Undervalued and Surprisingly Texas Chainsaw Massacre Next Generation
Revisiting and reevaluating the maligned 95' sequel. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a horror classic and a staple in the slasher subgenre. Released in 1974, the film has a sharp political edge responding to social anxieties that arose with the end of the 60s counterculture movement and the beginning of Nixon’s presidency.
American nuclear family to the economic consequences of corporatizing the meatpacking industry, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre addresses various topics through a horror/exploitation lens to deliver a truly shocking cinematic experience. 21 years later, Kim Henkel, co-writer of the original, would return to the backwoods of Texas for another chainsaw movie, albeit of a slightly different flavor.
Debuting at the SXSW Film Festival in 1995, the fourth installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, The Next Generation, was met with much critical derision which continues to this day (its current rotten tomatoes score is 16%).
Many compare it unfavorably to the original, noting its lack of scares, plot incoherence, and cheap production values as the making of a mess. Such comparisons, however, seem to miss the mark, for while The Next Generation re-appropriates basic plot elements from the original, it isn’t at all interested in recreating its predecessor - it’s much too 90s for that.
Sandwiched between Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and Scream, this film exemplifies meta-horror in such an understated and clever way that it sabotaged itself during its initial release. 27 years later, it holds up as a cult classic, offering insightful commentary on the horror genre and the film industry as a whole.
The Next Generation, it’s helpful to know the film’s context in horror canon. Since the original’s release, the horror genre had undergone a major transformation from gritty exploitation to popcorn entertainment; the brutality of the 70s was replaced by the campiness of the 80s and no subgenre better illustrates this change than slashers. Where a silent stalker wielding some phallic weapon had once inspired terror, it was now played for laughs. Consequently, Leatherface could no longer be scary in the way that was originally intended.
This movie understands this and interprets the character in a comedic light. As evident in the film’s numerous chase scenes, Leatherface is more of a bumbling fool than a killing machine, barely able to apprehend his moronic teenage victims. The film further emasculates Leatherface by fully embracing him as a drag queen who listens to Marlene Dietrich while painting his lips red in a scene Fassbinder would appreciate.
horror are two sides of the same coin, both genres responding to unspoken truths, subjects that don’t make polite dinner conversation. Rather than going for straight comedy, Henkel’s movie takes a B-movie, so-bad-that-it’s-good approach. The film is aware of its low quality, but still takes itself seriously, never devolving into pure parody. This is where the film is almost too smart for its own good, as many viewers seem to be unaware that it’s in on the joke; unlike later films that openly display their meta-ness, The Next Generation masquerades as a typical slasher, without savvy one-liners or explicit genre references. However, it’s not only in on the joke, but it’s telling the joke, and it is the joke.
The film takes some of the scariest moments of the original and turns them on their head. The harrowing final chase becomes a bombastic, Mad Max-like getaway, the creepy gas station clerk becomes a corny girlboss with breast implants, the meat hook scene goes from a display of Leatherface’s inhumanity to a display of his incompetence. The Next Generation recognizes that horror movies, specifically slashers, have gone as far as they can within their constraints; the only direction left was subversive comedy.
Rather than stopping there, The Next Generation delves into even deeper insight, addressing what exactly had put these constraints on horror films and caused the genre to fall into decline by the early 90s. By the third act, the film has arrived at its climatic family dinner scene, a Texas Chainsaw standard in which the family terrorizes the final girl (Jenny in this installment, played by an energetic Renée Zellweger) before her inevitable escape. Things take a different turn though when a mysterious black limo pulls up to the Sawyer residence.
This is revealed to be Rothman, a member of a secret society whose sole purpose is to show people “the meaning of horror.” Rothman goes on to scold the family, specifically household head Vilmer (Matthew McConaughey at his hunkiest) for not delivering the scares.
A few minutes later, during the final chase scene, Rothman makes another appearance, killing Vilmer via airplane collision and rescuing Jenny in his limo. He apologizes to her, saying that it was supposed to be a “spiritual experience.” These last few scenes find Texas Chainsaw at its most surreal and compelling as it indirectly addresses the audience, predicting their disappointment with the film.
Victims from the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
Coming soon from Gun Interactive (Friday the 13th: The Game) is an upcoming The Texas Chain Saw Massacre video game, and the characters have been revealed this week.
The unlucky victims of Leatherface and his family, that is…
The game will feature classic villains from the movies as well as new family members, and the events of the Chain Saw game will take place *before* Tobe Hooper’s original classic.
Oh and Kane Hodder is playing Leatherface! The developers haven’t yet revealed Leatherface’s family members, but we do at least now know who they’re going to be targeting.
Gun teases the plot today, “A group of five young adults led by Ana Flores set out to search for her missing sister. What they found was terror beyond their wildest nightmares.”
Over on the game’s official website they’ve introduced those “victim” characters today, including Ana Flores as well as her friends Julie, Leland, Connie, and Sonny.
Ismael Vicens, Executive Producer, Gun Interactive, explains, “When we sat down to think about the Victims in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, we had two things we kept circling back to – will people enjoy playing these characters as people, and do these characters make sense as a group that would be friends? The first question is really important; you’ve got to give them enough personality for players to latch on to while leaving room for them to identify with and inhabit these individuals. It means we dove as deep into thinking about them as we did the new Family members.
The second answer is helped along by the first. We wanted a diverse group of friends that would – surface level – strongly correlate to differing playstyles. Thinking about those relationships (Who is better friends with who? Why are these two friends?) helped us to create a group that feels natural together, even if they’re very different from one another.”
The Gun Interactive team further notes in this latest update, “Knowing that we have five capable characters at your disposal for a four person team means syncing up with the other players around you to either double their efforts or balance their shortcomings. Cooperation is the strongest tool at their disposal, but single handedly they all are capable of putting up one hell of a fight, in their own unique and distinctive ways.”
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