10 Horror Movies Actors Want Us To Forget

Strap in, folks, this one is messy.

Matthew McConaughey rose to prominence in 1996's A Time to Kill. Two years prior he had taken on his first major cinematic role, the lead antagonist in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. However, due to the presence of another star, Renee Zellweger, it was decided to shelve The Next Generation until audiences were more familiar with the actress after the release of 1996's Jerry McGuire. By that time, McConaughey had clout and his agents pressured Columbia Pictures not to release the film at all, fearing it may harm their client's budding career.

So, why all the fuss? Is this film so bad that it could've destroyed someone's career? In a word, yes. This fourth installment in the Chainsaw franchise is insane, and not in a good way, introducing yet another iteration of the homicidal family, led by McConaughey's Vilmer, a loud, crass, woman-beating man with a mechanical leg. The film introduces so many bizarre elements, be it the cross-dressing, screaming Leatherface, or the revelation that the "family" are employed by the Illuminati to ensure people experience "true terror." It makes little sense and McConaughey's vulgar, loud and over-the-top performance is a mile from the mild-mannered gentleman we know. Had this dud been audience's introduction to him, things might've been very different.

In the end, both stars escaped the film relatively unscathed, as Columbia settled with McConaughey's agents to release the film to only 27 theatres in 1997. It came and it went with a dull thud, ensuring both McConaughey and Zellweger were free to achieve Academy Award success later in life. In later years, Renee Zellweger would go on to address the film in a series of interviews, calling her experience "dumb fun," but McConaughey remains tight-lipped, perhaps still under professional orders.