10 Movie Sequels That Started In Surprising Ways

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Mission Impossible 3
Cannon Group

Not just is the start of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 somewhat surprising, but so, too, is the entire film when comparing it to its predecessor.

Tobe Hooper's 1974 original stands as one of the most chilling, atmospheric, jarring, traumatic and all out disturbing films of its time and beyond. With a group of unsuspecting young adults stumbling upon the secluded home of Leatherface and his family, the bodies soon begin to pile up as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre grabs you by the collar and refuses to let you go across its intense 83-minute runtime.

When Hooper brought a sequel to the silver screen in 1986, the opening of the movie immediately raises an eyebrow or two from those expecting plenty of familiar TCM shenanigans.

Granted, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 does bring plenty of chainsaws to the dance, yet it's the way in which the action is delivered which instantly catches you unaware. Rather than the visceral, ominous terror of the '74 movie, TCM2's opening sequence is almost played for laughs.

There, a couple of obnoxious jocks annoy fellow drivers and ring into a local radio station as they drive on a Texas highway. From the presentation of these d**kheads and Stretch, the radio DJ they harass, it quickly becomes apparent that this is a very different film to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And that's before a roaring, dummy-dancing Leatherface turns up on the back of a truck to cheesily attack these college kids.

The big surprise about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2's opening moments, is that it's clear this is a more tongue-in-cheek, almost comedic picture when compared to the dread and stench of what has gone before.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.