What Went Wrong With Every Texas Chainsaw Massacre Sequel?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most important and influential horror films ever made, but its sequels have all failed in unique ways. Tobe Hooper’s gritty 1974 original film captured the shock and terror of the Vietnam War era by channeling it through the nightmarish story of a cannibal family in rural Texas.

With a documentary-like lens, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre blurs the line between reality and fiction, and is still hair-raising more than 50 years later. 12 years after the release of the original classic, Tobe Hooper returned to helm The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, but the tongue-in-cheek sequel was nothing like its predecessor.

This would kick off decades of disappointing sequels, each trying and failing to recreate the horrific magic of the first movie. Ignoring the prequels, remakes, and sequels to remakes, the mainline Texas Chainsaw films are a frustrating lot. Leatherface could easily make for a compelling slasher villain, but the original series has never found its footing.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)

If there was one word that could summarize what went wrong with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, it would be editing. The mad-cap sequel catches back up with the infamous cannibal family as they torment a radio DJ and are hunted by the vengeful father of a former victim. Part 2 aims for a goofier tone than its predecessor.

Tone is not what sunk the sequel. In fact, Hooper’s satirical approach is the movie’s saving grace. Part 2 lampoons horror sequels, and has a lot to say about the commercialization of horror. Unfortunately, the movie was butchered in editing, with a lot of the bite being ruined by overlong scenes and moments that were cut down too much.

Unfortunately, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 will never get its due because no director’s cut exists, and Tobe Hooper has sadly passed on. It was an ambitious sequel from the start, but even its satire falls largely flat. It’s arguably the best film of the franchise (minus the original), but that bar is very low.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

After the first sequel went too far out, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III had the opposite problem. The movie follows a couple on a cross-country road trip, who accidentally stumble upon Leatherface and his murderous family. Like the first film, the bulk of the action takes place around the evil family’s farmhouse, and many signature moments are recreated.

Leatherface could have been a perfectly serviceable slasher sequel if it wasn’t ruined by censorship. The movie was initially given an X rating, prompting cuts to a lot of the more gruesome moments. While the film is far from perfect, the original cut was DOA and the movie bombed critically and commercially. The censorship did the movie no favors.

The threequel introduces a common issue with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise when it completely ignores continuity and spends most of its time ripping off the first movie. Copying the first movie might seem like a good idea, but without the grit and terror of the original, Leatherface is a mostly dull affair.

The Return Of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1995)

Despite featuring two of the biggest young stars of the era, The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a major flop. It concerns some teens on prom night, who get lost on a back road and become victims of rural Texas’ most notorious cannibal family. The film was completed in 1995, but saw intermittent releases throughout 1996 and 1997.

To describe The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is quite difficult, and the finished product feels a lot like several jigsaw puzzles tossed together. The movie was edited to death, with scenes being reordered, cut, and shortened for no apparent reason. In the end, it was more weird than scary.

The film attempts to introduce a secret society that controls the family, but it only adds confusion. There was a clear attempt at subversive themes through black humor, but the edit ruins any and all chance at depth. Since it’s not particularly scary either, The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is not much of a horror movie.

Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

Texas Chainsaw 3D attempted to drain the last few bucks out of the waning 3D craze, but it mostly dragged the already troubled franchise down further. A young woman inherits a house in Texas, but discovers she has a connection to the Sawyer family. It ignores the second through fourth films, and also ignores continuity in general.

After a decent remake and forgettable prequel to that remake, Texas Chainsaw 3D returns to the original timeline, though that hardly matters. It has little to offer by way of exciting kills, and it makes the horrible decision to make Leatherface an anti-hero. The 3D adds nothing, and it’s clear the filmmakers had no actual care for the franchise.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Legacy sequels are all the rage in the 2020s, and Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre could be considered another stab at the franchise’s legacy. A band of annoying young adults travel to rural Texas to revitalize a ghost town, only to reawaken Leatherface, who starts another violent spree. Once again, the 2022 movie erased all previous sequels.

Ignoring the boring horror elements and made-for-TV quality, the newest Texas Chainsaw offers a muddled message. It features extremely dark background details to liven up its characters, but it’s such a weak property that it feels disrespectful to even include them. The end result is a project that revels in classic slasher excess while trying to make social commentary.

Modernizing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise isn’t a bad idea, but the Netflix movie went about it the wrong way. The original film was such a poignant slice of 1970s social commentary, but the 2022 legacy sequel felt like a cheap imitation.

Created by

Tobe Hooper, Kim Henkel

Cast

Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Moseley, Bill Johnson, Viggo Mortensen, William Butler, Renée Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Jordana Brewster, Taylor Handley, Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Stephen Dorff, Lili Taylor, Olwen Fouéré, Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham

Movie(s)

Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Leatherface, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)