‘Obsession’ Teaser: The Next Great Horror Festival Breakout Has Arrived

Curry Barker's directorial debut wowed audiences and distributors after its Toronto premiere. Now it's coming for you.

The past decade of Hollywood horror has been dominated by names like Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger, creators who pivoted from short-form comedy careers to find massive success in genre filmmaking. In 2026, horror fans might be adding another name to that list: Curry Barker.

Best known as one half of the “That’s a Bad Idea” YouTube channel and as the director of the viral $800 short film “Milk & Serial,” Barker made his feature directorial debut with “Obsession,” a contemporary riff on a classic monkey’s paw horror setup that became one of the breakout hits of the fall festival season. And a new teaser trailer offers a hint at what’s in store when it opens in theaters next spring.

Written and directed by Barker, “Obsession” stars Michael Johnston as a romantically unsuccessful young man who asks a vintage wish-granting toy to make his crush (Inde Navarrette) become obsessed with him. The rest of the cast includes Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter.

“Obsession” premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, before making prestigious stops on the genre festival circuit like Fantastic Fest and Sitges. The film earned rave reviews from the start, prompting Focus Features to acquire it in the kind of buzzy festival deal that gets rarer and rarer with each passing year.

“’Obsession’ begins with the simplest of horror premises,” IndieWire’s TIFF review read. “Bear is a shy and sensitive music store employee who can’t find the courage to ask his co-worker and childhood friend Nikki on a date. Rather than be honest with her and tell her how he actually feels, he wanders into a woo-woo crystal store and buys a One Wish Willow, a kitschy antique toy from the 1960s that promises to grant its owner one wish when they snap a branch in half. The cashier warns him that most of the customers who buy them have complained about the results, but it wouldn’t be much of a horror movie if he listened.”

A Focus Features release, “Obsession” opens in theaters on May 15, 2026. Watch the film’s first teaser trailer below.