Stick with me on this one; what if a horror film realized it was terrible at its job halfway through the runtime? That is the meta level The Next Generation is operating on.
In the mid 1990s the horror genre was in a rough spot. After a decade of big marquee horror names, the genre seemed listless as it moved through the ‘90s. Audiences were losing interest in the Hollywood Horror style of big blood baths and even bigger breasts, but no one could seem to figure out what they wanted. The genre drifted for years, with momentary successes, but nothing sticking in audiences minds past the theatrical window.
In 1996, Scream hit the scene, and changed the direction of the genre for the next 30 years. “Meta horror” was now a thing; a style of horror film where the filmmakers “wink” back at the audience, showing a knowledge of not only the genre, but its tropes. This seemed revelatory to audiences, but true horror fans could see the signs of this new subgenre coming up through the ranks, such as Candyman, a film about how true horrors had been turned into nothing more than superstition and tall tales, and the need to bring true horror back, and in In The Mouth Of Madness, about an author trying to find the depths of terror through his writing, as hes grown tired of how the general populace eat up anything he writes.
But, I put forth that the true pre-Scream meta masterpiece, ladies and gentlemen of the court, is 1994’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Now, I realize I lost about…90% of you there, but for the remaining 10%, hear me out.
Kim Henkel, one of the original producers and co-writers of the original, returned in 1994 to write and direct what he saw as the true sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was an immediate nuclear grade box office bomb, even with the presence of up-and-coming superstars Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger (or, to be more accurate, is probably why it was a mega flop; their respective agents made sure this was buried 30 feet deep). It is a film that is incredibly odd and off-putting, turning the Sawyer clan into something unrecognizable; a broken “found family” made up of strange characters that alternatively feel like they stepped off the set of Twin Peaks or Married With Children. Nobody seems to know what the hell they are doing, all of them are god awful at being killers, and has an ending that seems disappointed in everything that came before it.
But, I posit that that is exactly the point of the film; it is an anti-horror film. It is a horror film that breaks the fourth wall to ask “what would happen if a horror film realized it sucked at its job halfway through?”. What happens when a Texas Chainsaw film forgets how to be a Texas Chainsaw film? The Next Generation is that answer.
The groundwork is set the moment the prom kids get stranded out in the middle of the woods, as we are sent on the well trodden path of a Texas Chainsaw plot (people get stranded in the middle of Texas, and then bump into the Sawyer family = essentially every Texas Chainsaw movie). But, these kids aren’t afraid; they’re bored. The idea of being stuck in the backwoods all alone in the dark is nothing but an annoyance to them.
Even when the violence and terror start, they can’t be bothered. After being held at gunpoint and chased into a house of horrors, lothario cool kid Barry (Tyler Shea Cone) stops to take a piss, more concerned with his bladder than his life. These kids aren’t afraid, because the Sawyers have pretty quickly proven to be terrible at this. Even as the bodies begin to drop, the terror never seems to rise. After being chased and then abducted, Jenny (Renne Zellweger) is mostly just uncomfortable with her new situation, asking her captor for an airhole and a soda as she is stuffed into the trunk of a car.
The true test for these kids, though, isn’t Leatherface, but Vilmer, played by a baby-faced Matthew McConaughey, who is just giving his absolute all. Vilmer is an absolute menace, a shouting rage demon who beats his wife, cuts himself with his own knife, and whips poor Jenny around by the face, doing his damnedest to terrify her, to make her see what true horror looks like.
But, even after all the hooting and the hollering and torture and murder, it doesn’t work; Jenny has just shifted from bored and annoyed to angry and annoyed, as she slaps and shouts down Vilmer, and tells a shrieking Leatherface to “sit the fuck down and shut up!”. And he does.
And then…the movie kinda stops for a beat. There is almost this energy of “what do we do now?”, like the cast is waiting for someone to yell cut. The film has lost its momentum, completely stalling out, and it knows it.
Cue a black limo, not unlike the kind studio execs drive around in, showing up outside the dilapidated Sawyer home, unannounced. Out walks a man in an expensive suit, who strides through the home with a furious gaze. He begins to shout at each member of the Sawyer clan, belittling them for their failed attempts, their inability to show “true horror”, their inability to actually scare anyone.
It is at this moment that The Next Generation truly becomes something special; it breaks down entirely, not unlike the climax of The Last Movie, to ask “why are you so bad at this? Why can’t you scare the kids anymore? Why doesn’t the formula still work?”. It’s a film that spends the first 2/3rd’s following the tried and true path that everyone used to love; insane backwoods family! Leatherface with a chainsaw! A house of horrors! But, instead of being filled with terror, the new generation of victims is bored with it, or, even worse, mocks it. This is what made their parents scared, not them, and nobody knows how to fix it.
The rest of the film after that moment feels like it trying to restart itself, as McConaughey tries to out crazy himself by lighting someone on fire and crushing their head, before leading into an action packed climax where the film throws the kitchen sink at you to try and get you back; maybe a chainsaw car chase and a crop duster execution will excite you? Maybe? Please?!
But, to no avail, and the final moments sees Jenny in the back of the limo with the well dressed mystery man from before. He’s no longer angry, just defeated. It’s a total failure, a complete misfire. He isn’t mad, just confused; why didn’t it work? What went wrong? All the pieces were there, and it had worked before; why won’t it now?
The Next Generation picked up on something that Scream capitalized on 2 years later; the new generation (or, next generation…) knew all the tropes. They had seen all the old movies, and they were bored with all the old bits and gags. What had worked so perfectly back in 1974 now fell flat in 1994. The kids had seen it all, or at least everything that the old guard could think of, and all Hollywood could think to do was sit, perplexed.
Yes, The Next Generation doesn’t work as a horror film. But, it is designed that way. It is instead something closer to a parody, a satire of not only the genre but the state of it in 1994. Henkel took the comedic undertones of the original (I swear, they are there; Tobe agrees with me!) and expanded on them, making them a centerpiece of his sequel, a sequel about how much had changed in 20 years.
So, next time you boot up Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (all 1% of you who made it to the end), try to approach it as it truly is; a satire about a genre lost at sea, wondering what the hell the kids want to watch.
