Obsession Movie

Obsession (2025 film) - Wikipedia

Obsession is a 2025 American supernatural psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker. (indie)

Barker, a YouTube sketch comedian, uploaded his short horror film The Chair to his channel in 2023, which led to an offer from producer James Harris to adapt it into a feature-length film. Barker took the opportunity to pitch Obsession, a different film idea partly inspired by an episode of The Simpsons. The film was shot in Los Angeles in October 2024 for $750,000. It is Barker's second feature-length film, after Milk & Serial (2024), and his first to be released in theaters.

• Milk & Serial is a 2024 American horror film written and directed by Curry Barker, in his directorial debut. The found footage film stars Barker and Cooper Tomlinson, the comedy duo best known for their YouTube sketch comedy channel "that's a bad idea". It follows two pranksters as they attempt to prank each other only for the situation to dramatically spiral out of control. With a budget of $800, the duo made it in four months. After failing to find a film distributor, Barker decided to release the full movie on YouTube for free. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_&_Serial

Obsession premiered on September 5, 2025, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where Focus Features acquired the distribution rights for $14–$15 million, the highest price commanded by a genre film in TIFF history, and Jason Blum came on board as an executive producer under Blumhouse Productions

Obsession was theatrically released in the United States on May 15, 2026. A critical and commercial success, it grossed $242.7 million worldwide, becoming Focus Features' highest-grossing film of all time and the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2026.

Development

Curry Barker, one half of the sketch comedy duo that's a bad idea with Cooper Tomlinson, uploaded his short horror film The Chair to his YouTube channel in 2023. After film producer James Harris of Tea Shop Productions reached out to Barker to adapt it into a feature-length film, Barker pitched Obsession instead. Barker initially wrote Obsession as a film about an obsessive relationship. While preparing to watch an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in which he appeared, he caught a rerun of an episode of The Simpsons where Homer interacts with a monkey's paw, which inspired him to incorporate the wish element. The concept led to his signing with William Morris Endeavor and receiving an offer to direct the film with a $1 million budget

Barker took eight months to complete the screenplay while working with the film's production companies

According to Barker, the final budget was at most $750,000.

Casting was underway by August 2024

Principal photography began in October 2024. It was filmed in 26 days, including reshoots after an initial 20-day shoot, in the Los Angeles area, covering five to six script pages daily

All the scenes taking place in Bear's house (aside from additional photography) were shot first over the course of a week and a half

Certain scenes, particularly those involving conversations in cars, were shot on a soundstage using LED screen technology.

Obsession underwent reshoots for a new opening scene

For the ending, they filmed one take of Bear trying to make himself throw up after ingesting the pills at Johnston's suggestion that Bear would be too "coward by the end of the day, he doesn't want to die, he thinks of himself".

Post-production

By March 2025, Obsession was in post-production with Barker as editor. Barker recorded his dialogue as the One Wish Willow customer service representative on his phone while editing the film from his bedroom, changing lines to fit the edit

Jason Blum joined the film as an executive producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner after the premiere; his involvement was revealed in December 2025 when the first teaser was released

Rock Burwell composed the score in his debut as a feature film composer.

Release

Obsession premiered during the Midnight Madness block at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 5, 2025. Two days later, Focus Features entered talks to acquire distribution rights to the film for the world (excluding France, New Zealand, and Russia) for $14–$15 million, the highest price commanded by a genre film in TIFF history, with Universal Pictures International handling distribution outside the United States

In June 2026, art director Sally Choi made a social media post calling for industry reform, noting that she made $300 a day on the non-union production while also serving as production assistant, set dresser, graphic designer, and background actor, and that some crew members were volunteers paid in gas and mileage.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 263 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10

Navarrette received critical acclaim for her performance. Louis Peitzman of Vulture called it a stand-out performance for Navarrette, especially as her first major role in the horror genre

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian praised the "disturbing sound design" for intensifying the horror elements, while Marshall Shaffer of Slant Magazine complimented the film's audiovisual presentation.

Comparisons were raised to Kane Parsons's Backrooms, a fellow commercially successful, low-budget 2026 release directed by a YouTuber; Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter said he anticipated a "generational shift" away from high-budget movie franchises in favor of smaller films.

Future

In 2025, Barker said the characters of Obsession are unlikely to appear in another film. In 2026, Barker said he was considering a sequel or an anthology television series in which each episode explores a new character making a wish.

