though, the blood spatter has really hit the fan. Deb (Carpenter) discovers her big brother’s secret when she catches him delivering the coup de grace to Travis Marshall, while Dexter (Hall) is drawn like a moth to a flame to deadly florist Hannah McKay (Stahovski). And in the meantime, LaGuerta (Velez) won’t stop sniffing around the Bay Harbor Butcher murders. Is Dexter finally starting to lose his grip?

Characterising the desire to wrap people in plastic and plunge a blade through their heart as a form of addiction, as Dexter does in episode after episode, can’t help but seem rather facile, but it’s fun watching Deb take him at his word and put him on a regime of serial killer rehab. Yes, Season 7 is all about impulse control. He even, God bless him, fights off the urge to snuff that super-annoying intern, Louis (Cooke), swallowing his rage and sense of helplessness. Welcome to how the other half lives, Dex.

Inevitably, all this effects his mojo, and he finds himself being plagued by his conscience at inconvenient times. Not good news, because, with the Ukrainian Mafia after him for slaying one of their own, he could definitely do with being at his predatory best.

Season 7 is arguably a bit light on plot – heavy weather is made of Dexter’s encounters with Ray Speltzer (Gerald), a murderous meathead who likes to pretend he’s the Minotaur, and a subplot to do with dimwit cop Quinn (Harrington) and an exotic dancer smacks of padding – but it has plenty to keep you entertained. Ray Stevenson’s Isaak Sirko is a handy (if in the end rather monologue-prone) antagonist, and there are the usual excellent turns from a by now well bedded-in supporting cast, especially David Zayas’ Batista and C.S. Lee’s Masuka. The real highlights of the show, though, are those moments when the pressure proves too much for Dexter and he becomes slightly unhinged – moments that generally take place when he is clutching a scalpel and looming over a whimpering and immobile victim.

That said, with Deb’s attentions becoming increasingly suffocating, there is a mounting sense that Dexter might, after all, be the least screwed up member of the Morgan family. How much of what his father drummed into him about his urges to kill was a self-fulfilling prophecy? And to what extent does jealousy fuel Deb’s vendetta against Hannah? All questions to be explored in the future, no doubt, as Dexter strides into Season 8, clutching his trusty man-purse.

Extras: Behind Episodes 1 & 2 / Dissecting a Scene / Writers’ round table / Scene commentary / Becoming Ray Speltzer

Review: Halo 4 – Forward Unto Dawn / Director: Stewart Hendler / Screenplay: Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing / Starring: Tom Green, Iain Belcher, Anna Popplewell / Release Date: May 27th

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn examines the early years of troubled soldier Thomas Lansky, who’s got one too many problems to count. Can filmmaker Stewart Hendler transform such a premise into a successful video game adaptation?

A surprising effort for numerous reasons, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn breaks the typical video game adaptation mold while simultaneously betraying standard war clichés. It seems second nature to anticipate 90 minutes of explosions and gunfights from this one, but director Stewart Hendler completely stuns by yanking the carpet from under the viewer’s feet, utilising a very personal, intimate approach over typical shoot ‘em up action. Don’t be fooled, there are indeed some intense firefights to absorb from the final act, but Halo 4 distances itself from the pack by leaning on a character driven narrative rather than flashy action sequences exclusively.

The story itself isn’t what anyone is likely to label groundbreaking, but there’s enough attention to detail and care for character to draw viewers into an engrossing realm of emotional torment, and subsequent evolution. Young first-year cadet Thomas Lansky is a wreck. He’s a miserable soldier who makes poor decisions, suffers from allergic reactions to mandatory active duty injections and stands opposed to war. But Lansky is about to endure a long, horrible journey that leaves virtually everyone he cares for stuffed in a body bag. The question is: Can Lansky use the pain and the loss to his favor, defying the odds by becoming a dependable and effective soldier or is he destined to end up as his friends and family have?

