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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) poster

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Horror • 1h 23m

Director: Tobe Hooper

Cast: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, Robert Courtin, William Creamer, John Henry Faulk, Jerry Green, Ed Guinn, Joe Bill Hogan, Perry Lorenz, John Larroquette

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray/France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (preference)

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 7 months ago

Video notes:

(Carlotta 4K Blu-ray has some better shots than Second Sight 4K Blu-ray and is more accurate to the theatrical grade: https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=18250&d2=18597&s1=210919&s2=219265&i=4&l=0&a=1)

UHD tiers

Excellent
Second Sight
Solid
Dark Sky:

if compared to their 2016 BD

Superior Imports
Second Sight UK > Dark Sky US:

additional restoration work done by SS, stronger encode by Fidelity in Motion

Overview

Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.

Release details

Best Audio Release

LaserDisc/VHS likely will have less filtered and correct audio. MPI 4K Blu-ray’s mono appears to be correct content-wise.

TSPDT
2026: #170
2025: #170
2024: #169
2023: #173
2022: #173
Length
83 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TCM

Featured in National Film Registry

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Director: William Wyler

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

HD Streaming

Director: John Ford

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Apple TV HD Streaming

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

StudioCanal 4K

Best Audio:

2005 WB DVD

Audio Notes:

> Criterion Blu-ray > StudioCanal Blu-ray. Maybe 1998 LaserDisc better? See Blah-Ray

Director: Preston Sturges

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Arrow Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Arrow Blu-ray slightly better than Criterion Blu-ray, not sure about France Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

(Arrow Blu-ray better than Criterion)

Director: Spike Lee

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

4K Streaming on Netflix

Directors: Louis J. Gasnier & Donald MacKenzie

Video format: DVD

Best English-Friendly & Video:

SerialSquadron SD Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · amazon.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Director: James Cameron

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray 

Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · originaltrilogy.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:
  • 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray (but it's missing the extra scenes in the Ultimate Edition)

  • 2017 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray and subsequent 4K Blu-rays are notorius for being heavily denoised and smoothened. Alternatively, 35mm scans for the theatrical cut is also available.

  • For the Ultimate Edition with the T-1000 searching John's room and the happy future ending, the 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, which is the older pre-2017 transfer, but has DNR.

Best Audio:
  • Original Kodak/ORC CDS mix:  Japan Pioneer DVD in DTS/ac3 5.1

  • Original Dolby Stereo SR: USA Widescreen LaserDisc and others.

Audio Notes:

Differences of mixes on various releases: see thread and more info here.

Additional Info:

2017 Blu-ray (which has the DNRed transfer), the 2009 Skynet Edition Blu-ray, and the 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD have exclusive extras. The 2003 Extreme Edition DVD has some exclusive easter eggs.

Directors: Bill Roberts & Paul Satterfield & Wilfred Jackson & Ben Sharpsteen & James Algar & T. Hee & Hamilton Luske & Samuel Armstrong & Jim Handley & Norman Ferguson & David Hand & Ford Beebe Jr.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Censored: 2010 Disney Blu-ray
Uncensored: 35mm Scan

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

See caps of Blu-ray vs DVD

Best Audio:

1991 CAV LaserDisc

Audio Notes:
  • 1991 CAV LaserDisc includes an approximation of the original Fantasound mix in Dolby Surround using the surviving magnetic mixdown, using Stokowski's original mixing notes as a reference. Original aggressive pans and dynamic range are left in tact.

  • The 2000 DVD uses this same mix in discrete 5.0, but with some unnecessary dynamic range compression + a redub of all Deems Taylor audio with Corey Burton.

  • The 7.1 mix on the 2010 Blu-ray sounds poor, having been hit with excessive noise reduction, dynamic range compression, original aggressive pans no longer in tact, and the channel usage no longer resembles Stokowski's original intended sound design. 

Director: Miloš Forman

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray
Extended: Warner Bros Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray: Huge improvement in colors and detail. The restoration was done by the Academy instead of WB MPI which explains that there’s no grain management or issues with colors. They also accessed the original credit optical and scanned that one instead of recreating them digitally

Audio Notes:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray, according to Saentz, the 5.0 is a recreation of the original and subsequently 70mm mix from original elements.

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:
Audio Notes:
  • the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.

More from Tobe Hooper

See more →

Director: Tobe Hooper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Caps by asacmurr. Comparison between the Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome and Turbine releases with Arrow (Engine House) being the best encoding-wise. Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray has mediocre encode and over-saturated skin tones. Also, the Arrow 4K Blu-ray has reported issues with Panasonic players.

Best Audio:

Arrow 2017 Blu-ray

Director: Tobe Hooper

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Director: Tobe Hooper

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Scream Factory 4K Blu-ray

Director: Tobe Hooper

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

More from Carlotta

See more →

Director: Roman Polanski

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta France 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray (better encode on Carlotta without any low-pass filtering, more extras and English subtitles on Vinegar Syndrome)

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Best English-Friendly:

Taiwan Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Blu-ray, HD transfer, also available in a set

Best Audio:

2006 Japan Kinokuniya DVD

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray or Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode)

Video Notes:

Sony 4K Blu-ray and France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode) are similar

Director: S. S. Rajamouli

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Zee5 Streaming

Upcoming Release:

France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray coming in December

English-Friendly Notes:

Zee5 Streaming has the original Telugu audio and English subtitles (albeit with English portions also overdubbed in Telugu)
Netflix Streaming only has the Hindi dub but better video quality

Best Video & Audio:

Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Japan Twin Co. 4K Blu-ray has original Telugu Atmos audio

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion boxset

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

English-Friendly Notes:

Criterion boxset but awful compression

Best Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode w/o English subtitles; Criterion boxset one has awful compression. review

Director: Otar Iosseliani

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set

Video Notes:

2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.

Best Audio:

TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.

Additional Info:

Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.

Director: Otar Iosseliani

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set

Video Notes:

2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.

Best Audio:

TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.

Additional Info:

Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Best English-Friendly & Video:

France Carlotta Blu-ray

Video Notes:

France Carlotta better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2004 Prism Leisure DVD

Director: Bert Stern

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

FRA Carlotta Blu-ray

Video Notes:

FiM encode. At least slightly better than the Kino see caps

Additional Info:

Carlotta ports over all special features from the Kino release, except the booklet essay. All specials are in English.

Director: Takashi Miike

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Well Go US Blu-ray / Tokyo Shock US Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · mega.nz (opens in a new tab)

English-Friendly Notes:

(see video/audio notes)

Best Video:

4K Remaster: Carlotta FR 4K Blu-ray
Original digital master: Tokyo Shock US Blu-ray

Video Notes:

The original master is of poor quality, blurry with some damage and bad levels, which the 4K remaster improves upon, with better detail in compression. Unfortunately, the 4K master has significant issues with color posterization, making it look like poor quality digital video rather than 16mm film. Comparison between masters, Carlotta/Tokyo Shock clip

Best Audio:

Original Japanese: Carlotta FR 4K Blu-ray
English dub: Tokyo Shock US Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Well Go does not include the dub.

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Researched and maintained by

tyyuxM_A

· last reviewed 7 months ago

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