I have been a massive fan of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE franchise ever since I first got into horror at a very young age. There was a time in my life when I would come home from school and spend my evening watching THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2, and LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III every day. In a 1994 issue of Fangoria, it was revealed that a new entry in the franchise – at the time called RETURN OF THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, but it was eventually released as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION – was in production. My hype level went through the roof as I began anxiously looking forward to this sequel to one of my favorite series. And I held on to that hype for years, because TCM: TNG didn't get a VHS release until 1998. When I finally got to see the movie, I found that it wasn't quite worth all the excitement. It's not a very good film, although it has its charms that entertain me whenever I give it another viewing. Even though I'm not enamored with it, I have seen it a large number of times because it's a TEXAS CHAINSAW movie.
One of the most notable aspects of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION is the fact that it stars pre-fame Renee Zellweger as the heroine and Matthew McConaughey, delivering an awesomely insane performance, as one of Leatherface's sadistic family members. They were a pair of local Texas unknowns when they shot the film, but by the time the movie was released they had hit it big.
Over the years, Zellweger has remained silent on her TEXAS CHAINSAW connection. The closest she ever got to acknowledging it was when a clip from THE NEXT GENERATION was featured in the movie WHITE OLEANDER, in which she played a former actress looking back on a movie she had made. But with Halloween approaching, Yahoo has been talking to actors about the horror movies on their filmography, and they actually got Zellweger to discuss her CHAINSAW movie.
Check out the video below to see Zellweger break her silence on TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION and, surprisingly, look back on the film with some fondness – maybe not for the movie itself, but for the crazy process of making it.