The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 31

Saturday, December 14, 1996 C-5 SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER "isitiiit. The Most Stunning, Tempestuous Love Story In A Decade Or Two Of Movie uinFIENNES HWlBINOCHE tuumDAFOE uimSCOi. THE ENGLISH PATIENT, I I AMC mf CINEPLEX o6EONrCNTURY THEATRESlt NOW KABUKI8 I NORTHPOINT I CENWRY PLAZA 10 1 SHOWS DAILY AT: PLAYING SHOWS TODAY AT: 12 30. 1:00,4:00,6:20.750, 10:36 ANO 11:40 PM I SHOWS TODAY IN DOLBY STEHEO AT: 12:00, 3:30, 7:00 AND 10:16 PM tance of his sons. The hammer repeatedly slips from his hand into a bucket with a loud clang, the girl screams for her life and, caught in the ferocious grip of this moment, we begin to fear that the nightmare will never end.

In this special edition of "Chainsaw," Elite Entertainment offers a large array of supplementary material and av upgrades that surpass all previous home video releases. The brilliant new transfer and stereo surround sound re-mix were supervised by Hooper. There's also an alternate audio commentary by Hooper, director of photography Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed the Black 12 20, 3 45, 7:00 AND 10:10 PM fcaiiret--1-' SAN JOSE San Jose, Century 25 San Jose, Century Capitol IS San Jose, Century 10 Berryesta MARIN San Rafael, Regency MiH Valley. Sequoia EAST BAY Pleasant Hill, Century 6 Pittaburg, Brenden 16 PENINISULA So. San Francisco, Century Plau 10 Redwood QtyJZentuiy Park 12 Palo Alto, Palo Alto Square EAST BAY Berkeley, Act 1 2 Oaklend, Piedmont Haywerd, UA Hayward Fremont, GCC Fremont Hub Dublin, GCC Dublin Place Danville, Blackhawk Moviei 7 iiniin.ianiiiii mn.i i in i question a generally accepted activity, our munching away on big, juicy cheeseburgers and fat slabs of steak.

In "Chainsaw," the victims are treated just like lunch counter-bound cattle in a slaughterhouse: they are killed with a sledgehammer, then carved up for a wide range of uses in variations on well-known recipes. Turnabout is obviously fair play. Apart from "Chainsaw's" early exploitation of gory imagery, a feature of horror movies that has been repeated to excess in the intervening years, the film remains unique for its insights into the mechanics of the murderous mind and mo-, ments of harrowing visual power. Hooper shows us how the isolation of a group dehumanizes their experience of others, allowing their collectivity to become the only subjective reality. Though the family members socialize with each other by squabbling, they are complementary parts of a lethal whole.

The cannibals operate as an evil "hive mind," an entity that cannot comprehend the value of objective concern for others. In a surprisingly realistic stroke, the killers are not sentimentalized as they usually are in liberal rationalizations; none of them are tormented by guilt On the visual side, primitive tal ismans of metal, feathers and bone adorn the yard of the homicidal family, making us feel we're approaching the dwelling place of a mysterious, perhaps dangerous, tribe. The camera's cautious approach creates an unavoidable sense of dread, and the inside of the cannibals' home is shocking it's part charnel house and part morbid museum. The interior appointments of the ramshackle place combine taxidermy and furniture design in an utterly insane, horrifying way. In an outdoor shot, the perversion of artistic constructions is intensified when two corpses are posed in entanglement, and the jagged, clashing lines suggest a rotting sculpture.

Everywhere we look in "Chainsaw," it seems that death is a grim decoration of the living world. In another frightening sequence, ineptitude replaces predatory efficiency as the literally putrescent patriarch tries to hit a captive young woman with a hammer. We're relieved every time he misses her head, but the old man keeps making an attempt with the assis II flllS HOLIDAY SEI I if THE CLASSIC GANGSTER MOVIE." BEST MOVIE. riONSTO? FUN!" "TURBO-PACKED WITH LOTS OF LAUGHS FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY. YOU'LL LOVE THIS FILM." I Gmn ftotr.

