{"id":955315,"date":"2026-05-12T18:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955315\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:08:01","slug":"obsession-director-curry-barker-wants-to-push-the-boundaries-of-horror-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955315\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Obsession’ Director Curry Barker Wants to Push the Boundaries of Horror Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new horror movie Obsession<\/a> is relentless. It\u2019s brutal.<\/a> Every time you think it couldn\u2019t go any further, it does just that. And that\u2019s exactly what writer-director Curry Barker<\/a> is going for both with the film and his career. He wants to push the boundaries of horror, and he\u2019s already off to a good start.<\/p>\n

Obsession, which opens Friday<\/a>, follows a man named Bear (Michael Johnston) who has a massive crush on his friend and co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). When he can\u2019t muster up the courage to tell her how he feels, he uses a seemingly pointless trinket called a \u201cOne Wish Willow\u201d to wish that Nikki would love him more than anything in the world. And it works.<\/p>\n

This is only Barker\u2019s second film, but already you can very, very clearly see that he might be the future of horror. And the fact that he just signed on to make a new<\/a> Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie only bolsters the case.<\/p>\n

io9 spoke to Barker via video chat last week about where Obsession came from, his writing process, and if he realized the film\u2019s franchise potential, aspirations, and inspirations. We also talked about his next movies: the star-studded Anything But Ghosts, as well as that Texas Chainsaw movie.<\/p>\n

\"ObsessionCurry Barker on the set of Obsession. \u2013 Focus <\/p>\n

This interview was edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Germain Lussier, io9: So I read that the first idea for this was inspired by the \u201cMonkey\u2019s Paw\u201d episode of The Simpsons. Is\u00a0that true?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Curry Barker:<\/strong> I mean, The Simpsons thing has become such a kind of buzzy thing, [but] it is true. I\u2019d already had this idea for a while about obsession and kind of tackling that theme, but I hadn\u2019t really cracked exactly how the movie worked yet. And so that Simpsons episode struck the idea of making it a wish-gone-wrong type of movie. So that\u2019s the credit that that Simpsons episode seems to get.<\/p>\n

io9: What was your idea before that in regard to obsession overall?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> I was really intrigued by the idea of obsession, like whether you\u2019re obsessed with climbing the top ranks at your job or whether you\u2019re obsessed with being the best basketball player in the world, whatever. And the idea of being obsessed with another person was something that I hadn\u2019t really seen done to its full glory. And so I already had this idea of, like, an obsession-type movie, but the wish thing really unlocked the full potential of that<\/p>\n

io9: Take me through your process of writing it. Did you have specific scenes in mind? Do you outline? How did it all start to come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> I tend to outline, but I like to keep it pretty loose because I go back and forth. I feel like you can really allow yourself to discover things a little bit more when you don\u2019t treat the outline like a bible. Maybe you outline that by this scene, they should be going to the restaurant or whatever. But maybe as you\u2019re writing, you discover that the car swerves over, and now they\u2019re on the side of the road. You didn\u2019t anticipate that to happen, but now you\u2019re writing, and you\u2019re like, \u201cWhoa, it\u2019d be crazy if the car swerved off to the side of the road\u2026\u201d Also, I typically have ideas that I\u2019m like, \u201cI want to find a way to incorporate this, this, and this. I don\u2019t know where it fits in the story yet, but I know that I want to put it somewhere.\u201d And you\u2019ve got to be careful with that because if you try too hard to fit something in, it could come at the expense of the story. So you have to be careful. But most of the time I try to figure out how to put them all in.<\/p>\n

\"ObsessionMichael Johnston as Bear in Obsession. \u2013 Focus <\/p>\n

io9: Well, this movie certainly has a lot of those moments. Speaking of which, the idea of the One Wish Willow and that these exist all over the world\u2014when you created that, did you grasp the full potential of it? The movie hints at it in a few ways, but I kept thinking about how, if this is a hit, there could be a One Wish Willow cinematic universe with people all over making bad wishes. Did that ever click in your head?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> It clicked in my head once I kind of came up with the idea. It was like, \u201cOh, this is like a thing.\u201d But it\u2019s a hope and a dream, you know? It\u2019s hoping and wishing that it becomes a thing and that people latch onto it. I knew that there was the potential for this to be, like, kind of an iconic thing, but of course I didn\u2019t anticipate that the One Wish Willows would sell out on the Focus website, and now they\u2019re selling on eBay for, like, $200.<\/p>\n

