Before She Was an Oscar Winner, Renée Zellweger Got Her Start In This Horror Sequel Alongside Matthew McConaughey

It’s no secret that horror is not the most celebrated or praised genre due to its constant boundary-pushing. But despite not usually being the recipient of accolades or critical praise, it is the genre that most often paves the way for the A-listers we know and love. In some cases, these films are well received and become renowned classics alongside the actor’s performance, like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. But in other, more frequent cases, the horror genre is simply a jumping-off point ahead of bigger and better things. The quality doesn’t matter as much as getting their name out there, and that was the case with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, which helped launch Renée Zellweger’s career. Nowadays, she’s an Oscar-winning actress known for films such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, Chicago, and Judy— among plenty of others — but in 1995 she was just starting out, and the horror sequelgave her the chance to be a leading lady for the first time.