THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2

 

 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 is, of course, the sequel to the first flick, which has since gone to become a cult classic. The sequel takes place over a dozen years after the first one which was released during the mid-seventies. A former Texas Ranger named Lefty--played by the late Dennis Hopper (of Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now fame)--is on a quest to find the cannibalistic family whom he believes killed his niece and nephew from the first film. He enlists the help of a local DJ named Stretch--played by horror actress Caroline Williams--who inadvertently records the killing of a couple of foul-mouthed teens driving down the freeway who call in the station one night and start harassing Stretch. However, during the course of their call, the teens have the misfortune of coming across Leatherface and his companion who are driving alongside them in a truck and Leatherface proceeds to slice off the head of the driver and causes the car to run off the road. Lefty persuades Stretch to play the tape on the air so people will start believing of the existence of the cannibalistic family who have been killing people for years, including his beloved niece and nephew. After the tape is played, Stretch receives a visit at the station from Leatherface and his "brother" Chop Top who has a metal plate in his head. Stretch is able to charm Leatherface to keep him from killing her and he and Chop Top wind up beating and abducting Stretch's boss who happens on the scene and they take him back to their lair while Stretch and Lefty follow suit. Stretch, after witnessing the brutal murder of her boss, gets captured and tortured by Leatherface and his cannibalistic clan until Lefty shows up with a couple of chainsaws of his own and has a chainsaw duel with the notorious Leatherface (of course, you'll have to watch the flick to find out if Lefty "wins" said chainsaw duel, all right?). I must say, the violence in this flick tends to be more comical than horrific, at least by today's seemingly more gorier standards, although this flick does manage at least a couple of truly creepy moments; like, for instance, when Leatherface thrusts the tip of his chainsaw against Stretch's crotch and thrusts it back and forth like a penis and when Leatherface puts Stretch's boss's face that he'd just sliced off onto her face and makes her wear it while he dances with her. Yuck! In any case, TTCM2 is pretty typical of the so-called slasher flicks released during the eighties, although this one was actually better than some of the other "slasher" flicks released during that period thanks primarily to Dennis Hopper's performance (although he probably took this role mostly for the paycheck!). Oh yeah, this flick was also directed by noted horror flick director Tobe Hooper who also directed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Also, the theatrical poster of this film, as seen above, was reportedly suppose to resemble the movie poster from the classic film The Breakfast Club. Just thought you'd like to know! A sidenote: To this day, this flick is banned in Germany. Yes, Germany, the very country that brought the world gas chambers and shit vids. Go figure!