1 Star

Fourteen years after the groundbreaking The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cannon films acquired the rights and threw big money at producing a sequel. Tobe Hooper, the director behind the original, returns but the tonal difference between the two pictures is remarkable. The first Massacre was a brutal, grimey, unrelentingly bleak experience. The sequel is a satire of the genre that was spawned in the wake of Chainsaw and Halloween’s success at the box office.

A local radio DJ (Williams) receives an on-air call from two frat boys, whom are murdered by a psycho wielding a chainsaw. This interaction is caught on audio tape and draws the attention of a former Texas Ranger (Hopper), who is intent on extracting revenge for the death of his child years prior. Meanwhile, the murdering, cannbalistic Swayer family are out to stop the DJ and Ranger from further investigating the boy’s killing.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacare 2 is an acquired taste. It’s an off-beat, self aware, black comedy. The kind of film that John Landis excels at, but Tobe Hooper isn’t able to successfully combine all of these elements into a cohesive narrative nor an entertaining experience. Kudos to the filmmakers for not giving us a stale retread of the first film, but they’ve swung so far in the opposite direction it’s disracting and off-putting. Something in the middle ground would have been appreaited.

Director: Tobe Hooper
Stars: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Johnson