His next film, Anything but Ghosts, is set in the same shared universe, including a reference to the events of Obsession in the form of a news report.

Curry Barker Got His Wish: Inside the ‘Obsession’ Director’s Wild Month (Exclusive)

Almost overnight, Barker became the hottest young horror director in the industry (he has already shot his follow-up, Anything But Ghosts, and has signed to write and direct an A24 reboot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre). One company even offered Barker $10 million for literally whatever idea he wants to pitch next.

Below, in his first-ever cover story interview, Barker gets candid about what the last month has really been like for the Gen Z filmmaker

The opportunities were just unbelievable. I realized I can do whatever I want now. My whole career, I’ve had to come up with crazy ideas and pitch them and if it didn’t go over well, I’d have to come up with something else. They were like, “If you could do any movie you wanted, what would it be?” I was like, “Whoa. Let me think about that for a second.”

you actually did the classic Hollywood thing of moving from Alabama to L.A. when you were 18 to make it in showbiz. Like that’s the old-school way of breaking in.

Exactly. I never thought of myself as a YouTuber. I feel my journey isn’t that much different from the greats we know and love like Spielberg — not to compare myself to those people, but they started by making short films. They made films over and over until finally someone gave them a chance. YouTube was just a platform. Also, most of our fame started on TikTok, then we started putting [videos] on Instagram, and then we started putting them on YouTube

Do you think you still would have been able to accomplish what you did if you had stayed in Alabama and made content from there?

I feel like people can stay in Alabama and accomplish this. For me, moving to L.A. kind of put me in a city where I felt like this was possible. The industry is all around you, and it’s contagious. It fuels you to drive past Warner Bros. every single day and wish I could go on the other side of that fence. In Alabama, [Hollywood] feels so far away that it doesn’t feel real

During the fourth week of release, there was a viral Instagram post from the film’s art director (Sally Choi, who criticized being paid $6,741 and advocated for industry change on low-budget films). I know you didn’t produce the movie and aren’t responsible for writing checks. But I wondered if you have feelings about this.

I have nothing but respect for the art department, and the work they did was extraordinary. Everybody on this film worked so hard and they deserve to be recognized

This movie was made for so little money that it’s typical that the only people who [directly] benefit from its financial success are the people who took on some sort of risk. But what I hope is that every person that worked really hard on this film will see opportunities to catapult their careers in ways that can be very financially fruitful for them

Speaking of which, I heard there’s been a bit of a feeding frenzy over your short films — that people are looking to see if there’s like another Obsession in there.

Milk and Serial [about a serial killer with a YouTube prank channel] is probably going to happen [as a film]. I wonder if there’s an opportunity to bring somebody else onto Milk and Serial and I’ll produce but not necessarily direct.

What lessons would you like to see Hollywood take from it?

they let me do my own thing. And because it was such a low-stakes movie for these people, they didn’t feel like they needed to babysit the process. So let a filmmaker take the reins and have creative freedom and not try to stick your claws into it

What do you wish studios understood about Gen Z audiences — who are now the biggest moviegoing population?

I wish they understood that we’re tired of slop. We want good movies back

*You’ve said there were multiple moments on Obsession where you fought for things that others doubted. What’s an example?

The [scene where there’s] money dropping from the ceiling was a big battle for me.
I wouldn’t have expected that. Because there’s an element of comedy to it?
I’m like, “No, it’s not silly. It’s crazy that it’s real.” They didn’t understand that the way I was going to shoot it wasn’t going to feel silly.*

When we were shopping this around, there were companies that told me they would give me $2 million if I just rewrote the script to make Bear a hero. I was like, “I’m not rewriting the script to make Bear a guy that does all the right things. It’s so much more interesting that he doesn’t do the right thing and instead tries to make [the relationship] work and he just keeps making bad decision after bad decision.”

I know you haven’t written the script for your take on Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But how do you take something that’s been made and remade so many times and make it feel fresh?

I wouldn’t be interested if I didn’t think I could find a way in that feels fresh and new, while still respecting the original. The canon itself is all over the place,

You recently watched the previous 10 films. Is there anything you learned about what works and what doesn’t in this franchise?

Some of those movies just turn out to be a guy with a chainsaw chasing a person around. It doesn’t work to just have a chase movie.

