Review of The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995) by Thomas P — 14 Oct 2012

It surprises me how much hate their is for this movie. It's not "good", but I don't get how there is so much hate for what is honestly the closest thing to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That's not just in the plot (which is basically identical to the original), but it's a really gritty film that is full of characters that are very similar to the original. This film actually depicts Leatherface more closely to how he was portrayed in the first movie, yet for some reason it's a huge part of people's hatred of this film. McConaughey gives a pretty decent performance and there is plenty of action and interesting turns to keep the viewer interested through the entire running time.

That said, the movie isn't really "good". A lot of the major reveals make no sense and almost feel tacked on to make the movie seem more important than it is. Renee Zellweger is particularly bad. The scene with her and McConaughey in the truck almost feels completely ad-libbed and Zellweger seems like she doesn't even know what to say. Many of her scenes are hard to watch (and she's pretty much in the entire movie). She must be thrilled that this movie didn't have a wide release until after Jerry Maguire because this is one performance no actress should ever put on her reel. I'm not trying to hate on her because I actually do think she's grown into a fine actress, but just not in this movie.

Overall, this movie is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's not even the worst Texas Chainsaw movie. 2006's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is one of the worst movies I've seen, and while Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 may have had better production value I found this movie to be more entertaining overall.