Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

The fourth Texas Chainsaw film: a prom night in backwoods Texas, with Zellweger and McConaughey.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation is a 1995 American black comedy slasher film written, co-produced and directed by Kim Henkel, first released as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is the fourth film in the series and stars Renée Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey and Robert Jacks.

Four teenagers leave their prom, crash their car on a back road in rural Texas and run into Leatherface and his family, here led by the tow-truck driver Vilmer Slaughter. Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain and John Dugan, stars of the 1974 original, make cameo appearances.

Quick Facts

Director: Kim Henkel
Producer: Robert Kuhn; Kim Henkel
Music: Wayne Bell
Cinematography: Levie Isaacks
Editing: Sandra Adair
Studio: Ultra Muchos; River City Films
Distributor: CFP Distribution
Runtime: 95 minutes

Facts from the source article.

Background

Henkel, who co-wrote the 1974 film, wanted to get closer to the original while turning the characters into caricatures of American youth, and added a secret society that uses the family to terrorise victims. It was shot in 1993 around Bastrop and Pflugerville, Texas, with a mostly Austin-based cast and crew.

The film premiered at South by Southwest on 12 March 1995. Columbia TriStar then bought it, re-cut it and renamed it The Next Generation, but held back its release until 1997, by which time Zellweger and McConaughey had become stars; the filmmakers accused the studio of burying it on purpose. It finally opened in twenty US cities on 29 August 1997 and flopped, though it has since picked up a small cult following for its dark humour and self-parody.