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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - August 22nd

"THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2" released in 1986

Convinced that the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre had elements of dark comedy that audiences simply missed since the violence was so realistic, Tobe Hooper hoped to remedy that fact with his 1986 follow up, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, a completely over-the-top black comedy filled with gory special effects and outrageous set pieces! Set 13 years after the original film, Leatherface (Bill Johnson) and his twisted cannibal family, the Sawyers, are back to torment local DJ, Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams) for exposing one of their many murders on the radio.

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While en route to the OU-Texas football game at the Dallas Cotton Bowl,  two rowdy high school seniors, Buzz and Rick, race along a desolate stretch of Texas highway. Heavily intoxicated, they use their car phone to call local DJ "Stretch" Brock (Williams). Unable to convince them to hang up, Stretch keeps the line open as Buzz and Rick encounter a large pickup truck which runs parallel to them on a remote bridge. Suddenly, Leatherface (Johnson), wielding a chainsaw, emerges from the back of the truck and proceeds to attack the pair, slicing off part of the driving Buzz's head causing the car to crash, killing Rick. The next morning, Lieutenant Boude "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), former Texas Ranger, and uncle of Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin (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. Although regarded with disdain by his peers, Lefty is able to convince the local newspaper to print a tiny article which captures the interest of Stretch, who brings him a copy of the audio tape which recorded the attack on the two teenagers. Lefty urges Stretch to play the tape on her nightly radio show, and as the sounds of the horrible attack echo across the airwaves of Texas, Leatherface's family arrive at the radio station - including the twin brother of The Hitchhiker, Chop Top (Bill Moseley). Horrified, Stretch locks herself behind the metal door of a storage closet, holding off Leatherface until he comes through the wall. Stretch does some fast talking and charms him into sparing her. After a moment of distraction, Leatherface restarts his chainsaw and tears off through the studio slashing at walls, furniture and studio equipment, but leaves Stretch alive, and returns to Chop Top who has just finished viciously beating Stretch's co-worker L.G. (Lou Perryman) with a tack hammer. Leatherface and Chop Top take the mortally wounded L.G. off to their home,  followed by Stretch, who winds up trapped inside the Sawyer home, which is actually an abandoned carnival ground decorated with human bones, multi-colored lights, and carnival remnants. Stretch is discovered by the another member of the Sawyer family, Drayton (Jim Siedow), and as the Sawyer's torture Stretch at their dinner table, Lefty finally arrives(sporting three chainsaws!), saves Stretch, and prepares to battle the murderous Sawyers in revenge for killing his niece and nephew!

Drayton: [to Leatherface] You have one choice, boy: sex or the saw. Sex is, well... nobody knows. But the saw... the saw is family.

Top:   leatherface (Bill Johnson) is back... and as over-top as ever!;

Above:   The murdering Sawyer family; Chop Top (Bill Moseley), Drayton (Jim Siedow) and Leatherface.

Tobe Hooper and co-writer Kim Henkel originally had an idea for a sequel to their Texas Chainsaw Massacre that would feature an entire town of cannibals, and also be a satire of the film Motel Hell (1980), which itself was a satire of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The title of that sequel was to be 'Beyond The Valley Of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', but producers Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan, founders of schlock studio Cannon Films, forced considerable changes to be made to the screenplay, even hiring a new screenwriter, L. M. Kit Carson. While Hooper had intended to simply produce the sequel, he eventually took over directorial duties as the film's low budget meant that they were unable to hire an affordable director, and also allowed Hooper to complete his three-picture deal with Cannon (the first two films being Lifeforce (1985) and Invaders from Mars (1986)).

The sequel would introduce a new member of the Sawyer family Chop Top, played by Bill Moseley, as the twin of The Hitchhiker from the first film who was stationed in Vietnam during the events of the original movie, and has pale albino-like skin and a metal plate grafted onto his skull. Bill Moseley has said that his role as Chop-Top is his favorite of all the characters he's played. For the role of DJ "Stretch" Brock, Caroline Williams wanted to make a strong impression at her audition. When she was called in, she went to the end of the hallway and ran screaming into the room, where she pulled Tobe Hooper and L.M. Kit Carson out of their seats and used the chairs to barricade the door before she began her scene. Jim Siedow is the only actor in this movie who was in the original movie, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and it would also be his final film. Rounding out the cast is Dennis Hopper as the revenge seeking, chainsaw wielding ex-Texas Ranger "Lefty" Enright - Hopper, unlike Moseley, thought that this was the worst film he'd ever been in.

Lefty: I'm the Lord of the Harvest!
Drayton: What's that? Some new health food bunch?

Top:   DJ "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams) is attacked by Leatherface;

Above:   Ex-Texas Ranger "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper) is about to get his revenge of the Sawyers!

According to the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, the production company Cannon Films were expecting a horror film while Tobe Hooper wanted to make a black comedy. When Cannon viewed the film they were unhappy with the final product. Caroline Williams would also go on to say, "they made the Sawyer's pose for the poster the same as the Breakfast Club... and they [Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan] didn't know it was a comedy?". First among Cannon's priorities was to trim the running time of Hooper's cut from 100 minutes to a little under 90, enabling cinemas to screen the movie more times in a day. 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 movie patrons and a group of rowdy, rioting fans. The deleted slaughtering scene featured several elaborate Tom Savini special effects (Savini once stated that the makeup effects that he created for Grandpa is his most proud accomplishment of his career). After it was submitted to the MPAA in the United States, the film received an "X" rating, prompting the filmmakers to release it as unrated. However, TV previews, theatrical trailers and even posters for the film displayed the written statement: "Due to the nature of this film, no-one under 17 will be admitted".

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was also trimmed, censored, or just outright banned, in almost every country it was distributed in! When the BBFC notified Cannon that at least 20 minutes, and possibly 25, would have to be trimmed, Cannon aborted its plans for a planned U.K. release. A release in West Germany was not possible because the film was banned before the film could be released to theaters. In 2012 Turbine Medien acquired the rights to the film and started work on getting the banishment revoked. It took them four years until the local court of Berlin-Tiergarten finally lifted the banishment. Similarly in Australia, Hoyts Distribution, who had distributed 90 percent of Cannon's titles in Australasian market, submitted this film for classification and was deemed highly offensive by the classification board and refused a rating - effectively banning the film. Hoyts considered cutting the film, but the scenes and elements that offended the board were so many that it was decided to not release the picture all together. The ban stayed in effect until MGM resubmitted the film some twenty years later and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 was finally released.

TRIVIA:   In the original screenplay, Stretch was going to be Lefty Enright's illegitimate daughter.

Top:   Special Make-Up Effects artist Tom Savini with star Caroline Williams;

Above:   Director Tobe Hooper on set with Dennis Hopper.

The strongest reaction was not from the censors or the critics, but the many fans of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, who disliked this movie due to its emphasis on gore and wacky humor. Tobe Hooper has argued that black humor was also present in the original film, but viewers did not acknowledge it because of its shocking content. Roger Ebert wrote, "Part 2 has a lot of blood and disembowelment, to be sure, but it doesn't have the terror of the original, the desire to be taken seriously. It's a geek show." AllMovie's retrospective review was favorable, writing, "much-hated at the time of its release, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 has aged remarkably well, now playing as a strangely effective if none-too-subtle satire of several facets of '80s excess." Despite the vastly differing opinions of the film, that still has stopped The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 from becoming yet another cult hit for Tobe Hooper, especially with the eventual release of the film on DVD.

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   44%