My latest drawing of everyone’s favourite comet zombie killers from Night of The Comet @cmsall @Kellimaroney – at Melbourne, Victoria

Tobe Hooper’s deal with Cannon Films was a legendary Hollywood handshake that gave the director unprecedented freedom, but it left producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus having to sign the check for 3 massive box office bombs. Poltergeist gave Hooper the mainstream attention that only a Spielberg production could offer, so he quickly found himself in a three-picture deal with the Go-Go boys, who wanted to syphon off a bit of that big budget credibility themselves. He was supposed to be their golden ticket, they banked on a commercially viable a-list auteur that could deliver some big effects blockbusters in the Amblin mold, but more importantly, jumpstart the next big horror franchise with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2 (1986). But things worked out a bit differently. Hooper, ever the subversive at heart, took their cash and backburnered Chainsaw 2 until he could get his other passion projects in the can – Lifeforce (85) and the Invaders from Mars (86) remake. After burning through these two box office disappointments, he finally went back to the well but turned TCM into a gonzo black comedy that pushed the grotesque slapstick straight into a full-blown satire. Even the movie poster had them posing as a Breakfast Club sendoff. Gone was the vérité-style grain of the 70s, this one was big and loud - and very 80s. The colours were garish, the violence was cartoonish, and every performance was dialed up past human comprehension. Dennis Hopper may have been there to cash a check, but he's still giving it everything he's got. And while Bill Moseley’s Chop-Top is a cackling Vietnam-fried nightmare that abuses every scene, this movie belongs to Caroline Williams. She’s no mere slasher final girl, much like the best horror heroines of the late 80’s, she's there to kick some serious ass. In short cutoffs no less. And Jim Siedow, the only returning main cast member, turns Drayton Sawyer into the ultimate Reagan-era wannabe yuppie businessman. Cannon was expecting a lean, mean slasher that could take a cut from Freddy and Jason. But what they got was a cult film that was almost guaranteed to be misunderstood by mainstream horror audiences at the time. Texas Chainsaw 2 didn’t play by the rules because Hooper wasn’t setting out to make a horror movie, no siree. He was more interested in making fun of the entire industry, its expectations, and even himself. He was more than happy to burn down any idea of a franchise to make his point. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2 feels like that mic drop, and a glorious one at that. It's almost an anti-sequel, like Gremlins 2, and Escape From LA. Hooper’s career never quite recovered, though. Cannon wasn't about to let him make a Chainsaw 3 after that, but by then it didn’t matter.