A24 is handing the chainsaw over to filmmaker Curry Barker, who is in talks to write and direct his own adaptation of the horror property The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is a project apart from the A24 television series from Glen Powell, Dan Cohen, and JT Mollner. Curry Barker has shot to fame when he became the Toronto Film Festival darling last autumn, thanks to his horror movie Obsession becoming the biggest sale of the festival.

As most will already know, the Chainsaw horror franchise focuses on the cannibalistic spree killer Leatherface (who uses a chainsaw as his signature weapon) and his family, who terrorise unsuspecting visitors to their territories in the isolated Texan countryside, typically killing and then cooking them. Presently, the franchise consists of nine films, comics, a novel, and two video game adaptations. A24 won the rights to the IP after a months-long bidding war.

Obsession, which will be releasing in cinemas next month, is a Monkey’s Paw tale of a young man who wishes that his friend would love him more than anything in the world. Barker wrote, directed, and edited the indie film. Barker has also just completed principal photography on his next feature, Anything But Ghosts, which he wrote, directed, and co-stars in.

Roy Lee will produce the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre along with his Spooky Pictures partner Steven Schneider. Stuart Manashil and Exurbia Films’ Pat Cassidy, Ian Henkel and Kim Henkel will also produce, as will Powell and Cohen via Barnstorm. Ben Ross of Image Nation is aboard to executive produce.