The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a 1986 American black comedy slasher film co-composed and directed by Tobe Hooper, and written by L. M. Kit Carson. It is the sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the second installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Johnson, Bill Moseley, and Jim Siedow. The plot follows Vanita "Stretch" Brock, a radio host who is victimized and abducted by Leatherface and his cannibalistic family; meanwhile, Lt. Boude "Lefty" Enright, the uncle of Sally and Franklin Hardestyboth prior victims of the familyhunts them down.
Development of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 began following the 1981 theatrical re-release of the original film, which proved to be a financial success. After several delays, Hooper hired collaborator Carson to write the screenplay for the film in early 1986, with an emphasis on dark comedy, an element Hooper felt was present in the first film but went unacknowledged by audiences and critics. The Cannon Group served as the production company and distributor as part of a three-film deal the studio had struck with Hooper, having produced his previous two films, Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars. Principal photography occurred in Austin, Texas in the spring of 1986.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was released in the United States on August 22, 1986, and earned over half of its $4.5–4.6 million budget during its opening weekend before going on to gross $8 million domestically. It received mixed reception from film critics and audiences, largely due to its emphasis on black comedy and gore, which departed from the first film's approach that featured minimal violence, low-budget vérité style, and atmosphere to build tension and fear. The film's promotional materials featured a satirical bent, with its theatrical one-sheet parodying the poster art for John Hughes's popular teen comedy film The Breakfast Club.
Despite its mixed reception, the film eventually gained a cult following. It was followed by Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III in 1990.
Plot
Two high school seniors, Buzz and Rick, race along a desolate stretch of Texas highway, en route to the Texas-OU football game at the Dallas Cotton Bowl, and harass a pickup truck along the way. Heavily intoxicated, they use their car phone to call and harass on-air radio DJ Vanita "Stretch" Brock. Unable to convince them to hang up, Stretch is forced to keep the line open. As the two pass the same pickup truck, Leatherface emerges from the back of the truck and rips up the roof using his chainsaw. Rick tries shooting Leatherface with his revolver, but Leatherface kills Buzz. The car crashes, killing Rick.The next morning, Lieutenant Boude "Lefty" Enright, former Texas Ranger, and uncle of Sally and Franklin Hardesty, who were victims of Leatherface and his family years earlier, arrives at the scene of the crime to help solve Buzz and Rick's murders. Lefty has spent the last thirteen years looking into his nephew's disappearance, investigating reports of mysterious chainsaw killings across Texas. He is contacted by Stretch, who brings him a copy of the audio tape that recorded the attack. He sends her away, leaving Stretch and her coworker, L.G. Peters, to reluctantly cover a Texas/Oklahoma Chili Cookoff for their radio show. The winner of the cookoff happens to be Drayton Sawyer, the current patriarch of the cannibalistic Sawyer family, who declares that his secret is having an eye for "prime meat."
Meanwhile, Lefty shops for chainsaws at a local hardware store. He at first unnerves, then amuses the shop's owner with his brutal testing of the saws on a log. Lefty then drives to Stretch's radio station and asks her to play the tape on her nightly radio show so that the public, which had previously mocked his case, will have to listen to him.
Driving home from his chili cookoff victory with his family, Drayton is called by Chop Top about the tape being broadcast, so he sends him and Leatherface to the radio station. While she is about to leave for the night, Stretch is confronted by Chop Top before being attacked by Leatherface. Chop Top brutally bludgeons L.G. with a hammer. Meanwhile, Leatherface corners Stretch and is about to kill her, but she charms him into sparing her. Leatherface returns to Chop Top and leads him to believe that he has killed Stretch. As they take L.G. to their home, they are followed by Stretch, who ends up trapped inside the Sawyers' subterranean lair, located in an abandoned amusement park and decorated with human bones, multi-colored lights, and carnival remnants.