Technically, viewers are gifted an inspired production that balances impressive aesthetics with refined efforts from some hungry thespians. When the inevitable arrival of hostile life forms lands in the lap of the viewer, the special effects slip into overdrive, a sudden transformation from the controlled visuals of the first two thirds of the picture. They’re clean and impressive, blending a cool mix of practical and digital work. As for the cast, there’s plenty of positivity to offer forth. Tom Green – who fronts as the aforementioned Lansky – is terrific, powerful in his sincerity and vulnerability, while Anna Popplewell offers strong support as his blossoming object of affection, Chyler Silva. Iain Belcher also commands a nod. He’s a supportable character with a short fuse and a craving for perfection; the archetypical hero… who just isn’t destined to reach his own self-appointed lofty goals.

Initially released as a webseries, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn makes for a thrilling motion picture. Possessing a wealth of Halo knowledge isn’t a necessity when viewing the picture, which broadens the potential market for the film. Loaded with noteworthy strengths and a staggering amount of bonus disc supplements, the Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Blu-ray is a disc worthy of investment.

Review: Mama / Cert: 15 / Director: Andres Muschietti / Screenplay: Various / Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier / Release Date: June 17^th

Mama-mia, here we go again. The Guillermo del Toro-produced Mama reaches DVD and home release, bringing her myriad of twists and turns to a wider audience. One of the most eagerly awaited horror releases of this year, how can you resist her?

After killing their mother, a man drives out to a cabin in the woods to finish off himself and his little girls. Before he can do the deed, the titular spook Mama arrives to save the day. Mama, just killed a man. Five years later, the children are found by a belated rescue party, funded by goodhearted uncle Lucas and his rocker girlfriend Annabel. Wait, isn’t that the plot of Scary Movie 5?

If you value old-fashioned shocks, atmosphere and genuine scares over torture, blood and guts, Mama should be the film for you. It’s reminiscent of Hammer’s The Woman in Black remake in that it rarely shows anything too nasty, but is still capable of making you jump out of your seat. The constant flow of jump scares in lesser movies (such as Sinister and its ilk) can make for a superficial experience, but Mama‘s impressive atmosphere and likeable characters are a cut above most. Director Andres Muschietti takes del Toro’s lead, crafting a modern fairy tale which still manages to scare. Leads Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones) and Jessica Chastain (hot from Zero Dark Thirty, and looking hot in the Goth get-up) lend the film an air of classiness, while the children are surprisingly unannoying. Taut, tense and frequently spooky, it’s a welcome antidote to the multitude of remakes and sequels heading to the multiplexes this year. 

Unfortunately, perhaps thanks to the involvement of the great Guillermo del Toro, Mama does come with a lot of baggage and hype. There’s a sense of expectation that it can’t possibly live up to, especially with the story itself being less than exceptional. The feral woodland-dwelling children are the most interesting element of the tale, but that’s disposed of within the first twenty minutes, after which the movie settles down into a more conventional ghost story – like a more high-end version of Darkness Falls. It’s definitely worth watching and is very enjoyable, but it’s best to go in with lowered expectations, disconnected from the idea that it’s somehow a Guillermo del Toro movie.  

On the basis of his Mama, Muschietti is a talent to watch out for. It’ll be very interesting to see what he can do once cut loose from the apron strings of Mr del Toro. The mother – sorry, Mama – of all horror fairy tales? Not quite, but it’s a lot of fun, all the same.

Extras: None

Review: Doctor Who – The Mind of Evil / Cert: U / Director: Timothy Combe / Screenplay: Don Houghton / Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney, Roger Delgado, Richard Franklin, John Levene / Release Date: June 3rd

