The film’s downfall with audiences, imho, is in large part that it’s far too smart, clever, and subversive compared to the average slasher movie. Even the whole thing with Rothman and Illuminati is understood by viewers savvy enough to catch it with only the most basic, surface-level reading of the film.

What Henkel was doing with TNG was exploring the nature of social dynamics and cultural/familial hierarchies by way of the both the Chainsaw franchise’s trappings. The devil is in the details if you’re paying attention, but they’re subtly injected into the proceedings by Henkel primarily through dialogue and character interactions. Just watch for how most of the male characters try to assert dominance in their social hierarchies throughout (Barry by lying, W.E. by trying to be intellectual, Vilmer through violence, etc.) and how the women react to and deal with those dynamics (Heather accepting her expected social role as a “bitch” and playing it to her advantage, Darla submitting to an abusive, sadomasochistic relationship with Vilmer, Jenny hiding her strengths and keeping her head down to avoid trouble). The film actually has a subversive feminist undercurrent that people miss because they wrongly assume the violence is there as a form of misogynistic titillation.

Another problem with the movie is that most people have only seen the US theatrical cut. The Director’s Cut only saw a release on Canadian home video. While both cuts are more or less the same for the most part, the US theatrical cuts out an alternate opening that defines the film’s central story. In the Director’s Cut the film opens with Jenny getting ready for Prom when her step-dad barges in and threatens her. When her mother asks if everything is OK Jenny keeps her mouth shut while the step-dad promptly belittles and insults the mother. The rest of the film illustrates Jenny’s transformation from a meek victim to someone willing to stand up for herself. Her encounter with the Sawyer clan acts as an extremely amplified, absurdist version of her own family/social life that serves as the impetus for her metamorphosis. The DC opening, despite its brevity, is pivotal in setting up this story and its absence from the most common cut of the film is a severe detriment.