A24 is building a TV series around “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and that can go very right or very wrong

A24 taking “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” into a TV series is the kind of news that instantly splits the group chat. The headline idea is simple: one of the most famous grimy nightmares in horror history is getting the long-form treatment, and the package behind it is stacked.

Here’s what’s been reported in the industry chatter: a TV series is in the works with JT Mollner attached to direct, Glen Powell involved as a producer, and legacy names tied to the franchise listed at the executive level. That is not small. That is a real swing.

Now the horror part, the part that matters: a series format can either restore what made the original nasty, or it can polish it into a franchise wiki with a jump-scare schedule.

A TV “Chainsaw” that works does not feel like lore. It feels like being trapped in a place where everyone has decided violence is normal. The dread is not Leatherface popping out. The dread is the town. The family. The silence after. The way nobody helps you. If they lean into that, it can creep into your brain the way “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” did in 1974, where it felt too real, too sweaty, too close.

If they make it slick, pretty, and overly explained, it becomes the opposite of what people actually want from this property. Horror does not need a guided tour. It needs a door that locks behind you.

So yeah, this can be incredible. Or it can be a content machine wearing a classic’s skin.

What would you rather see: a back-to-basics rural nightmare that barely explains anything, or a slow-burn series that makes the whole community feel infected?