The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

TCM 2 was definitely not as serious as the original film, but it had a lot of charm to it. It begins in Texas (of course) with two young men driving along the road. They call a local radio station which is when we meet our leading lady Stretch (Caroline Williams) the DJ. While on the phone with the guys, Leatherface murders both of them Stretch manages to hear the chainsaw in the background. The police try to make their deaths seem like a simple auto accident, but when a former Texas Ranger Lefty (Dennis Hopper) sees the accident scene, he knows it was more than an accident. And when Stretch gives him the audio tape of the murder, he realizes that Leatherface has struck again. Once the infamous Sawyer family catches on that people know of their crimes, they trap Stretch in their sick twisted maze of dead corpses and rotting flesh.

Chainsaw 2 was made at a time when it was competing with the Krueger/Myers/Vorhees sequels. So it had to live up to the modern day slasher film, that means more blood. It's a lot more gory than the controversial first TCM. In this one, you literally see a guy get skinned alive, his face is almost peeled off for Leatherface to use as a mask. Oh and the family is explored more in this sequel. Jim Siedow reprises the role of "The Cook" Drayton Sawyer. He now sells chili to the fine people of Texas. He proclaims at a local cook off that it's his special secret recipe. Take a guess what he uses to make the chili....

Yeah so as you can see, TCM 2 is a little more morbid and comical in a black comedy sort of way. The maze that Stretch gets trapped in near the end is an old amusement park that the Sawyers are living in. Very creepy set they built for it as well. The acting is pretty good for this one as well. We also discover Dennis Hopper's character is related to Franklin, the man in the wheelchair from the first TCM. Nice little connection. All in all, a decent sequel to a 70's classic. It's not as memorable as the first or even as good, but a fine slasher film nonetheless.

7/10

Fmovies: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is criminally underrated. I've noticed a lot of comments trashing this movie. It's a HORROR movie! It's also a SEQUEL to a horror movie! Where were your expectations people? What did you think you were going to be watching? I remember watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as a kid, and it scared the s**t out of me. That opening bridge scene is incredible. It's one of the scariest sequences I've ever seen. Tom Savini's effects are top notch, the humor is well placed, and the acting is perfect for the genre. Bill Moseley (Chop Top) is something else. He's the reason I love this movie so much. He portrays one of the most memorable characters in recent horror history and I can't get enough of him. I do agree that Bill Johnson is not nearly as menacing as Gunnar Hansen in the role of Leatherface. But what's wrong with Tobe Hooper's direction? It's his story, let him tell it the way he wants to. I think Tobe Hooper succeeds in continuing the tale of one of the great horror icons. TCM 2 has loads of gore, campy acting, and instills a healthy dose of fear into it's viewer. What more could you ask of a sequel? And remember, the saw is family.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is one of the most misunderstood movies of all time. I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 when it was released in theaters back in 1986. I loved this horror flick then. But everyone else hated it. Critics trashed it. Even many horror fans, of the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre or slashers in general, hated it and dismissed it. Now after a decade or so after its release, TCM 2 is now a bona fide cult movie.

There are so many things to point out why TCM 2 is a stand-out. The first and most important thing to point out is that back in the 1980s, horror films were reduced to simple slashers. TCM 2 is totally different than the plethora of slashers that many horror fans expected to see, which is one reason why many horror fans didn't get it. The body count is extremely low in TCM 2 compared to the Friday the 13th or Elm Street flicks. But that doesn't mean it's not violent. No, it's VERY violent. But the violence in TCM 2 is more engrossing, shocking and even at times funny, and in turn less acceptable than the unreal violence found in many slasher films. Because of the amount of violence and violent imagery, films critics trashed TCM 2, pointing out how the first film didn't rely on gore and violence to scare the audience.

I love Texas Chainsaw Massacre as much as I love TCM 2. I understand what the critics were saying. Unfortunately, they didn't get the point of the violence in TCM 2. While TCM is a sweat inducing TERRIFYING horror film in the first order, TCM 2 is a "GRAND GUIGNOL HORROR" horror film in the first order. In TCM 2, Hooper creates a vast canvas of baroque imagery, where we watch the insane and gory story unfold before our incredulous eyes. I'm amazed that critics missed the whole difference between TCM and TCM 2. It's odd that critics will rave about Peter Greenaway's "THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER" which is a twisted drama in the the Grand Guignol style, but didn't see TCM 2 in the same way. It's probably due to the fact that TCM 2 is a sequel to a quasi-legendary horror film and everyone expected the sequel to be the same as the first movie.

I give credit to everyone involved with TCM 2. They actually TRIED to do something different: different from the equally great TCM, different from the increasingly boring horror films of the 80s. And in my eye, they've succeeded. There are so many memorable scenes in TCM 2, some of which are the most amazing horror moments ever put on screen (when Leatherface tries to put the scalped face on Stretch, the scene when Stretch finds her friend sans face, etc). And there are so many quotable lines too. TCM 2 is also a very funny film ("Rain, rain, rain, rain..." Choptop says as he checks out records at the radio station).

TCM 2 is not perfect. The ending is abrupt. And the chainsaw fight at the end is too short. Dennis Hopper is a bit hard to take as a "hero." But he does play the "twisted hero" right. It's just difficult to see him fighting big and burly Leatherface. BTW, the very last image of TCM 2 is Strecth dancing with a chainsaw in her hands at the top of that amusement park structure. In the original film (and the original video release), we can see cars and trucks driving by on a highway in the distance. On the DVD, they cropped this shot and we don't see the traffic anymore. Personally, I thought it added a LOT to the whole surreal aspect of the film. Like the world was continuing on with its relentless

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 fmovies. In 1974 upon the release of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre it was immediately met with shock and became an overnight sensation. It was horrifying and people had seen little like it before.

