FILM · 1986 · USA
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
46 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (46)
- #001
The corpse that Chop-Top and Leatherface carry with them and affectionately call "Nubbins" (also featured on the original cover art) belongs to Nubbins Sawyer, the hitchhiker from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
- #002
Bill Moseley said the role of Chop-Top is his favorite.
- #003
Director Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel, co-writer of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), initially had an idea for a sequel that would feature an entire cannibal town and include a satire of Motel Hell (1980), itself a satire of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This sequel was to be titled "Beyond the Valley of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but the studio forced significant changes to the script, even hiring a new screenwriter, and the result of these changes was Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.
- #004
Dennis Hopper considered this the worst film he had ever appeared in. He later said the same thing about Super Mario Bros. (1993).
- #005
Tobe Hooper was originally going to produce this film. Because the film's low budget meant they could not hire an affordable director, he ultimately took over directing duties.
- #006
Tom Savini once stated that the makeup effects he created for his grandfather were his most proud achievement, and he compared them to the makeup for the elderly Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man (1970).
- #007
This was Jim Siedow's last film.
- #008
Primus sampled Chop-Top's "Dog will hunt!" line for their song "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver."
- #009
Tobe Hooper deliberately focused on the film's dark comedy element because he felt it had been overlooked in the original film.
- #010
Lefty is the uncle of Sally, the Final Girl of the previous film, and of her less fortunate brother Franklin. This can be inferred from his surname being Enright and Sally and Franklin's surname having been changed from Hardesty to Hardesty-Enright. Moreover, when Lefty realizes that Stretch is being forced to take on Sally's role in a reenactment of the previous film's dinner scene, he calls out "sister" as he urges her to run.
- #011
A fire broke out one night in the building in downtown Austin where much of the film takes place. When firefighters arrived, they encountered the corpses and thought they had stumbled upon a psychopathic killer's lair.
- #012
A long scene of the Sawyer family on a first-class meat hunt was cut for pacing but is available on the Gruesome Edition DVD.
- #013
Many fans of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) disliked this film because of its emphasis on gore and bizarre humor. Tobe Hooper argued that dark humor was also present in the original film, but audiences did not accept it because of the shocking content.
- #014
As mentioned in the 2000 documentary Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth, several scenes were deleted by director Tobe Hooper due to pacing issues. A long scene cut from the film involves the Sawyer Clan going out at night to slaughter film regulars and a group of rowdy, rebellious fans to gather quality meat for their chili. The deleted massacre scene featured several detailed Tom Savini special effects. Another removed scene featured American film critic Joe Bob Briggs. An alternative plotline in which Lefty Enright appeared as Stretch's father was also scrapped. However, these scenes are available in the special features section of the 2007 Gruesome Edition DVD.
- #015
Jim Siedow (Drayton) is the only actor from this film who appeared in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Lou Perryman (L. G.) worked as a crew member on the original film but did not appear in it.
- #016
The chainsaw used in this film belongs to Tobe Hooper and is kept in a glass display case.
- #017
The name of the hitchhiker from the first film is revealed at the end of the film when Drayton Sawyer pulls a hand grenade from his corpse and says, "Come here, Nubbins."
- #018
Cannon took money out of and put money into the budget depending on how its other films were performing at the box office.
- #019
In an interview, Tobe Hooper said that getting the film down to 90 to 100 minutes was a major priority for Cannon, so that they could screen it more times per day and potentially earn more money.
- #020
In the original script, Stretch was to be Lefty Enright's illegitimate daughter.
- #021
The BBFC informed Cannon that at least 20 minutes, and possibly 25 minutes, would have to be cut; on 21 May 1987, after several resubmissions of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, the BBFC still felt the film was 'worth more cuts.' At that point Cannon gave up on a UK release, and the film rotted in the vaults until 2001, when it was released 'uncut' following the retirement of BBFC director James Ferman.
- #022
As Lefty gathers the chainsaws from the wall in the Cut-Rite store, the same model of saw Leatherface used in the first film can be seen: a Poulan 245A.
- #023
The silver chainsaw Lefty uses was a Dolmar chainsaw. It had only been made for two years, and its model is unknown.
- #024
Unlike most horror films, all of the victims who die are male.
- #025
It could not be released in West Germany in 1986 because the film was banned before it could open in cinemas. In 2012 Turbine Medien acquired the rights to the film and began work to have the ban lifted. It took four years for the Berlin-Tiergarten local court to finally lift the ban.
- #026
Edwin Neal, who played Chop-Top's twin brother the Hitchhiker in the first film, was in real life a Vietnam veteran.
- #027
The newspaper Stretch shows Lieutenant Enright in his hotel is dated 20 October 1986.
- #028
When Tobe Hooper and co-writer L. M. Kit Carson pitched the film idea to Cannon president Menahem Golan, he agreed to make the film after hearing only about five lines.
- #029
Throughout the film there are many references to the 'Red River Rivalry' or 'Red River Shootout' in connection with the football game that runs through the film. This was not invented for the film. As any avid college football fan can tell you, the 'Red River Rivalry' is the common name for the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas. The film takes place during OU vs. Texas weekend.
- #030
Although this film reached cinemas before Dennis Hopper's three other 1986 releases — Blue Velvet, Hoosiers and River's Edge — all three of those were actually shot before it.
- #031
Cannon was worried that the production was falling behind schedule and hired Newt Arnold, who would later direct the action film Bloodsport, to supervise the shooting and make sure things were done faster and with fewer takes.
- #032
A poster of the band Fine Young Cannibals can be seen on the wall of the radio station.
- #033
John Bloom was cast and his name appears in the end credits, but his scenes were cut from the final version.
- #034
Immediately after Stretch plays the tape of the chainsaw murder, it uses the same Star Spangled Banner theme heard in another Tobe Hooper film, Poltergeist (1982).
- #035
Executive producers Golan and Globus initially signalled that they would get at least an 'R' from the Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Administration; The Cannon Group later announced that it planned to release Massacre 2 unrated because it could not get an 'R' from the MPAA; however, after the picture was screened twice in Los Angeles and, despite the shortening of some 'bloody scenes,' it still failed to get an 'R' in either case. The film was therefore released in America, but Unrated; Tobe Hooper's preferred director's cut was not an uncut version at all.
- #036
While the first film has an undeserved reputation for being extremely gory (it is not), this sequel sets that idea aside and increases the messy content.
- #037
In the scene where Stretch tours the station, a photograph of Ritchie Valens can be seen behind Chop-Top.
- #038
The chainsaw used by Leatherface is a Craftsman 4300.
- #039
When Lucky finds a skeleton sitting in a wheelchair and holding a flashlight, he identifies it as belonging to Franklin, Sally Hardesty's brother.
- #040
Rick's handgun is a nickel-plated Smith & Wesson Model M&P .38.
- #041
The Sawyers' pickup truck is a 1983 Chevrolet C-10.
- #042
Buzz and Rick's car is a 1981 Mercedes-Benz 380 SL [R107].
- #043
Hanging from the ceiling of the Sawyer clan's lair is a skeleton carrying a bomb and waving a cowboy hat above its head. It serves as a tribute to the final scene of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
- #044
Lefty's car is a 1983 Ford LTD wagon.
- #045
ZZ Top's Eliminator album can be seen at the radio station behind Stretch when she goes on the air at midnight. The album includes the hit "Legs," a nod to Stretch's physique.
- #046
One of the records Chop-Top takes from the radio station is The Beatles' Abbey Road, which includes the song Maxwell's Silver Hammer, whose lyrics describe a silver hammer killing several people, similar to the attack on L. G.
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