The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

A radio host is victimized by the cannibal family as a former Texas Marshall hunts them.

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

L.M. Kit Carson, Tobe Hooper (film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre")

Stars:

Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Hopper	...	Lieutenant 'Lefty' Enright
Caroline Williams	...	Vanita 'Stretch' Brock
Jim Siedow	...	Cook
Bill Moseley	...	'Chop-Top' Sawyer
Bill Johnson	...	Leatherface
Ken Evert	...	Grandpa
Harlan Jordan	...	Patrolman
Kirk Sisco	...	Detective
James N. Harrell	...	Cut-Rite Manager
Lou Perryman	...	L.G. McPeters (as Lou Perry)
Barry Kinyon	...	Mercedes Driver
Chris Douridas	...	Gunner
Judy Kelly	...	Gourmet Yuppette
John Martin Ivey	...	Yuppie
Kinky Friedman	...	Sports Anchorman

Storyline

Young DJ Vantia Block is hosting a music show when two renegade hoodlums phone her and start making trouble. The situation changes rapidly as the kids drive to a passageway and get sawed to pieces by Leatherface while the shocked DJ listens the kids' screams. Local sheriff approaches Block and convinces her to play the recording made from the phone call on radio, hoping that the killers would show up.

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Plot Keywords:

leatherface | radio host | texas | gothic | human monster | 

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Taglines:

After a decade of silence... The buzzz is back!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

X

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 August 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,700,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$8,025,872 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 100 min (director's cut) 111 min (Digitally Remastered Collector's Edition) 100 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "family group shot," as seen in the advertisements, posters and video covers, uses the same positioning as the promotional group shot for the movie The Breakfast Club.

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Goofs

Right after Lefty crashes the party, Stretch tries to escape. When she is first walking along the passageway, the shadow of the camera crew is visible along the screen left wall moving just ahead of her.

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Quotes

Chop Top: Peel that pig and slice him thick.

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Crazy Credits

At the very end of the closing credits, a Texas Chainsaw Massacre logo appears briefly and the end title song is replaced by a loud chainsaw buzz noise.

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Connections

Referenced in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Goo Goo Muck"
Performed by The Cramps
Written by Ronni Cook
Published by NRM Publishing
Produced by The Cramps

User Reviews

Though it gets progressively stupider, this still manages to be entertaining throughout.

Dennis Hopper as a crazy cop who doesn't care what anyone thinks, and wants revenge for the death of his nephew, now is on the trail of Leatherface who's back 14 years after the first film. This is what the back cover wants you to think this movie is about, and though it's technically true, it's stretching also stretching the truth a bit. Dennis Hopper is first credited, and is in the movie, though his screen time probably amounts to 15 minutes or less in total, with a character introduced to be the protagonist, but ending up just being a supporting actor. This has no affect on the quality of the movie, but a little more Dennis Hopper would have been appreciated.

It's been 14 years since the first murderous mayhem of the first film, and now after an unexplained decade plus of no killings, Leatherface and his wacky family are back. Two kids are killed while calling in to a radio show, and the host, "Stretch" (Caroline Williams), has it on tape. She wants the police Lieutenant "Lefty" (Dennis Hopper) to listen to the tape, so he suggests she plays it. This attracts Bubba "Leatherface" Sawyer (Bill Johnson) and his crazy brother Bo "Chop Top" Sawyer (Bill Moseley) and they come to the radio station to pay Stretch a visit. Chaos ensues and it's up to Stretch and Lefty to save the day, and themselves.

The acting is pretty good for what it is. Caroline Williams is fine at acting scared and Dennis Hopper is good at acting like he knows what he's doing. Everyone else is over the top crazy, which is stupid, but produces many laughs. The direction is quite good and clear, with well done action scenes. It's the writing that fails. The script gets stupider and stupider as it goes along and by the end the intelligence of this already mentally deficient is completely gone.

This was very unique for a slasher film, in that it wasn't even a slasher. There was some violence, but there are really only two characters, so thank goodness it wasn't a slasher, because it would have been the shortest one of all time.

Why does everyone have a nickname? Lefty, Stretch, Chop Top, Leatherface, Grandpa...why must every character be called by a nickname? Talk about repetitive writing.

Overall, this isn't very good, but it's also not too bad. It's your average horror film, and a worthy follow up to the first film.

My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 100 mins. R for violence and language.