The sequel to the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is considered a cult classic among several horror fans. I, ladies and gentlemen, am not one of those horror fans. It’s loud, crass, cheesy and tries way too hard to be funny. If you’re interested, you can read on for the rest of the review, but I have a feeling you know where this is going…
Short nitty-gritty plot description from IMDb is as follows: A radio host is victimized by the cannibal family as a former Texas Marshall hunts them.
I remember watching this film for the first time and hating it (much like the original). Several years pass and I think to myself, maybe I was to hard on it. Maybe my expectations were way too high and I was too harsh on the film. Flash forward to tonight and you know what, I wasn’t harsh at all. In fact, I think maybe over time, my distaste for this movie has increased. Add on the fact that my wife, who didn’t love the first movie, but also didn’t hate it, absolutely was bored to tears with this film. Several eye rolls later, the credits roll and I laugh my head off cause what we just witnessed was trash, through and through.
Tobe Hooper returns to direct and I’m not sure where he was going with this. I understand wanting to deviate from the norm and try something new, but what he decided to do was abort the series. My biggest gripe with this film, is the change of tone from the first. Injected with 80s cheese and a change to dark comedy, make the film completely void of terror, unlike the first.
The acting from our main heroine, Stretch (Caroline Williams), is loud and annoying. Dennis Hopper was pretty much playing Dennis Hopper and is the only thing I enjoy with this film. Unfortunately, he is barely in it, instead we get stuck with loudmouthed Stretch. As for our favourite cannibal family, not much has changed with them. We get a new family member by the way of Bill Moseley, as Chop Top, a Vietnam vet with a serious head condition. I didn’t mind him and thought he fit in well with the family. All in all, I didn’t have any problems with the Sawyer clan. Although, Leatherface really loves to swing those hips.
I’m not sure I can recommend the second film, even more if you really love the first one. I understand that a lot of people will disagree with this review and I know that it’s possible to love the first and the second together, but I just can’t. I don’t like the cheese, the horrible acting from our lead and the change to dark comedy. Thankfully, come the third film, we get back to more of a dark tone. After being disappointed once again with this film, I look forward to popping in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, which wisely ignores this one.
Rating:
