Curry Barker, the 26-year-old filmmaker recently made famous for his massive horror hit Obsession, is already giving audiences another taste of his twisted imagination, officially dropping a new horror project online earlier today—and you can watch it for free.
Barker is arguably having one of the wildest years of his life. After releasing his Obsession film in May, it has already become one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time, sparked in-depth conversations about dating and consent, and made headlines for its shocking gore that was eventually trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating. Needless to say, the film has given critics and audiences plenty to talk about this year.
The film follows “nice guy” Bear (Michael Johnston) and the cool-girl-next-door he’s completely infatuated with, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). All Bear wants in the world is for Nikki to love him back, and when a mysterious entity called the “One Wish Willow” gives him the chance to be with the girl of his dreams, Bear makes his wish. Fortunately for Bear, the wish works. But also, unfortunately for Bear, the wish works—and his new relationship comes with a very sinister price.
When a young feature director makes an impression as strong as Obsession did at the box office, the next question audiences and critics can’t help but ask is: what will they do next? The kind of corralling question that might make a creative squirm, but Barker seems to be handling the pressures well.
Barker’s next highly anticipated feature, Anything But Ghosts, is expected to be released in theaters later next year, and has already been verbally endorsed by The Invite‘s Seth Rogen. But we don’t have to wait until then for another round of Barker horror, as the filmmaker is officially giving us another taste of his horror chops in the meantime. Releasing on YouTube earlier today, Barker dropped a new five-minute short film titled Mama Bear.
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Released in partnership with Windows, the short film opens with a snoozing house cleaner named Floyd (Jon Lee Richardson), who gets a concerning phone call from his buddy that startles him awake. Screaming and panting on the other end of the line, Floyd’s friend tells him that something is wrong and “Lacy” (Katie Sarife) is coming for him. “She’s going to kill you,” his friend exclaims. At first, Floyd thinks it’s a joke, but as you might expect from Barker, things take a horrific turn for the character pretty quickly. You can see the horror for yourself below:
The tone of Mama Bear is something that will likely elicit a devilish smile from Obsession fans. Though its quick five-minute plot gives us a lot more questions than answers, Barker’s ability to force the audience into a revolving door of guessing games is a creative quirk that reminds us why he is such an exciting storyteller for people to watch.
Mama Bear also likes to play with some similar stylistic choices in Barker’s other previous YouTube shorts titled The Chair and Warnings, which he released before becoming one of horror’s biggest names. This is the latest project we have seen from the director since Obsession came out, and we’re excited to see how much of his YouTube filmmaking style carries over into his next feature, Anything But Ghosts—which is expected to release in theaters on May 7, 2027.
