CURRY BARKER WANTS TO DIRECT ‘A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET’: LET HIM!
This is a really big week for Curry Barker, who is about to see his big feature debut, Obsession, open […]
This is a really big week for Curry Barker, who is about to see his big feature debut, Obsession, open in theaters everywhere. Focus Features is behind it, and the movie already has massive fan hype and support around it. Everyone who has seen it says the same thing: it’s crazy, brutal, intense, uncomfortable, and the kind of movie that stays with you for a very long time.
And that’s important when we start talking about why he is perfect for A24’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Curry Barker has a special knack for tension between characters. That uncomfortable feeling. That awkwardness. That pressure in a room where something feels wrong even before anything happens. That’s not something everybody can do. You can learn structure and filmmaking and all that shit, but some people are just wired differently. Some people are born with that ability.
And when you watch Obsession, you’ll understand exactly why Barker keeps talking about family when he discusses Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Everybody keeps hearing that and going, “Yeah, they already did the family thing.” They think about the 2003 remake or the Sawyer family mythology and all that stuff. But I don’t think that’s what he means at all.
Because The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was never really about gore. People remember it as this ultra-violent movie, but if you actually go back and watch it, it’s not that bloody. It’s not even really that violent compared to modern horror.
What it does have is atmosphere.
It has tension.
It has that feeling.
Watching it feels dirty. Exhausting. Uncomfortable. It feels real in a way that most horror movies don’t. The experience itself is what stays with you.
And that’s the thing Barker seems to understand.
He has that special juju that a lot of horror movies are missing right now.
Go look at the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake. The Friday the 13th remake. Some of the more recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. They’re benign. You get your characters back. The studio gets its reboot. There’s a cool kill here or there. But they feel exactly like what you expected them to be.
The juju is gone.
