GBW #4: A Change of Pace (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 / Batman Forever / Escape From L.A.)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Good, The Bad, and The What!? The show in which we discuss three films that we have deemed "good," "bad," or "what!?" within a subgenre, theme, motif, director or actor's filmography, and more!

On this episode, Ryan went with sequels that shifted drastically in tone from their predecessor, or predecessors (and may or may not have had too much to drink in the process, hence why this episode runs longer than usual). We start with 1986’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,” Tobe Hooper’s splatter-y, darkly-comic follow-up to one of the most revered horror films ever made. We dive into the fact that this is largely the film Hooper wanted to make the first time out (at least tonally), and commend it for being a largely successful shift. On the unsuccessful spectrum, we swing into 1995’s “Batman Forever,” Warner Bros.’ knee-jerk reaction to the reception of Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns.” Not unlike recent Batman-adjacent non-movies “Suicide Squad” and “Justice League,” we discuss how it’s a film for no one as it was seemingly made by committee (Joel Schumacher innocent). Finally, we dive back into carte blanche territory with 1996’s “Escape From L.A.” Like Hooper, John Carpenter also said that this was the film he wanted to make in the first place, and we dissect whether that’s for better or ill (Spoiler: it’s both).

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