The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Family Portrait (1988)

- written November 2005

Summary: A lonely man who lives with his mother is having problems at his work. Because his dad once owned the company that Willard works for and his mother is a good friend of the present owner, Willard keeps his job. But the day she dies is the day his career will end…and that day is now. Pushed around by everyone before and now getting fired, Willard has had enough. Now with the help of his only friend, some city rodents, he will seek revenge on everyone who has wronged him.           Overall: This is a documentary trying to promote the franchise by interviewing the main actors in “the family” from the first film. The actors interviewed are Gunner Hansen (Leatherface), Edwin Neal (the hitchhiker), John Dugan (Grandpa) and Jim Seidow (The Cook). The film has some good stuff in it, including some nice behind the scenes stories on how filming went and what the actors brought to the table with their acting. The problems with the film were that the interview ran so long at times and didn’t seem to be focused. I had no problem with the fact the film focused solely on the “family members” as opposed to victims or other people from part 1. It’s just that this seemed more like a few interviews mushed onto a film as opposed to a well crafted look at one of the most interesting horror movie “monsters” of all-time. But I say, go ahead and rent it anyway.

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