The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - Region 2 DVD

In contrast to the chilling, snuff movie scenario of the original, Hooper whoops it up with this 1986 sequel brimming with gruesome humour, without welching on the thrills. Writer LM Kit Carson (Paris, Texas) reworks Leatherface into a tragic, almost naïve figure trapped beneath a horrific façade and fleshes out his thoroughly dysfunctional family with the introduction of baby brother ChopTop--a steel-plated Vietnam vet. Leatherface's old man (now called Drayton Sawyer) and Grandpa are carried over from the first film. Dennis Hopper is clean cut but dead-eyed in a typically manic performance as the cowboy detective driven by revenge--think of an embryonic Frank Booth from Blue Velvet with a fetish for power tools. TCM2 is a wildly imaginative experiment in terror that stays true to its trashy exploitation roots.

On the DVD: The lack of extra features on this disc (apart from the standard theatrical trailer) is a major oversight given that TCM2 has had no previous theatrical or video release in the UK. A director's commentary would have been especially welcome, as well as the addition of the deleted scenes featured on the US laserdisc and special edition VHS versions of this film. Static menus provide options to watch the film with English, Spanish or Italian dialogue and subtitles in Danish, Norweigian and Swedish. The main feature is of more than adequate picture quality and presented in 16:9 anamorphic format. --Chris Campion