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65 out of 86 people found the following review useful:
Amazing Grand Guignol Horror Film!, 5 January 2003

Author: Bryce David from Psychotronic land

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 pace, no matter what had just happened that night. I wished they didn't crop this shot on the DVD. Oh well...

It's a shame few people "got" TCM 2 back then. After reading the reviews at IMDb and at Amazon, it's great to see that some are finally "getting it." For anyone who's game, watch TCM 2. You'll be squealing in horror and laughing at the insanity of it all in equal amounts.

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40 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has not stopped. It haunts Texas.", 3 February 2002
Author: Backlash007 from Kentucky

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.

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32 out of 54 people found the following review useful:
Underrated cult classic, 19 January 2006

Author: jmwbate from United Kingdom

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a horrific realistic, and a genuinely terrifying film. This second is a strange (even stranger than the original) very sick ( a man forces a woman to wear her friends face??) and very budget blown (the appearance of Dennis Hopper).

We have Leather Face, Drayton (from the original we new him as old man) and Chop Top who is a new addition to the family who is (although probably the most deranged) a kind of funny and lovable character, he is very similar to the hitchhiker from the original except a Vietnam steel plated and (oddly) pale white skin colour.

A radio DJ (Stretch) gets prank called by two irritating gun ho kids in a car speeding down the motorway, but one of these prank calls just happen to be made at a wrong time as the two are chased by Leather Face in a opposite car and funnily enough kills them by chainsaw and its all been recorded on a live radio station. This makes Stretch closer to Lefty (dennis hopper) who is a family member of Franklyn (weelchair victim) in the original massacre wanting to hunt down the maniacs for revenge. The appearance of this recorded footage brings Lefty closer to catching the maniacs who is now out for Stretch for making the recording. The plot proceeds on to Stretch being held captive in the theme park style underground layer of the maniacs and Lefty roaring through chopping the place down with his chainsaw.

This is higher budget, meaning its got loads more action and the set pieces are even creepier and outstandingly made. The acting is pretty good as this time they had the money to buy proper actors. Although its unrealistic (living in an underground theme park layer filled with over 100 bodies used as props, people being chased in their car by a guy standing on top of his truck with a chainsaw on a bridge, the final battle between Dennis Hopper and Leather Face using chainsaws)its still a cult classic and very well directed. The original is superior but the second instalment is by far not a disappointment, more of a higher budget fun thrill ride with jumps, scares and even some funny parts which are hard not to laugh. The bad parts are the rushed beginning which we don't really know a thing about Lefty or why he's so mad and the fact that Leather Face now has feelings and becomes a little bit puffy at times. Apart from that all this "this is one of the stupidest films ever" nonsense is, quite plainly nonsense.

Better than the other instalments and the remake, not better than the original.

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Dog will hunt!, 3 November 2004

Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Disclaimer: Do NOT try to remove your hemorrhoids with a chainsaw. It will NOT save you a trip to the hospital.

(spoilers) OK, let me tell you why the Texas Chainsaw sequels don't work. The original film is slightly exempt from this, but when you have someone who is screaming and wiggling so much that you wish she would just get killed so she'll shut the hell up, you have lost your ability to scare. Doesn't matter how good the sets or costumes or actors are, if the audience is holding their ears, you have a problem.

The first sequel in the Texas Chainsaw series is meant to be nothing other than a bigger version of the original, this time fictionalized, and beefed up with the star power of Dennis Hopper. Not that the original was non-fiction. As you know, it was really based, very loosely, as it were, on the inhuman antics of Ed Gein in the 1950s, the same demented nutcase that inspired Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. Sounds like a fun guy.

Unfortunately, as is all too often the case with horror movies, this one comes off more as a sick comedy than a scary movie. Granted, there are horror movies that purposely come out like that, such as most of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a movie that caught people off guard because of its simplicity, its unknown cast, and its rough, documentary feel. In Texas Chainsaw 2, every single little bit of that is lost.

The set, once we eventually get underground, looks like they rented the Indiana Jones set, festooned it with randomly placed naked light bulbs, furniture made out of human bones, and meat hooks, and had Leatherface run around swinging a chainsaw. The atmosphere of the movie has completely lost the claustrophobic feel of the original by vastly expanding the size of the set, much of which looks like a Christmas tree crossed with an esophagus, and there is just too much hooting and hollering for it to be scary. The only thing more irritating than the killers is their victim, 'Stretch.'

