#33 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

(dir. Kim Henkel)

30 years after the events of the original film, Leatherface and family are still terrorizing the Texas countryside. The "next generation" part implies they are the children of the family in the original film, but they have a different last name ("Slaughter" instead of "Sawyer") and seem totally unrelated apart from Leatherface. In fact I'm not even sure it's supposed to be the same character, but absolutely nothing makes sense in this huge mess of a movie, so who knows.

This is just totally insane. Matthew McConaughey gives a totally bonkers performance as Vilmer Slaughter, who is the main villain of the film and sort of the head of the family. He's got a remote-controlled battery operated leg brace for some reason, which to be honest is actually kind of a fun idea. He spends the whole film acting like a completely insane person, yelling and jumping around and cutting himself with a knife and just generally overacting to the nth degree. It's kind of awesome.

If this movie were just McConaughey chewing up the scenery with a cast of weird characters surrounding him it would probably rule, but there are also some incredibly bizarre choices made with the plot that are just baffling. It is revealed that the Slaughters in this film are actually part of an Illuminati-like secret society that exists to bring horror into the world. I don't know why, and if the film explained this I missed it. It reminds me of all the stupid Druid stuff in Halloween 6 - unnecessary backstory that only makes things weird and confusing and adds absolutely nothing of value to the film or franchise. Writer/Director Kim Henkel also co-wrote the screenplay for Tobe Hooper's original film, so it's even stranger to me that he would add so much bizarre shit to this.

This has a reputation for being terrible, and it kind of is, but it's also fascinating in its terribleness. McConaughey's performance alone makes this at least a little worthwhile I think, and I give it credit for never being boring. I can't say I actually recommend it, but I had a fair amount of fun with it.