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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LICK MY PLATE!!
Review: If Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the King of Redneck Horror, here reigns the Duke. Take one serving of Leatherface, add in some Dennis Hopper, and kick it in the teeth with Bill Moseley as Chop Top, and you have a winning recipe for your next batch of cannibal chili. The secret's in the meat, friends.

While it lacks the serious, wet-your-pants horror of the first movie, this humourous spin has what it takes to make mouths happy. This chainsaw fan can't argue with anything involving Dennis Hopper wielding twin chainsaws in order to send his arch-enemies back to hell, while Leatherface shows his softer side and woos a disc-jockeying chickie. Even more fun is the random addition of Chop Top(Bill Mosely, of House of 1000 Corpses fame) and his Vietnam veteran antics.

If you're ready to settle down and take your TCM a little less seriously, slop yourself up a bowl-full of this film. It aims to please.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The buzz is back!
Review: It has been 13 years since Sally Hardesty, her brother Franklin, and their friends ran afoul of chainsaw wielding cannibals and Sally's cousin, a former Texas Ranger nicknamed Lefty, has not once stopped chasing the now considered folk legend maniacs. Then two young men in search of a party mess with the wrong people and Lefty is closer than ever to the killers. If only the pretty young disc jockey that recorded the attack would get out of his way...

Tobe Hooper showed that he still had it and was not afraid to pull out the stops with this blackly comic sequel to his cult smash, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Rather than waste time attempting to recreate the documentary type hellish horrors of the first, Hooper and screenwriter L.M. 'Kit' Carson (who provided script rewrites for Hooper's maligned Invaders from Mars remake) opted to hype up the comedy. Wisely they chose satire over camp and the result is a hilarious and harrowing journey into utter madness that is not for the faint of heart. Although Dennis Hopper is listed as the star, it is Caroline Williams's DJ character Stretch that is the focus of the story and she does a wonderful job, maintaining an almost perfect balance between out of control terror and hanging on by her fingernails sanity. Her facing down Leatherface has become a classic genre moment and is arguably the film's high point. But there are at least two or three other scenes just as powerful and the movie will echo in the mind long after the end credits have finished rolling. Sadly this was to be Hooper's last truly significant contribution to the horror genre. Highly recommended.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The secrets in the MEAT!
Review: I'm a huge fan of the 1974 original, but this one is just so-so. It could have been much better. Not the worst movie ever, but I expected better from Tobe. Probably better to rent this one if you've never seen it...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "THE SAW IS FAMILY!"
Review: THIS IS A GREAT SEQUEL TO THE ORIGINAL,TAKING PLACE
14 YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL MURDERS. DENNIS HOPPER IS
A BADASS TEXAS RANGER SEEKING REVENGE ON THE SAWYER
FAMILY (SAW-ER FAMILY,GET IT?).ALOT OF TONGUE-IN-CHEEK
HUMOUR,MIXED WITH GRAPHIC SPECIAL EFFECTS FROM TOM SAVINI
(DAWN OF THE DEAD,ETC.). JUST LOOK BEYOND SOME OF THE
ACTING,AND YOU'LL ENJOY A GOOD "MIDNIGHT MOVIE"! ARE YOU
SURE THAT'S A PEPPER CORN SHELL IN THE CHILI?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: INSANITY!
Review: This film takes you into the heart of madness itself and twists your mind into cottage cheese. Plus its a lot of fun. Funny too. Tobe you did good! This is incredibly warped and entertaining. Thanks man!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TOBE HOOPER SHOULD BE ASHAMED...!
Review: Okay, I loved the original TCM it's very scary & nightmarish considering that it's based on a TRUE story. (The serial killer, Ed Gein) Now when they decided to make a sequel I was actually quite interested to see more scares & a good plot. WRONG! This TOTALLY butchers the original & anything 'Chansaw' related! The acting was bad & REALLY stupid, the plot? Well there is no plot unless you like some idiotic Texas Ranger pointlessly trying to avenge the teens who were slaughtered by Leatherface. And it just wasn't scary at all! (not too mention the jokes really, REALLY sucked & there was no point at all!) In my opinion, the film started out very promising, but all the dumb humor killed it as the movie progressed. Luckily, a remake of the original (the 2003 TCM now in theaters)was able to save the series. If you want a GOOD TCM film then see the original and/or the remake! As far as I'm concerned, this film does NOT exist!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Put your bib on, it's a mess.
