Well, that was fast. A few days ago, Deadline reported a rumor that Strange Darling director JT Mollner was potentially circling a new entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise alongside producer Roy Lee.
But on Saturday, Mollner took to X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that the rumor isn't true, saying, "Don't believe everything you read."
The initial Deadline report also suggested that Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell might be interested in reading a script for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which would be great casting.
Starting in 1974 with Tobe Hooper's classic, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has spanned nine movies, novels, video games, and plenty of merchandise. But it has been a long time since we've gotten a solid entry into the canon. The last movie released in 2022 was the Netflix Original, meant to reboot the film series. However, that movie wound up being controversial to fans.
Attempting to bank off the success of the 2018 Halloween reboot, the newest movie featuring the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface brought back final girl Sally Hardesty, albeit a much older version played by Olwen Fouéré (original actress Marilyn Burns passed away in 2014). Unlike the newer Halloween trilogy, which kept its main final girl alive for all three films, the 2022 film killed Sally to make way for its younger characters.
The 2022 movie wasn't all bad. The bus scene massacre is a fantastic scene in an otherwise poor slasher. But we haven't had anything new since, and before the Netflix film, there was the prequel Leatherface, another poorly received entry.
It's about time we get an avid horror fan working on a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, and Mollner would have been a fantastic pick, especially if he opted to shoot on 35 mm again. Strange Darling already captured some of the gritty vibe Texas Chainsaw Massacre is known for, so I would have liked to see his take on the series. Powell is a very charismatic leading man. Seeing him go head-to-head with Leatherface could be a blast.
But even though Mollner seemingly dispelled the rumor, it doesn't mean the Deadline report was all wrong. Horror franchises are more popular than ever, so it's hard to imagine that this one won't come back at some point. At the very least, ideas are percolating for a potential revival.
Maybe some executives were throwing Mollner's name around after seeing the critical success of last year's psychological thriller, a terrific showcase for the director's talents and that of his two stars, Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner.