Yeah, I’m still doing this. I immediately regretted watching all these fucking movies then claiming I was going to write about each one. And I know that literally no one is asking for this, and I could just drop it, but I’m not going to. That written, some of these articles are going to be mercifully short, because I just don’t have much to say about most of these movies. On the bright side, the delays brought on by my life and general laziness have made this series of articles get closer to Halloween, the only time it makes sense to write about these fucking movies. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the one with McConaughey.
The most recent Texas Chainsaw movie inspired me to watch and write about all of them, but The Next Generation played a factor, as well. I had seen this years ago, and I remember thinking it was better than it had any right to be, but still sucked. Upon revisiting the series, I saw that Shout! Factory (also known as Scream Factory) released a special edition of the film. But just this one. Part 2 and Leatherface hadn’t received this cult treatment. So this one must be special.
But it isn’t. At least, it isn’t to me. Yes, it had Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey in it, so that’s interesting. McConaughey goes appropriately nuts, and it’s pretty great, but there’s nothing here to make this some underrated classic.
The most interesting part of the film is the reveal that the crazy family is actually a part of some strange experiment meant to provide a spiritual experience for the victim. But it isn’t explored nearly deeply enough. If the entire film had been about that, rather than dumping in some silly exposition scene at the end in a lame attempt at a “twist,” then maybe this would be worth revisiting.
For many people, it is enough. The film also seems to be proud of its decidedly non-threatening version of Leatherface, but this is nothing new. Leatherface has been a troubled, child-like monster from the beginning, and he was already made downright goofy in Part 2. The cross-dressing is new, I guess, but in general, no new ground was broken with the character.
Despite all these issues I had with this just okay sequel, it would have been redeemed for me if it was a fun watch. And it isn’t. For a failed horror sequel to gain cult status with me, there needs to be some honest enjoyment from watching it, and this film gave me none, aside from one goofy ass moment in which a character stops for pizza right in front of some cops while she has kidnapped victims locked in her trunk. A few more scenes like that would have been great. But instead the film wants to be both subversive and derivative, and that just doesn’t work.
Despite my overall negative feelings about this movie, it’s still upper tier in the franchise simply for being a little bit weird. From here on out, the franchise plays it pretty seriously, and I think this should be a little fun after the perfect horror of the first film. This is why I like Part 2 so much even though that movie is a sloppy mess. Hooper knew trying to recreate the shocking horror of the first one was impossible. If only everyone else after him knew that too.
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