Every Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie Ranked Worst To Best

After the so-so Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, hope was high that the return of Kim Henkel for that film's follow-up would wield a positive result. Henkel had co-wrote the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre with Tobe Hopper, and so him picking up writing and directing duties on TCM4 certainly increased anticipation.

Unfortunately, 1995's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation - also known as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre - is viewed by many as being the point where the wheels really came off for the franchise.

Famous for featuring Matthew McConaughey and Rene Zellweger in early roles, that's sadly about all that's noteworthy about The Next Generation. The film attempted to breathe new life into the property, but the end result ultimately stripped back so much of what had made previous Texas Chainsaw movies work so well. In particular, TCM4 keeps Leatherface on the sidelines for far too long, with McConaughey's Vilmer stealing so much of the villainous spotlight as he terrorises some generic teens on prom night.

Despite the hope of a return to form, The Next Generation effectively killed the TCM franchise, before Marcus Nispel rebooted things eight years later.