‘Obsession’ Director Officially Returns to Horror With a ‘Breaking Bad’ Star
In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 3000 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom. You can also hear Jake every week as the resident film and TV journalist on Track Radio.
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In a year packed with great horror, from A24's Backrooms to Nia DaCosta's explosive 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, nothing quite stands out like Focus Features' Obsession. Released at a similar time to the aforementioned Backrooms and the latest movie from the Star Wars franchise, strong word of mouth and viral appeal helped shoot Obsession into the box office stratosphere, exceeding all expectations. Among its many achievements, the film became the highest-grossing non-animated original film of the past decade, the highest-grossing original horror movie of this century, and the fifth highest-grossing horror film of all time.
Obsession isn't just a financial smash; it also has earned widespread critical acclaim, and it's now hoping to follow in the footsteps of recent horror hits like The Substance and Weapons in achieving success at the Academy Awards. It seems that Inde Navarrette's star-making turn as Nikki Freeman, which Collider's Hannah Hunt called "one of the year's best" performances in her review, is the most likely to win a major award, but there are many who will be breaking their One Wish Willow in the hope that Curry Barker takes home the Best Director prize.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child's Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
- You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
- These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
- You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
- You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
- The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
- By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
- You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
- The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
- Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
- Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
- This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
- Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.
What Is Next for Curry Barker?
Barker's eyes will be focused not on the golden shimmer of an Academy Award, but on his next project, which will see him not just direct but also step in front of the camera, inspired by his start in YouTube sketch comedy. Anything But Ghosts, described as a horror buddy comedy, will feature Barker teaming up with his longtime collaborator Cooper Tomlinson, and a stellar cast including Breaking Bad icon Aaron Paul, as well as Bryce Dallas Howard, and Violet McGraw, in the tale of fake paranormal investigators who finally face real ghosts.
It has now been revealed that Anything But Ghosts will be officially released on May 7, 2027, almost exactly a year after Obsession debuted. Universal Pictures International will handle international distribution for the film, with Focus owning worldwide rights. Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Jason Blum, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath will produce, with executive producers including Daniel Bekerman, Barker, Tomlinson, and Ben Ross. A logline reads:
"When a group of fame-seeking wannabe ‘ghosthunters’ find themselves in over their heads, things spiral wildly and terrifyingly out of control."
Obsession is streaming now on Peacock. For more of the latest stories, make sure to stay tuned to Collider.
- Release Date
- May 15, 2026
- Runtime
- 108 minutes
- Director
- Curry Barker
-
Michael Johnston
Bear
-
Inde Navarrette
Nikki
-
Cooper Tomlinson
Ian
-
Megan Lawless
Sarah
- Writers
- Curry Barker
- Producers
- Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Roman Viaris, Haley Nicole Johnson
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