The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is quite a different film from its predecessor. I hold the original in very high regard for reasons that were absent from this film. That does not make it a bad film, however.
Through some narration, we learn that Sally, the only survivor of the previous film was able to tell the story of what happened to her, her brother and friends, but goes catatonic afterward. There was a search conducted but no trace of the Sawyer family (Leatherface, et al) was found. However, there continued to be gruesome chainsaw related killings across the state of Texas for thirteen years. That brings us to the present. Two high school kids are travelling through Texas, drinking and shooting road signs. They call a local radio station that they are listening to and start bothering the DJ, Stretch (Caroline Williams). They play chicken with a truck and run it off the road. Hours later, the kids call Stretch again and while on the phone are stopped by the same truck from their game of chicken. The truck runs alongside of them, and Leatherface jumps out. He saws up the car and eventually cuts off half the head of the driver causing the car to crash. The entire event is recorded on an audio cassette (a now dead format that music was distributed on). Lt. Lefty Enright (Dennis Hopper) who has been trying to find the chainsaw killers, arrives at the scene to the dismay of local cops, who eventually let him stay. We learn that Lefty is Sally and Franklin’s Uncle, which is fueling his need to find the killers. He convinces the local P.D. to publish an article about the incident in the paper in the hopes to attract any witnesses. It does, as Stretch brings the cassette to Lefty’s hotel room. Not really convinced that it would help, he sends her away. Stretch is also covering at the chili cook off and the winner turns out to be Drayton Sawyer, who tell that his secret is to not “skimp on the meat.” Lefty visits the radio station and convinces Stretch to pay the cassette on the air, which she does, every hour. As he is driving his mobile “restaurant” Drayton gets a call (car phone) from a family member instructing him to turn on the radio. He hears the tape and the Sawyer family make a visit to the station. At this point, the Chainsaw Massacre begins. Again.
To clarify my earlier statement, the reason why I like the first film so much was because of its documentary like presentation and shocking realism. This installment had a much larger budget, was more like an actual horror film, and had much better acting. Again, this does not make it a bad film (especially in comparison to some of the later sequels). However, I really don’t think it was necessary to make this film.
The first film on its own could not have been done any better. We see one incident in which a group of friends are mercilessly killed at the hands of a family of cannibalistic lunatics. It ends, with no real resolve, leaving open wounds on the viewer. It was shocking, and somewhat mysterious in a fascinating way, as this was surely but one of many events like this. That was enough. There was no need to show any further “adventures” of the Sawyers.
That being said, even though the choice was made to make a sequel, it wasn’t a terrible follow up (probably due to Tobe Hooper’s involvement). It is clear that Hooper was placing more of an emphasis on comedy, as there was a lot of insane ramblings spouted off by Chop-Top, the twin brother of the hitchhiker from the first film. He was also a Vietnam vet who may or may not have had PTSD, and a bit of a hippie (what?) which I thought was a bit much. It’s kind of like he was given a bunch of problems to emphasize his lunacy. Killing people and eating them is enough, I get it. Be that as it may, it was not really all that over the top (with the exception of a skeleton on a bomb ala Dr. Strangelove). I guess, though, it was also really not that funny. Just creepy. Which worked.
The film was well directed and acted and full of gore. Because of this, it felt a bit detached from the first. While the first was well directed, the acting was not that great, and the gore was minimal. In that respect, what it did was continue the story of the Sawyers, in what seemed like a film that could stand on its own. The first one really did nothing for this one with the exception of supplying Lefty with a motive. But that was easily established with a bit of forced exposition early in the film.
I kind of view this as an alternate version of the first film that wasn’t quite as good. Ultimately, I would rather this franchise just be the first film. We don’t really need any more story here, whether it is back story or the continued mayhem.
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