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 and his insane family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
This film is where the franchise truly nose dived. Carrying on from the previous film but with a new cast. Don’t let the awesome poster fool you, this film is the weakest of the entire franchise.
With this instalment they tried to recapture the magic of the original “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, sadly they fell far from the mark and were given a badly acted, badly wrote, badly directed film. It’s no wonder this film is Kim Henkels only film he ever directed but it’s hard to process the fact he wrote most of the franchise’s films. The films famous for featuring a young Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey.
Now I must admit that I am not a fan of either and this film showcases some of my reasons why. With McConaughey we’re given his usual over-acting and he is just horrible at trying to play the bad guy. With Zellwegger playing her stereotypical “Oh woah is me” character, she’s bland and you just can’t relate to her at all. It’s hard for me to see why these two actors are now paid millions to star in films yet there acting abilities haven’t changed.
We also see the film try to incorporate the comedy aspect of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” and once again it doesn’t deliver at all. The stand out moment being the scene when Renee and Matthew are battling over the remote that controls Matthew’s piston powered leg, yes you read that right. It’s not funny at all and worst of all it’s just a cringe worthy scene to watch, It’s not even a “so bad it’s funny” scene, just straight forward bad.
I must bring up the subject of Leatherface here as-well. One of the biggest problems that people have with this film is that Leatherface seems to have become a transvestite. I have no problem with this, my problem is that Henkel is trying to make Leatherface too complex. We know Leatherface is a disturbed person, we all know his characteristics and what he’s capable of, don’t try to go deep in-to his psyche and then leave scratching our heads wondering “What the hell?”
There’s no scares, no humour, basically nothing entertaining. I re-watched this film for this review after not watching it for many years. Once the film finished I realised what a stupid decision that was and had been left with the same conclusion from the first time I watched it which is – “That’s 90 minutes of my life I’ve wasted and will never get back”. Seriously I suggest you skip this film. You’re not missing at all, learn from my mistakes as-well and don’t attempt to re-watch it.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
The hospital scene at the end features three actors from the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. John Dugan, who played Grandfather in the original film, is the cop. Paul A. Partain, who played Franklin Hardesty in the original film, is the orderly. Marilyn Burns, who played Sally Hardesty in the original film, is the patient on the gurney (credited as “Anonymous”).
Intended by director Kim Henkel to be the “real” sequel to the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The characters of Vilmer and W.E. were intended to be the Hitchhiker and Cook characters from the original film. Jim Siedow was approached to reprise his Cook character, but he refused.
Bill Johnson, who played Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was offered the role of Leatherface but rejected it.
Jim Siedow was offered the role of the grandfather, but he refused.
The chainsaw is a McCulloch 10-10S.
