At the end of his deal with Cannon, Tobe Hopper decided to finally make a sequel to the film that had put him on the map. He and Chainsaw co-writer Kim Henkel had considered a sequel in 1980, which would feature an entire town of cannibals. However, this never came into fruition, but Hopper apparently kept the idea in mind. However, ultimately, Cannon rejected this, and had Hopper's friend, actor and screenwriter LM Kit Carson (co-writer of 1984 cult hit Paris, Texas) to create a new screenplay with Hopper. Originally only a producer and co-writer, Hopper took the director's chair after they failed to find a sufficient director. Hopper decided to take a different direction with the sequel. He had noted that the sheer intensity of the first one was enough to distract most from the more satirical elements that were present. So, he and Carson wrote a more comedic spin on the material. When they wrapped up, Cannon, hoping for an intense horror film like the first one, were disappointed by the more comedic route they actually took. Dennis Hopper would call the worst film he was ever in (note this was 7 years before Super Mario Bros., so...) While receiving mixed review, it was a relative box office success ($8 million on a $4.5 million budget), and has become a minor cult hit. (By the way, I'm going to spoil the hell out of the first film, because this one wouldn't make sense, so go watch the first one, or read a synopsis of its events, before reading the synopsis here).
14 years after the events of the first film (which would actually place this in 1987, which is odd, considering this is a film from 1986), two teenagers,Buzz (Barry Kinyon) and Rick (Chris Douridas) are driving down a highway, prank-calling a rock station hosted by Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams), when they are very suddenly attacked and killed by none other than Leatherface (Bill Johnson). Police Lieutenant Boude "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), the uncle to Sally and Franklin Hardesty from the first film, investigates the murders, having become obsessed with the chainsaw murders, ever since Franklin was killed and Sally mentally scarred. Stretch finds Lefty, and gives him a tape of their call, which has the murder on it. After deliberating, Lefty decides to accept her offer to have it air on the station. Sure enough, the Sawyer patriarch, Drayton (Jim Siedow, the only actor to reprise his role from the first one), now a semi-popular chili chef (and yes, the implication is very clear there) in the Dallas area, hears it. That night, when Stretch is about to leave, she finds Crop-Top (Bill Moseley), a strange pale fellow who rambles a bit, before Leatherface comes out and attacks Stretch. Her producer LG (Lou Perryman) is brutally beaten by Crop-Top. Leatherface eventually sees Stretch up close, and falls in love. She escapes, but finds herself going down the rabbit hole (literally). Now, her and Lefty must combat the grotesque nightmare situation they've found themselves in, and defeat the Sawyer family.
Bill Johnson was a good Leatherface. In fact, Leatherface is the best thing about this film. He manages to capture the sheer terror that his costume evokes, and also his child-like nature, in the same exact way that Gunnar Hansen did. This provides both good scares and the occasional morbid laugh. For what he said about the film, Dennis Hopper does seem to be having some fun, hamming it up and wielding a chainsaw all over the place. The production design is especially good, utilizing the higher budget this had to create the Sawyer's warped shrine to Americana. The best moments come , surprisingly, when it does invoke the good parts of the original. It has a new spin on it, a comedic look.
I understood what Hopper meant. The intensity of the first film masked the parts which were more black comedy in nature. However, the humor I got from the first was the dysfunctional family of cannibals and how they seemed to be more a bickering sitcom family than a menace, which only underscores the horror and themes of the originall. While the film does try to use that as the basis of some jokes, it comes off more over-the-top than intended, and it feels disconnected from the universe of the first film. I wouldn't mind this, if it were funny. I didn't think it was that funny. There was one or two good jokes, but it fell flat, as did the horror part, which lies solely with Leatherface. Crop-Top was especially annoying. He is meant to be a riff on the Hitchhiker (and in fact, carries the corpse of that character), but is less disturbing and more obnoxious. The biggest problem with this film isn't even the horror-comedy. It's that its bad scenes go way beyond what they should be. I was complaining about editing in the last two films, but this needed some more editing. The film feels very long, despite its 100 minute runtime, and I wouldn't have a problem with the extended scenes if they weren't so awkward and tedious. Finally, it feels very...wider than the first. Unlike the dispairing setting of the first one, this feels less isolated and thus less suspenseful than the first.
I didn't like this. It wasn't very good, and I do agree with some critic this time around. It just failed as a horror-comedy. However, apparently, people have come up to defend this, calling upon its commentary on 80's consumerism (which is present, but it's not They Live, so watch that). Still, if you enjoyed the first one, you may like this one, depending on if you saw the more comic strokes of it. If you've never seen the first one, this doesn't necessarily require it, but it helps.
