Reviews: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) Movie Review
- Related: [ Movie Details for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ]
Subgenres: Comedy, Gore, Slasher, Cannibalism, Maniac, Serial Killer
Exploring The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) through our review, we cover its story, scares, and how it fits into the broader horror genre landscape.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) is a 1h 41-min American dark comedy slasher horror film that emphasis more on gore and black comedy than its sequel The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) which is a horror classic. The movie had an estimated budget of $4 million and grossed over $8 million at the box office but still managed to have a cult following sometime after. Director and co-writer Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Poltergeist (1982), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)) did a fantastic job executing this film that made me jump a few times. Tobe Hooper gave us The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) which is one of the greatest films of all time - movie still manages to sends chills up my spine. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 contains one suggestive s**ual act, minor upper body nudity of a corpse, extreme violence, gore, bad language, graphic murders, and gut wrenching kills.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 starts by showing us two obnoxious people shooting road signs while driving recklessly to a party in a sports car in Texas. The duo decides to call the radio station K-OKLA so that they can harass Vanita ‘Stretch’ Brock (Caroline Williams - Days of Thunder (1990), Halloween II (2009), Contracted (2013)) who is the disc jockey and her producer L.G. McPeters. The two ruthless guys did not think that their night would turn out to be a nightmare but they messed with the wrong vehicle. They drove in the opposite direction and ran a vehicle off the road, but that vehicle happens to be driven by Leatherface. The duo kept on driving and did not think that they will run into the same truck/vehicle as earlier but oh boy did they - well actually the truck was blocking the road, so the truck and its driver were waiting for the duo, yay, the fun begins. It did not take long after that event for the pair to really make Leatherface (Bill Johnson - Talk Radio (1988), D.O.A. (1988), The Caretakers (2014)) angry and well he began to slice and dice.
Lieutenant “Lefty” Enright (Talk Radio (1988), D.O.A. (1988), The Caretakers (2014)) arrived at the carnage scene and met Sawyer clan. Sawyer (Jim Siedow - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait (1988), The Windsplitter (1971)) has a vendetta against them because they murdered his niece and nephew about a year ago. Skip forward - Lefty decides to use the radio host, Stretch as bait by having her play the recordings of the carnage that took place with the obnoxious duo. Leatherface and Chop Top (Bill Moseley - The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Army of Darkness (1992), Halloween (2007)) visit Stretch and L.G. but who will survive?
All of the actors gave us powerful performances that were purely brilliant and menacing. Part 2 is far gorier than Part 1. The special effects were nice, but they were not done right and did not give the scary effect I was hoping for. I applaud production designer Cary White and set decorator Michael Peal for giving us an eye pleasing job. I enjoyed the few jump scares and loved it because it meant I was in for a good horror movie that might scare the pants off of me. Watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) and most of you will not be disappointed.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 5.35/10
- IMDB: 5.6/10
- MetaCritic: 4.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 5.2/10
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