Lefty, who has been following their car all along, arrives equipped with chainsaws and proceeds to vandalize the lair before finding Franklin's remains. Meanwhile, Stretch is found by Leatherface, who puts L.G.'s skinned face and hat on her before tying her arms and leaving. Later, a still-alive L.G. frees Stretch before dying. Leatherface finds Stretch and the family capture her. Drayton scolds Leatherface when he finds out that Stretch was not killed. They torture her at the dinner table, but Lefty arrives and saves her. Stretch flees the grounds, with Chop Top chasing after her. Lefty wounds Drayton, then he and Leatherface get into a chainsaw fight, in which Leatherface is fatally wounded. The dying Drayton, accepting that he and his family have lost, takes a grenade from Nubbins's corpse and frags himself, Lefty, Leatherface, and Grandpa.
Chop Top chases Stretch to the top of a stone tower in the amusement park. Stretch grabs a chainsaw from the corpse of the family's grandmother in a shrine and fatally wounds Chop Top, causing him to fall off the tower to his death. Stretch shouts in triumph and swings the chainsaw in the air, her physical movements echoing Leatherface's "chainsaw dance" from the closing scene of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Cast
appears in a cameo as Sports Anchorman, as does Dan Jenkins as T.V. Commentator and Joe Bob Briggs as Gonzo Moviegoer; Hooper also cameos.Production
Development
Following New Line Cinema's profitable 1981 theatrical re-release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper began developing a sequel to his original film. The project did not culminate until several years later, when The Hollywood Reporter announced the project in a November 2, 1983 trade advertisement.The film was financed by Cannon Films as part of a three-picture deal the studio had struck with Hooper, having previously produced and distributed his films Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars. Hooper initially planned to serve only as a producer, but was enlisted as director when he could not find a director that the producers could afford.
According to the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, Cannon Films anticipated a straightforward horror film, while Hooper sought to make the sequel a black comedy. Hooper enlisted L. M. Kit Carson to write the screenplay, which he began in January 1986.
Casting
was initially approached to reprise his role as Leatherface, but he claimed to have been offered "scale, plus ten percent" with the ten percent going to his agent. When he replied that he had no agent, they offered scale without the additional ten percent. Hansen found the offer too low. Unit publicist Scott Holton offered an alternate story claiming Hansen vacillated about the part and the offer was rescinded. Holton didn't believe the average viewer was even aware of who the original actors were, claiming "who are Neal, Hansen or Burns?"Bill Moseley created a short film parody entitled The Texas Chainsaw Manicure, where he played a small role as the Hitchhiker and showed it to a screenwriter who was able to show it to Tobe Hooper. Hooper loved it and kept Moseley in mind for a part should he ever make a sequel. When the time came to cast Chainsaw 2, Moseley was contacted for the role of Chop Top, the Hitchhiker's twin brother.
Filming
of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 began on May 5, 1986, in Austin, Texas metropolitan area. Shooting locations in the city included the Cut Rite chainsaw store, as well as the interiors of the former Austin American-Statesman building. The majority of the shoot occurred in and around the shuttered Matterhorn Amusement Park in Prairie Dell, which stood in for the fictional Texas Battle Land amusement park where the Sawyer family's lair is located. The film's opening scene was shot at the Old Iron Bridge in Bastrop.Post-production
Several scenes were deleted by director Tobe Hooper due to pacing issues as mentioned on the 2000 Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth documentary. One lengthy scene that was cut from the film involves the Sawyer Clan heading out at night to collect prime meat for their chili by slaughtering patrons exiting a movie theater and a group of rowdy, rioting fans in a parking garage. The deleted slaughtering scene featured several elaborate Tom Savini special effects. The deleted scene at the movie theater also includes a cameo by American film critic Joe Bob Briggs.Soundtrack
- The Lords of the New Church: "Good to Be Bad" – 4:42
- The Cramps: "Goo Goo Muck" – 3:02
- Concrete Blonde: "Haunted Head" – 2:48
- Timbuk3: "Life Is Hard" – 4:06
- Torch Song: "White Night" – 3:42
- Stewart Copeland: "Strange Things Happen" – 2:58
- Concrete Blonde: "Over Your Shoulder" – 3:20
- Timbuk3: "Shame on You" – 4:48
- The Lords of the New Church: "Mind Warp" – 3:42
- Oingo Boingo: "No One Lives Forever" – 4:08