Curry Barker is putting a new horror short on YouTube for free this week. IGN reports that Mama Bear arrives on 29 October, a day before Halloween weekend, and that the Obsession director shared the news on Instagram along with the title.
According to GamesRadar, the premiere is set for 11:30am US Eastern on Barker’s personal That’s a Bad Idea channel. That’s 7:30pm in the UAE and 6:30pm in Saudi Arabia. The same report says Barker wrote, directed and edited the short, and that Windows is sponsoring it. Bloody Disgusting adds that a YouTube premiere page is live, so you can sign up for a reminder.
The premise and runtime are still under wraps. What we do have is the cast: Jon Lee Richardson plays Floyd, Katie Sarife plays Lacey, Ericka Kreuz plays Ms. Wilson, and Joshua Snyder plays Floyd’s doppelgänger. Bloody Disgusting also reports that Barker reunites with Obsession production designer Vivian Gray.
IGN speculates that the title nods to Baron “Bear” Bailey, Obsession‘s lead, whose parents never appear in the film. The announced characters don’t mention Bear, though, and no connection to the feature has been confirmed. For now, Mama Bear looks like a standalone short, and the Windows sponsorship points the same way.
It’s also a return to Barker’s roots. His feature debut was the YouTube-released Milk & Serial, which iHorror notes was made for about $800. Dread Central reports that Obsession, his next film, took more than $500 million worldwide, while IGN puts the budget at roughly $600,000-750,000. If you missed the film’s run, we’ve also covered how Netflix offered to stream it before the Focus Features deal, and Nikki’s rise as a top Halloween costume in Google’s 2026 searches.
When can I watch Mama Bear in the UAE?
The short premieres on YouTube on 29 October at 11:30am US Eastern, which is 7:30pm UAE time. It’s a free premiere, so you can set a reminder on the video’s page.
Is Mama Bear a sequel to Obsession?
Nothing announced says so. The title has fuelled speculation about Bear Bailey, but the cast list names different characters, and the premise hasn’t been revealed.
Do I need Windows to watch it?
No. Windows sponsors the short, but it’s a standard YouTube release on Barker’s channel.
