Incoming mail! - Chop Top
On the first run of the original version of my site, I reviewed this film after rewatching it after I purchased it. This was the first film in the franchise that I saw, and when Hollywood Video did one of their VHS purges to make room for more DVDs, I had to purchase it. So, when I was scheduling for this month and decided to review the original Chain Saw, I thought, 'You know what? Why not put them back to back?' Combined with the loss of the original site, it's a perfect reason to rewrite the article.
The film starts (after a text infodump telling us what happened after the first Chain Saw) with a pair of idiots driving the backroads and shooting mailboxes and signs just for fun, driving a truck off the road in the process. Along their joyride, they call in to the local radio station's request line and talk to the DJ, Stretch. Later that night, the doofuses call in again, just in time to run into the previously mentioned truck on a bridge. As they try to get past it, it matches their speed driving backwards. Someone pops up in the back of the truck dancing around, before pulling out a chainsaw and attacking the idiots' car, driving them off the road and over an embankment. And Stretch captures the whole thing on tape...
Tobe Hooper did it again with this film. Directing, scoring and producing this film (with a bigger budget this time around), the film picks up where the first left off, thirteen years later. We get two plotlines: the plight of Stretch as the demented Sawyer family comes after her for playing the tape of the attack over the air, and the story of Lefty, uncle to Sally and Franklin Hardesty from the first film, as he tries to find what's happened to them. The special effects are great here, as well, being handled by the great Tom Savini. We get a lot more blood here than the first one delivered!
So, on to the cast. stretch was played by Caroline Williams, who also played in Stepfather II, Leprechaun 3 and Rob Zombie's Halloween II, among many other films. She did great with the part, showing the right amount of panic and fear at the right times. Lefty was played by Dennis Hopper, who's been in Land of the Dead, Super Mario Bros., Speed and Blue Velvet. He lets himself go wild in this film, obviously seeming to have fun with it. Playing Chop Top (twin brother to the Hitchhiker from the first film) is Bill Moseley, one of my favorite actors. In addition to this film, Mr. Moseley was also in Repo: The Genetic Opera, Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses (and its sequel, The Devil's Rejects), the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake, and 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams, where he played the role Robert Englund originated, Sheriff Buckman, as well as playing Drayton Sawyer in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D movie. He was incredibly manic here and did really well with the role. Leatherface was played by Bill Johnson here. He did an excellent job, aided by the more expressive make-up used for Leatherface in this one.
A good continuation, good casting, great score, fantastic makeup, all add up to a 5 out of 5 from me. Tobe Hooper went bigger, better and more unbelievable here, and it worked. Tune in tomorrow for another American horror classic. Until then, this is Red Hawk signing out!
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