“The saw is family.”
How would you even begin to make a sequel to a document as perfect as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Why would you even try? There’s a reason that Aliens is an action film rather than a horror film; that there’s no sequel to The Thing; and why Doctor Sleep was such a divisive sequel to The Shining. Tobe Hooper, suddenly a hot commodity after the success of Poltergeist, made arguably the only choice he could when making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: he broke the hermetic seal of the first film and expanded the world significantly. The result is something entirely different from the first TCM: lurid where the first was sparse; darkly comic where the first was bleak; and more of a grindhouse film in its totality.
The difference in tone becomes apparent right away. The introductory narration is much longer than the first film’s, and there is a stark difference between the characters we first meet, which here means that TCM 2 begins with the two most annoying characters in the film. Buzz and Rick are driving to Dallas for some sort of concert (it’s hard to discern because all their lines are hollered), with Rick leaning out of the window to shoot at road signs. Predictably, they run afoul of some other people on the road, and in the first bravura sequence of the movie, they speed down a bridge while a truck next to them does the same in reverse. Leatherface leaps into the truck’s bed and begins dismantling Buzz and Rick’s car, shearing off the top of Buzz’s head in the process (this is also the first indication that this movie is far bloodier than its predecessor).
Enter Lefty Enright, who is played by Dennis Hopper, which is as good a sign as any that this movie will be insane. Here Hopper continues his streak of playing a character with a normal job but finding a way to turn them into a lunatic. He’s like a proto-Nicolas Cage here; when we first meet Lefty, he’s cool, flinty, and determined, and by the film’s climax he’s gone so far off the deep end that you start to wonder if sanity ever existed in the first place. Hopper isn’t actually the lead here, although he is top billed. The real star is Caroline Williams, playing a radio DJ named Stretch, who happens to have Buzz and Rick’s final moments caught on tape.
At Lefty’s behest, she plays the tape on air, trying to smoke out the clan of cannibals. The problem is that it works. In another terrific set piece, Leatherface and Chop Top (Bill Moseley) storm the radio station, first with Chop Top appearing to terrify Stretch, then erupting into the grandiose violence that is such a part of this movie. While Chop Top gruesomely disposes of Stretch’s coworker L.G., Leatherface is sent to take care of Stretch, which introduces the most interesting, but not necessarily successful, element of the TCM 2. Stretch cultivates a relationship with Leatherface that is both maternal and sexual. One aspect of this is more successful than the other, and you can probably guess which one.
Mileage, as you may have guessed, will vary drastically with TCM 2. Where the first was a restrained, brutal masterpiece of minimalist horror, the sequel opts instead for garish, Grand Guignol-style theatrics, and that translates to the performances as well. Hopper turns in the performance you should probably expect from Dennis Hopper, and any semblance of restraint or nuance is thrown out the window by the time he’s dual-wielding chainsaws. Mind you, that is not a complaint. Williams is terrific, bringing charm, vulnerability, and resilience to what could have been a stock scream queen role. If anything is going to try a viewer’s patience (it certainly tried mine), it will be the performances from Bill Moseley and Jim Siedow (as Cook). Both actors start at an 11 and only occasionally dip below a 9. Likewise, although not nearly as extreme, Bill Johnson is not the Leatherface that Gunnar Hansen was. He is no longer a savage, unknowable id, but more of a childlike tool of his family. The film definitely isn’t as funny as Hooper wanted it to be, but one might blame that on the fact that it’s scarier than he probably aimed for.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 unfolds with the relentless, inarguable pace of a nightmare. It’s almost as if Stretch is on a track, and its terminus is the elaborate underground warren in which the cannibals have made their reference. Underneath a derelict amusement park (a telling setting considering the tone of the film), the lair is a triumph of set design, strewn with skeletal thrones and lit by a ramshackle assortment of lamps and Christmas lights. It doesn’t feel like Stretch is under the ground; it feels like she’s in hell.
The climax is a bloody spectacle, the gore mixed with surreal sights like Lefty dueling Leatherface with chainsaws. At times the film is as viscerally upsetting as its predecessor, no more so than when Leatherface peels off a man’s face and drapes it over Stretch’s head. Williams is perfect in this scene, terrified beyond the point of screaming, so deeply entrenched is she in this nightmare. The film ends with the death of all involved (except Stretch), which would have been a fine way to finish this franchise.
Of course, that didn’t happen. Hooper hasn’t been involved with any of the subsequent six installments, and for good reason. He told his story. The first part was perfect, and has earned its place in the canon of perfect American horror films. The second film is chaotic, grotesque, and surreal, but it is unmistakably a part of the first.
Thursday, 10/1: Phantasm
Friday, 10/2: Frozen
Saturday, 10/3: Suspiria
Sunday, 10/4: Suspiria (2018)
Monday, 10/5: Emelie
Tuesday, 10/6: Castle Freak
Wednesday, 10/7: Session 9
Thursday, 10/8: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Friday, 10/9: We Are Still Here
Saturday, 10/10: The Changeling
Sunday, 10/11: The Bad Seed
Monday, 10/12: Verotika
Tuesday, 10/13: The Legend of Hell House
Wednesday, 10/14: Lake Mungo
Thursday, 10/15: Puppetmaster
Friday, 10/16: Marrowbone
Saturday, 10/17: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Sunday, 10/18: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Monday, 10/19: Sweetheart
Tuesday, 10/20: Girl On the Third Floor
Wednesday, 10/21: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Thursday, 10/22: Triangle
Friday, 10/23: Dog Soldiers
Saturday, 10/24: Noroi: The Curse
Sunday, 10/25: Train to Busan
Monday, 10/26: Tales From the Hood
Tuesday, 10/27: Mandy
Wednesday, 10/28: Sometimes They Come Back
Thursday, 10/29: Veronica
Friday, 10/30: The Wicker Man
Saturday, 10/31: Child’s Play
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