Eric's Grade: F
This is the 4th outing in 'Texas Chainsaw' franchise. Oddly this film was originally produced and released in 1995 before being acquired by Columbia TriStar, who re-edited the film, re-titled it and then re-released it in 1997. The original title of the movie was 'The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. All of the maneuvering was for naught as the movie was a box office flop failing to recoup its paltry $600,000 budget. The film does feature Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey in early roles. 'Next Generation' is written and directed by Kim Henkel who was co-writer on the original 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
Four teens, including Renee Zellweger's Jenny, leave prom, and on a back road collide with another car. Some wander off searching for aid while some stay to watch the injured person from the other vehicle. Before long a deranged tow truck driver shows up and first kills the injured stranger and then stalks the others. The ones looking for help make it to an isolated rural house where, of course, McConaughey's murderous tow truck driver Vilmer is at as well as Leatherface. With the teens gathered they torment and torture and kill. Out of the bizarre blue yonder some high society guy shows up in a limo intimating that this crazed family is somehow working for his secret society of pain and fear. The teens are culled until only Zellweger remains and as she flees Vilmer is killed by an airplane, and Jenny is picked up by the aforementioned sophisticate's limo where she is transported to a hospital. Left all alone twirling his chainsaw around is an angered and distraught Leatherface.
On a scale of one to bad this movie is pretty awful. I think it would have to be the worst movie ever to feature two future Oscar winners. The characters are all awful to one another and the script borders on incoherent. None of these pieces come anywhere near making any sense. McConaughey just plays Vilmer off the rails and for no discernible reason he has a brace on his leg that is controlled with a TV remote. As if the movie wasn't silly and confusing enough the appearance of some bizarre fetishist dandy adds yet another layer of ridiculousness to it, and then in the waning moments they do some quick slipshod effort to tie this film to the original. I feel I am being about as incoherent as this movie is, but I am truly at a loss to understand why anyone thought anything on this project was viable. Leatherface is reduced to a campy buffoon whereas McConaughey's character is the real crazed villain. Some praise this as a meta tongue in cheek comedy horror mashup of some sort, but I am just not seeing it. This farce has very little in common with the original which is a horror masterpiece, and I am hard pressed to even find any cult level of interest here. This movie is a hot mess, and should have been scrapped before it ever saw the light of day.
Four teens, including Renee Zellweger's Jenny, leave prom, and on a back road collide with another car. Some wander off searching for aid while some stay to watch the injured person from the other vehicle. Before long a deranged tow truck driver shows up and first kills the injured stranger and then stalks the others. The ones looking for help make it to an isolated rural house where, of course, McConaughey's murderous tow truck driver Vilmer is at as well as Leatherface. With the teens gathered they torment and torture and kill. Out of the bizarre blue yonder some high society guy shows up in a limo intimating that this crazed family is somehow working for his secret society of pain and fear. The teens are culled until only Zellweger remains and as she flees Vilmer is killed by an airplane, and Jenny is picked up by the aforementioned sophisticate's limo where she is transported to a hospital. Left all alone twirling his chainsaw around is an angered and distraught Leatherface.
On a scale of one to bad this movie is pretty awful. I think it would have to be the worst movie ever to feature two future Oscar winners. The characters are all awful to one another and the script borders on incoherent. None of these pieces come anywhere near making any sense. McConaughey just plays Vilmer off the rails and for no discernible reason he has a brace on his leg that is controlled with a TV remote. As if the movie wasn't silly and confusing enough the appearance of some bizarre fetishist dandy adds yet another layer of ridiculousness to it, and then in the waning moments they do some quick slipshod effort to tie this film to the original. I feel I am being about as incoherent as this movie is, but I am truly at a loss to understand why anyone thought anything on this project was viable. Leatherface is reduced to a campy buffoon whereas McConaughey's character is the real crazed villain. Some praise this as a meta tongue in cheek comedy horror mashup of some sort, but I am just not seeing it. This farce has very little in common with the original which is a horror masterpiece, and I am hard pressed to even find any cult level of interest here. This movie is a hot mess, and should have been scrapped before it ever saw the light of day.