`Texas Chainsaw' killers to mow 'em down again - this time it's yuppies

AUSTIN, Texas The natives are restless. Again. The roar of misusedchainsaws once more is cutting through the countryside, trailingblood. For the first time since 1973, when four curious hippies weredismembered and stuffed in the frozen-food section of a ruralslaughterhouse, the butchering behemoth called Leatherface hasreturned.

This time his slaughtering path leads to Dallas, where there arelaughs in store, and love in the air.

Director Tobe Hooper has come to Austin to make the sequel tohis first big hit, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the trend-settinghorror film and cult classic that has triggered much controversyoutside the theater and plenty of profits at the box office. "TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2" will open Friday at theaters anddrive-ins throughout the Chicago area.

Hooper's original "Chainsaw" movie was making serious noiseamong critics, if not at first, at least later, during one of itsmore than 10 major reissues. Most frequently, the first "Chainsaw"has been interpreted as a social satire and a metaphor for America'stroubles in the Watergate era.

In a 1981 Sunday column, the New York Times dared to deem"Chainsaw" a work of art. Wrote critic Vincent Canby: "Theintelligence at work within it transforms the second-rate into anunexpectedly provocative entertainment." Even the Museum of ModernArt included "Chainsaw" in one of its study collections.

That is pretty lofty for a movie in which a macabre family ofpsychos turns innocent - albeit annoying - flower children intodiscount steaks.

Produced for an anemic $155,000, "the Saw" - as the sequelmakershave dubbed it - has grossed more than $50 million since its 1974release. Some put the figure closer to $100 million. Nobody knowsfor sure - not even director Hooper, who still pulls in residuals.

"It seems to be impossible for us to really find out," Hoopersaid during a break from the filming here of "The Texas ChainsawMassacre, Part 2." Financial details from the film's first year ofdistribution never were reported, Hooper said.

Nevertheless, the shock value of the outrageously titled"Chainsaw Massacre" paid off in the long run. "Chainsaw" became knownas the first horror film that went too far, the one slasher moviethat threatened the stoutest cast-iron stomachs with a meltdown.

It has inspired a cortege of horrifically successful films,including the six-part "Friday the 13th" series, which featurefaceless, apparently indestructible evil forces.

Hooper tried to explain the film's appeal: "It was unique to ourtime and really loaded with little connections to our politicalclimate and what was happening to us in America," he said. "It wasmade when the country was out of gas. It was during the end of theNixon era. People were being put out of jobs. It made a statement that we connected with. I mean, aside from justbeating someone with a hammer, besides the thrills, it did have a fewthings to say."

Not everybody thought so. Some said - and some still say - thatthe movie is a moral abomination.

For Hooper, the personal stakes were high. The director saidmany of his early colleagues deserted him when he embarked on theoriginal "Chainsaw."

"I lost most of my friends over this moral issue," he said. "Ihad a successful commercial film house, and my first choices forcinematographer and other technical positions were old friends. Butthey refused to work with me, simply because they felt I should bedoing something more artistically valid."

Even now, Hooper said, some local crew members working on thesequel openly doubt the artistic value of the project, in which thecrazed family from the original movie has graduated to running acatering company, stocking its smokehouse with yuppies, sticking themon human rotisseries and using them as sausage stuffing.

"Some of the local people I've hired question the artisticvalidity of what they're doing, which is a lot of nonsense," Hoopersaid. "But this is an isolated community. It's an artisticcommunity. It isn't as commercial-minded as, say, Dallas or Houston,and certainly not like L.A.

"I'm making what I consider to be a comedy - a dark, frighteningcomedy. I don't feel like I'm doing anything morally wrong. I'mhaving fun. My films don't just build up an ignorant body count.There's always mystery or psychological suspense. Something's alwaysgoing on. And I don't feel that I've done anyone harm."

With the success of "Chainsaw," Hooper gained access tobig-budget Hollywood, even though the studios instantly typecast himas a frightmeister. (Comedy is his first love, he said.) Since then,Hooper has directed "Salem's Lot," a made-for-TV movie; "Funhouse,"a 1981 flop; the blockbuster "Poltergeist" for Steven Spielberg'scompany; "Lifeforce," a 1985 bomb, and the remake of "Invaders fromMars," another box-office dud.

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2" has been nagging atHooper's mind for some time.

Bill Johnson, the actor portraying Leatherface in the sequel,said, "Yuppies are a convenient target because they're the best-fedand they provide the best substance for the vittles the family isselling."

Gunnar Hansen, the original Leatherface, now works as afree-lance journalist in Maine. Negotiations to cast him in thesequel fell through.

Dennis Hopper ("Easy Rider," "Apocalypse Now") portrays a TexasRanger who has been hunting the "Chainsaw" killers since the lastmovie. His search involves him with a disc jockey named Stretch(Caroline Williams), who happens to be Leatherface's favorite deejayand who mistakenly records one of the family killings on tape. WhenLeatherface goes to kill Stretch, he discovers some hidden emotions.