By Stephen Pytak 

     I'd like to heap some praise on the new 2-disc
DVD release of this film.
     MGM gave us a 90-minute documentary, the
deleted scenes, including the one featuring horror 
film host Joe Bob Briggs, and two commentaries and
more.
     My only compaint was the cover art. It looks like
it's something out of a "Saw" movie, not a "Texas
Chainsaw" movie.
     Expectations no doubt ruined some people's night 
out when they paid to see this back in 1986.
     A majority probably came expecting more of what 
Hooper delivered in 1974, more of what critic Rex 
Reed called "the most horrifying motion picture I have 
ever seen."
     But there was no old farmhouse this time out. 
There were no meat hook hangings either. And there 
were no shocks violent enough to brand viewers 
senseless.
     Instead, there was a unique story with twists and 
turns, some engaging characterizations, a bizarre 
showdown in a run down, indoor amusement park 
and some of the best work Tom Savini has ever done.
     "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is very different 
from the original. But it's a masterpiece in its own 
right.
     Let's start with the story.
     It's not a copycat. It's a real, honest-to-goodness 
drama with some serious, screw-turning, signature 
moments.
     The film gets jump started by two college yuppies 
in a Mercedes, a prank phone call to a radio station 
and a game of chicken with a pick-up truck.
     When the sun goes down, the yups call the station 
back to agitate the deejay, "Stretch," played by 
Caroline Williams. But they forget they're even on the 
phone when they run into that chicken pick-up again 
and find themselves in a life and death game with a 
chainsaw.
     I never saw anything quite like this.
     As the car drives across a suspension bridge, the 
truck chases it in reverse, supposedly "at 90-miles per 
hour." It doesn't look it. But what happens next 
pushes excitement past the speed limit.
     A "geek" shouts a battle cry from the truck bed. It's 
"Leatherface (Johnson)" wearing an additional 
disguise. Strapped to him is his late brother, the 
"Hitchhiker (a puppet made by Savini)." Obviously, 
the family peeled his tire-tracked body off the road at 
the end of Part 1.
     The killer cranks up a buzz saw with a blade so 
big, it would get the lumberjack seal of approval. He 
saws the door, then saws the driver's head and…
CRASH!
     Meanwhile, Stretch is still on the phone, shaking, 
confused after hearing screaming, gunshots and 
buzzing. She heard everything. But on top of that the 
crank call is now on tape, since she records all the 
call-ins. 
     To her, the tape is potential police evidence. It 
might also be, in her opinion, her chance to do 
something more real than play "headbangin' music."
     I liked well-constructed dramatic sequences like 
these, which not only kept the characters moving, but 
also involved them and made them, and the audience, 
react.
     The chainsaw chase at the radio station at 
midpoint is another. But the highlight of that scene is 
the show stopping saw-sex scene between Leatherface 
and Stretch. 
     I never saw anything quite like this either.
     Leatherface traps the screaming deejay in the 
storage room, wets her down when he turns his saw 
into an ice cutter, then stops dead and starts to drool. 
The sight of Caroline Williams sitting in wet shorts 
on an ice chest can do that to a guy.
     She knows what he's thinking, thinks fast and 
makes a bid for survival. She asks him "how good are 
you?"
     Stupid question? Maybe. But what happens next 
is…wow!
     Leatherface decides to feel her leg and groin not 
with his hand, but his "tool." 
     With a slow driving score building and building, 
he works the saw slowly up and into horror history.
     The scene is interesting for a thousand reasons. 
But, for story purposes, it's the spectacular moment  
that brings "Leatherface" to a point where the 
audience can, for once, identify with him. 
     This, by the way,  is the only "Texas Chainsaw" 
film in which  "Leatherface" is a character with real 
depth.  He isn't just a mindless mad butcher who 
wears human skin. Even though we never see his face, 
we see his beating heart, desires, and ultimate fears.
     These revealed emotions, ultimately, take him on 
an emotional roller coaster wreck in the last reel.
     In the original film, the chain gang torments a girl 
at their dinner table with a sledgehammer.
     In the sequel, the scene is reprised. But this time, 
Stretch is the main course. Through the beating and 
screaming,  Leatherface breaks down psychologically. 
His blood tells him "the saw is family." His heart tells 
him something else.
     One of the subplots in this film is about bringing 
this family of outlaws to justice for the crimes they 
committed in the first film, and supposedly in the 13 
years since.
     This high-school, complex, puppy-love sick crush 
Leatherface suffers from becomes part of that. Call it 
cosmic justice, I suppose. It makes him suffer the 
tortures of his own family. It's amazing and engaging. 
     My hat is off to screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson, who 
also wrote "Paris, Texas (1984)." Until I get an email 
telling me otherwise, I'm going to credit him for this 
stuff.
     He took an impossible project and gave it an 
incredible spin.
     It should also be noted that this is also the only 
"Texas Chainsaw" movie which takes place in a 
variety of settings. Every other damn "Chainsaw" film 
made to date is a rip off of the first, right down to the 
damn farmhouse.
     The actors were also top-notch, in particular 
Dennis Hopper who brings justice by fighting fire 
with fire and chainsaw with chainsaw.
     He plays "Lieutenant 'Lefty' Enright," a Texas 
ranger and relative of the "Sally" and "Franklin" 
characters from the original. His performance is both 
intense and offbeat. 
     Hopper's "Lefty" has a cold stare and a shake in 
his hand that reminds us of the serious nature of the 
original film, even though he wasn't in it. 
     But then he inspires a smile when he walks into 
"Cut-Rite Chain Saws," drops a stack of $100s and 
arms himself with not one, but three saws.
     "Give them suckers a time or two," insists the 
Mister Green Jeans behind the counter.
     Hopper puts on his shades, picks up the big silver 
one, cranks it and crucifies a log with Roman 
vengeance.
     I laugh every time.
     People who suffered trauma from the first film will 
relish this and other scenes when "Lefty" dishes out 
justice.
     All the actors deserve credit, from Williams to 
Johnson, from Bill Moseley to returning "Chainsaw" 
actor Jim Siedow. Even Savini's "Hitchhiker" was 
good.
     I'm sure director Tobe Hooper also deserves a lot 
of credit here. The look of the whole film is amazing. 
The lighting, the sets, the execution is all above and 
beyond. He even worked on the music.
     I can go on and on about this film. Every time I see 
it, I end up rambling about this or that. It's definitely 
not  average. I often insist it should be shown on 
public television unedited.