Themes: Vigilantes, Obsessive Quests, Woman In Jeopardy
Main Cast: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Johnson, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Over ten years after making the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper returns to his deranged family of reclusive cannibals for another round of chainsaw chases and non-stop screaming. Hooper brings a real budget this time (having recently directed Poltergeist for Steven Spielberg) and the talents of veteran make-up artist Tom Savini. This means he can make things bigger, louder, and gorier than ever before -- and they are. He also brings a wacky, self-deprecating sense of humor, as if deliberately flaunting Texas Chainsaw Massacre's status as one of the first and still greatest "splatter" movies. The result is an impish take-off on the original film (and contemporary horror movies in general) that elevates its own clichés -- buckets of blood and gore, droll dialogue, the screaming female lead -- to the level of high camp. The movie is loosely concerned with a small-town disc jockey named "Stretch" (Caroline Williams, who does most of the screaming) and an embittered Texas Ranger named "Lefty" (Dennis Hopper). They team up and decide to put an end to the murderous activities of the Sawyer family once and for all (that is, of course, until Texas Chainsaw Massacre III). The real highlight of the film is when Stretch and Lefty find their way into the Sawyer family hideout -- a ruinous, winding abattoir underneath an abandoned amusement park -- and engage in a chainsaw-battle-to-the-death with Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and the rest of the clan. Jim Siedow is back from the first film as the acerbic Drayton Sawyer, the family cook and owner of the Last Roundup Rolling Grill. Chop-Top (Bill Moseley) and Leatherface do most of the movie's dirty work. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
Review
Much-hated at the time of its release, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has aged remarkably well, now playing as a strangely effective if none-too-subtle satire of several facets of '80s excess. Pure Grand Guignol, it turns its cannibal family into successful entrepreneurs, marketing their human stew to a wider audience than ever before. As an unstated goal, Hooper seems to want to outdo the countless imitators inspired by the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the upped ante on blood, gore, and general nastiness caused some troubles with the MPAA. While certainly not for all tastes, as a kind of extreme satire, it works pretty well. Dennis Hopper's over-the-top performance takes the edge off the sordidness and generally sets the tone of comedic excess, helping make Massacre 2 an interesting companion piece -- and, in many respects, a response -- to its predecessor. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
The film is highly criticized by some for its stylistic departure from the first film, which used minimal gore and a low-budget documentary ambiance to scare its audience by skillfully building up dramatic tension. Unlike its predecessor, TCM2 contains gore and features effects from makeup maestro Tom Savini. The emphasis is on black comedy, which director Tobe Hooper believed was not as obvious in the first film. While successful in its initial 1986 theatrical release, the film failed to make a substantial profit but became quite popular on VHS, leading to a Special Edition DVD release in 2006.
The story opens as two rowdy high school seniors race along an abandoned stretch of Texas highway on route to a weekend of fun in Dallas. They are heavily intoxicated and use their car phone to call and harass on-air DJ Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams). Unable to convince the boys to hang up, Stretch is forced to keep the line open as what began as a simple game of chicken quickly turns into a nightmare. The two teens encounter a large pickup truck that runs parallel to them on a remote bridge. Leatherface (Bill Johnson), wielding a chainsaw, emerges from the back of the truck and proceeds to attack the boys. After a couple of minutes, Rick (the passenger) tries to shoot Leatherface with a .44 Magnumrevolver but misses. Leatherface slices off part of the head of the driver and they end up crashing.
The following morning, at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), former Texas Ranger and uncle of Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin, arrives to help solve the crime. Lefty has spent the last thirteen years investigating their disappearance while investigating reports of mysterious chainsaw killings across Texas. Though looked upon with disdain by his peers, he is able to get the local paper to carry a tiny article about his quest. This sparks the interest of Stretch who brings him a copy of the taped death of the two teen boys. At first mortified, Lefty asks Stretch to play the tape on her nightly show.
As the sounds of this horrible incident echo across the airwaves of Texas, Leatherface's family shows up to the radio station. While preparing to leave for the night, Stretch finds Chop Top (Bill Moseley), (who was stationed in Vietnam during the first film and is a twin to the "Hitchhiker" from the first film) waiting in the lobby. When she tries to get rid of him, Leatherface emerges from the darkness. Stretch locks herself behind the metal door of a storage closet holding off Leatherface until he comes through the wall. Meanwhile, Stretch's co-worker arrives but is beat badly with a tack hammer. As Leatherface approaches Stretch, about to attack, she does some fast talking and charms him into sparing her. After a moment of distraction, Leatherface restarts his chainsaw and tears off through the studio slashing at walls, furniture and studio equipment but leaving Stretch alive. He returns to the reception area where he leads Chop Top to believe that Stretch has been killed.
Leatherface and Chop Top haul Stretch's near-dead co-worker off to their home followed by Stretch, who winds up trapped inside the Sawyer home, which is actually an abandoned carnival ground decorated with human bones, multi-colored lights, and carnival remnants. Lefty turns up with three chainsaws of his own and begins to carve up the home in a rage shortly before he finds the remains of his nephew, Franklin.
Drayton (Jim Siedow) finds Stretch roaming the grounds and the family takes her captive. Lefty eventually finds her being tortured at the dinner table and saves her. A battle between Lefty and the Sawyer family ensues ending with a chainsaw duel between Leatherface and Lefty. In the end, Lefty and most of the Sawyer family (Leatherface, Grandpa and Drayton) are apparently killed (offscreen) when one of Lefty's grenades goes off prematurely. Only Chop Top and Stretch escape where they have a final battle in a carved-out rock tower that overlooks the property. Despite being slashed several times with a straight razor, Stretch grabs a chainsaw held by the mummified remains of the family's grandmother in a ritual shrine on the rock tower. Stretch then gets the upper hand on Chop Top as she cuts him with the chainsaw where he falls off the tower to a presumed death. The final shot shows Stretch standing on top of the tower and emulating Leatherface's famous chainsaw dance from the ending of the first film.[1]
When the BBFC notified Cannon (the distributor) that at least 20 minutes, and possibly 25, would have to be trimmed, Cannon aborted its plans for a planned UK release in 1990. Despite this, it is now rated 18.
When originally submitted to the MPAA, it received an "X" certificate, prompting the filmmakers to release it as "unrated". However, TV previews, theatrical trailers, and even the movie posters had the written statement "Due To The Nature of This Film, No One under 17 Will Be Admitted". When initially released on home video & laserdisc, it still had no rating. In the early 1990s, when reissued on home video and receiving a debut DVD release, it was given the "R" rating by the MPAA.
The film was banned in Australia for 20 years. The original uncut version that was issued on video to retailers throughout Australia was done so illegally by a duplicating house and without the knowledge of the OFLC. When word leaked amidst the video industry, a number of retailers were raided for possessing infringing copies. The duplicating house was similarly raided by Federal Customs. The film was finally passed for official release in Australia on November 30, 2006.[2] The Uncut "Gruesome Edition" DVD was released on January 24, 2007.[3]
On August 1, 2000, the film was released in a bare bones Region 1 DVD edition, by MGM. On October 10, 2006, the film received a second DVD treatment from MGM, entitled "The Gruesome Edition", featuring:
Audio commentary by director Tobe Hooper with David Gregory, director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth
Audio commentary by actors Bill Moseley and Caroline Williams with special effects makeup creator Tom Savini
