Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Shocking Truth

Following their splendid DVD debut of the mondo classic 'Killing of America', UK independent 'Exploited' go out on their own to produce what looks like being the definitive documentary on the making and legacy of the infamous 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' with 'The Shocking Truth'

This fascinating documentary by David Gregory has it all. With the participation of the bulk of the cast and crew of the horror classic, the documentary looks not only at the production and shooting (both pre and post filming) but looks at what probably is the real horror of the films production - the financing, distribution and censorship.

Wholly engrossing throughout, there are countless anecdotes from all involved that really do put the films existence into perspective. The overlong suffering that the cast went through whilst shooting up to the discraceful pay offs (or lack of) that they recieved when the film opened to great box office success (thanks to the handling of a somewhat dubious Mafia connected distribution deal).

What also is highly interesting about this documentary is the very honest coverage given to not only the original but the many spin off sequels that it spawned, storys that also will horrify you when you find out as they say 'the shocking truth'!

Hear how Cannon took Chainsaw 2 away from Tobe Hooper before the film had finished shooting and spliced together whatever they god damn wanted for a quick theatrical release. Hear how New Line literally shat their pants when they first screened 'Leatherface' and sliced all the gory footage from the negative master in fear of losing their precious R rating. There are stacks of excellent anecdotes throughout that will have any fan of the series totally engrossed.

An excellent job has been done here by Gregory and the team at Exploited which has to be fully commended, and the disc itself is no disapointment either. The image and sound is exactly what you would expect from an all new production, very nice indeed. And with the extras you'll be happy that you forked out for the delights on show also. There's an expanded version of Gunnar Hansen's tour of the original Chainsaw house (wait till you see this place now!), there's also lenghty footage from a Chainsaw reunion held in the states a while back and some amusing out takes from the documentarys production.

A delicious all round package that no fan of the Chainsaw series should be without. Go seek this one out with confidence NOW!