io9: And people haven\u2019t even seen the movie yet!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Yeah, people haven\u2019t seen the movie yet. It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

io9: So, in your head, do you have other potential One Wish Willow ideas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n

io9: And are they all horror ideas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> I think so, yeah.<\/p>\n

io9: Okay, awesome. What about the guy on the phone?<\/a> Like, obviously, it\u2019s a very creepy, weird scene. But do you know who that guy is, what they do, and what they know? How much lore is in your head about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Not that much.<\/p>\n

io9: So how did you kind of come to that scene then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Like, I know that there\u2019s a number that you can call. This is a real business. They sell One Wish Willows, and whatever business this is, it has to be tapped into some sort of magic because the thing works, right? But I like to keep it pretty vague. As far as, like, wherever she is, you could think of it as a purgatory or whatever, but I kinda like that we don\u2019t dive into it too much. And that it\u2019s in the people\u2019s hands to come up with their own theories and ideas of what it is and stuff like that, you know?<\/p>\n

\"ObsessionThe One Wish Willow. \u2013 Focus <\/p>\n

io9: No, I agree. I love everything about the movie, but I think one of the things I love the most is that it left me with all these emotions, but then there was that little seed of, like, \u201cWhat the heck was actually happening?\u201d Like, your movie is so based in reality except for that one little outlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Right. Exactly.<\/p>\n

io9: When did you realize that you had something kinda special? Obviously, it gets into the Toronto International Film Festival, it gets bought by Focus, and now it\u2019s gearing up for the release. But was there a moment during production or writing when you were like, \u201cOh, I have confidence in this?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> I mean, I go through so many phases as a creative person. I have a phase where I slap a script on the desk, and I\u2019m like, \u201cThis is the best thing I\u2019ve ever written.\u201d And then I go through a phase where I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, maybe it\u2019s not that good, and maybe this isn\u2019t even the project that I should do next. Maybe this sucks.\u201d And then when we\u2019re shooting, I\u2019ll go through a phase of, \u201cOh my God, the dailies look so amazing; this is the best thing ever shot.\u201d And then when you\u2019re editing, you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, maybe this sucks.\u201d You know, you just go through ups and downs. Sorry, I can\u2019t even remember exactly your question<\/p>\n

io9: When did you know you had something special? But it sounds like maybe you might never know. Like, it could make $2 billion, and you might still think it\u2019s not great.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Yeah, there are phases where I think it is special. But I think the moment that I realized people like this thing is when we did a test screening for it, and there was one question that really stuck out. It was like, \u201cWould you recommend your friend to watch this movie?\u201d Yeah. And every single person in the test screening said, \u201cYes.\u201d And it was, like, unheard of. No one\u2019s ever had every single person saying \u201cYes\u201d to that. And people were telling me that this was something special. And that was kind of like, \u201cWow, okay, cool.\u201d You know, I\u2019m glad people like it.<\/p>\n

\"ObsessionBear and Nikki. \u2013 Focus <\/p>\n

io9: Well, add me to that list. Okay, it\u2019s been a little less than a year since the TIFF debut. And I know it\u2019s hit a couple of festivals here and there, but has anything changed or been tweaked since then, or has the movie remained locked the entire time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. The version that got into TIFF, actually, was a very, very early cut. Not the version that we showed at TIFF, I want to be clear.<\/p>\n

io9: Noted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> The version that we showed at TIFF was pretty clean. But the version that we sent to the judges of TIFF to be like, \u201cHey, watch our movie. Maybe allow us to come to your festival.\u201d That version of it had a completely different opening to the movie. There were some scenes that were completely new that we had shot. So, it got accepted into TIFF from a pretty early cut, which was mind-blowing because it got everyone involved to finally be like, \u201cOkay, this is something really cool.\u201d Because it got into TIFF, you know?<\/p>\n

io9: Of course.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> And so it kind of greenlit our additional photography. It kind of knocked everybody into place. It got us a post-supervisor! I had never had a post-supervisor before. I was just kind of editing this thing in my free time, right? But now we have a post-supervisor. We have someone who\u2019s making sure we have a schedule for post-production. And it kind of just knocked everyone into gear. And we finally finished the movie.<\/p>\n

io9: So how similar is the version that played at the festival and the one that comes to theaters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Pretty darn similar. I think I did, like, two or three more passes of the sound. Two or three more passes of the color. And then, obviously, there are some things that we cut to get that R rating that I\u2019ve spoken publicly about a couple times. There were a couple of head smashes that we had to take out.<\/p>\n