GLOBE a MAIL ia. TODAY AT: 11:45 AM KiutimmniAMmmmtmmm AND 2:20 PM EXCLUSIVE SAN FRANCISCO ENGAGEMENT BEST HOLIDAY FAMILY FILM IN YEARS." 4m immc himtmwmt tmi-wt ft I TRTIl 1 8-H 1 4v 1 i SCHWARZENEGGER TWO ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP! ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST MOST POWERFUL FILMS!" -ftooar Eberl. SISKEL E8ERT Have yourself a gory little Christmas CHRISTMAS is coming, but deep into the laserdisc winter, titles more appropriate to Halloween keep showing up as autumnal stragglers: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (Elite Entertainment1974 WidescreenSide 3 4 James Whale's horror comedy, "The Old Dark House" (1932), was probably the first horror film to challenge the idea of the family as a standard of normality. The personalities of his clan members distorted by religious zealotry, pyro-mania, alcoholic violence, maternal insanity expressed as unrelenting vindictiveness and mere cowardice parody accepted conventions of emotional stability and psychological integrity. Though Tobe Hooper's "Chain-saw'' goes way beyond "House" in terms of excruciating violence and the graphic details of mortal wounding, it follows the precedent of the Whale movie in an effort to persuade us that an extended family of cannibals is made up of just plain folks.

(As one of them drives off with a kidnap victim in the front seat of his pickup truck, he speaks with the neighborly familiarity of a grocery store clerk: "Heh, heh, I had to lock up and get the lights. The cost of electricity is enough to drive a man out of Hooper's film, in which a group of teenagers is picked off one at a time by these maniacs, calls into 7 GRAND JURY PRIZE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 0 0 (BOfflSfflffl II llllllll IIIUM NOW PLAYING DAILY IN DOLBY SIfcHtO AT: 1:15, 4.30 AND 8:16 PM Briage 1 Odober Rlml Wc SH oclobfffllml com a i 1 i- i.ii -i; GALAXY. OSTONESTOWN IS METRO. AaLEWNDRIA; THEATRE' 1( CENTER1 THEATRE. H.

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30. 7:3 SMiPeJL Elegant, fvN Nisunt an-emy na rrl (i 994-IQ63 Prewnted In DDI lm- MM Ptnld in Daily at 1 1:30 AM, 2:15. 5:00, 7:45 10.30 PM Bargain Molinee All Showt Before 6:00 PM. Daily ot 12:00 Noon, 5:15, 8:00 10:35 PM Bargain Matinee lit Show Doily. -art -mbmiitf bATIRE! 1 ALBO PUKYINQ AT SELECT BAY AREA THEATRES RANSOM It featured el hnp7www.movlei.com THE WW V.

YOJKTIMfS San Jots AMC Town Country Campbell United Artists Pruneyard San Joss United Artists Pavilion San Joss Meridian 6 San Josa Capitol 6 Dl Morgan Hill Granada PENINSULA Redwood City Century Park 12 Buriinoama Burlinoame 4 Dl MARIN San Rafael Northuate Cinemas NORTH COUNTIES Fairfield Cinema Vacaville Galaxy 1 1 Nana Cinedome Sevastopol Sebastopol Cinemas Santa Rosa United Artists Coddinptown Windsor Airport Cinema I Novate Rowland Plaaa Petaluma Petaluma Cinemas Rohnert Park Empire Sonoma Sonoma Cinemas 4 DALY CITY Daly City Geneva 4 Dl EAST BAY Hayward Festival Cinema Martinet- Centra Costa Cinema Pinole Century 10 Oakland Century Emeryville United Artists Emery Bay Berkeley United Artists Cinema I Fremont GCC Fremont Hub Danville Blackhawk Movies 7 Oakland Grand Lake Orinda Orinda Pittsburg The Brenden Theatres Pleaaanton Galaxy Brentwood Deha Cinemas Valleje Cinedome Union City Union Criy 1 01 SAN JOSE Mountain View Century Cinemas 16 1 Milpitaa AMC MilpiUa 10 Theatres San Jose AMC Oakridga Theatres r. ntm wtr- tn w. JgijT''VllJllMl'ii ia passes or discount tickets aoospted far ohs Clav UDoWSR OCBIV SffCVMBBEDdmB CAU THf ATM On CHICK HMCTMHS FOB SHOWS TODAY IN DOLBY AT: 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:30 AND 9:50 PM m.ijihii emniii i GEORGE Flllmort It Clay (415) 3S3-0810 Ms J' (LOONEY 0 1 I MICHELLE PFE1FFER Sometimes love i fi i at first sight can take all day. "Funny and inspired. A deliriously wacky send-up." Ned Rosea.

