Review #133: The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Kim Henkel(Director):

Renee Zellweger (Jenny): Reality Bites (1994), Empire Records (1995), Jerry Maguire (1996), Nurse Betty (2000), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Bridget Jone's Diary 1 (2001) & 2 (2004), White Oleander (2002), Chicago (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Shark Tale (2004), Bee Movie (2007)

Matthew McConaughey (Vilmer): Angels in the Outfield (1994), Contact (1997), Amistad (1997), Edtv (1999), U-571 (2000), The Wedding Planner (2001), Frality (2001), Reign of Fire (2002), Sahara (2005), Tropic Thunder (2008)

Robert Jacks (Leatherface)

Tonie Perensky (Darla): Varsity Blues (1999)

Joe Stevens (W.E.): Selena (1997), Varsity Blues

Lisa Marie Newmyer (Heather): Sin City (2005)

TCM (1974) Link:

TCM 2 Link:

TCM 3 Link:

TCM (2003) Link:

TCM (2005) Link:

Trailer:


Plot:
Prologue:

August 18, 1973. News of a bizarre, chainsaw wielding family—reports which were to ignite the world’s imagination—began to filter out of central Texas. Regrettably not one of the family members was ever apprehended and for more than ten years nothing further was heard. Then, over the next several years at least
two minor, yet apparently related incidents, were reported. Then again nothing.
For five long years silence…

And then the film makers should have stopped the movie. Really. No I am serious.

The 4th installment of the TCM takes place on May 22, 1996. Four high schoolers (Jenny, Sean, Heather and Barry) abruptly leave their senior prom and cruise around on the Texas roads in the night. On a back road they hit another car, causing both vehicles to be inoperative. The car’s other occupant is injured and unconscious. Jenny, Heather and Barry leave on foot to find help as Sean stays behind with the injured.

If you haven’t picked up on what happens next, the stranded four encounters the Sawyer family and thus the next horrifying chapter of the TCM occurs.

Villain:

The Sawyer family returns, and once again the family tree have differed from the previous films. Leading the pack is Vilmer (Matthew McConaughey). Vilmer’s character is an over the top psycho who cuts himself and wears a remote control robotic knee brace. Huh? Yeah, that’s what I thought, a remote control robotic knee brace. I thought this character was extremely exaggerated in his performance. I wouldn’t say it hurt the movie, but it didn’t help. Besides, there are MANY things that hurt the movie.

Joining Vilmer in the family are Darla, W.E, and Grandfather. Darla is Vilmer’s idiotic trophy wife who has been sucked into the mix sometime ago. W.E. is the…wait a second! W.E. was executed by the gas chamber according to the prologue in TCM 3.

Then again, this movie’s prologue reads that no one was apprehended stemming from the original incident. Probably there’s a continuity issue at fault here. On the other hand, the prologue confirms the existence of the third movie. Confused? So am I.

Grandfather is alive and well in this film. After years of being a rotting corpse the family drug around to the dinner table, this dude is alive and well. It was also no surprise when he got up from the table and left. I could see that a mile away. The make-up job on him was horrible. I could easily tell that he was going pop up after the film played the notion that he was a stiff.

Normally, I start off mentioning Leatherface as the first villain, but this time it hurts me not to. There’s good reason for this. Leatherface is a transvestite, over grown pussy! He wears women’s faces as mask and runs around wearing grandma clothing. He cowers in the corner when yelled at and never takes the initiative to kill or hunt. W.E. picks on him with a little cattle prong and chases him around the estate.

ARE YOU F*CKIN’ KIDDING ME?

They’ve taken a notorious serial killer, one of the most recognizable villains in horror movie history and made him into a f*ckin’ transvestite pussy! I’m done with this movie.

Cast:

Jenny (Renee Zellweger) her prom date, Sean and the couple of Barry and Heather make up the majority of the cast. They all sucked. Zellweger should be ashamed of this. Also, the film refers to Jenny as the ugly chick in school. If this is evidence of the ugly chick in school, then I want to attend that school! Renee pictured below.

SFX/Gore:

Not much outside of the over indulging blood and gore the franchise has already established as their trademark.

TNA:

There are three hot pieces of *ss in the film. Obviously Renee leads the trio in this category. Lisa Marie Newmyer (Pictured right) plays the role of Heather and Tonie Perensky takes on the role of Darla. Darla gives the audience a quick glimpse of a side boob as she flashes herself out the window to a couple of town locals.

Concept:

They should have never made this movie. There were no scary moments in the film; there was just a whole lot of screaming, whining and loud noises. Throw in some embellished acts of bizarreness to the mix, and you get…well…this masterpiece of crap.

One other random, off the wall scheme the movie incorporated into the script was the notion of some company being behind the family massacres as a cover up. This dude in a suit (Rothman) shows up during the dinner table scene, and says some things that make no sense at all, rips open his shirt and exposes his belly gut pierced three ways. He then steps over to Renee’s character and licks her and then leaves.

Rothman pops up at the end to save Jenny and invites her into his limo and gives her the ole’ “don’t tell anyone or I’ll kill you look” and drops her off at the local hospital and the movie ends. WTF is that about?

T.Gun Factor:

WTF!?

No, really...

WTF!?

Its pieces of crap like this that gives the horror industry a bad name. The ones responsible for this film should be brought to justice. They should be held accountable for their actions. How could they spit out a terrible film like this? How can they sleep at night?

I could get all my friends in the car, roll up and lock the windows and let out a huge fart out, and THAT would be a better horror movie than this film! People that have hammered the remake of TCM should applaud that film for ridding the franchise of the stench that this film put out.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on September 22, 1994 and made $185K at the Box Office
-Three members of the original make cameos in the hospital scene (Marilyn Burns, John Dugan, Paul Partain)
-Chainsaw make: McCulloch 10-10S