Fangoria Speaks...
The location for Return is in and around a weatherbeaten two-story house near
One glance inside the house tells plenty. For one thing, it's almost
There's more rubble in the dining room, with pizza boxes and dirty utensils
And then of course there's Leatherface. This time around, he's played by a young
Pflugerville, a favorite location for film crews shooting in Texas because
of it's easy access to both country and city. The metal roofed, Victorian
home has seen service in a number of movies, including Willie Nelson's
Red-Headed Stranger and last year's Flesh and Bone. This time around,
it's the dwelling of the latest incarnation of the Chainsaw family, all
whom are now in residence, running through a scene with Henkel, who's both
directing and writing this installment.
nostalgic. Production designer Debbie Pastor has obviously hewed closely
to the cluttered, excessive, nasty look that Robert Burns crafted in the
original. In the kitchen, a filthy pile of dishes and other detritus spills
out of the sink, just below a partially dismembered Barred Rock hen. A
bloated bag of cheese puffs floats in a pan on the grimy stove. The
kitchen's center is dominated by a chopping block piled high with keys,
batteries, TV remote controllers, boxes of shotgun shells, and crowning the
mess, a dented can of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Smurfs pasta.
strewn across the long table. Around it, the actors portaying the family
rehearse a scene in which the female lead, Jenny[ Renee Zellweger ], is taunted
and tormented by the brutish sadist Vilmer[ Matthew McConaughey ]. Although the
faces have changed, you can recognize some of the old gang, or at least their
antecedents: Grandpa[ Grayson Schirmacher ] is back at the table, joined by
Vilmer, who appears to be rooted in Edwin Neal's original Hitchhiker character,
and W.E.[ Joe Stevens ], a nutty young man who mutters incessantly, much like Jim
Siadow, the first Chainsaw's cook. In addition, there are a couple of new
characters, including the statuesque, brassy Darla[ Tony Perensky ], Vilmer's
main squeeze.
Austin-based actor named Robert Jacks. He's not wearing the Leatherface mask at
the rehearsal, and his face looks shockingly kind of friendly-looking, considering
that he's supposed to be portraying one of the most insane, over-the-top killers
ever commited to celluliod.
