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Stars:
Renee Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Jacks, Tonie Perensky, Joe Stevens,
Lisa Newmyer, Tyler Cone, John Harrison, and James Gale
Writer:
Kim Henkel
Director:
Kim Henkel
Feature
length: 87 minutes
Extras:
Trailers and Filmographies
Languages:
English and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Thai
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1997/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Five
years have past since the events of “Leatherface:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.” On May 22, 1996, four high school
students leave their senior prom and find themselves diverted to some remote
country road because of nighttime highway work. Suddenly they are hit by another
car whose driver appears to have escaped from some ordeal and quickly passes
out. While one of the teenagers stays behind to look after the driver, the other
three go and search for help. They find an eccentric, but rather sexy woman
running a lone office off the road who calls a service person to pick up the
other two back on the road. Thinking everything is okay, the three kids leave
and one of them (Zellweger) returns back to the accident site only to encounter
the tow truck driver (McConaughey), who is utterly merciless and insane. He has
killed the two left by the accident on the side of the road and proceeds to
terrorize Zellweger’s character enough to lead her into the waiting chainsaw
teeth of Leatherface. Soon she finds herself in a remote home where her
remaining friends have met their fate and falls prey to sadism of
Leatherface’s new adapted family of psychos. The night in Hell culminates in
the arrival of a mysterious visitor who goes by the name of Rothman (James Gale)
and just might be the Devil himself.
Produced
independently and written and directed by Kim Henkel, who co-wrote the original
with Tobe Hooper, the film was shot over six weeks in 1994 and then had a debut
in 1995 at the Southwest Film and Media Conference and subsequently had a brief
theatrical release in 1997 after two of it’s cast members, Renee Zellweger and
Matthew McConaughey, became real movie stars. The film is very much a remake of
the original as it is a sequel and the film does offer some sort of reason for
the madness that infects the Sawyer clan and those who join as members come and
go with each film and sort of resolves the storyline much like the previous
sequels while leaving room for possible sequels. Well with the remake of the
original opening on Friday, October 17, 2003 from New Line Cinema. This is a
like it or hate it film with a lot of people on the hating side, but I am one of
the few oddballs that actually liked it because it expanded the story a bit with
the mysterious overtones of secret societies and the occult and I think Henkel
captured the nightmarish feeling of the first film more so than the previous
sequels. Now while I can understand why Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey
might not look back at this film with pride, I honestly think they have nothing
to be ashamed of. I mean a lot of actors get their start in horror films and
there are a heck of a lot of worse films out there to be associated with so
don’t sweat it. I personally enjoyed McConaughey’s over the top performance
and Robert Jacks interpretation of Leatherface seems closer to Gunnar Hansen’s
in the original. Marilyn Burns reprises her role from the first film in an
uncredited cameo at the end of the film and John Dugan (Grandpa in the original)
has a cameo as a cop at the hospital.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment distributes “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next
Generation” on DVD and presents the film with an anamorphic widescreen
(1.85:1) presentation on one side and a pan and scan (1.33:1) presentation on
the other side of the DVD-10 with identical extra features. The picture quality
is quite detailed with a monotone look of earth tones. A well-rounded English
Dolby Surround Soundtrack is provided along with a Spanish Language Dolby
Surround Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired and Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Thai Language Subtitles encoded as
options too.
There
is an insert with liner notes within the DVD keep case and there are Cast and
Director filmographies as well as trailers for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:
The Next Generation,” “Urban Legend,” “Idle Hands,” “I Know What You
Did Last Summer” and “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,” which are
all presented with full 5.1 sound. The menus are standard interactive still
frames that are easy to navigate.
“The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” is available on DVD-Video now at
retailers on and offline from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Click Here To Read The DVD Review Of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait Revisited"
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