This is going under Z because of star Renee Zellweger.
Writer: Kim Henkel (Screenplay) Kem Henkel, Tobe Hooper (Characters)
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Jacks, Tonie Perensky, Joe Stevens, Lisa Marie Newmyer, John Harrison
Plot: A group of teenagers get into a car crash in the Texas woods on prom night, and then wander into an old farmhouse that is home to Leatherface (Robert Jacks) and his insane family of cannibalistic psychopaths
Tagline – He’s back. You’re dead.
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Bad
Story: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation starts as prom night between Jenny (Zellweger), Heather (Newmyer), Sean (Harrison) and Barry (Cone) goes wrong, leading them to head down a road, having an accident, searching for help with Vilmer (McConaughey) taking one back to the farmhouse, while the rest stumble upon the farmhouse, where Leatherface (Jacks) is living.
The friends have become the latest victims to the psychotic cannibalistic family, where they need to try their best to survive or face becoming the latest dinner in the family.
Thoughts on Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
Characters – Jenny is the shy member of the group, she always considered to be an outsider with the popular kids at school and is the only one that will do the rational things during the film, she understands how to get out of the problems, without being judgemental like the others. Vilmer is the leader of the family, he is out of his mind and is willing to hurt his own family to get the point across, he knows how to push everything to the limits. Leatherface does swing the chainsaw like we know, though he does seem to be the most human of the family, understand things might be wrong. Darla works in the local town, that will help the family with their connections.
Performances – Renee Zellweger in one of her first roles here, does a good job as the final girl character without ever looking out of place. Matthew McConaughey is fun to watch as the villainous leader of the group, he is out of his mind with his character in this film. The rest of the cast are solid enough without needing to do much in the film.
Story – The story here follows a group of prom aged students that end up becoming the latest targets of the cannibalistic family and must fight to survive. With this turning more into a slasher suddenly, we get the disposable characters in the friends, with the one final girl that is put through the most and has the biggest fight to survive from the family, it tries to build on the ideas in the previous films where the family is closer together with connection elsewhere, but ends up being too over the top for its own good. It can be watch to see just how bad it gets without needing to switch off though.
Comedy/Horror – This is one film that could easily be a comedy because of how over the top everything is with McConaughey making you laugh more than he should, the horror doesn’t seem very effective in this film because of the comedic side of everything.
Settings – The film does create the singular location for the family, which does look a dirty and you would imagine, the woods around though do make us feel like we are closer to society than the family would ever want to be.
Special Effects – The effects aren’t the strongest, though being low budget you can let certain things off, because of camera angles certain scenes don’t work as well.
Scene of the Movie – Vilmer having the gun pointed at him.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too comedic for its own good.
Final Thoughts – This is a bad horror film you can have a good time watching, it seems to just keep getting worse and you can’t look away.
Overall: Good bad Film.