Tobe Hooper follows up his legendary shocker with this dozen years belated sequel, which he'd always intended to be outrageous in a different sort of way. Things still get pretty intense, but there is a more blatantly humorous approach (albeit in a dark way): "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is very campy stuff. Therefore, it may take more than one viewing to be able to appreciate it, as was the case for this viewer. Gone, also, is the suggestion of horrible violence, to be replaced by much more obvious, in-your-face gore supervised by makeup effects master Tom Savini. And he does some extremely impressive work here.
The story has a nutty former Texas Ranger, "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper) obsessed with revenge against the cannibalistic Sawyer clan, as he turns out to be the uncle of the Sally and Franklin characters from the first film. Lefty leans upon radio DJ "Stretch" Brock (sexy, husky voiced Caroline Williams) to air a tape she'd made of two dim bulb kids being slaughtered by Leatherface while tooling down the highway. This only angers the Sawyer family, who proceed to terrorize Stretch over and over again.
One very effective element to this sequel is its visual design; things are taken to another level in terms of the production design, lighting, and set decoration, as the Sawyers have headquartered in an old run down theme park. The music score, credited to Hooper and Jerry Lambert, is decidedly more conventional than that of the first film, and the eclectic soundtrack includes tunes by the likes of Timbuk 3, Concrete Blonde, The Cramps, and Stewart Copeland. The early set piece on the highway is a great one, and the action in the old park takes on an unrelenting, nightmarish tone, although ultimately it's not quite as effective as the simplicity of the first TCSM.
The acting is over the top from most everybody concerned; Hopper is a hoot in his unhinged performance, Williams does a lot of screaming (so much of it that it may annoy some viewers), Jim Siedow is delightful as the put upon Drayton "Cook" Sawyer, Bill Johnson (replacing Gunnar Hansen) gets to show us a different side of Leatherface, and Bill Moseley, in a hell of a breakthrough performance, is memorable as live wire Chop Top. Ken Evert takes over the role of Grandpa from John Dugan, and Lou Perryman is endearing as good ol' boy L.G.; his final scene with Williams is really fairly poignant.
The screenplay, by L.M. Kit Carson, contains some gems of dialogue, and there's one very enjoyable jump scare during the confrontation sequence at the radio station.
While the excesses of this sequel may not appeal to some tastes, they're bound to delight others. All things considered, this is a pretty good follow-up to a classic film, and is generally regarded as the cult favourite of the series.
Seven out of 10.
The story has a nutty former Texas Ranger, "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper) obsessed with revenge against the cannibalistic Sawyer clan, as he turns out to be the uncle of the Sally and Franklin characters from the first film. Lefty leans upon radio DJ "Stretch" Brock (sexy, husky voiced Caroline Williams) to air a tape she'd made of two dim bulb kids being slaughtered by Leatherface while tooling down the highway. This only angers the Sawyer family, who proceed to terrorize Stretch over and over again.
One very effective element to this sequel is its visual design; things are taken to another level in terms of the production design, lighting, and set decoration, as the Sawyers have headquartered in an old run down theme park. The music score, credited to Hooper and Jerry Lambert, is decidedly more conventional than that of the first film, and the eclectic soundtrack includes tunes by the likes of Timbuk 3, Concrete Blonde, The Cramps, and Stewart Copeland. The early set piece on the highway is a great one, and the action in the old park takes on an unrelenting, nightmarish tone, although ultimately it's not quite as effective as the simplicity of the first TCSM.
The acting is over the top from most everybody concerned; Hopper is a hoot in his unhinged performance, Williams does a lot of screaming (so much of it that it may annoy some viewers), Jim Siedow is delightful as the put upon Drayton "Cook" Sawyer, Bill Johnson (replacing Gunnar Hansen) gets to show us a different side of Leatherface, and Bill Moseley, in a hell of a breakthrough performance, is memorable as live wire Chop Top. Ken Evert takes over the role of Grandpa from John Dugan, and Lou Perryman is endearing as good ol' boy L.G.; his final scene with Williams is really fairly poignant.
The screenplay, by L.M. Kit Carson, contains some gems of dialogue, and there's one very enjoyable jump scare during the confrontation sequence at the radio station.
While the excesses of this sequel may not appeal to some tastes, they're bound to delight others. All things considered, this is a pretty good follow-up to a classic film, and is generally regarded as the cult favourite of the series.
Seven out of 10.