The movie starts off with a couple of high school caricatures zooming down a desert highway, screaming at each other at the tops of their lungs about the sheer magnitude of the party that they are on their way to. They decide to swing into oncoming traffic to play chicken with someone driving a pickup truck, instantly making me eager to see them get killed. Doesn't matter that Leatherface is in that truck, anyone who plays chicken with a random driver because they're driving around drunk deserves to get killed. And if it takes place in a movie, they deserve to get killed with a chainsaw.

So not only do we have to endure the hooting and hollering of these two jerks, but they call a radio station and we are asked to believe that this station's phones get completely tied up if someone calling in refuses to hang up. Sure, this is rural Texas and 1986, but are we to believe that even out there and back then, there were radio stations with a single phone line and without the ability to cut off the callers? At one point the clueless tech guy is frantically pushing buttons and pulling levers, trying to figure out how to clear the line. Given something so stupid, however, you know it was there for a reason, so that they could record the phone call as the kids get chainsawed on the other end.

Speaking of which, the same kid that swerved into oncoming traffic at full speed finds himself stopped on a bridge as that same pickup truck sits blocking both lanes, and he frantically screams 'Are you crazy?!?' out the windshield while his idiot friend in the passenger seat offers such heroic tips as 'Just keep driving!' and 'Get outta here!' Good thinking'! Speaking of driving, not only can they not outrun a pickup truck traveling in reverse while supposedly holding the pedal to the floor in their Mercedes, but in the shots that show Leatherface standing and swinging his chainsaw, they are literally traveling all of 5mph.

Dennis Hopper plays the uncle of the kids who were killed in the original movie, sort of a rogue detective out of his jurisdiction and showing up at the scene of the two kids' murder. The police refuse to jump to conclusions, but Lefty (Hopper) is sure that it's the same people who killed his nieces and nephews. Hopper makes a GREAT redneck. I generally am truly disappointed when actors take on fake accents, but Hopper does this one so well that you would swear he's lived in the south his entire life, it's just too bad that he's saddled with this idiot character.

At one point, Stretch, the radio station DJ, shows up at his apartment, which, needless to say, is flooded with drunken rednecks wandering the halls with their arms around each other, and tells him that she has an audiotape of the murder because the kids called in just before they were attacked, and he sends her away! What the hell is that? Later he has a change of heart, but only wants to hear it if she'll play it on the air. The logic of the characters' actions in this movie is not starting off on the right foot. Then later, as Stretch hangs in a pit about to fall into the demons' lair, you might say, he tries to save her with a brittle, dried out arm bone. Clever.

There is a lengthy horror scene inside the radio station, which looks like it doesn't know if it's supposed to be a radio station or a horror movie set, so better just be a little bit of both. It's got its vast storage of records stored safely behind an open door, with a heavy steel door guarding the cleaning supplies. A burglar's dream, you might say. We get a scene where Leatherface is assigned to kill Stretch, but when he finally gets through that steel door, he starts chainsawing a tub of soda cans sitting in ice, which have no reason for being there or for being chainsawed, until finally Stretch screams, 'Are you mad at me??' and my eyes glaze over for the remainder of the film.

There's an effective scene where Leatherface puts Stretch's friend's freshly removed face over hers, supposedly to help her escape, but for the most part the underground portion of the film is a tired rehash of the original. Sure, it's bigger, there are more Christmas lights and more chainsaws, but essentially it's exactly the same thing, just without the surprise. They even replay exactly the same dinner scene from the end of the last movie, the most unpleasant scene in the entire movie.

Lefty decides that he is so intent on delivering swift poetic justice that, rather than stock up on as many guns as he can carry, he buys three huge chainsaws and straps them to his body, and then runs screaming into the house, yelling and cutting down wooden supports as the family tortures Stretch. In Commando Arnold bulldozes into a weapons store and loads up on boatloads of guns and knives and explosives. In The Terminator he does the same thing, with the added bonus of killing off the proprietor before leaving. Lefty could have paid homage to both of those films, establishing Lefty as a good guy since he actually paid for his. But why saws and not guns?

The grandparents, as is to be expected, are a hideous, hideous spectacle. Grandpa's 137 years old and still likes to hammer young girls on the head, and grandma spends her time in a wheelchair upstairs with a chainsaw on her lap. We are treated to a finale atop a huge rock outcropping that is so fake that it almost turns the movie into a comedy all by itself. There is at least one or two shots where the underlying chicken wire is nakedly visible.

We get some sort of variation on the ending of the original, since the conclusion is almost a mirror image, in that the girl becomes the chainsaw wielding maniac rather than looking at him out the back window of a passing motorist, but I'm not sure what line of discussion led to the conclusion that this would be a cool way to end the film. Is this supposed to be the setup for a sequel? The family's dead, but now there's this girl who has caught chainsaw fever and will now carry on the legacy?

