Curry Barker has just signed a eight-figure contract to write, direct and produce a new original horror film – but how much do you know about the director?
Curry Barker is the new director causing a stir in Hollywood who made the hit movie about obsessive love, Obsession. The film explains why there is a rule about why you cannot wish for a person to love you like the genie in Aladdin told us about back in 1992 – with predictably horrifying consequences for everyone concerned.
Obsession was a big hit – it is currently nearing the £300 million gross barrier globally, on a budget of £750,000 – and has made Curry an in-demand name in Hollywood. Now, Deadline has reported that the filmmaker has secured an eight-figure deal with Universal Film Group and Blumhouse Atomic Monster to write, direct and produce a new original horror film.
But how well do you know Curry Barker? Here are some facts you might not know about him.
Early horror experience shaped Curry’s worldview
Curry’s early life was a valuable experience as it led to his development in the horror arts as we found from a 2026 interview.
He watched ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ at 11, which helped to develop his interest in horror as he wanted to chase the feeling of being shocked. He also did start and play in a band and ran his own YouTube channel with his friends.
He was a YouTube sensation
But Curry’s career started in earnest after he left home in Alabama to prosper at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. This led to Curry meeting fellow student Cooper Tomlinson. Soon after they met, they became friends and began a YouTube channel putting videos together and creating the sketch comedy duo ‘that’s a bad idea’. And yes, they also, as most comedy YouTubers do, dropped out of college, which in retrospective wasn’t that bad an idea.
Curry and Cooper then posted sketches onto TikTok and YouTube, Curry worked at a Starbucks during this, and sometimes he got occasional guest roles in shows such as ‘Dave’ and ‘It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia’ in 2023.
The Chair provided Curry’s big break
In 2023, Curry wrote and published the short horror film The Chair. This gathered him a mass following as it got more than 10 million views on YouTube. This caught the eye of the producer of Tea Shop Productions, James Harris, to adapt The Chair into a full-length feature.
However, Curry declined the offer to adapt The Chair in return for pitching a new concept, Obsession. As he told The Hollywood Reporter, the concept “It is like when The Wish gives you more than you bargained for,” which we see in obsession as the main character Nikki obsesses over Bear.
He didn’t get a tattoo after Obsession’s success
‘Obsession’ was a film with a very small budget for Hollywood films, only at $750,000. In return, the film was a big hit in the box office, grossing $300.4 million as it was both a new concept and sensation to hit audiences. Again, the Hollywood Reporter told us that Curry was also going to do something funny as “My agent, manager and I made a pact: If it passed $20 million that weekend, we would get tattoos of the One Wish Willow. But I didn’t.”
He’s directing a reboot of an iconic horror franchise
He’s directing a reboot of an iconic horror franchise
TheWrap also compared Curry to Kane Parsons (The Director of the internet horror sensation A24’s Backrooms) considering both YouTubers to Hollywood directors with horror. Earlier in April 2026, it was announced that Curry would be directing the reboot of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ with A24 Films.
Reporting by Iwan Parton
