Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

Director(s): Kim Henkel

Writer(s): Kim Henkel

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Jacks

Sometimes, you must appreciate a movie for embracing its commitment to go completely BONKERS. 

Nowadays, it’s easy to call yourself creative and be so self-aware to the point where it comes off pretentious or even worse, if you’re in on the joke, then at that point, you lose the joy of appreciating the intention of a movie from becoming a cult favorite.  When it comes to such an iconic flick such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it’s pretty much impossible to come up with a sequel that will capture that same kind of magic and terror that will make the same kind of impact on the genre. Now, to be clear, I did enjoy sequel and I also recognize that I may be a minority on that one but I love the fact that instead of just churning out the same story, it pivoted tonally because everyone knew that it was the only way it could stand out and for me, the less serious, more wacky direction was fun and entertaining so I was definitely a fan. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation was an attempt reboot of some sort that took that idea of being “different” and went another direction…one involving everyone involved taking CRYSTAL METH it seems. I do mean that in an endearing way, of course (as much as one could on meth), because this movie was just so nuts in concept that I ended up really liking this as a pre-teen. I remember watching this sometime around Jr High, already being familiar with Leatherface and his family and scratching my head afterwards thinking, “what the hell did I just watch?…” I was genuinely confused because I really loved the performances, but the plot really didn’t make much sense, the ending left more questions than answers but somehow, I liked the questions that I was asking myself and I wanted to know more about some characters that completely did not fit into the franchise in the first place. SO MANY CONFICTING thoughts and emotions after watching this damn thing! One thing was for sure though, I LIKED IT! I don’t remember feeling ripped off that I paid $1.50 renting the thing (yes folks, VHS tape rentals, the good ole days) but I also acknowledged that this movie probably wouldn’t be getting a sequel any time soon. 

I was able to re-watch this gem recently and I had genuinely forgotten how GOOD the performances were from two people who are LEGIT ACTING SUPER STARS today. We’re talking about ACADEMY AWARD/GOLDEN GLOBE winning actors here people! Actors getting their start in horror movies is not new at all but again, I was amazed while rewatching how good Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey were in this insane rollercoaster of a movie! It was even more enjoyable this time around knowing the careers that these two would have in the future and thinking at the time they were filming this flick if they knew that they would become the stars that they are now while shooting a scene where the two were battling for the remote to control a mechanical leg (yes, this was a REAL scene in the movie). 

The plot itself derives from the original so that’s not where it goes nuts; a group of teens are terrorized by a crazy family that of course includes good ole Leatherface, but as much as I love the chain-wielding maniac, it really was McConaughey’s portrayal of the family’s ultra-violent, sinister patriarch, Vilmer that stole the whole damn movie. You don’t know if it’s madness, drugs, cybernetics or all the above, but his manic, violent performance was so engaging and deranged that it felt like the glue that held the flick together and you couldn’t help but almost cheer for his madness. You almost felt like you got lost in his performance but to balance that out, you had Renée Zellweger giving such a gritty, empowering counterbalance of pure defiant energy that just screams “F*ck YOU” the entire time once her character finally snaps. Zellweger’s performance as Jenny was very transformative from independent thinker to defiant badass after spending some time with Vilmer, Leatherface and the rest of the fam, and her intensity to want to duke it out with them mentally matched McConaughey’s madness which made for such a fun, intense movie throughout. 

Having said that, the nutty part where the flick goes to the stratosphere of WTF is when it introduces the element of the point of all this torture, violence, etc. This is where most of the audience walks out of the theater LOL For me, I actually like the idea and again, I already had a picture of where this could have lead in 2-3 more movies if given the chance but I completely understand why this sort of twist was too much of a neck breaker for most folks; without spoiling anything there are elements of conspiracy and hierarchy that can feel out of place for what started out to be a rugged horror movie but another way to look at it is a whole new facet of storytelling for this world, thus the next generation element of the movie. Overall, re-watching this flick produced some damn fine performances and lead to so REALLY DAMN fine actors so bravo to this flick, BRAVO. 

Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.