You’re currently editing your next film, Anything But Ghosts (which stars Barker and his YouTube channel partner and Obsession actor Cooper Tomlinson as ghost hunter con artists who encounter their first real haunted house — which is owned by characters played by Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard). Is there anything from the reaction to Obsession that’s impacted your post-production on that film?

There was a time when Obsession was on the festival circuit that Cooper and I were thinking we needed to make Ghosts scarier

your first movie is breaking box office records and you’re in your room editing your next movie thinking, “Oh my god, did I take this beat from Obsession?” Thank God I have people around me to ground me and tell me that Anything But Ghosts is good and different

Now that you know your second film is going to be a big deal, does it make you nervous to put yourself front and center as a lead in the film?

No, because I was meant to play this character. This character is really fun because I got to play a really selfish guy who doesn’t realize how rude the things he says sound when he’s saying it. He’s a con artist and lacks empathy and he has to learn to empathize with people

You’ve said you were nervous to direct Aaron and Bryce. What about acting opposite them?

It was only intimidating for a day, then I got over it. And it wasn’t [nerves] about acting with them, but about being in the film in general

*I don’t think people realize you’ve appeared in a few things as an actor and went to tons of auditions. When you first moved to Hollywood, how much of your goal was to be a filmmaker versus an actor?

My love for acting started at a very young age. When I moved out here, I went to film school, but I was in the acting program. I tried to audition for everything and luckily booked a couple things here and there. But my love for filmmaking is something that grew and grew and grew.*

You’re still living in an apartment with Cooper and The Chair star Anthony Pavone. Have you guys talked about getting a bigger place, or your own place?

I still live in the same apartment I’ve had for the last three years in my tiny room. We’re still going to live with each other and we’re just going to try and get an upgrade

*Somebody said you also have 200 pairs of eyewear.

About 60 or 70. As a kid when watching Kingsman, I thought those glasses were so cool. Even watching Harry Potter as a kid, I would search at the glasses shop to see if they had round glasses.*

Do you expect Cooper to continue to be your creative partner on all projects? Or do you see yourself doing solo work?

Absolutely. We’ll always work together. I have my solo things. I don’t think Cooper’s going to help me write Texas Chainsaw. But we’ve got a lot of stuff going on and I’ll always ask him for input. I’ll ask him to come on and produce. We’re becoming our own production company.

So what do you want to do next?

The big conversation is: Do I want to do an IP movie? Or do I want to do my original? I have an idea for my original, but I have so many ideas for Chainsaw as well. I have a lot to weigh and that’s where the stress really comes from. I don’t know what to do next.

Is there something you know you don’t want?

I don’t want to go straight into Obsession 2. I have such a cool idea for it that I won’t say. I’m not saying it has to be five, six years from now. But I think people would be just as excited for it if it came a little down the road.

The Director of Obsession Wrote the Film's Script While Working at a Coffee Shop

*"It started as just an idea that I had," Barker told Seen on the Screen host Jacqueline Coley. "And then it kinda started as a short film. James Harris was a producer who reached out to my manager and said, 'I've got this program that I do where I basically pick an up-and-coming filmmaker based off short films, and I give them a very small amount of money to go make a movie. And I saw [Barker's short The Chair], and I'd love to do a feature film version of The Chair. I heard that opportunity and I was like, 'That's awesome, but I'm really excited about this Obsession idea that I've been toying around with, so can I pitch you that instead?' And so I pitched him Obsession."

Barker continued, "[Harris] liked [the idea] enough. He was just like, 'OK, write the script and we'll see.' So I just started chipping away at the script. It was the grind. I had a job at the coffee shop, and I'd come home and type up this script*

Curry Barker - Wikipedia

Curry Barker (born September 22, 1999) is an American filmmaker, comedian, actor, and YouTuber. He is known for the sketch comedy YouTube channel "that's a bad idea", which he co-created with Cooper Tomlinson. He directed and wrote the horror films Milk & Serial (2024) and Obsession (2025).

grew up in Mobile, Alabama. In a 2026 interview, he stated that he had an interest in horror from a young age, noting that his viewing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when he was 11 years old led him to want to chase the feeling of being shocked

Aspiring to be an actor, Barker left home at eighteen to study at the New York Film Academy campus in Los Angeles. During his first week, he met fellow student Cooper Tomlinson, and they soon began making videos together on YouTube, which they described as "our film school outside of film school", forming the sketch comedy duo "that's a bad idea". They began publishing comedy sketches and short films on YouTube and TikTok.