So ends our retrospective of Tobe Hopper. Throughout each of these films, Hopper always infused them with a frantic energy. An energy which gives the viewers intense feelings, whether fear, excitement, humor, and for better or worse, makes them shudder or think or clap. This adrenaline defines these works, and helped create (even in this last one) memorable experiences. Whether in the Texas backwoods or at the heart of Halley's Comet, Hopper knew how to channel weirdness and terror with this energy, but infuse it with depth. These were some of the most intense films I've seen for these reviews. The horror genre was forever changed by Hopper, and his death is a very unfortunate loss. RIP.
I intend to explore George A. Romero in a similar retrospective (looking at four of his films), but first, in honor of that particular day happening this year in October, we will look at the first Friday the 13th.
14 years after the events of the first film (which would actually place this in 1987, which is odd, considering this is a film from 1986), two teenagers,Buzz (Barry Kinyon) and Rick (Chris Douridas) are driving down a highway, prank-calling a rock station hosted by Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams), when they are very suddenly attacked and killed by none other than Leatherface (Bill Johnson). Police Lieutenant Boude "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), the uncle to Sally and Franklin Hardesty from the first film, investigates the murders, having become obsessed with the chainsaw murders, ever since Franklin was killed and Sally mentally scarred. Stretch finds Lefty, and gives him a tape of their call, which has the murder on it. After deliberating, Lefty decides to accept her offer to have it air on the station. Sure enough, the Sawyer patriarch, Drayton (Jim Siedow, the only actor to reprise his role from the first one), now a semi-popular chili chef (and yes, the implication is very clear there) in the Dallas area, hears it. That night, when Stretch is about to leave, she finds Crop-Top (Bill Moseley), a strange pale fellow who rambles a bit, before Leatherface comes out and attacks Stretch. Her producer LG (Lou Perryman) is brutally beaten by Crop-Top. Leatherface eventually sees Stretch up close, and falls in love. She escapes, but finds herself going down the rabbit hole (literally). Now, her and Lefty must combat the grotesque nightmare situation they've found themselves in, and defeat the Sawyer family.
Bill Johnson was a good Leatherface. In fact, Leatherface is the best thing about this film. He manages to capture the sheer terror that his costume evokes, and also his child-like nature, in the same exact way that Gunnar Hansen did. This provides both good scares and the occasional morbid laugh. For what he said about the film, Dennis Hopper does seem to be having some fun, hamming it up and wielding a chainsaw all over the place. The production design is especially good, utilizing the higher budget this had to create the Sawyer's warped shrine to Americana. The best moments come , surprisingly, when it does invoke the good parts of the original. It has a new spin on it, a comedic look.
I understood what Hopper meant. The intensity of the first film masked the parts which were more black comedy in nature. However, the humor I got from the first was the dysfunctional family of cannibals and how they seemed to be more a bickering sitcom family than a menace, which only underscores the horror and themes of the originall. While the film does try to use that as the basis of some jokes, it comes off more over-the-top than intended, and it feels disconnected from the universe of the first film. I wouldn't mind this, if it were funny. I didn't think it was that funny. There was one or two good jokes, but it fell flat, as did the horror part, which lies solely with Leatherface. Crop-Top was especially annoying. He is meant to be a riff on the Hitchhiker (and in fact, carries the corpse of that character), but is less disturbing and more obnoxious. The biggest problem with this film isn't even the horror-comedy. It's that its bad scenes go way beyond what they should be. I was complaining about editing in the last two films, but this needed some more editing. The film feels very long, despite its 100 minute runtime, and I wouldn't have a problem with the extended scenes if they weren't so awkward and tedious. Finally, it feels very...wider than the first. Unlike the dispairing setting of the first one, this feels less isolated and thus less suspenseful than the first.
I didn't like this. It wasn't very good, and I do agree with some critic this time around. It just failed as a horror-comedy. However, apparently, people have come up to defend this, calling upon its commentary on 80's consumerism (which is present, but it's not They Live, so watch that). Still, if you enjoyed the first one, you may like this one, depending on if you saw the more comic strokes of it. If you've never seen the first one, this doesn't necessarily require it, but it helps.
So ends our retrospective of Tobe Hopper. Throughout each of these films, Hopper always infused them with a frantic energy. An energy which gives the viewers intense feelings, whether fear, excitement, humor, and for better or worse, makes them shudder or think or clap. This adrenaline defines these works, and helped create (even in this last one) memorable experiences. Whether in the Texas backwoods or at the heart of Halley's Comet, Hopper knew how to channel weirdness and terror with this energy, but infuse it with depth. These were some of the most intense films I've seen for these reviews. The horror genre was forever changed by Hopper, and his death is a very unfortunate loss. RIP.
I intend to explore George A. Romero in a similar retrospective (looking at four of his films), but first, in honor of that particular day happening this year in October, we will look at the first Friday the 13th.
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