Curry Barker Eyes a Franchise for Obsession Movie's One Wish Willow
Curry Barker says the obsession movie could grow beyond one feature, with the One Wish Willow now looking close to an IP. The 26-year-old filmmaker said the horror concept started as a short and has already turned into a critical and commercial success in theaters everywhere.
One Wish Willow in theaters
Barker said, “When we created the One Wish Willow, it was something that I kind of thought ‘wouldn’t it be cool if it became a thing?’” He added, “And now, [the One Wish Willow] is almost an IP.”
That shift matters because Barker is not talking about a hypothetical script idea. He is talking about a movie already playing in theaters everywhere, with a central object that now has enough audience traction to support more than one story. “Any wish is kind of selfish… So there’s a lot of stories to explore with that,” he said.
From comedy to horror
Before horror, Barker was part of the sketch comedy duo That’s a Bad Idea. He said, “I feel like there’s a darkness in comedy. So you see those [horror] sensibilities there already,” and added, “As a comedian, you’re constantly studying the human condition, you’re constantly studying ‘how can I make fun of humans?’ When you’re always studying the psychology of why people do things, [those skills] lends itself really well to horror.”
That path tracks with Milk & Serial, his no-budget YouTube horror sensation. In 2024, it landed on a list of the year’s best horror films, despite Barker saying, “There was zero budget for it, it was a hobby project. Not only did it not feel like a real movie to me, it felt like an old movie [Barker sat on the movie for a year]. Posting it online was like a ‘whatever.’”
James Harris and the feature
Barker said he pitched Obsession as a feature to producer James Harris after starting from a short film concept. “I pitched him Obsession, and he liked it enough. He said write the script and we’ll see,” he said. That is the pivot point that turned a small concept into a theatrical release with franchise talk attached.
The complication is simple: Barker is already moving on to another studio job. He has been tapped to write and direct a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie for A24, which gives the One Wish Willow idea more value as a possible property rather than just a one-off sequel hook. For now, the real takeaway is that Obsession has given Barker something rare for a 26-year-old filmmaker — a horror premise with sequel logic before the first chapter has even finished its run.
