Focus Features Teams Up with Curry Barker for Blumhouse & Spooky Pictures’ ‘Anything But Ghosts’ Starring Aaron Paul

Focus Features Reunites with Rising Horror Filmmaker Curry Barker for New Project

Focus Features has announced its collaboration with emerging horror director Curry Barker on his latest film, Anything But Ghosts, which has recently completed production in Vancouver, Canada. This project features three-time Primetime Emmy winner Aaron Paul, who stars alongside Barker and fellow collaborator Cooper Tomlinson.

Barker and Tomlinson have a longstanding partnership through their viral comedy group, That’s a Bad Idea, which has garnered millions of followers on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Utilizing a modest budget of $800, Barker wrote, directed, and starred in the found-footage film Milk & Serial, which was released for free on YouTube. The film attracted over two million views and received critical acclaim, being named one of Variety’s Best Horror Films of 2024. Tomlinson also stars in the project Obsession.

Produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse and Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures, along with Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath from Divide/Conquer, Anything But Ghosts is done in association with Image Nation and That’s a Bad Idea. The film’s executive producers include Barker, Tomlinson, and Ben Ross from Image Nation.

Obsession, which premiered at SXSW last month, currently holds a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film, which also features Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter, follows a hopeless romantic whose wish for his longtime crush to love him back results in unintended consequences. Barker is also slated to direct and write a new feature adaptation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for A24.

Aaron Paul, known for his role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, has received multiple accolades for his performance, including three Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe nomination. He reprised his role in the Netflix sequel El Camino and appeared in the spinoff series Better Call Saul. Additionally, Paul has featured in HBO’s Westworld and films such as Central Intelligence, Triple 9, and Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. He is represented by UTA.

Curry Barker is represented by Underground, United Talent Agency, and Yorn Levine, while Tomlinson is represented by Canopy Media Partners, Paradigm, and Yorn Levine.