[.ca] Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Widescreen/Full Screen) (ISBN 0792846508)

From Amazon.com:
This wild, operatic 1986 sequel to 1974's low-budget horror hit--The Texas Chainsaw Massacre--is an extraordinary film that demonstrates just how far filmmaker Tobe Hooper had grown in the interim between the two movies. (Between the two movies, Hooper directed, among other things, the Spielberg production Poltergeist, the critically admired Lifeforce, and the spooky remake of Invaders from Mars.) In Massacre 2, Hooper enlists Dennis Hopper as a Texas Ranger seeking vengeance against the flesh-eating family that was introduced in the first film. Meanwhile, a radio deejay (Caroline Williams) is kidnapped by the family and brought to their underground lair. The performances are crazed, terrifying, and comic; the chainsaw fights are practically epic; the lighting and camera work are artful; the emotions are strong; and the ending is astounding, unparalleled in its imagery and force. --Tom Keogh

Scary, Funny and Sad:
Dennis Hopper stars in the greatest sequel in the series. Out to avenge the murder of his brothers kids, Lefty has tracked down our hero Leatherface and his wacked out family to a rundown amusement park. A DJ,stretch, has Leatherface and chop-top on tape killing a couple of punks and plays it on air for Lefty to help flush them out of hiding. Tom savini's gore effects are excellent, as usual, and this could be the last great film director Tobe Hooper has ever done. Bill Mosley, Bill Johnson and Dennis Hopper deliver top notch performances. The DVD is nice to have but is not 16x9 as listed, again MGM has dropped the ball on a great genre title and should re-visit this movie with a mack daddy special edition.

Goofy sequel sticks to your ribs:
This sequel could not be more different from the original. It is cheesy, gory, self-aware exploitation that pushes the right buttons. It is not scary, but it is thoroughly entertaining. The violence is cartoonish and completely over-the-top. In one scene, the sometimes subverted theme of sexual violence in slasher films is taken to comical extremes when Leatherface actually pantomimes sexual intercourse with the film's heroin using his chainsaw to represent his "special purpose." Obvious, perhaps, but funny regardless. Nothing is taken seriously, almost as though Hooper decided to mock his first film. The older brother from the first film is back. He now owns an award-winning chili franchise. "What's the secret?" he is asked by a reporter at the anual chili contest. "Never skimp on the meat," he replies, fiendishly. Yes, it's human meat, supplied by his two younger brothers, Choptop and Leatherface. Choptop, whose character is obviously modeled on the hitch-hiker (middle brother) from the first film, is a Vietnam Vet turned hippie turned Manson family reject. Leatherface is basically the same pea-brained psychopath, but now he gets to display his romantic side. Dennis Hopper plays the tough-talking Marshal, Lefty, who's single goal in life is to avenge the killing of his brother and his brother's family. He gives us an absolutely ridiculous performance that fits this absolutely ridiculous movie. It's a well-made film, but, although there was more money, there was not the distinctive vision of the original. However, if you like movies like Dead Alive and Evil Dead II, then you should appreciate where this movie is coming from. PS: This is the last movie in the series that is worth watching, besides the surprisingly good remake that came out recently.

Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen:
Sequels are usually never as good as the originals, even though rarely they are as good. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" however is nowhere near as good as the first "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" which was very influential even for its low budget. "Massacre 2" fails in every thing that it tries to do, from the corny opening scene to the joke of an ending. There is nothing good about this movie from what I can see. Although it stars Dennis Hopper and the original "Chainsaw's" Jim Seidow, it is a very, very bad movie for three reasons- one is that it has no point, another is that it can't decide if its a horror or comedy, and the third is that is doesn't really have the same feel as the original. First, even though it was directed by horror genius (Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Poltregiest) "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is not entertaining and has absolutly no point. It does show the family a dacade later, an angered family member of a victim, and a disk jockey who hears a murder, but it shows them, among other things, in really stupid ways. Leatherface is in it, of course, with his brother Chop Top (was in Vietname during the original) and the Cook from the first. Grandpa is also still around, and rediculously so. Dennis Hopper stars as Lefty, a deputy or park ranger or something who wants revenge on Leatherface and his family for the murder of his wheelchair bound nephew (Franklin from the original) and the tourment of his neice Sally (the survivor from the original). Caroline Williams joins him as the annoying disk jockey named stretch who heard a murder while on a broadcast. There was no reason to make this movie. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" did fine without a sequel for 12 years, it could have gone on. Second, the question came down if this was a comedy or a horror. It was a campy horror flick that spoofed the original, but it was also a movie made to scare you a little. This movie didn't scare, and it didn't make me laugh either. It was just pathetic. At one point Leatherface attacks Stretch, and she's cornered, then Leatherface has an orgasm on the saw? What was going on there, and at another point a woman is eating Chile cooked by the Cook and she finds a tooth inside of it (hinting its human meat). Another scene shows Dennis Hopper in a hardware store and he's trying out chainsaws in a style that makes him look like Rambo or some big action hero. The movie was a joke, not in a funny way, but in a sad, pathetic way. Third, sequels usually carry on a story or at least have the same feeling as the original- "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" didn't. "Halloween" had the same type of feel as its sequels did. "Friday the 13th" had the same feel as its sequels. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" had the same feeling. "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is a completely different movie from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2". The original was a dark, very scary movie about a family of psychotics in the backwoods of Texas. "Massacre 2" was about a family of freaks living under an amusement park in Dallas Texas (or maybe it was Huston?). To conclude, do not watch, buy, rent, or think about this movie. There are much better movies out there (i.e. the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and the 2003 remake). It has no point, no feel, and no genre. The only thing that should have been cut up with a Chainsaw in 1986 was this movie.

Unremarkable follow-up to landmark Chainsaw film..:
The original Tobe Hooper directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre film was a low-budget classic for many reasons. The gut wrenching use of implied violence led many a movie-goer to leave the theater in disgust persuaded that he had witnessed horrendous, graphic acts that were never actually shown. Truth be told, nary a drop of blood was spilled in that film, relying instead on psychological terror. For this follow-up, Hooper changed his original winning formula by injecting liberal doses of gore and parody making for a terribly uneven film. The film follows radio DJ Stretch (the leggy Caroline Williams) as she is pursued by Leatherface and his equally demented brother Chop-Top (Bill Moseley), after being privy to the chainsaw demise of two callers during a late night call-in segment on her show. Meanwhile, Lefty Enright (Dennis Hopper), the sheriff uncle of Sally Hardesty (the original victim from the first film) is in hot pursuit of Leatherface and his cannibal clan. The problems with this film are that the gore murders are just not believable and look hokey, atypical of the usually excellent work of special FX master Tom Savini. Also, the humour is just too over the top and the performances below average. Hopper in particular looks like he's restraining laughter at the implausible situations he is faced with. The postive aspects of this film: a totally psychotic performance by Bill Moseley (House of a 1,000 Corpses) as the music loving, wig wearing Chop-Top-a truly perverse and often hilarious character and the perfect accomplice to Leatherface's mayhem. Caroline Williams is also a strong final girl, heroic and intelligent, a welcome relief from the stereotypical hysterical, idiotic scream queen that frequently populates such films. The sets are outstanding too, in particular the climax at the cannibals lair-a completely surreal creation straight out of a nightmare. In closing, there are certainly worst horror films than this one, but compared to the original film and the recent remake this one comes up short on the fright and originality factor. More laughs than terror makes for a strange sequel to a film that originally shocked a nation with its unrelenting intensity. The DVD is also pretty pathetic with absolutely the worst cover art I have ever seen for a horror film, it looks more like a western, why is Leatherface not on the packaging...The extras are non-existent with only a trailer present, it would be nice to see this film re-released in a more spectacular edition at some point.

The worst movie i have ever seen horrible:
this garbage deserves one star because of dennis hopper thats it he makes this movie at least semi-watchable the chainsaw scenes are indescribably fake and it looks like a movie set not even a real place absolutely horrible i eventually had to turn it off because i couldnt take any more of it never have i done that while watching a movie ever nothing close to the original or the remake