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The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
File:Texas chainsaw massacre the next generation.jpg
Directed byKim Henkel
Written byKim Henkel
Produced byKim Henkel
Robert J. Kuhn
StarringRenée Zellweger
Matthew McConaughey
CinematographyLevie Isaacks
Edited bySandra Adair
Music byWayne Bell
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
October 7, 1994
Running time
86 min.
95 min. (uncut)
LanguageEnglish
Budget$617,000

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (also known as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is a 1994 remake of the original movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, (1974) horror film. It stars award winning actors Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, years before either of them became famous. The film was written and directed by Kim Henkel who had co-written the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Originally released in 1994, it was later edited and reissued in 1997. The edited version is the most commonly available, but there have been DVD releases of the original uncut film. The taglines for this film include "Still buzzing after all these years" and "If looks could kill, he wouldn't need a chainsaw". The film was rated R by the MPAA for "demented mayhem and torture, and for strong language".

Plot

This movie, which is a semi-remake of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; is about a group of teenagers on prom night who decide to leave early and end up getting into a car accident. They end up at an insurance office in the middle of nowhere, and meet up with a seemingly normal woman who offers to have her husband tow their car. Unfortunately for the teens, this woman is married to a psychopath named Vilmer whose brother is the serial killer Leatherface. The teens are taken to a secluded, old farmhouse where the previously cannibalistic family of the earlier films live.

An aspect of the film particularly reviled in some quarters of the horror community and Texas Chain Saw Massacre fanbase is the briefly mentioned explanation that the family serves to give "spiritual experiences" to the people who come by them (despite murdering many of them, for no reason whatsoever) and are funded and controlled by the Illuminati (as evidenced by the symbol on the side of Vilmer's truck). The characterization of Leatherface also bothered people as well; for most of the film he is depicted as an overtly feminine transvestite who repeatedly screams in a high-pitched voice.

It should also be noted the family in this film, including Leatherface, are not cannibals at all, choosing instead to eat delivery pizza and leaving most of their actions unexplained such as putting their victims on meathooks, an action which makes no sense given the context of their roles in the film.

Main Cast

Actor Role
Renée Zellweger Jenny
Matthew McConaughey Vilmer Sawyer
Robert Jacks Leatherface
Tonie Perensky Darla Sawyer
Joe Stevens W.E Sawyer
Lisa Marie Newmyer Heather
John Harrison Sean

Reaction

Notable horror film critic Joe Bob Briggs considered this movie "...so terrifying and brilliant that it makes the other two "Chainsaw" sequels seem like After-School Specials", and he called it "the best horror movie of the 90's" [1]. Notable horror film critic, John Fallon of Arrow in the Head, considered it to be one of the worst stating: "Flatline. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as we know it is dead...This is a stupid movie filled with stupid people and for some reason nobody acts like a real human being...Leatherface has become a sad looking, full blown, yelping transvestite...This is filmmaking at it’s lowest. It has no respect for the series or it’s themes and it’s reprisal of several key scenes from the original comes as an insult..."[2]. As of August 2007 Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation is currently ranked at #86 on the Internet Movie Database Bottom 100 Films list.

Trivia

  • Actors Renee Zellweger and Robert Jacks were so beaten up and tired by the third week of filming, that they called for a meeting with the director and producer claiming they couldn't take it anymore.
  • Marilyn Burns who played Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre makes a cameo as the woman wheeled on the gurney through the ending scene as Renee Zellweger sits in the hallway at the hospital. Burns chose not to receive on screen credit for her role in this film, so the patient on the gurnee is listed in the film's end credits as "Anonymous". Paul A. Partain, who portrayed Franklin Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was the orderly who pushed the gurney.
  • Debra Marshall plays a minor role as a "policewoman" in this film before she came famous for her WWE work.
  • This film is not considered canonical by Texas Chain Saw Massacre fans because, while the director of this film Kim Henkel was a writer on the original film, the original's director, Tobe Hooper, took the films in a different direction with his sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, perhaps less consistent in tone but not directly contradictory.
  • Actress Tonie Perensky had a topless scene where she flashed a car of guys passing buy her building. She also danced topless as a stripper in the movie Varsity Blues.
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