Customer Reviews

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This documentary interviews Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface), Edwin Neal (The Hitchhiker), John Dugan (Grandfather) and Jim Siedow (the cook). Although the picture quality at times is not completely clear on the VHS version, the commentaries the actors deliver on the documentary is by far the most valuble source of information for any TCM fan out there (besides the additional footage on the DVD collectors edition of TCM). There are good stories shared by the actors that portrays the making of the landmark film an intruiging experience. I highly suggest picking this rare documentary up before it goes out of print!

Visit my Texas Chainsaw Massacre web page at http://www.h-3.com/TCM/TCM.html for more information on the film's location and the family house!

Tim Harden timh@h-3.com

This is basically a movie-making documentary from the perspective of the actors. The entire documentary is made up of interviews and clips from the movie. There are in-depth interviews with the actors who played Leatherface, the hitch hiker, the cook and Grandpa. They speak about how they became involved with the project and their experiences on the set with Tobe Hooper and the crew. Many anecdotes from the shooting of the film, especially highlighting the 30 hour period dedicated to filming the dinner scene, where they describe the greuling conditions they suffered through.

The DVD also includes trailers, previews for some other garbage movies and a short trivia game. It's a decent DVD. Nothing too exciting, but it provides some insight into the making of the film.

When watching this video you will hear what the cast and crew of the film have to say about their experience off and on the set of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was very interesting to hear what the cast had to say. They all look so much different than they do in the movie. it was amazing to learn that a young man played the part of the old almost dead Grandpa. I recommend this documentart to fans of the originall TCM.

well I was in the video store the other day and stumbled across
this documentary. I was looking forward to alot of behind the
scenes stuff but did'nt get it. first off marilyn burns was
not iterviewed and niether was kurk greg or franklin.It was just
gunner hanson,{leatherface} the hitchhiker, and the cook. it really was'nt all that great.

Feature - Boring, long-winded, and no pattern to it. What the actors talk about and when is way too random

Scene Index - Nothing special

Cast Info - Hard to read type smashed onto a tv screen

Movie Trailer - Same old boring trailer for TCM

Trailer - Boring trailer for this DVD

Previews - Three horrible direct-to-home movies

Trivia - Five lame questions with the same outcome that are hard to read against the background. If you get it right, you get Leatherface running out of the house, if you answer wrong you see the Hitchhiker bothering Sally

Overall, I am a HUGE fan of the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise (I even bought the Canadian release of part 4 for the extended play), but this documentary is incredibly boring. I kept falling asleep and rewinding! There is no order to what the cast talks about, the movie trailers are horrible, and the trivia is very hard to read, and I think I answered a question correct and they said it was incorrect. I did not learn anything new by watching this, save your money!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is my all-time favorite horror movie, and I'll even say that it's one of my top 25 favorite movies of all time too. It was the first dvd I ever bought too back in 1999, and I went through all the special features on that sucker the same weekend I got it. Needless to say, I got tons of info out of that thing, what with the deleted scenes, notes and great commentary. So for anyone who did the same thing as I did, or bought the recent Ultimate Edition dvd/blu-ray, is this Family Portrait Revisited documentary worth checking out? Yes and no.

Family Portrait Revisited is a documentary consisting of interviews with the beloved family from TCM and behind the scenes footage from the set while filming. The guys reveal a lot of cool stories from the set, how some scenes were done, and some personal stories that are worth listening to more than once, especially those from Gunnar. However, A LOT of what's said on here was brought up on the commentary track for the TCM dvds, almost to the point where you wonder why they didn't just include what wasn't mentioned as a special feature on that same dvd. Either way, considering the cheap price for this, it's worth picking up if only to have another piece for your collection.

The picture and audio quality is pretty shoddy since this was filmed using average cameras back in the day, and no restoration appears to have been done at all, despite the 'Digitally re-mastered' listed on the back of the box. I actually laughed to myself when I read that after watching the documentary. The audio remained fairly steady, but some interview segments were either very loud or quiet after a scene with regular volume. 'not that big of a deal, but just keep the remote nearby for when it happens.

There aren't any real special features for this dvd. I don't think there's a whole lot that could've been added at the time considering how much was on the first TCM disc, so I can't really hold that against it.

Unless you absolutely need to know everything about the first TCM, and don't already know these stories from reading about them on some of the great sites dedicated to the movie out there, only then can I recommend buying Family Portrait Revisited. It's not that it's bad, just redundant. But still, getting a chance to see Edwin and John not playing their characters is pretty cool, and yes, Edwin is a bit weirder in real life than he was as the Hitchhiker.

i only love those interviews of Edwin Neal who played the role of the Hitch Hiker.

Yes, it was made on the cheap and shot on tape, but so what? Could be that was the best the filmmaker was able to do.
We're grateful for the privilage of seeing these exemplary actors interviewed. Not only are they superstars of horror, but so talented, in my opinion, that they could have done terrific work in any genre. And I have been saying this for decades.
Why hasn't it happened? Why haven't they been given work in mega-budgeted "mainstream" films? Simple: because the horror genre (I state this appreciating almost every genre, with the exception of the romantic comedy, which I loath with a passion) is cinema's black sheep. Mind you, not to those who revere it and know it takes just as much hard work and sweat to make a great scare flick as it does any other type of flick, but to those who not only can't relate to the horror tale, but refuse to in any shape or form.

if you are a hardcore collector and have all the tcm films than pick it up other than that just pass along by it. its a good sidekick to the pioneer special edition.

This video is not released in UK but only now have they released TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE -THE SHOCKING TRUTH which is basically the same documentary as this. It was really good to hear cast and crew talk about their parts in creating horror history. We also see some footage of the sequels that never lived up to the original film. If your a fan of TCM then you really should get this gem of a video. And to all the UK fans, buy the vid at HMV and you get a free CD featuring a song from the film ('Fool for a blonde').