The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Director: Kim Henkel Year: 1994 Runtime: 87 min IMDb: ⭐ 3.3
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Synopsis

A group of teenagers get into a car crash in the Texas woods on prom night, and then wander into an old farmhouse that is home to Leatherface and his insane family of cannibalistic psychopaths.

On May 22, 1994, 21 years after Leatherface's killing spree in 1973, four teenagers—Barry, Heather, Jenny, and Sean—attend their school's prom in rural Texas. When Heather discovers Barry cheating on her with another girl, she storms out of the dance, followed by Barry, who tries to explain himself as they drive away in his car. Their argument is interrupted by Jenny and Sean, who are hiding in the backseat. Heather takes a detour off the freeway, and while distracted, collides with another motorist, who passes out in the ensuing confusion. Jenny, Heather, and Barry leave Sean to look after the unconscious motorist while they search for help. They stop at an office trailer, where they meet Darla, an insurance agent, who promises to call her boyfriend, a tow truck driver named Vilmer Slaughter. They leave the office and begin heading back towards the wreck, only for Heather and Barry to become separated from Jenny in the darkness. Vilmer soon shows up at the scene of the wreck, killing the motorist, before chasing Sean in his truck and fatally backing over him repeatedly. Meanwhile, Heather and Barry discover an old farmhouse in the woods. As Barry looks around, Heather is attacked by Leatherface on the porch swing and subsequently forced into a meat locker inside the house. One of Vilmer and Leatherface's family members, W. E., finds Barry and holds him at gunpoint before forcing him inside. Barry tricks W. E. and locks him out but while using the bathroom, Barry discovers a corpse in the bathtub. Leatherface kills Barry with a sledgehammer before impaling Heather on a meat hook. Jenny returns to the scene of the wreck, where she is met by Vilmer, who offers her a ride. She accepts, only for Vilmer to threaten her, before showing her the bodies of Sean and the motorist hanging in the truck bed. Jenny jumps out of the truck and runs into the woods. She is attacked by Leatherface, resulting in a chase through the farmhouse, where she finds several preserved corpses in an upstairs bedroom. After leaping through an upstairs window, Jenny manages to flee the property. She seeks refuge with Darla, who reveals herself to be in league with the killers when W. E. shows up and beats her with an electric cattle prod. The two put Jenny in Darla's trunk and she leaves to pick up dinner. After being tormented by Vilmer, Jenny escapes the house, attempting to drive off in Darla's car. She is stopped by Vilmer, who knocks her unconscious. Jenny awakens at the dinner table, surrounded by the family, who reveal they are employed by a secret society to terrorize people that may cross their path. A man named Rothman arrives unexpectedly, reprimanding Vilmer for his methods, before revealing an array of scarifications and piercings on his torso and licking Jenny’s face. After Rothman leaves, Vilmer flies into a rage, slashing himself with a razor and killing Heather by crushing her skull under his mechanical leg, before knocking W. E. unconscious with a hammer. Vilmer and Leatherface prepare to kill Jenny, who breaks free and, using a remote control to manipulate Vilmer's leg, escapes. Jenny reaches a dirt road, where she is rescued by an elderly couple in an RV. However, Leatherface and Vilmer run them off the road, resulting in the RV falling on its side. Jenny emerges from the vehicle unscathed and continues running, with Leatherface and Vilmer in hot pursuit. A cropduster appears and swoops down on Vilmer, killing him when one of the wheels grazes his skull. Leatherface screams in anguish, while Jenny looks on. A limousine arrives and Jenny jumps in the backseat, where she is met by Rothman, who explains her experience was supposed to be spiritual and Vilmer had to be stopped. He offers to take her to safety before dropping her off at a hospital, where she speaks to an officer. A blonde woman, being pushed by on a gurney, meets Jenny's gaze. Back on the dirt road, Leatherface continues to flail his chainsaw in despair.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a dog dies
spoiler There is no dog in the movie.
someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler a man licks over a teenagers face in a sexual manor repeatedly without her consent
someone leaves without saying goodbye
Yes
there's child abuse
Yes
a woman is brutalized for spectacle
Yes
there's domestic violence
Yes
someone gets gaslighted
spoiler barry says he "wasn't doing anything" and accuses heather of being possessive after she catches him cheating
alcohol abuse
Yes
an animal dies
spoiler Close up of a dead animal carcass around 12 minutes in.
there's a dead animal
spoiler yes, and it's brief but pretty graphic - shows up for a few seconds around 11:35
there are snakes
Yes
someone breaks a bone
Yes
someone is restrained
Yes
a woman gets slapped
Yes
someone is beaten up by a bully
Yes
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
a kid dies
Yes
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
someone disabled played by able-bodied
Yes
a family member dies
Yes
someone cheats
spoiler the movie opens with a character finding out her boyfriend is cheating on her
someone is kidnapped
Yes
there are jump scares
Yes
There's audio gore
Yes
there's spitting
spoiler spitting on multiple occasions, including in a character's face
heads get squashed
Yes
electro-therapy is used
spoiler a character is given electric shocks but not as therapy
there's a hospital scene
Yes
a mentally ill person is violent
Yes
there's body dysmorphia
Yes
someone has an anxiety attack
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
there are hangings
spoiler not in the sense of being hanged with a rope, but a character is hung on a meat hook
someone's throat is mutilated
Yes
someone struggles to breathe
Yes
somebody is choked
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
there is obscene language/gestures
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
there's ableist language or behavior
spoiler "crip" is used to describe a character with a leg brace
there are "Man in a dress" jokes
spoiler the only gnc character in the movie is a serial killer. there aren't really any overt "jokes" about it as far as i can recall but it's clear from the tone that the character's gender nonconformity is supposed to come off as weird/shocking
there's antisemitism
spoiler there is a major plot point of nonsense related to the illuminati. one of the guys literally just straight up has the word on his truck. theyre not even hiding it.
there's a large age gap
Yes
someone self harms
Yes
a minor is sexualized
Yes
there is sexual content
spoiler sex is discussed and darla briefly flashes her breasts
there are nude scenes
Yes
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
someone is sexually assaulted onscreen
spoiler several teenagers are violently assaulted, but not full on raped on screen. theres a major subtext that if they live long enough, they WILL be raped. the main villain (not leatherface, this practically isnt a tcm movie) is extremely rapey, repeatedly assaults young girls, and its highly likely that the implication is he HAS kidnapped raped and murdered before. the assaults were bad enough it triggered me severely, its VERY close.
sexual assault is mentioned
Yes
a car crashes
spoiler four times. first time, no one is shown to be hurt. second time, it causes pretty major damage to the car and there's at least one injury. third time, no one is hurt. fourth time, the vehicle tips on its side but no one appears hurt
a person is hit by a car
spoiler repeatedly. look away during the scene where sean is being chased by the truck
a plane crashes
spoiler it doesn't crash, but it does fly low enough to hit someone on the ground
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
there's blood/gore
Yes
there's gun violence
Yes
there's excessive gore
Yes
there's torture
Yes
there's body horror
Yes
someone is burned alive
spoiler happens during the dinner scene
there's cannibalism
Yes
there's shaving/cutting
Yes
someone is stabbed
Yes
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes

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