Autons to the left of it, Axons to the right of it, The Mind of Evil has long been the forgotten, unloved second serial of Jon Pertwee’s sophomore season, its reputation as a grey run-of-the-mill UNIT runaround sealed by the fact that for years this 1971 six-parter has existed in the BBC Archives only as black-and-white recordings. This much anticipated DVD release should do much to change fan perception of the story; The Mind of Evil is now presented in full colour thanks to a glorious restoration which sees the first episode astonishingly retouched by Stuart ‘Babelfish’ Humphryes and the remaining episodes put through the remarkable chroma dot recovery system in which the colour signal ‘buried’ in the black-and-white recording is recovered to allow the serial to be brought back to a quality which, on this occasion, isn’t that far removed from its original transmission image. Episode one is especially impressive, Humphryes having sympathetically – and no doubt pain-stakingly – given the picture a soft and appealing vibrancy. The ‘restored’ episodes which follow aren’t quite as fancy; skin tones drift a bit here and there and sequences involving natural blue skies suffer particularly. But these are minor quibbles and it’s easy to overlook the slight dip in image quality and revel in the fact that we’re seeing the last great black-and-white colour story pretty much as nature (and the BBC) intended.

Restoration side, The Mind of Evil is a gripping and intelligent story, worlds away from the facile, slapstick gag-a-minute ‘blockbusters’ which characterize the series’ latest run. The serial harkens back to the tough Quatermass style of the previous year as the Doctor and Jo Grant travel to Stangmoor prison to witness a demonstration of the Keller Machine, a device which can remove ‘evil’ impulses from criminal minds, leaving behind docile, pacifistic but mentally damaged individuals. The Doctor is immediately suspicious of course; quite rightly so as it turns out that the machine is the invention of the Master (Delgado), back for a second crack at world domination following Terror of the Autons, although quite how he plans to subjugate the whole of Mankind with one brain-draining machine isn’t too clear. He’s also out to scupper “the first ever World Peace Conference” which, by a handy coincidence, is also taking place in London and before long he’s attempting to bump off delegates by using the transmitted power of the Keller Machine and with the aid of hypnotised Captain Chin Lee (“She’s quite a dolly,” leers UNIT’s macho man Mike Yates unconvincingly) of the Chinese delegation. Then there’s the business with the Thunderbolt missile, packed with deadly nerve gas, which UNIT are, for some reason, transporting across London right in the middle of a World Peace Conference; the Master plans to hijack the missile, fire it at the Conference and thus precipitate a new world war.  

The Mind of Evil is busy, convoluted stuff, full of typically bullish action sequences (director Combe took the serial well over budget and never worked on the show again), stylish location filming and, crucially, performances which are never hammy, arch or wilfully knowing. Everyone’s taking it terribly seriously; this is proper drama and the danger’s palpable. No ‘big friendly button’ or handy sonic screwdriver here to beat the bad guy; the urbane Doctor has to really work at thwarting the equally charming Master – the stakes are high and the death count higher. The Keller Machine (which actually houses an alien mind parasite) is, according to the Doctor “the deadliest threat to Mankind since the beginning of Time” and it brings the Time Lord out in a sweat and stops one of his hearts when it bombards him with a welter of publicity photos of his oldest TV enemies and then plunges him into one of his occasional comas.

This welcome DVD release will finally complete the rehabilitation of The Mind of Evil, another classic serial which shows the modern series a clean pair of heels as it reminds us how good Doctor Who can be when it’s made by people who don’t think it’s a comedy show first and foremost.

Extras: ‘The Military Mind’ is a 2009 ‘making of’ which sees various cast and crew – including the now deceased Nick Courtney and Producer Barry Letts (looking visibly ill) – huffing and puffing around the story’s Dover Castle main location, director Combe still distressed and disappointed by never having been asked do direct the series again. ‘Now and Then’ revisits the story’s locations and, in a 1971 documentary, reporter Norman Tozer spends a day at BBC TV Centre – a welcome reminder what a powerhouse factory of TV production the building was in its prime. Toby Hadoke moderates a well-populated commentary and there’s the usual picture gallery, production subtitles and a tantalising trailer for the Blu-ray release of Pertwee’s debut serial ‘Spearhead From Space’.

Review: Hellsing Ultimate Parts 5-8 / Cert: 18 / Director: Various / Screenplay: Various / Starring: Victoria Harwood, K.T. Gray, Crispin Freeman / Release Date: May 20th

Bit confusing this, but bear with us. Originally starting life as a long-running manga, Hellsing was loosely adapted into a Japanese anime series in 2001. Hellsing Ultimate is a second, more faithful OVA adaptation running to ten fifty-minute instalments, of which this box set gathers together episodes 5-8. And no, it has nothing to do with that shoddy Stephen Sommers movie starring Hugh Jackman in a big hat.

