The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Review (Film, 1986) #31DaysOfHorror
content warning: blood, gore, foul language, sexual assault, sexual content
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leatherface and his family were never found after the attack on Sally and her friends. Sally explained her story and fell into a catatonic state, so she couldn’t help with the investigation. Officially, the murders never happened. Unofficially, people go missing all the time.
Tobe Hooper returns to direct L.M. Kit Carson’s screenplay for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Hooper always pushes for innovation in films and this is a perfect example. How does someone takes the broken idyllic landscapes of the original film and turns it into a multi-perspective true crime investigation into cold cases going back 14 years? Like this.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a very different film from the original. A former Texas Marshall has been tracking the Sawyer family for 14 years. A hard rock radio DJ with a recording of a prank call might have the evidence to finally take them down. The two need to learn to trust each other to solve the grizzly murder of two Texas college students out partying the weekend of a big rivalry game. What follows is a plan to weaponize the radio against the family and the laws that somehow seek to protect them. If the people know about a serial killer and not isolated accidents, they might compel the police to act. Or maybe the Sawyers themselves will feel the need to show up or call in to the show.
Hooper and Carson don’t take the easy way out with this sequel. All they needed to do was have another group of young people stumble across the Sawyer house and meet slightly different fates. Instead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a much more modern approach to horror. Hooper is aware of the trends in horror—specifically the shift to more elaborate action sequences—and embraces the challenge.
The biggest flaw in the sequel is the level of camp. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre had elements of this, with Grandpa in his chair, Bubba putting on the Pretty Lady outfit while cooking, and much of the original encounter with the hitchhiker. The sequel leans into this further and more often. The two ill-fate partiers feel less like real humans than the Sawyer family. Bubba’s brother Chop-Top is grotesque to the point of parody. Even the former Texas Marshall Lefty goes a bit too broad when he starts wielding three chainsaws and praying to God for help. The film is actually quite scary when these more absurd moments relax.
What does pay off in a big way is the relationship between Bubba and radio DJ Stretch. She finds a way to make a connection with Leatherface that feels honest and terrifying. That small moment where the Cook screams at Bubba about not getting all the young people even though he did makes so much more sense. Bubba wants to be good and is doing what’s he’s been taught. Stretch teaches him that murder isn’t all he’s good at. It’s a surprisingly touching approach that adds a new level of meaning to the entire series.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 doesn’t soar to the same heights as the original, but it is an interesting slasher film in its own right. The evolution of themes from the original and more elaborate action are something to be seen.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is streaming on The Roku Channel.
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