Apparently Tobe Hooper thought what we needed to see in a dark comedy sequel was a sexually frustrated Leatherface getting off on his screaming victim with his chainsaw, later dressing her in captivity with her coworker's skinned face.
This movie is horrible. There are no characters written with care, despite there only being like seven to work with. Stretch has so little agency that it's actually disrespectful, she barely even has a personality. Dennis Hopper is just here, with a big presence at the beginning but then suddenly disappears for most of the film only to crawl back at the end. L. G. Has glimpses of a personality and development, but he's killed before it goes anywhere. None of the villains have true character, they have 'modes.' Chop Top is on crazy mode: an off-the-wall "Ooh, soooo insane," bloodthirsty Mike Matei. Cook has geezer mode: shouting about every possible thing and dropping in outdated curses. I bet the writers must have thought it hilarious punishing Jim Seidow by writing his dialogue as a cyclical list of cantankerous, shouted obscenities? Lazy. They try to characterize Leatherface by having him 'fall in love' with Stretch, but he does so by, again, simulating r*pe with his chainsaw and keeping Stretch in captivity. And keep in mind that the movie trying to be funny so, frankly, it feels revolting to watch.
The tonal juxtapositions cannot be compared to any film. The set and locations are gorgeous, with great lighting, and the final act has a surreal, foggy look to it, which elevates the introduction of Chop Top to one of the greatest villain introductions, but that is followed by an excruciatingly uncomfortable, horribly unfunny, and long torture scene where L. G. is beaten with a hammer. That's one of the biggest issues: the pacing. It really is just terrible. Right from the introductory scene with the two kids driving and wildly shooting guns, it goes on for ages. The length of these scenes does two things: saps all humor to be had and doubles down on the uncomfort and tastelessness of the graphic scenes. Repeat for the entire film. The pacing deflates the climax so that when Dennis Hopper is coming to save the day, it feels like he's purposely crawling to the showdown. The pacing combined with the one-note characters and repetitive dialogue is a purgatory.
This movie shouldn't be disliked because it's different from the first movie, it should be disliked because it is terribly cut and written, has no excuses for itself as to why it should continue, and does not nearly achieve what it set out to accomplish.
This movie is horrible. There are no characters written with care, despite there only being like seven to work with. Stretch has so little agency that it's actually disrespectful, she barely even has a personality. Dennis Hopper is just here, with a big presence at the beginning but then suddenly disappears for most of the film only to crawl back at the end. L. G. Has glimpses of a personality and development, but he's killed before it goes anywhere. None of the villains have true character, they have 'modes.' Chop Top is on crazy mode: an off-the-wall "Ooh, soooo insane," bloodthirsty Mike Matei. Cook has geezer mode: shouting about every possible thing and dropping in outdated curses. I bet the writers must have thought it hilarious punishing Jim Seidow by writing his dialogue as a cyclical list of cantankerous, shouted obscenities? Lazy. They try to characterize Leatherface by having him 'fall in love' with Stretch, but he does so by, again, simulating r*pe with his chainsaw and keeping Stretch in captivity. And keep in mind that the movie trying to be funny so, frankly, it feels revolting to watch.
The tonal juxtapositions cannot be compared to any film. The set and locations are gorgeous, with great lighting, and the final act has a surreal, foggy look to it, which elevates the introduction of Chop Top to one of the greatest villain introductions, but that is followed by an excruciatingly uncomfortable, horribly unfunny, and long torture scene where L. G. is beaten with a hammer. That's one of the biggest issues: the pacing. It really is just terrible. Right from the introductory scene with the two kids driving and wildly shooting guns, it goes on for ages. The length of these scenes does two things: saps all humor to be had and doubles down on the uncomfort and tastelessness of the graphic scenes. Repeat for the entire film. The pacing deflates the climax so that when Dennis Hopper is coming to save the day, it feels like he's purposely crawling to the showdown. The pacing combined with the one-note characters and repetitive dialogue is a purgatory.
This movie shouldn't be disliked because it's different from the first movie, it should be disliked because it is terribly cut and written, has no excuses for itself as to why it should continue, and does not nearly achieve what it set out to accomplish.
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