{"id":6587,"date":"2024-10-25T12:13:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T16:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6587"},"modified":"2024-10-25T12:13:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T16:13:28","slug":"texas-chainsaw-massacre-the-next-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/texas-chainsaw-massacre-the-next-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation<\/strong> (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, torture, depraved behavior, disturbing images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kim Henkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kim Henkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Wayne Bell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Levie Isaacks\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 29, 1997 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Renee Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Jacks, Tonie Perensky, Joe Stevens, Lisa Newmyer, Tyler Shea Cone, John Harrison, James Gale, Grayson Victor Schirmacher.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $185,898 (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only thing that saves Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation<\/strong> from a \u201cNO STARS!!!\u201d rating is a delightfully demented performance from Matthew McConaughey. They can keep the rest of this awful movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Originally titled The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was completed in \u201994, but didn\u2019t see the inside of movie theaters until late summer \u201997. By this time, both McConaughey and Renee Zellweger had become big stars and the producers saw an opportunity to separate moviegoers from their hard-earned money. They needn\u2019t have bothered since very few people took the bait.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have a memory for this sort of thing as everybody knows by now and I know that TCM4 <\/strong>(as I like to call it) didn\u2019t open in any theaters in the Philadelphia area. I would have been one of the poor dumb bastards who paid to see it. I admit it, I\u2019m a sucker when it comes to horror movie sequels. As long as the studios keep churning them out, I\u2019ll go to see them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw it when it hit home video; I stayed up late one night to watch it. It totally wasn\u2019t worth being tired at work the next day. This movie sucks hard! Not only does it lack any memorably gory scenes, it also throws in a subplot so ludicrous it has to be seen to be believed. This is NOT an endorsement of TCM4<\/strong>! I do NOT recommend seeing it under any circumstances! By nature, this type of flick is usually stupid and pointless, but with the aforementioned subplot it attains a level of stupidity that very few movies have achieved. This is in addition to the super-annoying, one-dimensional characters and horrible dialogue. I know I shouldn\u2019t apply the traditional principles of film criticism to a movie like this, but I feel obligated to point them out in this instance. It\u2019s that kind of movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As if it even matters, here now is the \u201cplot\u201d of TCM4<\/strong>. I use the term very loosely since I didn\u2019t notice any perceivable storyline. I\u2019m still on the fence as to whether I should reveal the ridiculous subplot; I suppose that I should as a service to mankind. More about that in a moment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie opens with four insipid teenagers at their senior prom. They\u2019re so annoying I wanted them dead seven minutes into the movie. Nerdy Jenny (Zellweger, Jerry Maguire) attends the prom with her boyfriend Sean (Harrison) and bickering couple Barry (Cone) and Heather (Newmyer). She\u2019s pissed off because she caught him making out with his ex-girlfriend. She angrily drives off in his car with Jenny and Sean in the backseat. He manages to jump in and they head out towards some unknown destination. They end up getting into an accident approximately two minutes after Heather expresses a desire to get into a car wreck. This leads to a particularly stupid line where Barry says, upon inspecting the damage to his vehicle, \u201cI\u2019m dead. Somebody kill me please!\u201d Can we say \u201credundancy\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The driver of the other car falls down unconscious and Sean stays behind with him while the others go looking for help. At this point, Jenny removes her heels. Foot fetishists will appreciate that she spends the rest of the movie barefoot. They come across an insurance office where the lone agent Darla (Perensky) calls for a tow truck. Let me remind you of the rule stating that everybody horror movie characters encounter in a remote area are inevitably related to each other. The tow truck is driven by her husband Vilmer (McConaughey, A Time to Kill) and he\u2019s a real loony tune. He kills the other driver and goes after Sean, prompting the boy to plead, \u201cPlease mister, you\u2019re scaring me.\u201d Yeah, that always works.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meanwhile, Barry and Heather get separated from Jenny and come across a house occupied by \u2026. you guessed it! They encounter our old friend Leatherface (Jacks) and the nightmare really begins. There are no surprises here; you know exactly what\u2019s going to happen next. Virginal Jenny will eventually be their \u201cguest of honor\u201d at dinner.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now, here comes that subplot. It turns out that Vilmer works for a super-secret government agency and the murders are all part of a bigger plan. The whole situation is intended to be a \u201cspiritual experience\u201d. Huh? We get only a vague explanation of this, but we don\u2019t need to know very much to figure out that it\u2019s completely moronic. Then there\u2019s the deus ex machina<\/em> in the final scene, but who wants to get into that?<\/p>\n

\u00a0TCM4<\/strong> is really, really bad on every single level. It\u2019s so bad that it doesn\u2019t even qualify as camp. I can\u2019t believe the studio even released it. Did anybody even inspect the final product before it hit theaters? Whatever happened to quality control? This movie would have likely faded into obscurity if not for the presence of the two major actors. I\u2019m sure \u00a0they both leave this movie off their resumes on purpose for much the same reason that Angelina Jolie omits any mention of her role in Cyborg 2. It\u2019s a complete embarrassment for all involved. I can\u2019t believe that Kim Henkel, one of the original\u2019s co-writers, is responsible for this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only saving grace (still no reason to watch it!) is McConaughey. I don\u2019t know what it is about that guy, but he brings something cool to even the worst roles. He gets to go full-on freak show in this movie. I wish it were enough to save TCM4<\/strong>, but it\u2019s not. It doesn\u2019t even come close to making this travesty watchable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The other performances don\u2019t even matter; they are terrible across the board. I didn\u2019t even like the guy playing Leatherface in this movie. That brings up another problem with the movie. For something with the word \u201cchainsaw\u201d in the tile, there\u2019s a curious lack of chainsaw-inflicted violence. It\u2019s not even that gory. It\u2019s violent and nasty, but there\u2019s nothing to satisfy even the most undemanding gorehounds. The term \u201cwaste of time\u201d comes to mind. So does \u201cwaste of film\u201d. It\u2019s the cinematic equivalent of solid waste. It\u2019s possible that TCM4<\/strong> would have worked if the filmmakers had added more gory violence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Grandpa (Schirmacher) makes his fourth appearance in as many movies and I have to wonder just how old is this geezer? In the first movie, he\u2019s supposedly 137 years old. Surely he must have earned himself a place in the Guiness Book of World Records by now. You would think that the writer would have addressed this at some point. I\u2019m just saying. Either way, none of TCM4<\/strong> makes any sense. We can only hold out hope that Henkel will clear things up in a better future sequel. I\u2019m not holding my breath though.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, torture, depraved behavior, disturbing images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kim Henkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kim Henkel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Wayne Bell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Levie Isaacks\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 29, 1997 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: Renee Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Jacks, Tonie Perensky, Joe Stevens, Lisa Newmyer, Tyler Shea Cone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-sequels-remakes","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre-The.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6587"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7439,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6587\/revisions\/7439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}