‘Obsession’ Director Curry Barker Wants an R-Rated ‘Indiana Jones’-Style Adventure. I’m With Him.

Of all the things Curry Barker has said since Obsession became a box office smash, this might be the one I most wanted somebody to say out loud. The man wants to make an R-rated adventure in the spirit of Indiana Jones. And my first thought was, yeah, remember when those movies could scare the shit out of you?

The subject came up in Barker’s interview with Gold Derby. His producing partner, Cooper Tomlinson, had told the outlet he wanted to make an old-school Steven Spielberg adventure. When Gold Derby brought that up with Barker, he explained where the two of them would take it.

“I would want to do a really f–ked up, rated-R version of [Indiana Jones],” Barker said. “I want to do a crazy adventure movie.”

Barker and Tomlinson have been talking about an adventure of their own. Their idea starts with an ordinary guy, maybe two, who sets off on a journey and gets in way over his head. Indiana Jones is the reference point. And hearing Barker talk about it, I have to imagine Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom got under his skin as a kid the way it did for so many of us. That movie could send you flying down a mine track one minute and have you scared of Indy himself the next. Once Mola Ram gets to him, even Short Round has to be afraid of the guy we’ve all been counting on to get him out alive.

That’s what I miss in the more recent Indy movies. I still enjoy going on the adventure. I just rarely worry about what’s going to happen to the people in it. Whether Barker makes up his own world or someday gets the keys to an existing one, I think he’s got the right idea. Send somebody we care about into real danger and let us sit there long enough to get scared for him. I’d love to feel that way about Indiana Jones again.