\"ObsessionShe\u2019s always watching. \u2013 Focus <\/p>\n

io9: Yes, there\u2019s a lot of head smashing in the movie. It\u2019s a very brutal movie. <\/strong>Was that always your intention? Was it always going to be that brutal, that visceral, that violent?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Absolutely. Really, all I\u2019m interested in doing is pushing the boundaries of horror. I mean, I just wanted to make a movie that I would be excited to watch, and I get kind of disappointed when the films that I watch pull their punches or don\u2019t really go there, or they kind of promise that they\u2019re going to go there and they don\u2019t. So [I\u2019m just] kind of copying the movies that I look up to, really.<\/p>\n

io9: A lot of this movie really works because Michael and Inde are just so good in it. The characters are both so nuanced, interesting, and terrifying. So I\u2019m wondering about, like, on the day, what it was like working with them at that level of intensity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. I mean, you\u2019re asking a lot from Inde, for sure, from the get. And so, to me, it was really about just keeping it light on set. I\u2019m not a believer that it\u2019s a brutal movie, and so it\u2019s gotta be super serious on set, and this is a serious film, and everyone needs to take it seriously, and the actors need to go to a dark place to get there. I\u2019m just not a believer in any of that. I think that if you\u2019re an adult and you\u2019re pretending for a living, then there\u2019s something from childhood that you\u2019ve kept holding on to. I was a big pretender as a kid. I used my imagination a lot. I still get to as an adult. And so, like, it\u2019s kind of silly to take that too seriously. All adults, just playing pretend, and so that\u2019s kind of the attitude I had on set, and just keeping it light, and everyone can laugh at everyone\u2019s mistakes, and there\u2019s nothing to it, you know?<\/p>\n

io9: Yes, for sure. Now, you\u2019ve already finished filming your next movie, right? Anything But Ghosts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n

\"Obsession\u00a9 Focus <\/p>\n

io9: Obviously, you can\u2019t say anything specific or spoilery, but is it kind of totally similar to this? Does it \u201cpush the boundaries of horror,\u201d as you just said?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s going to be really unique because it, to me, lives in the same world. You could put these two movies side by side and go, \u201cYeah, like, they probably live [together].\u201d Like, the tone isn\u2019t going to be a crazy shift, but I will say that it\u2019s very different than Obsession in the aspect of like, the premise itself lends itself well to comedy. And so naturally, it\u2019s a lot funnier. I mean, it\u2019s about two ghost hunter con artists. So that premise alone just lends itself better to comedy in a way that this premise didn\u2019t. So naturally, you\u2019re going to get more comedic scenes. It\u2019s me and Cooper [Tomlinson]. So it\u2019s kind of a comedic duo. But also, we take the stakes very seriously. It should be set in a very real world.<\/p>\n

io9: And my last thing is you recently signed on to do a Texas Chainsaw movie. You talked about the movies that inspire you, so what gives you the confidence to be like, \u201cYes, I think, yeah, I think I can bring something new to this.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barker:<\/strong> You know, it\u2019s loving the original but also knowing that there is something left to be shown with that family and with the series in general. I mean, I actually think there\u2019s a lot to be explored that they haven\u2019t dived into. So I\u2019m really excited about it. But mostly it\u2019s kind of isolating myself and trying not to think too much about that pressure because that\u2019s the killer of creativity, is really like people putting pressure on you. So you\u2019ve got to kind of throw it away, honestly.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t throw away your shot to see Barker\u2019s new movie, Obsession, in theaters May 15.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new horror movie Obsession is relentless. It\u2019s brutal. Every time you think it couldn\u2019t go any further,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[138234,77,3943,107759,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-955315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-curry-barker","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-obsession","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116562946445531633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}