The story being with a bunch of kids leaving the Prom early to go on a little join. Too bad for them (and us), they make a wrong turn and end up lost in the woods. But you can't guess who lives out there?? No, it ain't the Brady Bunch, although they would be scarier. Throw in a chainsaw or two, a meathook, and Leatherface and you think you could make a TCM movie. Well, at least that is what the makers of this film thought they could do. Of course they failed miserably. The plot gets confusing when "The Family" is linked to the "Illuminati". We go on to find that "The Family's" reign of terror has solely been directed by this group and that killing and cannibalism are just a job. Sounds pretty stupid to me too. I really consider myself a big fan of the series and being the horror completest that I am, I began searching for this movie as soon as I heard it was available. I have watched the series slowly deteriorate since the first film, but thought having Kim Henkel (co-writer TCM )behind the camera would offer a ray of hope. Boy was I wrong, I now consider Kim Henkel, the "John Russo" of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, well without those sleazy "Scream Queens". What I mean by this is the Henkel has only made one really good movie (TCM) and he used that name to get this film made, and there is nothing wrong with that. This film is just one big rip off of the first film. You will see many duplicated scenes in "TCM 4", just without the style of execution of Tobe Hooper. This is one of the biggest mockery of "The Family" to ever grace a TCM movie. First, Leatherface was a complete idiot. Just take a look at the cover to see where I am coming from. Gunnar Hansen probably can't sleep at night know that a character he so masterfully crafted has turned into a drag queen wannabe wielding a chainsaw. Who would be afraid of that? You wouldn't even know that this was a "Chainsaw" film, if the title didn't appear at the begin of the movie. I do have to say Matthew McConaughey (Contact, A Time to Kill) did pretty good as the Vilmer, the psycho leader of the clan and in fact if you were to remove any linkage to TCM (i.e. Leatherface and the name) this probably wouldn't have been a bad movie, but since you can't do that it sucked. Avoid this film at all cost, unless you are a sadist like myself. ((**For all of you who email me about the mystery woman on the gurney, that was Marilyn Burns, "Sally" from the first TCM , the guy wheeling her was Paul A. Partain (Franklin) and the Cop at the end was John Dugan (Grandpa from the first TCM).
