Obsession Review

This reappraisal is based connected a screening which took spot astatine the 2025 Fantastic Fest Film Festival.

If you're a TikTok scroller, you astir apt cognize Curry Barker from his sketch drama channel, That's a Bad Idea, oregon possibly you've seen his fearfulness videos connected YouTube, similar the wide acclaimed full-length feature, Milk & Serial. But for many, Obsession volition beryllium their archetypal sensation of the maverick histrion and filmmaker's acheronian consciousness of storytelling…and what an introduction. Barker's mainstream debut precocious sold for implicit $15 cardinal to Focus Features for a reason, showcasing a twisted originative acceptable to instrumentality the fearfulness genre by storm.

Michael Johnston stars arsenic Baron, aka Bear, an worker astatine Cassell's Music. Upon introductions, everything seems guiltless enough; Bear has a crush connected his bubbly and adorable co-worker, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), and nervously prepares to yet inquire her out. He fumbles the message, the accidental passes, and that's erstwhile Bear turns to higher powers, opening a container labeled "One Wish Willow" which supposedly grants a azygous privation to the user. Bear holds the $6.99 Willow stick, says helium wishes Nikki loved him much than anyone successful the world, and snaps the enchanted object. Nikki reappears retired of nowhere, and from past connected – with nary boundaries – Bear's privation comes true.

It's the eventual anti-romantic drama setup that turns into thing abbreviated of a psychotic Hallmark peculiar inversion. The monkey's paw effect is successful afloat unit arsenic Bear yet gets attraction from Nikki, but the consequences snowball into a catastrophic concern helium cannot control. Obsession unravels from atrocious to worse implicit and implicit again, each the mode until a gut-punch of an ending that's similar Stephen King doing a Shakespearean tragedy. Barker's imaginativeness knows nary limitations, making maine deliberation of different caller and perfectly bonkers fearfulness debuts similar It's What's Inside oregon Barbarian.

Obsession is simply a much contained beast than those films, however. The film's occurrence rests connected Johnston’s and Navarrette's shoulders, the second of whom delivers my favourite show from this year’s Fantastic Fest. Johnston's relation arsenic the soft-spoken, timid "nice boy" is the doormat helium needs to be, portion Navarrette is simply a revelation. Her relation arsenic Nikki is the miss adjacent doorway who's glitching out, similar this uncanny vale instrumentality connected Nicholas Sparks novels. One minute, Nikki's a phantasy housewife, glued to Bear's side; the other, she's a slumber paralysis demon, watching him snooze from a shadowy chamber corner, slinking astir with unnatural movements. The mode Navarrette comes successful and retired of consciousness, overmuch similar divided personalities, is eerily seamless. She besides emotes hilariously portion scream-crying similar a sitcom woman oregon unleashing convulsive furies to get Bear's attention.

Obsession is besides a fantastic instrumentality connected toxic relationships from the extracurricular in, acknowledgment to Cooper Tomlinson's Ian and Megan Lawless' Sarah. They're colleagues and friends of Bear and Nikki, who ticker the unusual displacement successful behaviour arsenic the 2 pb characters go an contiguous storybook couple. Where Bear sees thing incorrect due to the fact that Nikki yet worships his existence, Ian and Sarah spot an unhealthy connection. They marque important acknowledgments astir Nikki's nonaccomplishment of aforesaid arsenic she becomes conscionable an hold of Bear. Barker's intentions whitethorn beryllium to daze and repulse, but his erratic satire of one-sided partnerships speaks loudly astir the favoritism betwixt emotion and lust, and however desperation tin alteration america into jealous, disfigured monsters.

That said, Obsession isn't lone a quality dissection. It whitethorn trust connected conversational hostility and affluent performances, taking a infinitesimal to truly deed its afloat stride, but the nastier elements flash crisp fangs. What starts with unusual offerings, similar Nikki creating a room memorial for Bear's dormant pet, kicks into a breakneck genre climax that mounts with crushing pressure. All Bear tin bash is plaster a thousand-yard look connected his look and ticker arsenic his privation ruins countless lives. Threats crook to violence, snuggles crook to captivity, and Bear has to swallow the harsh world that his selfishness is liable for each the chaos that ensues. It's an immeasurably grim cautionary tale, but successful the astir rewarding and entertaining of ways.