Year of Release - 1986
Rating ? Unrated
Director ? Tobe Hooper
Running Time - 101 Minutes
Distributor ? MGM/UA

?Um?hello, everyone?uh?my name is Travis Crawford, and I?I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2.?

OK. The addiction support group-derived expression of admiration for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 is not entirely fair ? at least not these days. Director Tobe Hooper?s 1986 sequel to his justifiably legendary 1974 horror film masterpiece was ? perhaps understandably ? not particularly well received upon its initial theatrical debut. A perversely anarchic subversion of the sledgehammer (literally) shock tactics of the 70s classic, Hooper?s sequel committed the unthinkable for many fans ? it delivered nothing less than a rebellious parody of the film that virtually defined uncompromising 70s American horror cinema, and made Hooper?s career. Yet ? when enjoyed on its own terms ? Chain Saw 2 possesses much to admire, most explicitly Hooper?s rebellious urge to finalize his three-picture deal with 80s movie moguls Cannon Pictures by delivering a joyously joke-driven, gore-drenched ?fuck you.?

It is precisely this defiant and unruly sense of black comedy that defines Chain Saw, and it might help to contextualize just why Hooper ? a filmmaker who has spent much of his career defying expectations (at best) or, to believe some, sabotaging major opportunities (at worst) ? traveled down this road, much to the displeasure of some genre fans. The original Chain Saw is an impossible movie to follow, and a tough one to live down. Hooper ? notoriously ripped off by that hit?s unscrupulous distributors ? next delivered a flawed but underrated low-budget sadism-fest, Eaten Alive, and then had some minor successes with The Funhouse and the television mini-series adaptation of Salem?s Lot (he was also replaced as director on two mediocre horror films, The Dark and Venom, and there are rumors he?s a difficult collaborator).

The Spielberg-produced Poltergeist catapulted Hooper?s career into the Hollywood hierarchy, and he promptly signed a three-picture deal with (the then thriving) Cannon Pictures, kings of overproduced 80s schlock. Cannon provided Hooper with significant budgets for his two mid-80s science-fiction shockers, Lifeforce and a remake of Invaders From Mars?but all was not well. While the former is not without definite merit, both films were costly critical and commercial disasters, and Hooper was back on the B-list.

Chain Saw 2 was a lower-budgeted, rapidly shot attempt to cash in on the director?s most famous work before Cannon booted him for good. The shooting schedule found the film finishing production on the Fourth of July?when the film was being released into theaters in August of the same summer (and written as it was being shot ? screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson claimed to realize that he was finally done scripting when a crew member came up to him as he lay asleep on this typewriter and told him that the shoot had just wrapped!). Although it was scheduled to have an R rating, the film was released unrated because Cannon simply didn?t have the time to edit Tom Savini?s elaborate special makeup effects down to secure the more commercial rating.

Point being: if you?ve got nothing to lose, you might as well go out swinging. Hooper served up a grotesque Grand Guignol carnival ride of gore gags, over-the-top comedic performances, a wildly overacting Dennis Hopper (fitting this in right after Blue Velvet and Hoosiers!), and beautifully stylized underground caverns of skeletal sculptures that rival the house of horrors in the original film.

It doesn?t possess a fraction of the genuinely nightmarish terror of the original masterpiece?but Chain Saw 2 is a hell of a lot of fun just the same. A blatantly comic riff on the subtexts of capitalism through cannibalism, and the power of family loyalties that appeared in the 1974 film, Hooper?s 1986 sequel is also an astute reflection of the greed-fueled decade that spawned it. Hopper plays ?Lefty? Enright, a Texas ranger on the hunt for the Sawyer clan that murdered his family members so many years ago, and he is joined in his quest by radio DJ Stretch (Caroline Williams), who served as an ?earwitness? to a recent slaying. The Sawyer clan has moved up in the catering business ? The Cook (Jim Siedow, the only cast member to return from the original film), Leatherface (Bill Johnson, a disappointing replacement for Gunnar Hansen?s original), and Chop Top (a Vietnam vet that acts as the sort of ?Hitchhiker? character surrogate from the original; Bill Moseley?s comic performance is one of the film?s highlights) have moved from their old farmhouse to an elaborate new lair (complete with catering van), a dwelling which Lefty and Stretch ultimately infiltrate.

MGM previously issued Chain Saw 2 in a movie-only edition several years ago, but this new special-edition is, indeed, truly special. There are two commentary tracks, and the one with Hooper (moderated by David Gregory) may be the best one I?ve heard from the director (it?s a big improvement over the lackluster track on the original film), as he?s very open and forthcoming about the film?s themes and flaws. The second commentary track features Savini, Moseley, and Williams, and is also entertaining, if a bit more chaotic and unfocused. There are also several deleted scenes (in admittedly terrible condition), still galleries, and an outstanding making-of documentary that runs almost as long as the feature itself.

As for Hooper?s career?he never fully recovered after Chain Saw 2, frankly. He worked heavily in genre television (and still does, as he?s helmed a couple of the ?Masters of Horror? episodes recently) and most of his subsequent filmography is uneven at best (though his Toolbox Murders reinterpretation has its frightening moments). But he seems to have always done it his way. And The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 offers perfect proof ? after all, screw ?em if they can?t take a joke.