BY 1 NEWS 'Don't miss it! Non-stop fun! One of Tim Burton's best." I Foroasoo, PREVUE CHANNEL Mm. mmmm A If! iff mmm i a mwm mm uviHip vr.n 'k wwy ISIEIIIlBlISiSIiraHJtt mmm mil rti.il llint i siiii i I i i 'M- if li if, If i 1 nm iVUVD iu luniiiiiLumnii wwiiuii bo-iJli nmiiMl KSKH viww.aaaroetlaalui.oem shows TnriAv in SDDS DIGITAL STEREO I EC Hoiv Playihg At: 11:15, 1:30, SHOWS TODAY IN SDDS DIGITAL STEREO AT: 10 00, 1:00.4:00, 7:00 AND 10:00 PM 1 (AST BAY SGALAXYl theatre: Novato, Rowland Plaza I Hiyward Festival Gnffna 1 Kartinn Contrt Costa Gnema I Emnrville UnrtH Artists Cmry Bay fiCTieot-6CCfrffliontHiA I Danvitlr BlackKawk Movies? NORTH COUNTIES Vallejo, Cinedome Petaluma, Cinemas Petaluma San Rafael -HorrhgjteQnemas Kcmiccums Qnema Vacaville-Galaxy 8 Napa-Gnedome Santa tosa United Artists Coddinqtowa Windsor -Airport Gnema 8 Novate-Rowland Plaza Mountiin View Century (inemas 16 Kilpitas-MKilpitas 10 Theatres Sao Jose AHC Oakridgv 6 Theatres Sifl Jose -M Town Country San Jose- Unite. JfrtistsPavilioi Morgan Hill -Granada ledwood City Centvry Part 12 METRO, center: Santa Rosa, UA Cinema Square I PENINSULA Burtingame, Burtingame DA SAN JOSI San Jose, Century 21 San Jose, Century Capitol 18 Milpitas, AMC Milpttas 10 ML View, Century Cinemas 16 San Jose, Capitol DA Morgan HiH, Cinema 6 MARIN Code Madera, Cinema EAST BAY San Ramon, Crow Canyon Uvermore, Vine Pleasant HiH, Century Pittsburg, Brenden 16 Union City, Union City D7I Concord, Solano Dl PENINSULA Burtingame, Hyatt Redwood City, Century Park 12 Pacitica, Seavue SO. SAN FRANCISCO Daly City, Geneva DA EAST SAY Pinole, Century 10 Berkeley, California Alameda, Southshore Emeryville, UA Emery Bay Oakland, Grand Lake Hayward, Festival Cinemas Newark, Cinedome 7 Dublin, GCC Dublin Place Oakland Grand Lake I Pittsburj The Bre ndea Theatres PlfisantM-yaxv8 Santa Hosa, Airport Cinema Fairfield, GCC Solano Mall Napa, Cinedome STomjomi Petaluma rVtaluma Sonoma, Sonoma Cinema 4 I VdJiejo Grwdom ltnWimtoil Hl-tltl Vacaville, Galaxy I REGULAR ENGAGEMENT STARTS DECEMBER 20TH NOPASSnKClPIlD Healdsburg, Rave.