The story concerns the Hellsing organization, a group dedicated to protecting Britain from supernatural threats. A bit like a cross between The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and UNIT, it is led by the cheroot-smoking Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, female descendant of Abraham Van Helsing. Their primary foe is Millennium, a collection of Nazi vampires, but they also have to keep a wary eye on Iscariot, a bunch of deadly Vatican-sponsored zealots.

The early episodes suffer from some crudity of characterisation, and their take on the Catholic church can seem rather puerile, but Parts 5-8 deliver a humongous payoff. Millennium launches a devastating airship attack on London, which results in the streets running with blood and thronging with undead ghouls. Hellsing’s stately home HQ finds itself under siege and Integra’s forces are decimated, but thankfully vampire-turned-good Alucard, he of the claret cape coat, is there to help, as is his protégé, newbie bloodsucker Seras Victoria, who straps a massive anti-aircraft gun to her back in order to single-handedly take on the armada of Zeppelins.

By the way, OVA stands for “original video animation”, a direct-to-DVD format which allows for greater sex and violence than is permitted on Japanese TV networks. And boy, the makers of Hellsing Ultimate take full advantage of this latitude. Parts 5-8 are a brash, barbaric frenzy of grue that leaves you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. The sacking of London is gobsmackingly savage, culminating in a did-they-really-go-there? shot of a vampire stormtrooper with a dead baby clamped in its jaws, against a backdrop of Big Ben in flames. And it’s all depicted in a nightmarish visual style which looks like it has splurged from the spray can of a talented but demented graffiti artist.

But somehow it doesn’t feel gratuitous or meaningless, because each gout of blood comes with a gut-wrenching emotional impact. The dramatic highlight is the siege of Hellsing HQ, a brutal and harrowing sequence – witness the moment where a blinded Seras Victoria crawls desperately towards the man who has just saved her life at the cost of his own, able to hear, but not see, him taking his last breaths. Playing out at a level of white-hot intensity, Hellsing Ultimate is insane, ferocious, excessive and utterly unmissable.

Extras: Audio commentaries / Round table discussions / Q&A / Featurette/ Clean versions of end credits / Additional OVA short

Review: Fringe – Season 5 / Cert: 15 / Director: Various / Screenplay: Various / Starring: Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Georgina Haig, Michael Kopsa / Release Date: May 13th

Reviewing the fifth and final season of a great show like Fringe is… well, goddarn it, it’s a heck of a privilege. Only thing is, we don’t want to give away too much and spoil it for anyone who has yet to cross the threshold of Walter Bishop’s lab (and if you fall into that category – get in there!). Suffice it to say, in this season the world has been taken over by some super-evolved baldies from the future known as the Observers. Awakening after 21 years frozen in amber (don’t ask, it would take all day), the Fringe team of supernatural investigators find themselves in the year 2036. They have a cunning and highly complex plan to defeat the Observers, but unfortunately it gets zapped from Walter’s brain and they’re forced to piece it together from a series of wonky videotapes that they excavate from their basement laboratory in Harvard, which has also been sealed in amber (seriously, don’t ask).

The whole season therefore consists of one long form story, which breaks into various sub-goals as the team go on a number of perilous missions to retrieve stuff mentioned in the tapes, with Walter (Noble) cobbling together bits of Heath Robinson tech as and when needed. Their nemesis, Captain Windmark (Kopsa), can travel at will through time and space, but still manages to be always one step behind them. It’s an approach that has its potential pitfalls, especially given that the Observers continue to resemble a troupe of malevolent performance artists, and the plan, when it is finally divulged, turns out to make about as much sense an Ozymandias’ scheme to drop a giant alien weevil on New York in Watchmen. But it all works a treat, because at its heart Fringe hasn’t changed at all: it’s still a captivating blend of weird science and family drama couched in an idiom that is quirky, exciting and unexpectedly touching.

