Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Horror sequels too often are known to go for the tired retread or outright remake route, doing everything they can to take known characters and elements and just try to be âfaithfulâ to the original without going anywhere particularly new and fresh with the material. For reasons such as this and others, sometimes taking a 13 year break between films can be particularly beneficial, as with a new decade, so there is a new era in filmmaking and a new mentality towards horror films themselves, and as a result something that can be literally considered special might very well come of it, and if you factor in the idea that the original filmâs director (rare with many horror sequels) is also back on board, then somehow one can see something being created that stands as both a legit and faithful sequel to its predecessor while also in many ways being wholly original. Thus is the case with this 1986 follow up to Tobe Hooperâs seminal 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a film which doesnât even attempt to match the cinema verite style dread of the first outing, but instead manages to find a way to subvert it, all with Hooperâs skillful hands back at the controls. Hooper already knew full well that audiences were expecting to once again see Leatherface and his creepy / scary family pop up here, but as one major character says at a certain point, âLord, show me what I fear, so I donât fear it no moreâ, and that Hooper does, fearlessly transforming The Chainsaw Family from monstrous pillars of evil into constantly bickering, yet gruesomely hilarious comic caricatures whose random disagreements amongst themselves might very well remind us of our own family situations or even any family we might see in any given sitcom (granted, the first film had some of this, but to a limited extent while focusing on the scares), succeeding incredibly by the end of giving us an almostâŚfamiliarity with these individuals that makes us laugh just as much as recoil in fright at the still obvious fact that these are occultist serial killers that we are talking about here, in many ways coming off not only as a spoof of the original film but even as a satire of the Reagan era family unit and the economic climate of the 80s (one must keep in mind that The Family ARE small business owners) in order to create a climate of being witness to maybe the sickest, most twisted black comedy of the decade, often blasted by fans of the original who didnât appreciate enough the fact that Hooper was setting out to make something completely DIFFERENT than his classic Part 1, and managed to pull off both a worthy sequel AND a classic 80s horror film in its own right, heavily mixing in the humor with the scares before even Sam Raimi changed the genre forever with Evil Dead 2. But gorehound fans of that decade neednât worry either, as Tom Savini was brought in to do the (very) graphic makeup FX, so horrifyingly bloody and visceral that the film ran into censorship problems all over the world and was even outright banned in some regions. Here in the USA, it was given an outright X, leading the producers to just go ahead and release it as Unrated, a ballsy move that limited distribution at the time but nonetheless increased its legend among horror fans via word of mouth, as watching such a splattery piece of work combined with the aforementioned sick humor gives one the feeling of watching a horror flick that is truly brilliant yet utterly depraved. And best of all, Hooper even managed to land a legendary major star for the (best described as) antiheroic lead: Dennis Hopper is top billed as a former Texas Ranger who has been relentlessly hunting for The Family for the last 13 years, spurred on by the fact that he is actually the uncle of Franklin (the paraplegic) and Sally from the classic original first film, only to be met with one roadblock after another (along with possible police cover ups?) throughout his search, thus bringing in the first slight suggestion early on of a possible âhigher powerâ that has for some reason both protected and enabled The Family to continue their killing spree all these years (the idea of which was brought to full fruition with The Illuminati style climax of Part 4). Hopper is clearly a broken man, discouraged by all the attempts to impede his quest but also ruthless enough to use innocents as guaranteed bait so that he might zero in on Leatherface and company once and for all. To that extent he uses a personable and pretty female DJ named Stretch (Caroline Williams) who has managed to record a call to her station of two screaming young men being butchered by Leatherface, and unknowingly at Hopperâs suggestion, plays the call repeatedly so that Leatherface will come calling before she uses a most unusual strategy by Scream Queen standards: she sweettalks the raging Leatherface into calming down a bit and uh, er, possibly begin a relationship, practically seducing him and getting him to spare her life in the process. It all leads to her and Hopper tracking them back to their lair (the underground of an abandoned amusement park with stunningly good production and set design that matches the original) where she gets captured and goes through the works Marilyn Burns style, while the psychotic Hopper takes on the âHand Of Godâ approach, arming himself with chainsaws that are literally strapped and holstered to him, and proceeds to work his way down and saw through the entire damn structure whilst singing gospel songs (and even encounters the body of Franklin himself, still holding his flashlight). Itâs at this point in the film where the actors playing The Family completely take over and dominate the movie with a kind of brilliantly achieved demonic, yet idiotic insanity. First off, thereâs Bill Johnson taking on the mantle of Leatherface from Gunnar Hansenâs legendary turn, and while the known continuity of the original 4 films can certainly dispute whether or not itâs the SAME Leatherface as Hansenâs (or possibly one of many large, retarded members of the family who âinheritâ the name and mask), this Leatherface is easily the most conflicted when it comes to his feelings for the female DJ (and her fantastic, perfect legs) which is a feeling that his brothers do NOT share. That brings us to the legendary Jim Siedow (the only returning cast member) as the unforgettable Cook, here called by name as Drayton Sawyer, and in the intervening years, Cook has gone from being a timid yet still evil figure into an outright, egotistical, raving lunatic, openly accepting an award in public for having the best chili in the region (cooked with human flesh of course) to being the outright ringleader of the whole clan itself, ordering the others around in such a way that he now considers it to be them doing HIS dirty work (and not being afraid now and then to doing a little bit himself) and of course most hilariously constantly bitching and moaning about the difficulties of being a small business owner in this day and age as well as constantly having to work around his idiot brothers whom he enjoys giving a swift kick in the ass to, giving a truly energetic and at times brilliant comic performance as a realistic personification of evil. But then thereâs Bill Moseley (later to be famous as Otis in House Of 1000 Corpses and Devilâs Rejects) as the third brother (and twin of the departed Hitchhiker in Part 1) known as Chop Top, who was off fighting in Vietnam during the events of the first movie where he was wounded and received a steel plate in his head for his troubles, something which he has constantly picked at over the years to where the plate itself is exposed which along with his overall gruesome appearance and pseudo hippie getup makes him a truly ghoulish figure whose bizarre look is only matched by his motormouth personality, to the point where it seems that he and Siedow almost appear to be trying to outdo and top one another when it comes to giving the most certifiably insane screen performance ever (with Hopper hovering in the shadows giving them both a run for their money) as Johnsonâs Face falls more on this side of the melancholy with his feelings for the DJ and more significantly, his reluctance to kill her. All this goes by the wayside when Hopper finally arrives at the âdining roomâ, at which time Leatherface is forced to strap it on for the cinema chainsaw duel of all time. Much of this can almost be seen as being too much to take (as when Hooper lingers on certain key gruesome moments), even though âtoo goodâ would be a more apt description for horror fans (of which Hopper himself obviously was not, having called this his âworst movie everâ), but why complain when you have an abundance of gore (maybe the most ever allowed in a major 80s horror after successfully spurning the MPAA), plenty of sick laughs, and an overall nihilistic view of living in the 80s that a million Albert Brooks efforts couldnât muster? Take it for what it is, quality horror that would almost never get much better than thisâŚ
9/10