Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" of 1986, may not reach the genius of the ground-breaking original 1974 original, but nevertheless, it is a great, blood-soaked, and often funny Horror flick. While the original TCM was one of the purest Horror films ever made, the sequel is more of a black Horror Comedy that occasionally borders slapstick. Nonetheless, it delivers genuine creepiness, delightful gore, and many other great qualities. Number one: Dennis Hopper. Who else could fit in the role of a hard-boiled cynical Texas Ranger as Hopper does. One must give it to this sequel that some scenes are really as morbid as one should hope, and some sequences really are hilarious.
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Vantia 'Stretch' Block (Caroline Williams), who hosts a Rock'n'Roll program on a Texas radio station, is annoyed when two drunk idiots call her show and refuse to hang up the phone. Things quickly get interesting, when the two callers are sawed apart by our friend Leatherface and his freak brother on a freeway while live on air. Hoping for a jump in her career, Stetch decides to show the macabre tape to Lieutennant 'Lefty' Enright (Dennis Hopper), A Texas Marshall and uncle of Sally and Franklin Hardesty, who had been victimized by Leatherface and his demented cannibal family in the 1974 film. Lefty has been hunting the cannibal maniacs ever since, desperately following any clue...
As mentioned above, the casting of Dennis Hopper is one of this movie's best qualities and his character Lefty is responsible for most of the film's strongest and most hilarious scenes. I also liked Caroline Williams as southern beauty Stretch, she may not be the best actress ever, but she was the perfect scream-queen for this movie, as far as I am considered. Lou Perryman plays the redneck radio station assistant LG way over the top, but this is exactly what fits in here.
Both Leatherface and his equally crazy brother are played by different actors than in the first movie, the only cannibal family member played by the actor from the original, is the family's sleazy and disgusting father who has in the meanwhile become an award-winning cook (due to 'quality meat'), played by Jim Siedow again. The fact that Leatherface is played by Bill Johnson instead of Gunnar Hanson doesn't make much of a difference, since he's wearing his lovely face mask all the time anyway. Ken Everett, who plays Leatherface's brother Chop Top does quite a good job being an extremely creepy and disgusting freak. Chop Top, who is obviously what the equally disgusting hitchhiker from part one (then played by Edwin Neal) has become, is great fun to watch, especially for his morbid and disgusting habits. Many things have changed since 1974, the cannibal family's morbid little house has somehow turned into a huge cave palace of necrophilia, for example.
The great gore effects are another quality, which doesn't surprise since Gore-icon Tom Savini was responsible for make up and effects.
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" doesn't equal the innovative brilliance of the 1974 Classic, which was, without doubt, a milestone in Horror movie history, but it is a highly entertaining mix of nasty Horror and black comedy. People should definitely see the original before seeing Part 2. As far as I am concerned, the sequel is a must-see for Horror fans.
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Vantia 'Stretch' Block (Caroline Williams), who hosts a Rock'n'Roll program on a Texas radio station, is annoyed when two drunk idiots call her show and refuse to hang up the phone. Things quickly get interesting, when the two callers are sawed apart by our friend Leatherface and his freak brother on a freeway while live on air. Hoping for a jump in her career, Stetch decides to show the macabre tape to Lieutennant 'Lefty' Enright (Dennis Hopper), A Texas Marshall and uncle of Sally and Franklin Hardesty, who had been victimized by Leatherface and his demented cannibal family in the 1974 film. Lefty has been hunting the cannibal maniacs ever since, desperately following any clue...
As mentioned above, the casting of Dennis Hopper is one of this movie's best qualities and his character Lefty is responsible for most of the film's strongest and most hilarious scenes. I also liked Caroline Williams as southern beauty Stretch, she may not be the best actress ever, but she was the perfect scream-queen for this movie, as far as I am considered. Lou Perryman plays the redneck radio station assistant LG way over the top, but this is exactly what fits in here.
Both Leatherface and his equally crazy brother are played by different actors than in the first movie, the only cannibal family member played by the actor from the original, is the family's sleazy and disgusting father who has in the meanwhile become an award-winning cook (due to 'quality meat'), played by Jim Siedow again. The fact that Leatherface is played by Bill Johnson instead of Gunnar Hanson doesn't make much of a difference, since he's wearing his lovely face mask all the time anyway. Ken Everett, who plays Leatherface's brother Chop Top does quite a good job being an extremely creepy and disgusting freak. Chop Top, who is obviously what the equally disgusting hitchhiker from part one (then played by Edwin Neal) has become, is great fun to watch, especially for his morbid and disgusting habits. Many things have changed since 1974, the cannibal family's morbid little house has somehow turned into a huge cave palace of necrophilia, for example.
The great gore effects are another quality, which doesn't surprise since Gore-icon Tom Savini was responsible for make up and effects.
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" doesn't equal the innovative brilliance of the 1974 Classic, which was, without doubt, a milestone in Horror movie history, but it is a highly entertaining mix of nasty Horror and black comedy. People should definitely see the original before seeing Part 2. As far as I am concerned, the sequel is a must-see for Horror fans.