Texas Chainsaw 3D

 I felt after watching "The Next Generation" from 1994 while it is a mess, I loved Zellweger in it. I can actually see myself watching it again because of her. I wrote the below on my Letterboxd about her and McConaughey:

This was a complete re-evaluation and updated rating. This got a slight bump with me because I loved Zellweger in it. I imagine her scenes had to be really difficult, especially with that unhinged McConaughey grabbing her by the throat when Jacks' Leatherface (in various feminine disguises) isn't ragdolling her. I haven't seen the Director's Cut. This was the 88 minute version on HBO Max.

But on Zellweger. She has a lot of haters but I've never been one of them. And I always read of how ugly she was, but I certainly didn't think she was in this film. One thing I appreciated with her is how she gets thrown around, held down, pressed against a door with a knife to her throat, running for her life, smacked around, and enduring a filthy prom dress. That girl runs, trips, flies across the hood of a car, all barefoot. And her trick with McConaughey's mechanical leg is the stuff of legend. I dug the hell out of her.

As for McConaughey, his character is is so volatile, physical, full-throttle, and without restraint, it is a mad theater, especially when he's grabbing at Zellweger. But because the content with Zellweger's parents is in the D.E., some of the context regarding how she fares with the lunatic family had been lost on me in the past. Still despite being put through the ringer, she tells Leatherface to sit down and shut the fuck up!

I didn't watch anything on Wednesday until very late with "Texas Chainsaw 3D" (2013), sort of looking back at the Texas Chainsaw franchise before the release of the 2022 film on Netflix.

Daddario as the lead in "Texas Chainsaw 3D" looks sexy in her first big lead role, but I still sort of recognize the problems that exist which I will include below with some thoughts:

Great opening montage/homage to the first film (I did like how they were able to jazz it up a little), firefight with remaining Sawyers "right after Sally Hardesty got away" following the first film works like "Halloween 2018" in skipping every other sequel giving Moseley and Hanson a chance to return as Sawyers almost willing to give up "Jed" (Leatherface), has a very savage Leatherface the filmmakers "turn face" despite butchering his cousin, Heather's friends, after she learns of what happened to her family thanks to revenge-seeking Burt Hartman and town mob, Daddario in one of her first big roles (I get weak in the knees for her), plenty of grisly violence (a chainsaw goes right through a poor soul plopped on a meat hook, a van wreck caused by a chainsaw passing through one side of the vehicle leaves Heather's boyfriend, Kyle with a windshield shard through his neck, a hitchhiking Darryl gets his face bashed in with a mallet, and a deputy gets it right in the back with an ax and a good face peel), and plenty of chainsaw.

Kyle and Nikki sleeping together feels out of place and unnecessary since Heather never finds out and not long after both are killed. I am just not sure why this was included since it only makes them both look like assholes when they don't need to be. The slaughterhouse industrial factory does seem fitting for the finale. One thing detractors can't use against this film: it doesn't hold back at all with the gore. I can see why they go with a character change for Leatherface but he still brutalized Heather's friends and Yeager's portrayal of him is just so different from Hanson's...I don't feel like I'm watching the same Leatherface. Burns as another Sawyer is a nice touch, but I'm surprised she wouldn't just portray surviving Sally Hardesty.

Enough's been said about the continuity issues, logic problems with time, some of the dialogue, and Heather becoming so comfortable and supportive of Leatherface even after her friends were massacred by him. It has its problems. This goes all the way back to the second film, which I do love but recognize its flaws. So some good, some mediocre, some ugly. But do I think it's just awful? No.