Editorials
How ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation’ Was a Precursor to ‘Martyrs’
Released in 2008, the French film Martyrs is a groundbreaking and brilliantly crafted work of horror. Written and directed by Pascal Laugier, the film drew in and appealed to viewers looking for intense gore and horror, but it also offered up a thoughtful rumination on existence and spirituality that sure made a lasting impression.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, well, it’s not as fondly remembered by horror fans. Written and directed by Kim Henkel (the original film’s co-writer) under the title The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre before being immediately shelved by Columbia Pictures, it was finally released in 1997 when Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey gained fame from other projects. It was a critical failure, and it would be nine years before the franchise would release another movie.
So how is it that Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation has any connection to Martyrs? This is your SPOILER WARNING for both films.
The big revelation of Martyrs comes at the halfway point, when lead character Anna discovers that the ravings of her friend Lucie are true: a seemingly normal suburban house hides a torture chamber underneath it, and the people who lived there were part of a program designed to systematically torture innocent people in the hopes of giving them a glimpse of God or perhaps the afterlife.
In the film, the woman who leads the program explains: “It’s so easy to create a victim, young lady, so easy. You lock someone in a dark room. They begin to suffer. You feed that suffering. Methodically, systematically, and coldly. And make it last. Your subject goes through a number of states. After a while, their trauma, that small, easily opened crack, makes them see things that don’t exist.” The whole film is colored by this haunting idea, including the unforgettable final moments when the leader of the project hears the whispered revelation from a tortured girl who has seen what lies beyond; instead of sharing it with the group, the woman simply kills herself.
Martyrs was devastating and highly original back in 2008, but a strikingly similar version of the core concept was actually written fourteen years earlier and reached screens eleven years before Martyrs did.
Yes, I’m talking about Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Back in 2014, Bloody Disgusting’s own John Squires interviewed writer/director Kim Henkel about The Next Generation in an article for Halloween Love. In the interview, John posed questions about the last act of the film, in which a strange man in black shows up to interact with the cannibalistic family, eventually taking one of the victims from the family and leaving in an ominous-looking black vehicle.
Henkel himself confirmed Squires’ inquiries about the film’s largely unrecognized depth, saying, “It is implied that the Illuminati, or an Illuminati-like organization, was lurking in the Chainsaw family background. Vilmer calls his wrecker service Illuminati Wrecking. Darla describes the organization Vilmer works for in Illuminati-like terms. And then there’s the appearance of Rothman, a mysterious, Illuminati-like figure.”
Rothman’s appearance, and subsequent argument with Vilmer, starts to make his involvement clear: “You are here for one reason, and one reason only. Do you understand that? I want to hear you say you understand that. No? It’s very simple. I want these people to know the meaning of horror… horror…”
Rothman then turns to Zellweger’s final girl character, softly noting, “It’s been an abomination. You really must accept my sincere apologies. It was supposed to be a spiritual experience. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am.”
When Squires asked Henkel about Rothman, Henkel said, “He comes off more like the leader of some harum-scarum cult that makes a practice of bringing victims to experience horror on the pretext that it produces some sort of transcendent experience. Of course, it does produce a transcendent experience. Death is like that. But no good comes of it. You’re tortured and tormented, and get the crap scared out of you, and then you die.”
The harum-scarum cult described by Henkel is exactly the type of program shown in Martyrs, and it is a surprising and eerie coincidence that Henkel’s off-the-cuff words about death and torture sound so similar to the words of the program leader in Martyrs. Though Laugier has never gone on record citing The Next Generation as an influence (it probably was not), it is undeniable that the two films share a very specific, very disturbing story element that hasn’t cropped up in any other horror films.
If nothing more, maybe The Next Generation deserves a revisit. It’s no Martyrs, but there’s more to it than it ever seems to get credit for.
Editorials
‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel
The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.
The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.
Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.
With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).
It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.
The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.
The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.
Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.
Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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