The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the finest and most influential horror films ever made, so naturally the sequel has a lot to live up to. Director Tobe Hooper wisely tired to make a sequel that didn't just try to imitate what made the first film so great. Rather than make an atmospheric, low key film, he decided to make a sequel that was an over the top, gory dark comedy. Sam Raimi did the same thing when he made Evil Dead II, as did George Romero when he made Dawn of the Dead. Granted, all three of these films use different amounts of dark humour, but they were all sequels that spawned from serious films. However, Texas Chainsaw Massacre II falls short of success that its fellow sequels achieved.

The film starts the same way the original film did; with a voice over. It is here that the events of the preceding film are recapped and we learn that the Sawyer family was never caught and that chainsaw murders have been plaguing Texas for the better part of 13 years. The family hasn't changed much over the years. Leatherface is still as deadly as ever and The Cook is still selling BBQ and award winning chili. Grandpa is still kicking around, as is the hitchhiker from the first film. Sure, he may have been killed, but that doesn't stop them from bringing his corpse around. Hell, it worked for Grandma all these years. Rounding out the family is Chop Top, a Beatles fan with a metal plate in his head who was in Vietnam during the first film. Hell, what 80's movie isn't complete with a Vietnam vet who's either bitter, grizzled or crazy?

Leatherface and Chop Top get to work early in the film, killing off two yuppie college students who were on the phone to a radio DJ named Stretch. Texas Ranger Lefty Enright (Dennis Hopper) is the uncle of the first film's sole survivor and when he finds the chopped up kids, he sets out to find the Sawyer family. He meets up with Stretch and convinces her to play the tape of the murder on the air to see if anyone with any information about the murder will come forward. Nobody does, but the tape catches the attention of Leatherface and Chop Top who show up at the radio station to silence Stretch and her producer. This leads to the film's most infamous sequence where Leatherface corners Stretch, but finds himself quite smitten with her.

Some critics have said that the knives and axes that are seen in horror films are nothing more than phallic symbols. This scene does nothing to disprove this theory. In a plot development that you truly have to see to fully comprehend, Stretch and 'Face have what can only be described as chainsaw sex. In the afterglow Leatherface lets her live and heads home with Chop Top and her producer's body. Lefty and Stretch track the Sawyer family down to the catacombs below an abandoned amusement park in an attempt to bring the family to justice and to save Stretch's producer. They soon get separated and when Stretch discovers what they did to her producer, she realizes that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a film that has a lot going for it. Hooper's direction is good and he's abandoned the use of extreme close ups that hindered the original. The special effects were done by Tom Savini, and while they aren't as abundant as those found in Day of the Dead, they are still excellent. I've always found Leatherface to be one of the more visually interesting killers and the "idiot man-child going through puberty" characterization in this film gives him another layer of depth (bringing the grand total to 3). Plus, the movie has Dennis Hopper playing a chainsaw wielding Texas law man. If you threw Ash in to the film, you could probably have the chainsaw duel to end all chainsaw duels.

Despite all of those good things, the film never really seems to fully click. Part of the problem is that there aren't too many characters we can relate to. Stretch is rather bland and we never learn much about her. Chop Top is a character right out of a comic book and while his Vietnam references are mild amusing at first, they soon become grating. As cool as it is to have Dennis Hopper in the film, he seems to be really half assing his performance this time around. Compare this film to Blue Velvet and you can tell he's just looking to collect a paycheck. In the end, that leaves us with Leatherface as the most sympathetic character in the whole movie. I'm sure we can all remember being a confused kid in love with a girl who wanted nothing to do with you. By the end of the film we get the feeling that 'Face could have been a good guy if he didn't have such a fucked up family. All of this is well and good, except for the fact that Leatheface is supposed to be the villain. So, in the end we have a villain we can sympathize with and feel sorry for and no strong hero to root for.

MGM has released the film on DVD, but it's nothing to write home about. First off, they replaced with original cover with a picture of Hopper. The original cover was a rather clever parody of The Breakfast Club's poster while the new one is just there to hopefully draw in a more mainstream audience. Some how I don't think this film will ever attract an mainstream audience, even if you put a picture of Ocean's Eleven cast on the cover.

The DVD is dual sided, with the wide screen version on one side and the pan and scan version on the other. I've always thought this was a good idea, since it satisfies both serious film fans and the yokels who don't like "them funny black bars". The image quality is fine and the disc offers 2.0 surround sound. The only extra on the disc is the original theatrical trailer. So overall, it's the kind of disc that cries out for a special edition. The disc won't cost you more than $20, but I'd recommend trying to find the VHS director's cut instead. From what I've read, it contains a good number of extra scenes, plus it has the original cover and trailer on it as well.