Review: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is a disgrace to the horror genre. The Sawyer family has entered into the Texas chilie cook off. They are cannibles. You make the connection. In the meantime, Leatherface kills off a couple of goofy kids. It is over heard by a local DJ. A Texas Ranger asks the DJ to help find the evil family and put a stop to them. This is a comedy. This is a comedy? Did I miss something along the way? The jokes are awful, especially the one where Leatherface is using his saw as a phalic symbol. What makes it so much worse is that Tobe Hooper wrote and directed this movie, and it completely disrespects the original, how could he do this to himself? And how did they get Dennis Hopper, offer to pay his drug debts? There are two redeming factors that saves it from one star. The violence and gore is red and laid on thick. It was truly grusome. And it is at least a notch better than "Part 4".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as good as it could have been
Review: This movie could have been a lot better, bu it had some interesting twists and was just a good time. It was not a total waste, except some of the acting was not good, and some of the characters could have fooled me, I though some of them could have been made from cardboard, and just moved around by the rest of the cast, but other than that, this was a totaly enjoyable movie. It had some scares, but they were few and far between, and the last scene I found quite cool! I liked how they fought with the chainsaws, only...how did the sheriff hold onto the chainsaws?? He had one in each hand...a bit hard if you aks me. But it was entertaining non the less. Not the best in the series ( by far ) but better than some. Probaly 3rd best in the series. A good movie. I reccomend it if your in the mood for a good time, but if you want to be truely scared, see the origional one first.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WHATASEQUEL
Review: Pretty good slasher sequel that continues and ends the series' storyline...the director calls it a mistake, but I thought it was pretty cool for a movie of it's kind...this coming from a kid who loves films like Halloween, Fatal Attraction and Psycho...Tobe Hooper put it down! MGM'S DVD sucks, double sided, not restored, 1 extra [trailer], dumb cover art compared to what it could have on it, not in 2.35:1 widescreen, none of the deleted scenes included...see my point?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hooper HAD to try something different...
Review: There was no way that Tobe Hooper could top his ferocious horror masterpiece "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Part of the brilliance of that film was it's realism (due in part to the film's miniscule budget) and the fact that there is very little rationalization for the characters and events. The killers in the first film are complete strangers which the victims happen to stumble on and remain so as the protagonists are slaughtered before they can glean any backstory as to who these maniacs are. This approach is, obviously, insufficient for a sequel as the killers have been established previously and must now be given at least a bit of dimension. Also, the pure shock value of the first flick would be impossible to duplicate - the audience is already familiar with what the stakes of running into this bunch are. So, instead of making a retread of the first film, Hooper decided to take the sequel in an entirely new direction. Knowing he couldn't duplicate the terror of the first (partly) because of the aforementioned reasons, he decided to construct the sequel as a ultra-black comedy rather than a straight-up scare film. As can be evidenced by the other reviews on this site, the split is pretty much 50/50 as to whether folks believed he succeeded with this approach or not. It's a love it or hate it film. I feel it's rather impossible and unfair to hold it up against the original as NO ONE could ever top the original. So, taken on it's own terms, I think it's pretty good. No where near as brilliant or awful as many feel it is. Hooper manages some truly perverse, sick, bad-taste set pieces and laughs. The splatter effects by gore-maestro Tom Savini (who did the FX on "Dawn of the Dead" & "Friday the 13th" among others) are typically nauseating (this is a good thing if you're into that stuff). The performances are extremely over-the-top... actually, EVERYTHING about this film is way, way over-the-top (not surprising, actually, as Hooper was smack in the middle of a wicked coke habit in the mid-'80s). Especially memorable is Bill Moesley's performance as Leatherface & Drayton Sawyer's brother, the nutty Vietnam Vet Chop Top, named for the metal plate in his head (and, no, he's not "The Hitchhiker" from the first movie back from the dead even though Moesley essentially is playing the character almost identically to Edwin Neal's performance). Dennis Hopper and Jim Siedow (the only original cast member returning) both chew their fair share of scenery, as well. The best sequence is probably the first kill in the beginning, taking place on the bridge. The whole affair strikes me as a big, overblown cartoon made by the most f***ked-up child you can imagine. However, the film drags in the third act, which ends up being far too similar to the climax of the original and far less effective. So, there are good aspects (including several quotable lines) and bad aspects to the film. I'm giving it three stars but, if I were feeling especially charitable, I MIGHT give it four. However, I do applaud Hooper for having the nerve to depart so drastically from his original formula in order to take the franchise somewhere new. AND, it's still better than all the other sequels (not counting the new 2003 remake which was wholly unnecessary and not as effective, either).


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