Curry Barker’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Reboot Wants to Ruin Your Next Road Trip With Friends

A24’s plans for ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ keep getting bigger, with the studio building out both a new film and a separate television series around Tobe Hooper’s cannibal family saga. A24 won the franchise’s film and television rights last year in a heated bidding war, beating out several competing companies for the prize piece of horror IP. The property has been rebooted or reimagined roughly every five to seven years since its debut, a series that’s seemingly rebooted, reimagined, or remade every few years, so any new chapter arrives carrying real expectations.

That job now belongs to Curry Barker, a young filmmaker who built his name on YouTube before crossing into the mainstream. He wrote, directed, and starred in the found footage horror movie ‘Milk and Serial’, made on a budget of about $800 and released for free online, where it has racked up more than three million views. His follow up feature ‘Obsession’ turned into a genuine sensation, with the film closing in on $300 million worldwide and becoming the top grossing festival acquisition of all time according to box office figures tracked by Deadline.

Now Barker is opening up about exactly what he wants from his ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ movie in a new interview with THR. Barker wants to make a new generation of viewers afraid to ever take a road trip with friends again, and he is aiming for the raw, grounded terror of Hooper’s original while still putting his own fresh spin on the material.

“I wouldn’t be interested if I didn’t think I could find a way in that feels fresh and new, while still respecting the original,” Barker said of his approach to the franchise.

He also revealed that he watched all ten films in the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ franchise while preparing for the project, and he came away from the marathon with strong opinions. Barker argued that too many entries amount to little more than “a guy with a chainsaw chasing a person around,” and he wants his version to offer something with more substance.

The new film is being produced by Roy Lee and Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures alongside Exurbia Films and Kim Henkel, who co wrote the 1974 original and several of its sequels. It exists separately from A24’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ television series, which is being spearheaded by ‘Strange Darling’ filmmaker JT Mollner with Glen Powell attached as an executive producer.

Barker has not started writing the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ script yet, and he has said he is still weighing whether the movie will be his next project once he finishes the horror comedy ‘Anything But Ghosts’. Given how fast his career has accelerated, fans likely will not have to wait long to find out.

With Leatherface revving up for yet another reinvention, would you trust Curry Barker to finally give the Sawyer family a road trip that nobody in your group chat would survive?