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	...	Drayton Sawyer - The Cook
Bill Moseley	...	'Chop-Top' Sawyer
Bill Johnson	...	Leatherface 'Bubba' Sawyer
Ken Evert	...	Grandpa Sawyer
Harlan Jordan	...	Patrolman
Kirk Sisco	...	Detective
James N. Harrell	...	Cut-Rite Manager
Lou Perryman	...	L.G. McPeters (as Lou Perry)
Barry Kinyon	...	Buzz - Mercedes Driver
Chris Douridas	...	Rick - Gunner
Judy Kelly	...	Gourmet Yuppette
John Martin Ivey	...	Yuppie
Kinky Friedman	...	Sports Anchorman

Storyline

Radio DJ Vanita 'Stretch' Brock's open request night is plagued by the annoying phone pranking of two road tripping, party-hard, hoodlums, but things take a disturbing turn when the hoodlums meet their demise at the hands of familiar chainsaw wielding maniacs. With the entire gruesome ordeal recorded on tape, Stretch seeks out the help of a former Texas Marshall who's on a personal quest of vengeance against this family of cannibals. While at first he turns her down, he eventually decides to use her tape to his advantage, asking her to air it during her request block- effectively baiting the cannibals to the radio station where he'll personally deal with them.

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Plot Keywords:

chainsaw murder | scene of the crime | radio | radio station | characters killed one by one | 

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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:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 August 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II

Filming Locations:

Loop 150, Bastrop, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,822,439, 24 August 1986, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$8,025,872

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Films,Golan-Globus Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min (Ontario) (cut) 101 min (original uncut)

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tom Savini once stated that the makeup effects that he created for Grandpa is his most proud accomplishment, which he compares to the makeup for the aged Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970).

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Goofs

(at around 13 mins) Lighting equipment is reflected on the side of Lefty's car.

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Quotes

Drayton: [Hiding under the dinner table while Leatherface and Lefty fight] Maybe it's just time to just shut down. Time to shut down the show, yeah. Yeah, pull the plug. Come here, Nubbins!
[Pulls the preserved corpse of the hitchhiker from the original film under the table and searches him]
Drayton: Where... Where's that fuck you Charlie?

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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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Alternate Versions

The original 1987 Canadian home video release was distributed by Astral Home Video (Media Video slipcase with an Astral sticker on it) and runs only 90 minutes instead of the US version which ran 101 minutes. The missing footage was cut due to graphic gore.

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Connections

Referenced in The Green Monster (2009)

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Soundtracks

Good to Be Bad
Performed by The Lords of the New Church
Written by Stiv Bators (as Stiv Bator) and Brian James
Lyrical Inspiration by L.M. Kit Carson (as Kit Carson)
Published by Illegal Songs, Inc. (BMI)
Produced by The Lords of the New Church (as Lords) with Dennis Herring

User Reviews

Woeful - no redeeming qualities.

Where do I even begin with this trainwreck of a sequel? The original film is brilliantly twisted, horrifying and disturbing - masterful. This film is not scary, twisted or upsetting.

THE SETTING: Leatherface and his sick family have moved out of their house in TCM1 and have relocated at an amusement park! And not just any amusement park, it has seemingly endless lattice of tunnels and brightly-lit caverns underneath. It's hard to feel afraid of what is clearly a bad movie set.

THE VILLAIN: I'll start with Leatherface. In TCM1, Leatherface is a barbaric violent villain, a sick effed-up killing MACHINE. Here, Leatherface wields his chainsaw at a 'pretty' (?) girl, falls in love with her, and becomes a BIG OLD SOFTY. He turns into Ludo the Lovable Oaf from "Labyrinth" (or, for Harry Potter fans, Grawp). I'm sorry but WHAT THE ****? Is this a horror movie or a children's film??? THE HEROINE: Stretch is a radio DJ who wears little denim shorts but as the face of a goat. She is also the stupidest heroine I've ever met in a horror film. She actively pursues the villains to their base, with no plan and without contacting the police, and falls right into their hands. It's hard to care about her suffering when she so clearly deserves it for being such a fool.

THE HERO: Dennis Hopper, like his female counterpart, also decides to take on the villains single-handedly. He buys a bunch of chainsaws and goes after them on his own. Yep - strapping a few chainsaws to your back like Rambo is a GREAT survival technique.

Now, I love horror movies and I LOVE horror sequels - even bad ones. But this is neither good nor so-bad-it's-good. It's just plain bad and most importantly - NOT SCARY.