The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 - Turbine 4K UHD Mediabook Cover A

Two years after reviewing Vinegar Syndrome's excellent 4K release, I return to the depths of the Sawyer Family Chili Factory for another crack at Tobe Hooper's weird, wild, gory, and hilarious sequel. In truth, I don't have anything new to add to this film. I still love it despite how much of a tonal shift this entry is from the 1974 original. Here's what I had to say about this film two years ago:

For years, former Texas Ranger Lieutenant “Lefty” Enright (Dennis Hopper) has hunted all across Texas for the madmen who killed his nephew Franklin and drove his niece Sally insane. Everyone in law enforcement believes he’s a cracked-up cop, but he knows the truth and when a pair of partying high schoolers end up as buzzed-up road kill while calling into a radio show, he knows he’s getting close. Convincing rock radio DJ Stretch (Caroline Williams) to play the tape of the boy’s demise on the radio, he hopes to drive the killers out into the open, but he only unleashes another chainsaw-fuelled nightmare of mayhem when Chop-Top (Bill Moseley) and Leatherface (Bill Johnson and Tom Morga) come calling into the radio station - in person.

Since we’ve covered three other releases of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 on Blu-ray already, I’ll ultimately be letting my colleague M. Enious Duarte have the final word on the quality of the film. For my part, I too dearly love and enjoy this film. Of the sequels, remakes, reboots, retcons, requels, and several prequels it’s easily the best of the franchise. The original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is and will always remain one of the most visceral and shocking horror films of its era and sets a near-impossible quality benchmark to topple for any future Chainsaw film. 

While it took me a number of viewings to warm up to this sequel, it’s still a hell of a fun and darkly hilarious film. The first film too had its share of dark giggles but it was far less overt. Tobe Hooper was under the Yorum/Globus Cannon gun to deliver a sequel starting in on this mere weeks after finishing Invaders From Mars and he was smart enough not to try to redo his original masterpiece and instead go in a completely different direction. Among those changes was the presentation of gore. The first film hid the gore making it all the more shocking because you had to imagine the horror. This time around with the help of monster gore effects maestro Tom Savini, every flood of blood or sliver of liver is on screen for you to digest. 

I’ve seen this movie many many times, but this outing I found the sight of Leatherface using a teeny tiny turkey carver on a body to slice up a snack to be one of the funniest images in the film. Dennis Hopper may have declared it one of the worst films he was ever in (he had a long list of those actually), but I find it delightfully effective and creepy and he's very good in it. It was also one of the few movies of the 80s to be ballsy enough to be released Unrated after initially getting an X-rating rather than making numerous cuts to secure an R for a more commercial break in theaters. The film was already heavily cut to meat the runtime nixing several important plot threads. I’d love to see a fully restored version someday, but to that end, I appreciate a film like this that sticks to its saws rather than give in to the pressure of a nutty ratings board. 

You can read our man Mr. Duarte’s excellent previous Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 Blu-ray Reviews listed below:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 - 2012 MGM Blu-ray Review
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 - 2015 Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 - 2021 Turbine Medien German Import Blu-ray Review
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 - 2022 Vinegar Syndrome 4K UHD Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 sharpens for a second cut on 4K UHD thanks to German label Turbine Medien. For this review we were supplied with an advance check disc, so we don’t have a full retail edition, but when we do, we’ll update this review ASAP with all of the trimmings and details.  This 4K edition is pressed on a Region Free BD66 disc. This set will also include a BD50 disc for the film in 1080p and an additional disc reserved for the bonus features. The discs will come housed in a 32-page mediabook - of which there are five different covers available. The disc loads to an animated main menu with standard navigation options. The menu titles are in German, but it’s easy enough to figure out what’s what. NOTE: All images and the video sample were sourced from this new 4K disc. [UPDATE 11/30/24] This review has been updated to include pictures of the packaging and more details about the bonus features package.

Today we watch as Lefty charges into the Sawyer complex with his chainsaws for an often striking 2160p Dolby Vision transfer. Here in the States, Vinegar Syndrome already treated us to a damned excellent HDR10 transfer. Watching these discs virtually side-by-side, I can say the Turbine transfer is a strong contender for the top spot. Reportedly sourced from the MGM 4K master; looking at these transfers they’re neck and neck identical (I attempted a comparison video but the results didn’t really yield very different discernable results within the HDR10 grade). However, with Dolby Vision, the color grading, black levels, and contrast see some impressive refinements worth the attention. The first thing that struck me was the more intricate shadow gradience during the opening Leatherface assault on the two dudes in the car. That follows throughout the film. When Lefty buys the chainsaws the proprietor gradually turns on the shop lights, when we first see Chop Top at the radio station hiding in the red and green lights; there are notable improvements in color saturation and those deep inky black levels. Bitrate deviates slightly, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, but right around the same point sticking to a high 70mbps average with notable spikes into the 90s and beyond. Film grain is retained throughout without any signs of smoothing or unsightly edge enhancements. Like the Vinegar Syndrome release, the grain can be quite thick in spots, but for me that’s part of the charm of this one. The encoding is clean without any compression issues. It might be difficult to pick a side-by-side winner, but overall I really like what Turbine did with this one for another excellent release of this fan favorite. 

