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Posted: |
Jun 3, 2009 - 2:58 PM
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By: |
Cooper
(Member)
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Geezes, it's incredible to think that this pile of shit from 1986 comes from the same guy who gave us the original TCM. Either Tobe Hooper was high on something or he did it just to play a joke on us all. Hard to say.
Or maybe Tobe Hooper just wanted to do a maniacal, over-the-top satirizing of his legendary original for people with a sense of humor. Like 'Hoops' himself says of TCM2: "It's insane..."
So what do we have here? Well, a whole bunch of blood and splatter and gore (unlike its far more sober, yet equally visceral prequel) and an endless assault of annoying screaming! There were several times I thought to myself "can someone please kill off the girl already so we can have some silence here!". Even Dennis Hopper, who I usually like, succumbed to the whole screaming thing. This aspect of the film prevented it from becoming an unintential comedy that could otherwise have been enjoyed for its camp appeal.
The thing that disqualifies TCM2 from being an unintentional comedy is its being a very obviously intentional one. Therein rests the confusion for some horror fans: They don't expect the curve ball because they can't fathom why Hooper would do a 180 on tone. It's not what you expected. So what? Doesn't mean it doesn't succeed on its own terms. I think this is a case where it's more an issue of TCM2 not being to your taste, rather than its being a poor film.
I don't remember Evil Dead 2 getting this kind of grief (another case of an obvious shift in sensibility toward the comedic).
It seems like something went wrong early on here, in the writing process.
Only if you think they were trying to play it straight...
Totally over-the-top - from the effort to "humanize" Leatherface to the grandiose amusement park "lair" of the family (which wasn't half bad as a moody set, I admit).
Dude, totally over-the-top was the Mission Statement of this enterprise. Humanizing Leatherface, like everything else, was a joke. I think they were going for a kind of King Kong/Ann Darrow dynamic with him and Stretch. Amid all the shrieking, she starts talking to him about their relationship like they're in couples' counseling and that's somehow accidentally stupid? Bubba's chainsaw is the prop for some hysterically phallic thrusting into a tub of ice and beer cans...between Stretch's legs? Sheesh, and I express that in the nicest possible way, but sheesh. Anvil sized hints raining down with "deliberately over-the-top" scrawled on them... You may think it's dumb, but accidental?
Musically, Tobe Hooper himself and Jerry Lambert (who?) provide the cheesy synth score - which sounds like Bernard Herrmann played through a Casio alarm clock! The PSYCHO ode as the girl drives towards the park is especially hilarious.
Hey, you're almost getting it... That. Was. The. Point.
There is also the standard list of various 80's hits (played by the DJ girl on her radio show), and of particular notice here is of course Oingo Boingo's "No One Lives Forever" - again the reason for watching this excrement - played as a song on the radio in the opening as we are introduced to Leatherface and his famous chainsaw (and the two boys that meet their maker at the end of it). The song is played in full and obviously adds meaning to the whole scene - both through the energetic ska beat and the morbid lyrics (No One Lives Forever, but Leatherface apparently does...and the boys do not!).
Yeah, it's a brilliant sequence. Seems to me the only thing keeping you from embracing this film is being able to accept that all the things you cite as the product of sloppiness, stupidity or happenstance were exactly what they were going for. Yes, that makes it an entirely warped picture. Deal with it, and enjoy.
And sorry if I came off a little caustic or adversarial. Defending The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 is my passion in this life.
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I couldn't LOVE TCM2, more!
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Posted: |
Mar 23, 2014 - 2:39 PM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Just revisited this movie on the extravagantly designed Arrow blu-ray boxset (including Hooper's early works and a ton of extras), have to say I enjoyed it so much more than I did when I watched it the first time. Then I was expecting a more serious sequel to TCM, now I get what Hooper & his crew wanted to do for this one; one of the critics discussing the movie explained it well; The first Texas Chainsaw was all about realism and what what happen if you fell prey to a band of lunatics, Chainsaw 2 takes the TCM movie as a starting point and turns it into hyper realism, over the top with parody and comedy. There are still parts that don't work for me and make it feel rushed and incomplete, but I do admire the 80s politics thrown into this sequel and the performances, set design and special effects makeup are top notch. Absolutely love the final shot of the movie. As a sequel I still find it flawed, as a standalone movie however it works very well.
The score is cheesy, but still memorable, I wouldn't mind a release.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2014 - 1:33 AM
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By: |
Cooper
(Member)
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Just revisited this movie on the extravagantly designed Arrow blu-ray boxset (including Hooper's early works and a ton of extras), have to say I enjoyed it so much more than I did when I watched it the first time. Then I was expecting a more serious sequel to TCM, now I get what Hooper & his crew wanted to do for this one; one of the critics discussing the movie explained it well; The first Texas Chainsaw was all about realism and what what happen if you fell prey to a band of lunatics, Chainsaw 2 takes the TCM movie as a starting point and turns it into hyper realism, over the top with parody and comedy. There are still parts that don't work for me and make it feel rushed and incomplete, but I do admire the 80s politics thrown into this sequel and the performances, set design and special effects makeup are top notch. Absolutely love the final shot of the movie. As a sequel I still find it flawed, as a standalone movie however it works very well.
The score is cheesy, but still memorable, I wouldn't mind a release.
I couldn't believe my eyes at Arrow giving Hooper the auteur treatment with their surreally lavish TCM2 release. My lamentations have yet to cease over the Region B Lock. Arrow apparently also went the distance with another no less brilliantly maniacal classic 'Hoops' title, LIFEFORCE.
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I guess there are more people here awaiting the release (vinyl only?) of the TCM2 score from WaxworkRecords (probably late December as it is one of their subscribers releases)
I wonder if another label has a CD release of it up their sleave too along the way?
I movie that I thought was ridiculous when I first saw it back in the 80´s, but has grown on me and now understands what Hooper was going for.
(still like the 2003 remake the best thou as a horrorfilm)
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I would buy a CD. I actually saw part 2 first, before part 1. I used to rent it all the time and still remember the first time I saw that Breakfast Club-style poster on the vhs cover at the local convenience store.
When I finally got around to renting part 1 it was one of those awful original VHS prints where you literally couldn’t see anything in the night scenes. The transfers were so bad. It was just essentially a black screen with the sounds of chainsaws and screaming. It wasn’t until the dvd restoration in the late 90s when I was finally able to appreciate how amazing that movie is. That was an eye-opener.
metoo, I also saw part 2 first (a friend rented it from another country as it was banned over here (which also was the case of the original movie) and I did not like it much back then (more of a F13th/Hallowen guy)
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Where are you seeing only 6 copies remaining? Because I just snagged one of them.
On the Bandcamp page. It changed to five copies after my purchase, the fact that it hasn't changed after yours suggests it might just be stock allocated for Bandcamp.
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Does anyone know the correct track order for the new release
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Mine's apparently dispatched already.
I hope they're still planning on putting out CREEPSHOW 2 on CD. They said they were a couple of years ago but not heard anything since.
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Made up with this release! Always loved the wacky, way-out approach taken with this sequal. Hooper always insisted that the first movie was actually a black comedy, but since nobody else got the joke, he went overboard this time around - with the satire, the anarchy and gore - just so there was no doubt in anyone's mind.
This score also makes for a great companion to Chris Young's Invaders From Mars, which can't be just coincidence, of course. Hooper and Canon must have been going through a big musique concrete phase. If you didn't know this was a Texas Chainsaw score, Lambert and Hooper's warped soundscape would hardly tip you off.
Anyway, a great release, along with CHUD!
Keep 'em coming, I say!
Cheers
Chris Kilt-Man
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