Obsession

It’s only appropriate that a movie titled Obsession would be such a hot movie, but not even the people who made it could’ve expected just how obsessed people were going to be. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025, with this being the second time 26-year-old YouTube filmmaker, Curry Barker, would be featured, the film did so well that it was picked up for distribution by Focus Features and got Jason Blum attached as a producer, who clearly saw the potential this film could offer, and he was certainly correct. Breaking records left and right and currently having a box office of $341 million (which is astounding considering it was made on a budget of only 750K), Obsession has become one of the most-talked about horror films in an era where the genre has plenty of impressive options to chew on, and with Curry Barker being elevated from scrappy up-in-comer to lauded visionary in the span of a single feature, it feels like everybody has gotten something positive out of this crazy, intense, yet still very entertaining feature.

A young man named Bear (played by Michael Johnston) desperately pins after a girl named Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette) whom he works with a small music store, but never works up the courage to ask her out, even though he constantly hangs out with her after work with their other two co-workers, Sarah and Ian (played by Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson). After literally making the ultimate fumble, Bear turns to more drastic measures to win over his crush by using a ‘’One Wish Willow’’, a novelty toy that claims to grant one wish when broken.  After wishing for Nikki to ‘’love him more than anything in the world’’, Nikki suddenly goes gaga for Bear, never wanting to leave his side and proudly professing her love over and over again. While the two start dating, it becomes clear to Bear (and the others around him) that something is very wrong with Nikki, going from lying about her father’s illness to force Bear’s sympathises, to watching Bear while he sleeps, to creating a disturbed alter for Bear’s recently deceased cat. Knowing that this is his doing but being unwilling to admit to his friends (or Nikki) that he quite literally ‘’forced’’ her into this relationship, Bear sees the damage he’s done but learns very quickly that it’s too late to fix anything, with the wish only being rescinded if one of the two involved perish.

Obsession is full-on from beginning to end, not holding anything back when presenting a relatively simple premise and execution and creating something unforgettable, raw, and incredibly tense and uncomfortable. With tight pacing and direction, efficient scripting, engrossing ambience elevated through intricate visuals and sound design, and two phenomenal leading performances, this unexpected gem delivers beyond expectations.

Consider a maverick film for its unconventional road to success, Obsession and Curry Barker proved common expectations wrong by hooking in so many different kinds of audiences for a film that originally couldn’t have dreamed for such a global distribution, and it used that coverage very well. Building with hype with each consecutive week it was out, Obsession hooked people in instantly with its straightforward yet intriguing premise, twisting a traditional ‘’be careful what you wish for’’ message by putting it through the lens of a toxic phony relationship that plays on the cartoonish trope of the ‘’main protagonist wishing their love interest would fall for them’’, but taken to a disturbingly real level. While this story does have some fantastical supernatural qualities to it and isn’t afraid to go extreme in the chills and even some of the uncomfortable giggles, the genuineness of the situation is what makes it so bone-chilling, as seeing this women essentially become comatose and forced to sacrifice her entire life for a guy she doesn’t have feelings for so that he can get her without needing to ask, is truly disturbing, and with its exposure and call-out of ‘’nice guys’’ and the way they gaslight women into believing they deserve ultimate love and attention for being passive, it manages to do a lot more with this idea than initially expected.

Barker’s direction is wonderfully raw and unfiltered, with a semi-unconventional take that doesn’t feel bizarre or different from other claustrophobic psychological horror films of the same type, but isn’t shaded down by needless padding, multiple supporting characters, or an extended length. With a running time of about 109 mins, a small group of characters who are used exactly how they need to be, and an incredibly intimate presentation that keeps you in every uncomfortable moments and makes it hard to predict exactly where this very tense series of events is heading, it’s an experience that will have you sweating and shivering, but constantly engaged with what’s going to happening. There’s just enough worldbuilding to posit questions, but never too much that it removes the believability of this world, the script presents dialogue that bounces between uncomfortably lyrical to grittily authentic, and while there’s no jump-scares or moments of traditional horror, the sequences featuring Nikki in her deranged state are truly horrific both from a scary and tragic standpoint. It might not connect with all audiences as it’s a very singular movie not technically doing anything that different for the genre, but all the components are so effectively polished and presented that you don’t care either way.