Its darker side comes to the fore in several intense two-handed scenes where issues of pain and trust are debated, and in a story arc concerning Peter and Olivia’s daughter Etta (Haig), who has grown up to become, among other things, a cold-eyed torturer of regime collaborators. But there’s no end of quirk too, as in an early quest where the team have to track down Olivia and eventually find her still encased in a slab of amber and being used as a coffee table. And all of these strands are woven together in the character of Walter Bishop, the nuttiest of all professors, who takes time off from saving the world to drop acid and who heals himself after being tortured by listening to, of all things, Yazoo’s Only You. He’s forever delivering the kinds of lines you rarely hear outside of cult B-movies: “Fire up the laser, Astrid, let’s get that hand out of amber.” “Please, Nina, you must remove these pieces of my brain!” What a character, what a show, what a way to sign off.

Extras: Walter’s brain / Audio commentary / A Farewell to Fringe / Dissected Files / Digital script / Season 5 Comic-Con panel / Gag reel

Review: Texas Chainsaw / Cert: 18 / Director: John Luessenhop / Screenplay: Various / Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Trey Songsz, Tania Raymonde / Release Date: May 27th

Texas Chainsaw starts with a titles sequence reprise of the original movie, and from there proceeds straight on with the action (rendering Hooper’s own underrated sequel uncanonical along the way, which might be a saw point with some, but never mind). The notorious farmhouse, scene of all the slaughter, is set ablaze by a lynch mob with all the Sawyer clan still inside, the only apparent survivor being a baby. Flash forward a few years, and this child has grown into Heather (Daddario), who seems pretty normal but shows her Sawyer pedigree by working on a meat slicer in a supermarket and collecting bones to use as found art. Then Heather learns that she has inherited a property in Texas from a mysterious grandmother she never knew she had. A quick road trip by VW van later, and she and her three buddies – including the DOA-slutty Nikki (Raymonde), who is making moves on Heather’s boyfriend – are soon delightedly exploring what transpires to be a large, palatial home and hip-hop is resounding from granny’s state of the art sound system.

Unfortunately, seems like no one told Leatherface (Yeager) to expect company. He’s been living for years in a bunker behind a steel door in the wine cellar (it’s all explained by Gran in a letter which no one bothers to read – yes, reading can save your life, folks), and the middle section of the movie sees history repeating itself as he emerges to butcher Heather’s houseguests in various graphic and unsightly ways. She eludes him, but she’s in just as much danger from the sleazy town mayor who, back in the day, was the ringleader of the vigilantes who put the Sawyers to the torch.

This final section – in which the movie broadens out into a tale of small town corruption and dirty secrets – is where Texas Chainsaw is at its most enjoyable and where director John Luessenhop seems at his most assured. He works in some nicely underplayed touches. The word “massacre”, absent from the movie’s title, appears only once, and that’s in a suppressed police report describing the destruction of the Sawyer farmstead. There’s also a fun moment when, chasing Heather through a Halloween fair, Leatherface bumps into a reveller costumed as the pig-faced, chainsaw-toting baddie from Motel Hell and does a brief double-take. Where Luessenhop has less luck, though, is with this whole business of Heather awakening to her bloodstained heritage. Scion of a family of cannibals? It’s not like Harry Potter finding out he’s a wizard.

Still, the movie does some quite interesting things in demystifying Leatherface, who goes through a third act nadir where he is laid low by his foes, like Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, and Daddario is very watchable, even if the camera does spend more time focussed on her bare navel than on her face. This Blu-ray release is absolutely awash with fanboy-friendly extras, and altogether you’d have to say that, while it can’t hope to replicate the flyblown intensity of the original, Texas Chainsaw is far from being a complete dead armadillo.

Extras: 3 separate audio commentaries including contributions from the director, Dan Yeager and Tobe Hooper / 7 Featurettes / Alternate Opening / On Set Short Subjects – Five Minute Massacres