In 2023, Barker wrote and directed the horror short film The Chair and uploaded it to YouTube, where it was watched more than 10 million times. Film producer James Harris of Tea Shop Productions reached out to Barker to adapt it into a feature, but Barker instead pitched his horror film Obsession (2025).

Barker directed the $800 found footage horror film Milk & Serial (2024). Despite spending a year trying to get distribution, Barker ultimately decided to release the full film on YouTube. The film went viral, leading to a representation deal with United Talent Agency in early 2025.

‘Obsession’ Payout: Jason Blum to make $17 million on indie horror hit News - Entertainment

Jason Blum's Blumhouse Atomic is making $17 million in box office bonuses on the movie as an executive producer who helped market the film, three individuals with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.
Blum was brought onto "Obsession" as an executive producer a month and a half after the acquisition of the film to help with the marketing, and negotiated a box office bonus structure of $2 million after the film hit $25 million domestic at the box office, according to an individual with knowledge of the deal. Blumhouse Atomic also receives additional box office bonuses of $500,000 for every $5 million thereafter.

Jason Blum - Wikipedia

Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises including Paranormal Activity (2007–2021), Insidious (2010–present), The Purge (2013–2021), and Halloween (2018–2022).

Other Blumhouse films include Sinister (2012), Oculus (2013), Whiplash (2014), The Gallows (2015), The Gift (2015), Hush (2016), Split (2016), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Get Out (2017), Happy Death Day (2017), Upgrade (2018), BlacKkKlansman (2018), Us (2019), The Invisible Man (2020), Freaky (2020), The Black Phone (2021), M3GAN (2022), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Speak No Evil (2024), and Obsession (2025).

He obtained financing for his first film as producer, Kicking and Screaming (1995), after asking family friend Steve Martin to read the script and write a letter endorsing it if he enjoyed it. After Martin obliged, Blum replaced the title page of the script with copies of Martin's letter before he sent the script to Hollywood executives.

Blum found work as an executive for Bob and Harvey Weinstein at their production company Miramax, and later as an independent producer for Paramount Pictures. Prior to his tenure at Miramax, he was a producing director at the Malaparte theater company in New York

In 2000, Blum founded Blumhouse Productions, which is known for producing micro-budget films that give directors full creative control

On August 14, 2020, Daily Front Row listed Blum as one of a group of high-profile investors who purchased failing fashion magazine W. After appearing on an episode of Shark Tank, Blum made a deal with American Immersion Theater, the leading immersive theater company in the U.S.

Blum married journalist Lauren A. E. Schuker in Los Angeles on July 14, 2012. They currently reside in a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, which he purchased for $9.8 million in 2019.

Blumhouse Productions - Wikipedia

Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded on September 30, 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Most of the company's theatrically released films since 2014 are owned and distributed by Universal Pictures as part of a ten-year first-look deal.

Blumhouse is known mainly for producing horror films

It has also produced drama films, such as Whiplash and BlacKkKlansman

Blumhouse's company model is to produce films on a small budget, give directors creative freedom, and release films widely through the studio system.

In 2015, Crypt TV was created by Jack Davis and Eli Roth which is backed by Blum and the company.

Blumhouse's low-budget model began in 2007 with Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and grossed over $193 million worldwide

On November 16, 2022, it was announced that James Wan's Atomic Monster was in talks to merge with Blumhouse

The merger was finalized on January 2, 2024.

On June 4, 2025, it was announced that the company was in talks to acquire Twisted Pictures' stake in the Saw franchise, with Lionsgate still being involved. Later that month, the acquisition was finalized and the deal would have James Wan and Leigh Whannell regain creative control for the future of the franchise.

In 2012, Blumhouse opened the Blumhouse of Horrors, an interactive haunted house experience in Downtown Los Angeles.

In November 2014, it launched Blumhouse Books, to publish original horror and thriller novels.

In February 2023, it launched Blumhouse Games to produce and publish original horror-themed video games for console, PC and mobile devices as part longer-term effort to branch out into interactive media. The division would join up with independent developers and focus on games with budgets of under $10 million. It would offer financing and help with creative input.

