Curry Barker's New Short Is Out and It Could Be the Obsession Sequel We Need

Published Oct 30, 2026, 9:02 AM EDT Ashely currently works as a news writer for Polygon. After getting her Translation degree, she was hired as a guide and news writer for GameRant and TheGamer. She enjoyed working as an author for these sites for six years, and in 2026, she started at Polygon, where she is able to continue to do what she loves: writing about video games. Let the theories begin Image: That's A Bad Idea All eyes have been on director Curry Barker since the release of his indie horror movie, Obsession. It not only had an astonishing box office run, but it was also critically acclaimed, with a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Barker's ideas are one-of-a-kind, which is why fans were excited to learn that Mama Bear, a new short film, would be coming their way right before Halloween. Mama Bear premiered on YouTube on Oct. 29, and in less than a day, it reached over 950,000 views. Similar to Obsession, the short film has horror elements and an overall unsettling feel. In its 5 minutes of runtime, the short is able to convey the characters' distress and unveil a dark reality, while leaving much unexplained. Spoilers for Mama Bear ahead Mama Bear could be set in the same universe as Obsession In the short, we see Floyd, who fell asleep on the job as a housecleaner, waking up to his phone blowing up with calls from Lacy. A friend warns him that she is trying to find him and kill him. He seems confused and initially doesn't take it seriously because he doesn't know what Lacy thinks he's done. Then he looks around. There are bloody footprints on the floor and a blood-covered wrench on the table. In the corner of the room, there is a strange entity with a blood-stained shirt that makes weird poses and moves in an eerie way. The owner of the house comes back, followed shortly after by Lacy, armed with a gun, who starts shooting wildly until she kills Floyd. Then, the camera reveals that the figure in the corner looks exactly like Floyd, but he's covered in blood. Image: That's A Bad Idea The short is cryptic and unsettling, but fans have already started to formulate theories, using Barker's other works, especially Obsession, as clues. Some believe that Floyd broke a One Wish Willow, the same wish-granting item that appears in Obsession. As Floyd is a house cleaner, he might have wished for someone to "do the cleaning," which the item twisted into something sinister. Based on the short's title, Mama Bear, the theory proposes that Josh had an unwanted child with Lacy, and the doppelgänger summoned by the wish killed the baby. That explains why Lacy shoots without asking questions, and also why Floyd is not that freaked out when he sees the figure in the corner. Overall, Mama Bear follows Barker's style of mixing psychological horror with absurdist humor. It could just be an idea the director had for a long time, or it could be teasing something more that's coming in the future. In any case, it would be interesting to see the short's backstory expanded, perhaps as a standalone sequel to Obsession.