Review by Jason Minton


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 – 1986



“On the afternoon of August 18, 1973 five young people in a Volkswagen van ran out of gas on a farm road in South Texas. Four of them were never seen again. The next morning the one survivor, Sally Hardesty-Enright, was picked up on a roadside. Blood-caked and screaming murder, Sally said she had broken out of a window in Hell. The girl babbled a made tale. A cannibal family in an isolated farmhouse... Chain sawed fingers and bones… Her brother, her friends hacked up for barbeque… Chairs made of human skeletons… Then she sank into catatonia.

Texas lawmen mounted a month-long manhunt, but could not locate the macabre farmhouse. They could find no killers and no victims, no facts, no crime. Officially on record the Texas chainsaw massacre never happened. But during the last 13 years, over and over again reports of bizarre, grisly chainsaw mass-murders have persisted all across the state of Texas. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has not stopped. It haunts Texas. It seems to have not end.”

While radio DJ “Stretch” Brock is being prank called live on air, she records the audio of the gruesome chainsaw murders of the two prank calling teenage boys. Former Texas Marshall Lt. “Lefty” Enright embarks on a personal vendetta to find the elusive cannibal family murdering people on the isolated streets of Texas. With the DJ’s help, the Texas lawman sets a trap for the primitive savages but this family won’t go down without a fight. “After a decade of silence… The buzz is back!”

The original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is perhaps the most brutally realistic slasher film of all time. Within the first five minutes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, you realize that realism is out the car window. Though director Tobe Hooper returns for the sequel some twelve years later, he takes The Texas Chainsaw Massacre down a completely different Texas highway.

For a Chainsaw purest of the time, I can see how taking such a drastically different direction can be off-putting and even disappointing. Judging the film on its own merits, it’s comically bad to the point it’s good. The second carving up of a Texas chainsaw film somehow remains terrifying. Leatherface (Bob Elmore & Bill Johnson) may not be as realistic but a mongrel with a chainsaw doesn’t lose its horror luster. Bill Moseley adds a wonderful mix of comedy while keeping his character Chop-Top creepy and one of the most frightening characters in the film. Dennis Hopper shows his acting abilities as former Texas Ranger Lt. “Lefty” Enright. Everything from his accent to his mild mannered drive for vengeance is played just right. Our heroine Caroline Williams gives the most realistic performance on screen, earning her title of scream queen.

While no slasher film to date has met the gritty quality of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, this sequel takes a new direction, creates an entertaining film and sets its own identity as a horror classic.

4 out of 5 Headless Critics




WYH Interview with Bill Moseley, Chop-Top of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bill Moseley, Chop-Top of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bob Elmore, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bob Elmore, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bob Elmore, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bill Johnson, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Bill Johnson, Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2


WYH Interview with Caroline Williams, Vanita “Stretch” Brock of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2