The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2

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!

Detour (2003 film)

This place kind of grows on you... like leprosy. - Cashie

When I had planned out typing this up, I originally was going to bill this as Happy Horror's first film from The Asylum, but then I remembered, on the original site, I reviewed their Vampires Vs. Zombies film (the less I say about that one, the better!).  I rented this one on a fluke one time a few years ago.  When the Hollywood Video in my town closed up shop, they started selling films off at pretty good prices, and this is one of the ones I bought, remembering it and thinking it would be a good one to write about on the site.  So, here we go!

The film opens on a couple of girls driving down the freeway.  While moving in to kiss (there was mention early on about a wedding, as well), some nasty-looking red stuff splatters all over their windshield and sends them offroad.  The driver, Tiffany, sees a robed figure striding towards them through the desert and gets out the Club to defend herself, when he swings a rebarred hook, disarms her and stabs her with the makeshift weapon.  The other girl, Angela, gets out and runs, stumbling due to her leg being hurt in the crash.  She runs into a stake trap that the homicidal maniac soon impales her on.

The rest of the film concerns seven friends traveling from a rave back home, when the leader, Neil, takes them on a detour to try to locate some peyote a friend of his tipped him off to.  What they find is a nightmare waiting to happen, as they're picked off, one by one, by a group of cannibals looking to make them into their next meal.  Will the group survive the night?  Will they get their motorhome unstuck before the cannibals finish them off?

On paper, this film sounds alot like The Hills Have Eyes, with a group in a motorhome being besieged by a family of cannibals in the desert.  However, it takes several twists and turns that Hills never made, resulting in a film experience that was actually very unique and fun.  This film predates when The Asylum became an exclusively mockbuster studio, and while their films were sometimes hit or miss, I really miss some of these more fun, original titles like this.  The acting was really good, with very few overly hammy scenes (with one particular character excepted).

Ashley Elizabeth played main girl Tara really well, even acting through some sickness near the end of the shooting.  The movie was filmed in mid-February, so the desert was not as hot as one might normally think, and she'd often have to act in a bikini top or worse at points in very frigid cold, so definitely major kudos to her for this role.  She's also had uncredited roles in WWE Films John Cena vehicle Legendary and Green Lantern, and a part in 2012 short film Slayground.  Aaron Buer played Lawrence, aka Loopz, a rapper wannabe who needs to dig deep to find the courage to help his friends fight off the cannibal tribe.  Throughout the film, he talked like a stereotypical hip-hop type, which gave him some pretty funny lines but could get to be annoying after a little while.  This was the only real overacting in the film, but it worked for him.  He was also in 2009's Nuclear and Killer Yacht Party, aka Dead in the Water.  Tiffany was played by scream queen Tiffany Shepis, who did a really good job with the little screen time she had.  A veteran of Troma's films, her acting career dates back to 1996's Tromeo and Juliet, but she's also been in Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie, Night of the Demons remake, and Bonnie & Clyde Vs. Dracula, to name just a few.

I really enjoyed this movie.  Though there were a few continuity errors (pointed out on the commentary by the director and producers), and a couple special effects failures, the film was really good, in my opinion.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  Up next on our Happy Horrorween tour, I'll be taking you back to one of my favorite countries in the world: Japan!  Don't miss it!  Until next time, take care of yourselves, and this is Red Hawk signing out!