'Obsession' art director lambasts movie industry after poor pay

Sally Choi, the art director behind the surprising box office horror hit Obsession, has called for industry reform after receiving less than $7,000 in pay despite the film nearing $175million.

Choi shared a lengthy statement on social media regarding the film’s success, which began, “I’ve debated this for a long time. I’ve been holding a lot of weight over the past two years since the production of Obsession, so I’m going to say it as it is.”

She explained, in startling stats, the economics behind the operation: “Obsession was made for $750K and is projected to make $250M. How much I made: $300/day as Art Director. This came out to $6741.36 after taxes. No mileage.”

She added, “I did know the rate beforehand and agreed to it, but at the time, I was living paycheck to paycheck. This is the reality of most filmmakers, especially those who work below the line. We become a line in the budget sheet to keep as low as possible.”

She also added that some of the crew were volunteers and were only “paid in gas and mileage”, which “wasn’t even paid on time, so to make a $250M grossing film, some of these amazing people had to come out of pocket to work on set.”

She revealed that, despite her job title, she also worked as “a PA, set dresser, graphic designer, background actor, driver, swing, and buyer”, embellishing the effort that went into each of these duties.

The artist ended with a call to others in the crew to come forward and “share your rate, maybe we can turn a tide in the film industry”.

Obsession art director doubles down after slamming low pay and working conditions

The art director who called out the pay rate and working conditions on the set of Obsession has shared an update after being told she’ll be blacklisted from the industry – and she’s doubling down on her position.

Now Sally Choi’s had time to digest the discourse and she’s not backing down. Taking to Instagram this week, she shared a meme that reads, “Sorry I was so weird, but you invoked a topic I am not capable of being normal about.”

“I encourage you to reach out to your respective union, whether you are a member or not, to discuss a future where we can continue to make the art we love so much for years and years to come,” she said.

Obsession Cinematographer Looks Beyond the Darkness to What Lies Beneath

*Q&A with director of photography Taylor Clemons

New to the horror genre, Clemons brought his own experience and prowess to look beyond the obvious to find a new way of capturing terror and fear.

We spoke with Clemons

*How did you get involved shooting Obsession?

I was living on a sailboat, trekking from Mexico to Costa Rica, when I first chatted with Curry. His producer, Haley Johnson, found me online completely by chance*

How did you visualize the look of the film?
When I first read the screenplay and started talking with Curry, the process was very different from what I was used to. We never exchanged stills or made reference bibles—which was unusual for me. I’ve always made big visual pitches on other projects, but with this one it immediately felt like we were already too deep inside the details to rely on other people’s images. Instead, we needed to break it down scene by scene.

Did you have any other inspiration?
For my own reference, I kept returning to David Fincher’s Se7en.

How did you use shadows and dark spaces to compose the frame and set the mood?
I’m really interested in the empty dark space where the mind can fill in the details of a frame. I think the way our static cameras let you sit in that darkness, searching, adds to the anxiety in a way that is deeply felt.

I’m so grateful to our gaffer Chris Oh and our DIT Andrew Nibbi—they knew the assignment from the start and kept me brave.

Can you talk about the effect of obscuring Nikki’s face?
The motifs of silhouettes on Nikki were a perfect example of our “less is more” strategy. We shot a lot of those moments in long continuous takes. I think the shadowy shapes almost feel like they could be someone you know. That familiarity mixed with uncertainty is really potent

What makes shooting horror particularly fun?
This was my first horror film. While I think I had always understood the genre photographically, Curry showed me I could understand it story-wise—first, through Ari Aster’s work, and then, through the scripts he would write and direct. Horror was so freeing for me because I was able to finally see these stories through a much more expressionistic lens, letting go of the more naturalistic style I had often held myself to.
For some reason, with a Curry Barker script, I felt I was no longer anchored to what I would expect the world to behave like. The only thing that mattered in the world we were building was keeping at any cost the audience in a specific emotional state for as long as the film lasted. Working with this mindset has been one of the biggest breakthroughs for me as a storyteller.

17 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets About "Obsession" That'll Make You Watch The Movie Differently

8. Michael Johnston didn't actually audition for the role of Bear. One day, he got an email from his reps asking him to read the script and he fell in love with it right away.

I’m gonna give credit to Skyler Zurn [Obsession’s casting director] and she really…they did a big search for this role, so I’m so grateful to be a part of it."