The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a 1986 horror sequel to 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Directed by Tobe Hooper, it is the last film in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre timeline, as the other films take place in separate timelines from 1 and 2. Starring Dennis Hopper as Lefty Enright, the protagonist, Caroline Williams as Stretch, Bill Johnson as Leatherface, and Jim Siedow as Drayton Sawyer the Cook.

In this film, it is revealed that Leatherface's full name is Bubba Sawyer.

Plot
Two drunken teens are driving around and making annoying phone calls to radio DJ Vanita "Stretch" Brock. They soon encounter a truck with Leatherface on top of it, and Leatherface jumps onto their car and kills them, causing their car to crash. Stretch gets their deaths recorded. Next morning, Lieutenant Lefty Enright, uncle of Sally and Franklin, and who wants to find the cannibals so he can get his revenge for Franklin's death, arrives at the scene and knows Leatherface was behind it.

The cannibals have not been heard from for fourteen years since the first film, but Drayton Sawyer (the cook and oldest brother from the first film) wins an award for the chili he makes,which (unbeknownst to anyone else) has human meat in it. Lefty gets Stretch to play the deaths of the teens on the radio. Drayton hears this, and so his brother Chop Top (Nubbins the hitchhiker's twin brother) arrives at the radio station and he and Leatherface attempt to kill Stretch. Her coworker LG arrives and is beaten nearly to death by Chop Top while Leatherface goes after Stretch, but develops a crush on her and decides not to kill her.

Leatherface and Chop Top take LG to their house while Stretch follows them and meets up with Lefty before falling down a hole leading to the cannibals' house. Lefty enters the house through a door and begins tearing it up with a chainsaw. Leatherface cuts off LG's skin and puts his face on Stretch's face (similar to his own mask) and dances with her. LG is still alive, but dies shortly after cutting the ropes keeping Stretch trapped. She tries to escape but is caught by Drayton, Chop Top, and Leatherface. Leatherface still won't kill her, so Drayton and Chop Top take her to a table similar to the first film.

Grandpa is brought forth once more to kill Stretch (apparently he's a 1-hitter) but, once again,he's so old he keeps dropping the hammer, or else missing her with it. As Drayton moves in to help him, Lefty enters the room with his chainsaw and injures Drayton with it, giving Stretch the chance to get away. Drayton hides under the table while Lefty and Leatherface fight with chainsaws. Stretch encounters Chop Top and he chases her toward the exit. Drayton drags Nubbins's skeleton under the table to get a grenade on him, while Lefty stabs Leatherface with his chainsaw. Leatherface is still able to fight back.

Grandpa throws a hammer at Lefty, but it hits Leatherface instead, causing him to fall and his chainsaw cuts through the table, striking Drayton and causing him to drop the grenade he is holding, which in turn explodes, killing Lefty, Drayton, Grandpa, and Leatherface. Stretch climbs the exit ladder up to a shrine inside a mountain, where she takes a chainsaw from the cannibals' grandmother's remains. While she tries to activate it, Chop Top slashes her repeatedly with his knife, but she is able to activate it and attacks him with it, mortally wounding him and causing him to fall over the edge and down the ladder to his death. Stretch swings her chainsaw around in her victory, mirroring Leatherface at the end of the first film.

Deaths

 * Drayton Sawyer
 * Leatherface
 * Chop Top Sawyer
 * L.G.

Production
Originally, Tobe Hooper was just going to produce the film but he could not find a director the film's budget would afford. 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. The movie's climax was filmed at the closed Matterhorn amusement park in Prairie Dell, Texas. They shot in caves for the scenes inside the Sawyer home.

Gunnar Hansen was initially approached to reprise his role as Leatherface but he claimed to have been offered "scale, plus ten percent" with the ten percent going to his agent. When he replied that he had no agent, they offered scale without the additional ten percent. Hansen found the offer too low. Unit publicist Scott Holton offered an alternate story claiming Hansen vacillated about the part and the offer was rescinded. Holton didn't believe the average viewer was even aware of who the original actors were, claiming "who are Neal, Hansen or Burns?" Bill Moseley created a short film parody entitled The Texas Chainsaw Manicure where he played a small role as The Hitchiker and showed it to a screenwriter who was able to show it to Tobe Hooper. Hooper loved it and kept Moseley in mind for a part should he ever make a sequel. When the time came to cast Chainsaw 2, Moseley was contacted for the role of Chop Top, the Hitchhiker's twin brother.

Release
he film was released theatrically in the United States by Cannon Films in August 1986. It grossed $8,025,872 at the domestic box office.

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".

Reception
Critical reception to the film was mixed. Roger Ebert awarded the film one star out of four, lambasting the film because it "goes flat-out from one end to the other, never spending any time on pacing, on timing, on the anticipation of horror. It doesn't even pause to establish the characters; Dennis Hopper has the most thankless task, playing a man who spends the first half of the movie looking distracted and vague, and the second half screaming during chainsaw duels." He also commented that it "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." TV Guide 's review was similarly negative, stating that "the film feels as if Hooper himself has nothing but contempt for the original and went out of his way to tear it down."

AllMovie's 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."

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 holds a 48% approval rating on film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews with an average rating of 4.87/10. Its consensus reads, "Without the tense atmosphere of its predecessor, the stakes feel lower, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 still shocks with a gonzo blend of over-the-top humor and gore." On Metacritic the film holds a score of 42 out of 100 based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". It has since become a cult film.