Every Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie Ranked Worst To Best

Again from Tobe Hooper, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is one of those horror offerings that received only a mild response upon its release, but has since gone on to become a major favourite amongst horror hounds.

Released eight years after the original film, this 1986 picture took elements of its predecessor and mixed in plentiful dollops of black comedy. Yes, this was a terrifying movie when it was required to be, but there was a greater sense of fun and humour at others times. Rather than an unrelenting ride of tension and torment, TCM2 allowed its audience to breathe - though something sinister was never too far away.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is to the first film what Evil Dead II is to Sam Raimi's initial Evil Dead. As in, it's still brimming with nefarious acts and suspense, but there's a lighter sheen painted over the wider picture.

From the get-go, TCM 2 sets its stall out majestically, with a couple of cocksure, annoying college kids chased down the highway by a chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. That sequence nicely introduces us to Stretch, a DJ who these idiots were making prank calls to, and who is soon made to report on a chilli cook-off; a cook-off won by Drayton Sawyer and his knowing-wink-to-the-audience for his attention to "prime meat".

We've also got Dennis Hopper here as Lt. Lefty Enright, the uncle of the first movie's Sally and Franklin Hardesty; there's Bill Moseley as Chop Top, a Sawyer family member who's become the second-most popular character in the entire franchise; and there's just a general sense of playfulness about Leatherface this time out. Obviously while still being a total murderous menace.