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11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Dumber than you'd think, 28 October 2006

Author: DevastationBob-3 from geosynchronous orbit over Madagascar

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Potential SPOILERS ahead.

When I'd first heard of this movie, it was described to me by my cousins as the scariest and creepiest movie they'd ever seen. So it always had a place in my mind as a movie to avoid. However, when I finally did catch it, I have to say I disagree.

This movie was incredibly stupid. Every scare is telegraphed, nothing is a surprise. Leatherface dances around more with the chainsaw then cutting anyone. It's really idiotic. The performances aren't much better than your local churches haunted house on Halloween.

First, we're supposed to believe a radio station can't hang up on a caller unless the caller does first? I think the FCC would have something to say about that. It'd be impossible to censor any obscene calls that way. Also, what exactly does the tape reveal that Chop Top and Leatherface need to show up and silence the girl about? Some screams and a chainsaw noise. Yeah, that really points out their identities and existence. A damn autopsy would reveal the cause of death was power tool. Beyond that there's NOTHING linking them. Texas is a damn big state. And as the prologue indicates, after the first girl was found alive, the authorities found NOTHING to prove the events had happened. Plus, they could have just torched the place when they left the girl if they really wanted to be sure.

I watched it a second time last night, and I have to say it's gotten dumber. Stupid movie, and not in an entertaining way.

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18 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Indeed, a second massacre on the rampage!, 25 August 2004
Author: Sean Robertson-Stefanic from Us of A-K-Okla

The answer to who the movie really centers on, is not as simple as could be sounded. This nice little sequel (thats right! a GOOD sequel), the attention could easily be said to circle around Williamss' Stretch, but Dennis Hopper gets the only billing. One "normal" day in Texas, two naughty little highschool brats decide to have fun, by calling in a radio station(hosted by an enthusiastic Williams) and play chicken with other texans, they think. Later, these angered Texans turn out to be, uh huh! Ya, we all know who, as they attack the little brats one dark night following the earlier prank. Williams "Stretch" catches all of this gore galore on tape, and exposes it on her show as a favor for Hopper. Hopper has underacted character who's revenge for the massacre and torture of his nephew and niece (Sally and Franklin from the first) is somewhat unconvincible to an extent, but he has better moments. Williams, on the other hand, is very into her character and obviously takes it to the next level, with some hammy moments resaulting. Still, after she exposes the missing Saw-yer family-she is next! Pretty scary stuff. Nice little set-up puts her in an awfully creepy confrontation with Moseleys' Chop-Top". Then the real terror begins. This one could easily be said to have been just a little more expanded than the first, and I certainly say so. I do, however, put the first one on a higher stand, nothing will ever beat the original nightmare, which still scares to this day. Though Massacre 2 has its real moments of both horror and comedy, it drags in the last real, and won't give up! Tobe Hooper must have worked em all with this one, but its all the same a great fun movie. To say it is bad, would be too harsh, I definitely give this one a thumbs up, and ya know what? I'm not the only one!

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Texas cheesecake, 5 November 2012

Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) from The Underverse

Hate me if you want, but I never understood the high regard for the first movie. Yeah, I get the grim documentary tone, and I respect that, but there is only ONE massacre with a chainsaw, and it happens off-screen, while the rest of the film is also virtually bloodless. Nah, it's not something I rate highly.

This bizarre sequel only crossed my radar when I saw it on sale rather cheap and I was surprised by how much I liked it. Taking place 13 years after the first movie it opens with a couple of Yuppies being massacred with a chainsaw (sadly, the only chainsaw massacres in the whole movie) and the case promptly investigated by renegade Texas Ranger 'Lefty' Enright (the brilliant Dennis Hopper). The sound of the killing is caught on tape by radio DJ-type lady 'Stretch', who Lefty uses as bait to lure Leatherface out of the shadows. The trail leads to the labyrinthine catacombs beneath an abandoned amusement park for an epic showdown that doesn't really happen.

The problem begins with the second half in which Dennis Hopper seems to wander off into a different movie and nothing really becomes of his character while Stretch runs screaming from a horny Leatherface. It's a bit disappointing in this regard, but the wonderful set-design and gore effects keep it interesting. I just wish that there was more fodder for the titular chainsaw.

