Non aprite quella porta - Parte 2

A late night radio host hears some prank callers being killed over the phone, she offers to help Lieutenant 'Lefty' Enright (Dennis Hopper) track down what he believes to be the same people responsible for chainsaw killings in Texas. He however uses her as bait and she is taken by the Chop Top and the gang. He then has to try and save her before she becomes dinner. After the intensity of the original, that was probably impossible to top, Hooper decided to go with a comic leaning this time, some of it works some of it doesn't, but by the end i was just about persuaded it was fun. Hopper is naturally OTT, he doesn't quite sleepwalk through the film like others have stated, but he also doesn't really excel either. Caroline Williams constant screaming is more than slightly irksome and her playful musings with an impotent Leatherface are just silly, but its Bill Moseley you'll remember most from this film, he's a hoot.

I might be stretching it a bit giving this critically blasted sequel 6 out of 10, but it deserves it for sheer audacity and entertainment value, not to mention the priceless performances, remarkable set design and great Tom Savini make-up FX, which were enough to deny this an R rating when released and cause some distribution problems.

Dennis Hopper (who was in BLUE VELVET the same year!) turns camp king as Ex-Texas Ranger Lt. Lefty, brother of the Sally and Franklin characters from the original. He's out for revenge against the cannibal clan for what they did to his family, while radio DJ Stretch (Caroline Williams, who is a lot of fun) simply tries to survive after she airs a radio broadcast that p1sses them off. The psychotic father (who makes award winning chili out of human flesh), Leatherface and the 100-and-something-year-old grandpa are still around, plus new member Chop Top (Bill Moseley), who has a metal plate in his head, suffers from 'Nam flashbacks and does some disgusting things with a clothes hanger and a lighter. The cannibal clan hideout, which is hidden underground beneath an amusement park this time, is a marvel of skeletal decor, hooks, cobwebs, tunnels and blood oozing walls. In fact, everything about this movie is taken to insanely outrageous proportions, and it drops the straight horror and sly black humor of the original for more blatant shocks and in-your-face comedy, which explains the critical hatred. Nonetheless, I think TCM2 would be an enjoyable watch for most horror fans.

The franchise continued with the disappointing LEATHERFACE (1989), the atrocious TCM: THE NEXT GENERATION ('94) and then the popular, and surprisingly watchable, 2003 remake of the original.

TCM 1 is to TCM 2 what Alien is to Aliens. Nuanced tension building is replaced with "more is more" theatrics. This may have inherently less artistic merit, but it does follow through on an intention that's impossible to ignore. In a way, maybe this always should have been the tone, as no one ever expected subtlety from a movie called Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It gets to the point quickly then proceeds with a relentless bludgeoning of blood and gore. Not achieving the comedic brilliance found in the excesses of the Evil Dead franchise, but thankfully not succumbing to the trappings of self serious torture porn. Also fun to realize how much Rob Zombie's 1000 Corpses movies were just as much an homage to TCM as his Halloween movies were to the John Carpenter originals.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is one of the most misunderstood movies of all time. I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 when it was released in theaters back in 1986. I loved this horror flick then. But everyone else hated it. Critics trashed it. Even many horror fans, of the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre or slashers in general, hated it and dismissed it. Now after a decade or so after its release, TCM 2 is now a bona fide cult movie.

There are so many things to point out why TCM 2 is a stand-out. The first and most important thing to point out is that back in the 1980s, horror films were reduced to simple slashers. TCM 2 is totally different than the plethora of slashers that many horror fans expected to see, which is one reason why many horror fans didn't get it. The body count is extremely low in TCM 2 compared to the Friday the 13th or Elm Street flicks. But that doesn't mean it's not violent. No, it's VERY violent. But the violence in TCM 2 is more engrossing, shocking and even at times funny, and in turn less acceptable than the unreal violence found in many slasher films. Because of the amount of violence and violent imagery, films critics trashed TCM 2, pointing out how the first film didn't rely on gore and violence to scare the audience.

I love Texas Chainsaw Massacre as much as I love TCM 2. I understand what the critics were saying. Unfortunately, they didn't get the point of the violence in TCM 2. While TCM is a sweat inducing TERRIFYING horror film in the first order, TCM 2 is a "GRAND GUIGNOL HORROR" horror film in the first order. In TCM 2, Hooper creates a vast canvas of baroque imagery, where we watch the insane and gory story unfold before our incredulous eyes. I'm amazed that critics missed the whole difference between TCM and TCM 2. It's odd that critics will rave about Peter Greenaway's "THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER" which is a twisted drama in the the Grand Guignol style, but didn't see TCM 2 in the same way. It's probably due to the fact that TCM 2 is a sequel to a quasi-legendary horror film and everyone expected the sequel to be the same as the first movie.

I give credit to everyone involved with TCM 2. They actually TRIED to do something different: different from the equally great TCM, different from the increasingly boring horror films of the 80s. And in my eye, they've succeeded. There are so many memorable scenes in TCM 2, some of which are the most amazing horror moments ever put on screen (when Leatherface tries to put the scalped face on Stretch, the scene when Stretch finds her friend sans face, etc). And there are so many quotable lines too. TCM 2 is also a very funny film ("Rain, rain, rain, rain..." Choptop says as he checks out records at the radio station).

TCM 2 is not perfect. The ending is abrupt. And the chainsaw fight at the end is too short. Dennis Hopper is a bit hard to take as a "hero." But he does play the "twisted hero" right. It's just difficult to see him fighting big and burly Leatherface. BTW, the very last image of TCM 2 is Strecth dancing with a chainsaw in her hands at the top of that amusement park structure. In the original film (and the original video release), we can see cars and trucks driving by on a highway in the distance. On the DVD, they cropped this shot and we don't see the traffic anymore. Personally, I thought it added a LOT to the whole surreal aspect of the film. Like the world was continuing on with its relentless pace, no matter what had just happened that night. I wished they didn't crop this shot on the DVD. Oh well...

It's a shame few people "got" TCM 2 back then. After reading the reviews at IMDb and at Amazon, it's great to see that some are finally "getting it." For anyone who's game, watch TCM 2. You'll be squealing in horror and laughing at the insanity of it all in equal amounts.

Wow. I've never seen a sequel that spoofs its predecessor harder than this one does. 10 years after the original TCM, Leatherface is back, making a stunning entrance atop a speeding pick-up truck with his legendary chainsaw held high. After dispatching two incredibly annoying, cell-phone wielding yuppies, the cannibalistic Sawyer family is after Stretch, a DJ who was on the phone with the two idiotic victims and heard everything that happened. Simultaneously using Stretch as bait and protecting her from the Sawyers is bug-eyed weirdo Dennis Hopper, playing the demented, chainsaw packing sheriff and uncle to one of the previous films unfortunate victims.

This movie is definitely played for comedy, black as it may be. It's almost a retelling of the first tale, as Stretch runs screaming through the Sawyers underground abode, only to end up bent over a washtub while Grandpa feebly whacks away at her head with a hammer. There's a great chainsaw-as-penis scene, where Leatherface suddenly discovers sex and orgasms and promptly loses interest in chainsawing Stretch to death. There's also a hideous hammer murder and a gruesome "defacing" scene, just so you don't forget that, no matter how hilarious, this movie is still about over-the-top gore, mutilations, cannibalism and fates worse than death. Just when your stomach starts lurching, along comes another sickening joke to relieve the tension.

This is a brilliantly done film, made even better by its offbeat humor and oddly likable characters. In my humble opinion, it's the perfect sequel, done the way more sequels ought to be done.