Curry Barker Drops Surprise New Short Film ‘Mama Bear’ — Watch

The five-minute film, which Barker wrote, directed, and edited, was released on his That's a Bad Idea YouTube channel.

We still have to wait until May 2027 for Curry Barker‘s “Anything But Ghosts” to hit theaters, but fans of the “Obsession” writer/director have a new project to tide them over.

Barker has written, directed, and edited a new short film titled “Mama Bear,” which was released on his That’s a Bad Idea YouTube channel on Thursday morning. The five-minute project, which was sponsored by Microsoft, stars Jon Lee Richardson as Floyd, a young man whose nap is interrupted by some very disturbing phone calls that quickly change the course of his day. Katie Sarife, Ericka Kreuz, and Joshua Snyder co-star. Check out the film below.

Barker continues to enjoy one of the biggest breakout years we’ve seen from a filmmaker in recent memory. After “Obsession” was acquired by Focus Features at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, it went on to gross over $500 million at the global box office this spring. Barker quickly became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand filmmakers, lining up a slate of projects that includes a “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” reboot for A24 and a mysterious original horror movie that landed him an eight-figure deal from Universal. And Barker had already completed “Anything But Ghosts,” a supernatural comedy that sees him co-star with his longtime filmmaking partner Cooper Tomlinson, before “Obsession” even opened.

It led to Barker receiving IndieWire’s inaugural Future of Filmmaking Award at our recent Los Angeles summit. During a conversation with IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt at the event, Barker spoke about his roots making independent short films and how it helped him refine his voice ahead of “Obsession.”

“I definitely learned from the comment section quite a bit,” Barker said of his experiencing posting his shorts on the That’s a Bad Idea channel. “I think the main thing I would take away is how smart the audience is. I think if I hadn’t learned that early on, I might write my dialogue differently. Maybe I’d write more exposition, maybe I’d not feel so confident that people were understanding me. That was invaluable, to see ‘Oh my god, this little thing, they are picking up on it! They are understanding these nuances.’”