A lot of people consider this to be a spoof, but I don't think so myself. Horror movie-making had changed a lot by this point in the 80s. With slashers and the tools of their trade gaining popularity the genre moved away from gritty, grindhouse darkness and into something more colorful and mainstream (for better or worse). TCM2 is just a reflection of that. It's trash, but it's highly energetic and manic trash that's never boring, despite its shortcomings.

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15 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
Revenge of the 80's: The sequels!, 15 October 2004

Author: Miyagis_Sweaty_wifebeater (sirjosephu@aol.com) from Sacramento, CA

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1985) was the first sequel documenting the Sawyer family. Tobe Hooper made a cheesy and gory movie that's not meant to be taken seriously. Unfortunetlly, many people and critics unwisely compared it to the original and it didn't do as well as it should have. The filmmakers had more money and better special effects to play with. They took full advantage of it and made a true pop culture classic.

The cook, Leatherface and Chop top (hitcher's twin brother) are all part owners of a chili and barbecue business. The Cook is the only one who makes public appearinces (he's the only normal looking one of the trio). Dennis Hopper makes a return to Hollywood in this film playing himself (he's been doing that a lot during this time period). A fun movie filled with buckets of blood and grue. The performances are over the top and the writing is witty and full of one-liners and groaners.

if you love the first film then you'll enjoy the sequel. Tobe Hooper is still the man and he can make an excellent film whenever he wants to (and if he has a decent budget). The first of his three Cannon Films productions. All three of them are excellent and worth watching (too bad the company went bankrupt and collapsed). Highly recommended.

A+

Tobe Hooper makes a cameo appearance as an angry hotel guest

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12 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
A stunning tour-de-force edge-of-yourahhhhh ferget it, 14 November 2005

Author: Scott_from_Modesto (danofthedead80@yahoo.com) from Bear, Delaware

If you liked Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, you'll love him as Lefty the chainsaw-slinging Texas cop hell-bent for revenge in this sweet sequel. Head chainsawed in the first five minutes: check. Wacky characterization of beloved horror characters: check. Automatic love from me: check. Plus, Bill Moseley comes back as the cousin of the original hitch-hiker character and steals scenes as a psychotic hippied-out Vietnam vet. The comedy doesn't fall flat here either as there's just too damn much of it. Skip the other stupid TCM sequels and go for the one that counts.

That would be this one. The second one.

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7 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Although not the serious sequel we were expecting but it is entertaining for a messy sequel., 25 August 2005

Author: Lucien Lessard from Canada

For 14 years, there's has been reports of disturbing, horrific murders. The weapon of choice is a Chainsaw to these horrible crimes. When a tough as nails late-night disc jockey (Caroline Williams) accidentally caught their last crime on a tape from a telephone call by two rich kids (Barry Kingon & Chris Dovriads). A former Texas ranger by the name of Lefty Enright (Dennis Hopper) is obsessed for years trying to catch these psychotic mass-murderer. The only person is left to help is the disc jockey. When Lefty persuades her to play the tape. She haven't realize that she is the only witness (soundwise) to the crime & she lure the maniacs out of their hiding places and try to get rid of her.

Directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, Salem's Lot) made a wilder, hilarious, straight-face spoof of the original. It's seems that Hooper wanted to make fun of his original film and make it different. Dennis Hopper did definitely did this film for the money but Hopper seems to be enjoying himself in some scenes. This has terrific make-up effects by Tom Savini (Creepshow, Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th). The movie even has a Stanley Kubrick reference! This film did OK at the box office but it become more successful on video.

DVD has an fine non-anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an good-Dolby Surround 2.0 Sound. DVD only extra is the original theatrical trailer. An alternative version exist of the film with 14 minutes of additional footage on Laserdisc & VHS.

The latest DVD transfer from MGM/Fox is superb. This new DVD titled "The Gruesome Edition" is excellent. There's two commentary tracks by the filmmaker, the cast and make-up effects artists. Which no doubt... they are informative, entertaining, funny and never boring. Commentary one is by the director and documentarian filmmaker:David Gregory (Who directed "The Shocking Truth" for the latest Two Disc Set for the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"). Commentary Two is by actors:Bill Moseley and Caroline Williams, Make-Up effects artist:Tom Savini and DVD Producer:Michael Felsher. DVD includes:A Six Part featurette titled "It Runs in the Family", Deleted Scenes and more.

The crazed killers are played by Bill Johnson as Leatherface, Bill Moseley as Chop-Top, Jim Siedow as Drayton Sawyer & Ken Evert as Grandpa. Siedow is the only actor is back from the original. Moseley as Chop-Top is a total hoot. This film is not as good as the original but only funnier! Written by L.M. Kit Carson (Paris, Texas). (****/*****).

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