Curry Barker Releases YouTube Horror Short Mama Bear

Curry Barker has released Mama Bear, a five-minute horror short on YouTube that marks a return to the format through which he built an audience before the success of his feature film Obsession. The short was posted Thursday, October 29, on the Thats a Bad Idea channel, which Barker runs with creative partner Cooper Tomlinson. Sponsored by Windows, Mama Bear was written, directed and edited by Barker. It follows Floyd, a young man whose nap is interrupted by unsettling phone calls. The situation escalates when he discovers a doppelgänger, turning an ordinary day into a nightmare. Jon Lee Richardson plays Floyd, with Katie Sarife as Lacey, Ericka Kreuz as Ms. Wilson and Joshua Snyder as the double. The film uses a brief, atmospheric approach rather than spelling out every element of its story. Its imagery and tone have similarities to Obsession, Barker’s feature about a man whose wish for a woman’s love leads to frightening consequences. In Mama Bear, the phone calls and the double provide the central mystery, while the short’s compact form leaves much of the events around them unstated. The release brings Barker back to YouTube after his theatrical work attracted wider...