Curry Barker Debuts 'Obsession,' Eyes Director's Cut
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- Curry Barker, 26, debuts his first feature "Obsession" with Focus Features, a horror about a man (Michael Johnston) who uses the wish-granting "One Wish Willow" to make his childhood crush (Inde Navarrette) fall for him, only for her obsession to escalate into violence
- Barker rose to notice with the free YouTube feature "Milk & Serial" and says TIFF reactions to "Obsession" changed his life overnight, recalling his agent telling him "your life is never going to be the same"
- Barker had to cut several head-smash moments from the film's gory car scene to avoid an NC-17 rating, and now says he wants a director's cut restoring those beats plus an alternate ending where Nikki kills herself
- Barker scrapped the scripted suicide ending in favor of Bear's overdose and Nikki being left alive in what he describes as "purgatory," telling Variety the theatrical version is "more brutal"
- Barker has already wrapped his follow-up "Anything but Ghosts" with Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, a grounded ghost story about con artists who pretend to hunt ghosts and don't believe in them
- Barker is also attached to direct A24's next "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and says he deliberately keeps the One Wish Willow's rules ambiguous because "people will tell you what the answers are"
Why it matters: For Focus Features, "Obsession" is a calculated bet on a 26-year-old filmmaker whose TikTok-to-theater arc gives the studio a repeatable template for signing viral horror talent. For Barker, the NC-17-driven cuts and unused alternate ending create a built-in director's-cut hook, while the A24 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" gig and the wrapped Aaron Paul/Bryce Dallas Howard feature lock in multi-franchise horror work before his debut feature even finishes its theatrical run.
