Quite possibly the worst sequel to any movie ever. I certainly understand what it was that Tobe Hooper (creator of TCM) was trying to do with this film. He was trying to make a horror film that was as much a comedy as it was scary. He was trying to spoof the original and the genre in some ways. However he pitifully failed because this movie is downright terrible. The whole idea behind the film that it’s some funny comedy is never even realized for all of the intended humor in the film isn’t even funny to begin with. On top of that it has one of the more acenine stories that I’ve ever heard of in my life. It betrays the original in so many ways. For the original worked so well because it was believable. It was entirely possible that this family of pyshcos could live in a small town and you believed in Leatherface being a real human being, albeit a mentally deranged one. This realism added horror to the film. In this installment we see the family in some underground cavern of sorts with christmas lights, body parts and just about everything else you can think of strewn everywhere. I don’t even wish to know how much they paid for that set piece. Money well spent. This makes the film ridiculous. The whole environment feels like a funhouse and so does the movie. Sure some parts are scary but their terror is undercut by the idiocy of it all.

Honestly, what the hell is Dennis Hopper doing in this film. Granted he hasn’t always made good stuff but he’s much better then this. His character is pathetically uninspired and Hopper doesn’t even try to hide it. As the vigilante, Lefty, he just mopes around. And the scene where he purchases various chainsaws, the weapon of the enemy is truly pathetic. Am I supposed to be inspired by him hitting up the hardware store? Caroline Williams is an unknown to me and it looks like she’ll stay that way because I can’t imagine her finding work after this bomb. Her little homage to the chainsaw dance at the end of the first film is truly pitiful and made me want to cry. Perhaps worst of all however is the replacing of Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface) with Bill Johnson. While Gunnar made the character a classic, Bill makes it a dud. Oh sure he shouts he screams, he stomps around. But he does so like a two year old child and isn’t scary at all. Plus the fact that his mask looks terrible, odd considering that on a bigger budget you think they could’ve made it halfway decent. And what the hell is with him wearing a suit wherever he goes. The rest of the family doesn’t fare much better. Jim Seidow turned his classic Chef character into a crazy old cook. And the replacement for the hitchiker, played by Bill Mosely is one of the most annoying characters of all time. I suppose he was supposed to be the comedic relief but he wasn’t. Not at all.

And as if to add insult to injury the violence wasn’t even well done. All the killings look ridiculously fake, even for an 80s film. Perhaps the most pathetic of all is at the end when Leatherface takes a chainsaw to the gut. You can clearly see that there’s a half fake chainsaw blade glued to either end of them. Hell they don’t even go in the same direction, and even if you missed that you could tell cause the saw looks about 10 inches longer. Truly pathetic. I can scarcely believe that Tobe Hooper is responsible for this stinker, considering he helmed the original classic. He has betrayed it’s legacy by making a cheap generic 80s film. A decade responsible for bad horror films. Not only is the story bad but the acting exceeds it’s awfulness. I cannot believe how disappointed I was in this film. I can scarcely even sit through fifteen minutes of it when I try to re watch it. Hoping I missed something in my original viewings. But my final realization is that this is one of the worst sequels of all times to one of the best horror films of all times. What the hell happened?