On the audio side, Turbine delivers a pair of English audio options, DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 surround. Both tracks are very good, solid options for fans to devour. In the many months since I reviewed the Vinegar Syndrome discs, I weened out my collection the older Blu-rays so I no longer have those for a direct comparison. The 2.0 surround track has plenty of heft and weight, especially for the big heavy sound effects and chainsaw action. Imaging was smooth and active.  With that, the 5.1 option here is also an excellent option. I don’t know if this is a new 5.1 mix or not, again I don’t have those old Blu-ray discs anymore, but I really liked the channel spread for the big gnarly sequences on the bridge, Leatherface tearing up the radio station, and then the big final confrontation in the depths of the amusement park. There are stretches that sound more Front/Center focused with a limited spread in the soundcape, but when and where it counts most there’s plenty of full-channel imaging to immerse yourself in the carnage on screen. Interestingly on the German side, there are three audio options, one of which is listed as a DTS-HD MA 2.0 Bootleg Mix. I have no idea what that means exactly, I don’t know the release history of the film in Germany there might be alternate versions of the audio, but it’s an interesting listen. While the dialog is dubbed in German, the rest of the mix has slightly different sound effects and most notably different music cues. The difference in music I thought really shifted the tone into more straight horror pulling back some of the obvious humor. You can enjoy this version with the English subtitles so give it a try. 

Slicing off the bonus features, Turbine certainly doesn’t skimp on their slate of extra features. For the 4K check disc, I only had access to the commentary tracks and various trailers and previews, but there’s a lot more coming on those Blu-ray discs. As far as the commentaries go, we have three archival commentaries that are as informative and entertaining as ever. The fourth track featuring  Dr. Mark Benecke and pathologist Dr. Matthias Scheffzek is in German without English subtitles sadly. My handle of German is about 1 in three words so I wasn’t able to really enjoy this one. But after that, fans will get to enjoy over five hours of archival extras with over an hour and a half of new interviews. Again, once we get a retail edition in hand, I’ll update this area with all the gory details and give a final star rating. Until then you can see what is coming in:

4K / Blu-ray Disc:

• Audio Commentary featuring Tobe Hooper
• Audio Commentary featuring Richard Kooris, Cary White, Laura Kooris, and Michael Sullivan
• Audio Commentary featuring Bill Mosely, Caroline Williams, and Tom Savini
• Audio Commentary featuring criminal biologist Dr. Mark Benecke and pathologist Dr. Matthias Scheffzek
  

Bonus Blu-ray Disc:

• Interviews: 
• “Stretch Lives!” - Interview with Caroline Williams (HD 31:20)
• “Remember the Alamo” - Interview with Kirk Sisco (HD 13:56)
• “Die Yuppie Scum” - Interview with Barry Kinyon (HD 13:06)
• “Texas Blood Bath” - Interview with Barton Mixon (HD 18:16) 
• “Serving Tom” - Interview with Gabe Bartalos (HD 19:30)

• Archive:
• It Runs in the Family (HD 1:21:41)
• Outtakes from It Runs in the Family (HD 29:37)
• Alternate/Deleted Scenes
• Behind-the-Scenes (SD 43:30
• Archival Interviews:
• Make-Up-Effects Crew Bart Mixon, Gabe Hartalos, Gino Crognale, and John Culich (HD 42:32)
• Yuppie Meat with Chris Douridas and Barry Kinyon (HD 18:59) 
• Editor Alain Jakubowicz (HD 17:19)
• Leatherface Stuntman Bob Elmore (HD 13:48)
• Visiting the Locations Horros Hallowed Grounds (HD 24:33)
• Image Galleries:
• Behind-the-Scenes
• Make-Up
• Marketing
• Press Photos
• Promo Photos
• Props

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 might not enjoy the notoriety and acclaim of the original 1974 film, but it’s as demented and entertaining as a sequel needs to be. With a more on-the-nose sense of humor intermingled with some incredibly gnarly gore effects, the film’s a showcase of the weird, wild, and bizarre mind of Tobe Hooper. Also as a Canon film, it’s a ballsy release to get a wide theatrical run Unrated. Now thanks to Germany’s Turbine, we have a chance to see a new 4K UHD release, this time with Dolby Vision HDR. We already had a great disc released here in the States, and these two discs offer impressive neck-and-neck transfers, but I have to give a slight edge to this release as the Dolby Vision grade offers some worthwhile enhancements to the visual chaos. Add in multiple excellent audio options with hours of extras, we have a fantastic disc to celebrate. Now all you have to do is decide which artwork you like best. Highly Recommended

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