The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
All actors and roles (10)
All team (32)
Short description
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers whose prom night in the Texas woods turns disastrous when their car crashes. Stranded and looking for help, they end up at an isolated farmhouse belonging to the Sawyer family, a clan of cannibalistic killers that includes Leatherface and the sadistic Vilmer. The night becomes a fight to survive against a family united by violence.
The film is directed and written by Kim Henkel, who also produced it, and marks the fourth entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. It stars Renée Zellweger as Jenny and Matthew McConaughey as Vilmer, with Robert Jacks as Leatherface, alongside Tonie Perensky, Joe Stevens and Lisa Marie Newmyer among a credited cast of 34. The production was handled by Ultra Muchos Productions, Genre Pictures, Return Productions and River City Films, and runs 95 minutes.
Reception was poor. On IMDb it holds a rating of 3.4 out of 10 from around 29,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 4.6 out of 10 from roughly 776 votes. A critics' rating of 3.6 out of 10 from 38 reviews places professional assessment slightly above the IMDb audience score, though both point in the same direction. Released on 22 September 1995, the film arrived well after the series began and came as Henkel's return to material he had helped originate, this time taking the director's chair.
What's left behind the scenes
- Kim Henkel, the screenwriter of the first film, served as producer, director, and screenwriter for this film.
- The film takes place in 1996, and we learn that for 5 years following the events of the previous installment (that is, since 1991), the family of cannibals did not commit any murders.
- Interestingly, both Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey are from Texas. This film was their last work before achieving mainstream stardom: the following two years marked a breakthrough for both actors in Hollywood.
- Bill Johnson, who played Leatherface in the second part, was offered to reprise his role in this film.
- Actor Jim Siedow was offered the role of Grandpa, but he declined. He was also offered to reprise his role as the Cook.
- The chainsaw model used in the film is a McCulloch 10-10S.
- Three actors from the original cast appear at the end of the film: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, and John Dugan.
- Matthew McConaughey had just finished college and intended to move to California when he was offered an audition for Kim Henkel's film. He auditioned for the role of a young man on a motorcycle who rescues Jenny (played by Renée Zellweger) at the end of the film and takes her away (this character was ultimately removed from the script altogether). After the audition, he was stopped by director and screenwriter Henkel, who asked him who McConaughey could recommend for the role of the antagonist, Vilmer. McConaughey named two of his friends, with whom he had studied acting, and left. Just as he was about to get into his car and head to California, he suddenly realized he had made a mistake and asked Henkel if he could try out for the role of Vilmer himself. Henkel gave McConaughey a fork, told him to imagine it was a knife, and then use that “knife” to scare his secretary. Then Henkel asked McConaughey to act as if he was having trouble with a prosthetic leg. McConaughey portrayed it all so convincingly that he was immediately cast as Vilmer.
- Filming took place in Pflugerville and Bastrop, Texas. With the exception of James Gale (who played Mr. Rotman), all other cast and crew members were local, from the city of Austin. Most of the filming took place at night, and, according to J. Logan, who was in charge of makeup, “the filming was difficult.”
- Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in the first film of the franchise (Tobe Hooper, 1974), requested a fee that was too high for the filmmakers of the low-budget film to afford for his return to the screen in the same role.
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