With only four characters of focus, and two as the true leads, the film thankfully isn’t bogged down by excess baggage and every character (however simple they may be) is able to leave an impression through how their plots play out and how the actors portray them, with all four of them doing a very good job playing these parts believable and with personality, but never to the point that they feel entirely good or bad. While the scenario is the true ‘’opposition’’ of the film, and no one in this movie is downright evil, Obsession is very clever at giving every focal character a shady side that keeps them from being totally sympathetic, with the only cavoite being towards Nikki herself. Considering she was actually cast before the male lead (who was picked based on the chemistry they would have with her), clearly Nikki was the crucial part to get right, and they absolutely managed that, with Inde Navarrette giving an Oscar-calibre performance as this tormented puppet who is forced to play up an uncomfortable clinging and unhinged façade with fragments of the actual person screaming to be released from this relationship, and she does this fantastically. Her wails and hysterical actions are genuingly chilling, but her manic nature and unpredictability also adds a layer of dark comedy to her scenes, never truly knowing what’s going to happen and how you’ll react to it, it’s a truly scene-stealing performance and Navarrette is arguably one of the main reasons this film is so successful.

Michael Johnston is also very strong as Bear, bringing a believable nervousness to the part that makes him effectively shy and awkward, but never sympathetic, with his actions and refusal to totally snap the curse as (whether he wants to admit it or not), he likes having her as his girlfriend despite her clear objection, cements him as a person that shouldn’t receive sympathy. Cooper Tomlinson is effective as the pushy and flawed but not antagonistic supportive friend, and Megan Lawless is nice at bringing a more grounded and less frantic performing style against her more hyperactive cast, and even Curry Barker as the voice behind the One Wish Willow is humorously chill for such a powerful tool that can alter lives permanent, bringing a dementedly comedic and even grounded factor to this world and premise. Despite the small amount, no one feels like they don’t leave an impression and greatly benefit the film as a whole.

Seeing a film made on such a low budget released in theatres is already worth praising (as movies have been way too expense recently for no good reason) and you can definitely this movie has a smaller budget from the limited cast, shooting location and specific tricks used to cover up moments where money would need to be spent, but it arguably feels like the movie greatly benefits from these restrictions. Nothing about this premise requires a ton of money, and through the use of clever camerawork, lighting, framing and music, the film adopts an amazingly intimate and narrow perspective that clutches the audience and refuses to let them look away from the chaos. The cinematography by Taylor Clemons is very fixed, plainly angled and narrow in focus, with a black shadowy outline clouding the surroundings to keep everyone’s attention on the problems at hand, and the limited use of color and frequent showcase of darkness and shadows really ups the uncomfortable environment even more.

What also helps this is the wonderfully used score and sound design, with the score by Rock Burwell feeling almost intentionally stock and overly euphoric in parts so that the blatant cut-off will be even more jarring (in either a comedic or frightening sense) and the sound design handled by Ben Zarai feeling extra crunchy, squelchy and booming whenever something rabid and crazy occurs. It keeps you on edge even when nothing is happening, elicits a jump even it doesn’t feel like it was intended, and makes what could be standard sequences feel extra unnerving because of how they are shot, how they sound and how they are paced.

Obsession is fittingly worth obsessing over, and everybody involved in making, distributing and hyping the film deserves credit for giving such a small movie and team the chance to say they stood against a Star Wars film and came out on top, and during a time where horror as a genre has arguably never been better, a movie that cost less than a million and didn’t originally receive a theatrical run still being considered one of the greatest of recent years is nothing to sneeze at. While it won’t be a film that everybody will gravitate towards, everyone should take something from it, whether it be the great script that tackles a simple and even done-before premise very well, the direction that feels atypical of studio pictures but has enough polish to stand alongside them soundly, the gritty visual and sound design that creates fantastic atmosphere and a terrifyingly real aesthetic, or the very strong performances (particularly Inde Navarrette who deserves all the praises). It’s become a hot ticket, so you’ve no doubt already seen, but if you haven’t jump on the bandwagon yet, don’t sit in silence and pin, go out there and introduce yourself to its horrifying magic.