The Texas Chainsaw massacre or how to dismantle the most horrifying movie ever made...
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a multiple-failures-in-one kind of movie: it falls short on everything it aims to achieve. Filmed 13 years after the original, which left an almost unrivaled mark on the horror genre and fundamentally redefined what could be shown in cinematic drama, pushing visuals and associations to extreme levels, this sequel tries to hold on to the horror elements of the first while simultaneously offering laughs. I wouldn’t say it aspires to "deconstruct" the original through humor, as we later saw in meta-horror comedies beginning with the monumental New Nightmare and then, of course, with the Scream series. Instead, it’s clear that the producers aimed to recreate the terror that defined the first film (an impossible feat, but did it have to fail this badly?). So, while it might not be a deconstruction, it’s certainly a complete dismantling of the greatness of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Leatherface, who embodied the definition of horror in the original—a towering killer seemingly capable of any perversion and inducing revulsion at every turn—ends up here as a clown. He bounces around with his chainsaw in a desperate attempt to look like a “crazy” killer capable of anything. He’s also given a sexual undertone, a plot element that could have been an interesting character development (especially original for the horror genre back then), but it’s executed in a dreadful way, thanks to the '80s: via a chainsaw-phallus comparison as it’s placed between the legs of the “final girl” (the scene is truly laughable). Naturally, in many slashers, which have an inherently strong sexual undertone (see Friday the 13th), the killer’s weapon, like Michael Myers’ knife or Leatherface’s chainsaw, is often symbolically tied to male genitalia. At the same time, the whole cannibal family, who were pure nightmare fuel in the first movie, are more like clowns here. It’s just one example of how the film tries to capture the horror of the first and fails spectacularly (while also trying to “refresh” an element and failing even more spectacularly).
Another factor that makes this film so bad is the role of gore in it. The first film didn’t show much gore, only hinted at it, but the implication contributed to the horror. Whether or not this was a stylistic choice by the original filmmakers, it worked to intensify the terror. Here, the gore is everywhere, and it’s so excessive that it doesn’t scare; it disgusts. It almost reminds me of the best movie EVER OBJECTIVELY, Evil Dead: Dead by Dawn, which uses gore and splatter so excessively to create dark humor and does it well. But in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre sequel, the gore clearly wasn’t intended as a source of humor, and that adds to the movie's awkwardness.
It’s a shame because I had read that, for slasher standards, it’s considered a "decent" sequel and even has its supporters. It’s also a shame because it’s another Tobe Hooper film. A shame because it desecrates the unholy and glorious legacy of the legendary Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Honestly, I can’t see a single good thing in this movie.
