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.