It's creators clearly never saw the potential for a franchise as it took twelve years before a sequel came out.

Tobe Hooper returns for this odd little film, odd because it follows a dark gritty horrific gory serious horror with a colourful campy and often comedic effort.

The movie revolves around the demented Sawyer family and the random killing sprees they go on. But when they get outed by a DJ they go after her for revenge. Add to that Dennis Hopper as a former US Marshall who is as crazy as the family themselves and you have a the recipe for a gory riot.

Trouble is I couldn't take it seriously, it simply didn't feel like a TCM movie! It was loud, colourful and the jokes flowed freely. Leatherface doesn't even get anymore screen time than the rest of the family and even he is goofy and no longer scary.

I have no idea what they were thinking when they made TCM 2, but it sure as hell doesn't work.

The Good:

Bill Moseley

The Bad:

The screaming, really!?

Such a crazy shift in genre

Sudden and dumb finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

LG has the hardest skull in the history of movies

"The sex" is a swindle

Chainsaw "Sword" fights aren't as exciting as you'd imagine

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a terrible film. I knew going in it would be nothing like the original and was completely fine with that, but this movie goes out of its way to be as ridiculous as possible. The genuine scares from the original have been replaced by awkward comedic bits, from the cannibal family's bickering to Leatherface making silly faces (yeah, they had the audacity to turn Leatherface into a punchline).

It's just embarrassing, and this is largely due to an inconsistent script. The first act sets an ominous tone from its premise of hearing a murder live on the radio and the radio host being terrorized by the same murderers. Then the second act is silly, borderline cartoonish with Leatherface acting like a hormonal teenager; and the third act tries to pay homage to the original by recreating the dinner scene almost exactly as it was in the first (but not nearly as effective) combined with an admittedly cool chainsaw duel between Lefty (Dennis Hopper) and Leatherface, then closing with a somewhat thrilling final struggle for the heroine to make her escape. Then it closes with another "homage" to the original and then credits roll and a cheesy '80s pop song ensues. If not for the second act, it had potential to be an engrossing story and potentially disturbing (the gore is still top-notch) but the drastic shifts in tone make it virtually impossible to become immersed into this overtly fake, cartoonish world.

Thankfully, Tobe Hooper's directing makes even the dullest moments of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 aesthetically pleasing. The location and set design is perfect - the underground lair with brightly colored lights juxtaposed with rotting corpses and leftover entrails is oddly unsettling, and the scenery during the final moments of the movie is hauntingly beautiful. Hooper knows how to make these scenes look as gritty and urgent as possible. Dennis Hopper's Texas ranger was also a welcome addition. He was related to Franklin of the first movie and is out for revenge on these hillbillies so he buys the biggest chainsaw he can, then storms their lair screaming his lungs out like a lunatic.

What ultimately killed this movie for me (aside from the script) is the lead actress. She is just awful. You can't take anything she says seriously because of how poorly she delivers her lines, and her screams are so forced and annoying I was practically rooting for Leatherface to chop her head off. Her relationship with Leatherface is also forced and awkward, but maybe that was the screenwriters' attempt at comedy. There are a couple laughs in this movie, and by that I mean two; three max. Something about the bombastic chainsaw duel is undeniably exhilarating, despite it not being fleshed out to its full potential.

There is some fun to be had in this movie, but you have to suffer through a lot of stupidity to get there. I have no idea how sequels continued coming out after this, and I can even empathize why they would want to make a "sequel reboot" with Texas Chainsaw 3D, but that was even more abominable than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's true sequel - this - and this is pretty darn bad. This movie is for Leatherface completists only.

U got one choice boy, sex or the saw! I remember that line in the film the most and it was my favorite quote. Anyway let's get down to another review of horror madness from the dead, lol.

The original 1974 cult (never go to Texas) classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a large hit and still remains in our souls of being one of the most bone chilling, shocking horror films of all time. It is my third favorite horror film and I treasure it for it's memories of disgust but intelligent scares. That was Tobe Hooper's good and only really scary film.

Now the his sequel "The Buzz is Back!" isn't a bad sequel at all though it really falls on the lines of the original as Tobe decided to go to a more comedic root instead of sticking to the horror ones. The horror roots were put back into the third and fourth though they are way beyond crappy.

Moving on I'll point out the good and bad plotters for TCM 2.

The good: The acting is still good especially Bill Moselsy who played the insane, cannibalistic f***ed up Chop Top who loves his dead corpses. The only returning character (s) is Dawerer (I think that's his name) and he still did a good job. Dennis Hopper also did really well and the back up actors were average.

The kills aren't great though there bloody enough. 1 point there.

The music also had a weird feel to it and the humor was contained well and there were enough scenes to make me enjoy this film a lot.

The bad: The only problem I had with this film was that even if the humor was average and contained well, it sucked that Tobe Hooper took it to a different level and the scares are no where to be found. That's the only major problem other wise.....

6.5/10 (It's another good slasher film if your bored and it has the right amount of enjoyment leaking out of it) I would watch this awesome sequel than wasting my time on TCM 3, TCM Next Gen and TCm the Beginning. My opinion.