The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) Review

Following such a masterpiece as the original Chainsaw movie was never going to be easy and original director Tobe Hooper didn’t exactly rush into making a follow-up – he was stuck in litigation for eleven years before he was free to do another Chainsaw movie. Upping the funny factor and practically forgetting everything else, Chainsaw 2 is a mess.

Starting off as a blackly comic tale, it soon loses the plot, thinking lots of shouting equates to fun! Star Dennis Hopper has little to do as a vengeful Lieutenant, whose siblings met the hands of the cannibal family first time round. Caroline Williams, as a radio DJ with a chainsaw assisted murder caught on cassette, seems spunky enough at the start before descending into an embarrassing caricature on the receiving end of possible chainsaw sex courtesy of Leatherface.

It was apparent from the advertising that Hooper, through the backing of Cannon Film Distributors, had intended the movie as a comedy, with the family group shot for the cannibal family aping that of the previous year’s John Hughes pic The Breakfast Club (1985) poster. It didn’t stop the British Board of Film Classification telling the distributors that between 20-25 minutes would have to be trimmed for the film to receive a release at the UK box office. In America the movie received an X rating. The distributors put it out uncut and unrated.

Hooper, so pleased with his latest that he appears in a corridor scene, had managed to wrangle gore supreme Tom Savini in to do some pretty impressive effects and as well as nabbing the scriptwriter behind director Wim Wenders’ acclaimed Paris Texas (1982). Badly meshing in key scenes from the original, Massacre 2 is fun for around half its duration before Stretch ends up victim to the cannibal family. As a curiosity piece it is definitely worth a look but expect it to divide opinion strongly. Brave, interesting but ultimately fucked!