THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a horror classic in its own right) was loosely based on a true story of a series of Texas killings and based on the life of Ed Gein. Not sure how accurate the retelling of said story was but in this the sequel, from my understanding it took a LOT of liberties with the truth but the plot departs further into a more twisted tale of mass killings, taking place 13 years after the still unsolved murders portrayed in the original film.

This is a higher budget, and much gorier continuation of the story, focusing on not only on Leatherface but the rest of his family. I guess the family that plays together ,  stays together.

Having said that, if you can suspend some disbelief in the plot and timeline (like how did the family get so much money/time to create the entire underground section of the farm between the times of part 1 and this movie...)  this is a great watch and captivating from start to finish. The twisted depravity of Leatherface's family is captured perfectly... has a very similar feel in parts to Rob Zombie movies like "House of 1000 corpses" perhaps this was an influence on a young mr. Zombie? Who knows?

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THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

Just got myself a swanky new big screen television so what better way to kick things off which this horror classic?

Upon loading the dvd into my player and starting the film up it becomes apparent how far visual technology has come in the last 40 years, on a hi-res screen this movie does appear much grainier than the films we have now. Originally shot in 1974 by director Tobe Hooper,  this really upped the ante in terms of onscreen violence... despite this it still did very well at the box office, but many cinemas refused to show the film due to the graphic violent content featured.

Don't let that take away from the film though. Once you let your eyes settle into the almost VHS like quality of the movie it seems to fit perfectly. I remember this movie from my childhood as being a landmark in horror when I saw it way back in the late 80's (which was when I started watching horror movies) and it WAS a landmark effort back then almost single handedly establishing the slasher genre in horror.

The film centers in on five teenagers who get stuck in country Texas and find themselves falling victim to a family of demented cannibals, the viewer of course can work out what happens from there without me ruining the plot. This is another immensely watchable film which went on to become one of the classics of the horror genre and a must see for anyone with even a passing interest in horror. One of the main protagonists, the hulking retarded son who wore human skin as a face mask went on to become one of the most iconic horror movie figures in history, Leatherface.

The promo for the film says it was based on a true story.... take that with a grain of salt ... although Leatherface is based some what on the exploits of real life serial killer Ed Gein

In 1986 Tobe Hooper returned to direct a very worthy sequel to the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 which of course I have reviewed as well!

Again this was  hard one to find on Youtube, but its very easy to find at any DVD store or order online and as far as I'm concerned it's a must have for any self respecting horror collector anyway