One of the biggest mistakes horror franchises make is assuming that a good concept automatically needs a bigger sequel. A successful first movie introduces an idea people are compelled by, audiences respond with overwhelming positivity, and the next installment arrives with a larger budget, higher stakes, and more mythology. Sometimes it works, but other times the ambitions for a bigger sequel stretches a simple premise beyond what made it appealing in the first place. Obsession finds itself in a unique position. The independent horror movie revolves around a deceptively simple idea: a mysterious wish-granting service capable of giving people exactly what they think they want. The horror doesn’t come from a masked killer or a supernatural creature stalking its victims, it comes from desire itself. Every wish carries consequences, and every attempt to shortcut happiness creates new problems.
That concept gives Obsession something many horror movies never achieve: a framework that can support countless stories. While speaking with ScreenRant recently, writer-director Curry Barker revealed that he already has ideas for where the universe could go next. He mentioned having a concept for a traditional sequel, but he also shared an idea that’s even more exciting. Barker said he would love to create an eight-episode television series set within the same world, with each episode centered around a different wish. There couldn’t be a better potential future for Obsession.
Curry Barker Understands What Makes ‘Obsession’ Work
What stands out most about Barker’s comments is how clearly he understands the appeal of his own creation. “I have a really cool idea for the sequel, which is basically just another wish gone wrong with the same mechanism as the One Wish Willow,” Barker explained. “But also, and these are just things that — there’s no confirmed anything, ever. But I’d love the idea of a TV show, which is eight episodes. Each episode is a wish.” That distinction matters. The true star of Obsession isn’t a specific character, it’s the wish itself. The One Wish Willow serves as the mechanism that sets events in motion, but the stories are ultimately about the people who interact with it. Every person approaches desire differently. Every person believes they know what will make them happy. Every person carries different flaws, fears, and blind spots into the decision.
That means the premise doesn’t rely on following one protagonist forever. Instead, it can introduce entirely new people while exploring the same central theme from different angles. One episode could focus on someone desperate for fame, while another could center on a person seeking revenge. Someone else might wish for wealth, youth, love, or success. The possibilities feel nearly endless because the source of the horror is universal: everyone wants something.
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
Not Every Wish Needs a Full-Length Feature
A person stands in silhouette outside of a car at night in ‘Obsession’Image via Focus Features
Barker’s television pitch also addresses one of the biggest challenges facing any potential sequel. Not every wish naturally supports a two-hour movie. “Some wishes don’t deserve an hour and 45 minutes,” Barker said. “Some wishes should only be a 60-minute thing.” It’s a practical observation, but it’s also what makes the anthology concept so appealing. Modern franchises often treat every idea as if it needs to become a feature-length event. Television offers more flexibility because some stories can be small, while others can be sprawling. An anthology format allows each wish to receive exactly as much time as it needs without forcing every concept into the same structure.
It also creates opportunities for experimentation. Barker suggested the possibility of bringing in other filmmakers to direct different episodes, allowing multiple creative voices to explore the world he created. That approach could keep the series fresh while expanding the mythology in unexpected directions. Different directors would naturally gravitate toward different styles of horror. One episode might function as a psychological thriller, but another director could choose to lean into body horror, or dark comedy, or science-fiction… and that’s only scratching the surface. The rules of the universe would remain consistent, but the storytelling possibilities would continue to evolve.
The Possibility of a Happy Ending Changes Everything
Image via Focus Features
The most intriguing part of Barker’s pitch arrived when Bear actor Michael Johnston asked a simple question. “Any happy endings?” Barker’s response was telling:
“Who knows? Maybe there’s an episode where it really works out, and you’re waiting for something crazy to, and it just never does.”
That possibility might be the smartest part of the entire concept. Most cursed-wish stories follow a familiar pattern: someone gets what they want, the wish backfires, and the character pays a terrible price. Because of this established pattern, audiences typically see the twist coming long before it arrives. A television anthology could play with those expectations in ways a single movie cannot. If viewers assume every wish is doomed, an episode where things genuinely work out becomes unpredictable. Suddenly, every story carries uncertainty. Audiences can no longer assume they know how events will unfold. The tension shifts from anticipating the punishment to wondering whether punishment is coming at all. That’s an incredibly valuable tool for a horror series.
The best anthology shows thrive on unpredictability. The moment viewers believe they understand the formula, the formula stops being effective. Barker’s willingness to entertain the possibility of a positive outcome suggests he understands that challenge. Whether Obsession returns as a sequel, a television series, or both remains to be seen. What Barker’s comments reveal, however, is that the franchise’s greatest strength isn’t a specific character or storyline, it’s a premise flexible enough to support countless interpretations. An eight-episode anthology built around different wishes could explore that potential better than any traditional sequel ever could.
