Obsession Movie Review | Firstpost Movie Reviews | First Cut

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[00:00:00]What happens when you have no budget but great storytelling, conviction, and a knack for keeping audiences hooked?

[00:00:06]Obsession, directed by Kabir Bhaartia, is why movies are still a director's medium. Imagine if SRK from Darr became 100 times more obsessed with you and actually became your romantic partner.

[00:00:16]That's exactly what this movie, Obsession, is about. In this video, I'm breaking down my first thoughts on Obsession, the good, the bad, and everything in between, so you can ultimately decide whether you should go and watch the movie in the cinemas. Hi, I'm Dhruv Singh and welcome to First Post Presents First Cut.

[00:00:36]The plot of the movie is basically this: a guy makes a wish to skip the friend zone and turn his crush into the love of his life. Who wouldn't want to skip the awkwardness of the dating phase? The problem is that his wish turns into a nightmare when his crush literally becomes obsessed with him.

[00:00:54]My first thoughts are that this movie is a masterclass in how you can turn a simple, yet unique, concept into an epic horror film.

[00:01:02]This film keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout its runtime, while also making you laugh and feel weirded out in all the right moments. The movie is directed by Kabir Bhaartia, who's a famous creator behind the page That's a Bad Idea. His comedy sketches on Instagram are really funny, and you can see that sense of humor come in really handy here as well. While watching this film, I could also see that he took a lot of inspiration from Jordan Peele's Get Out, which happens to be one of my favorite horror movies. Watching the success of this film also made me feel that India needs to give more opportunities to creators who are good at storytelling, even if their projects are low-budget. A lot of the new creative talent today has moved into content creation, and they simply need people willing to support their creativity and provide them with the right platform and distribution.

[00:01:53]Let's talk about some of the things that I loved about the movie. Number one, the acting. The main leads, Michael Johnston and India Naveran, are excellent. She plays the girl next door who becomes obsessed with Bear, and she's specially impressive. One moment, you understand exactly why Bear likes her, and the next moment, she has you feeling completely unsettled through her expressions and reactions. Both actors play their parts really well. They keep their entire setting grounded, believable, and genuinely horrifying. Cooper Tomlinson is also great as the best friend. He's genuinely funny in the scenes he's given, and adds a lot of charm to the film. Number two, the jump scares. The jump scares in this movie are top-notch.

[00:02:36]The film delivers some genuinely effective scares, specially one that comes towards the end of the movie.

[00:02:41]Number three, the writing and direction.

[00:02:43]Kary Bako knocks it out of the park with his debut feature. Everything works together beautifully, from the performances and the dialogue, which feels natural, conversational, and witty, to the cinematography. The way Bako uses silhouettes and framing to make characters feel threatening is genuinely haunting. He also knows exactly how long to hold a shot to make you feel uncomfortable, scared, weirded out, or even laugh at the absurdity of a situation. I genuinely think we may have found a great new horror director.

[00:03:17]I actually don't want to nitpick too much, but the one thing I wish the movie had explored further is a subplot involving the obsessed girl. I would have loved to see more of what she was experiencing internally, and how the obsession was actually changing her.

[00:03:32]My final rating is four out of five stars.

[00:03:35]I definitely recommend watching this movie in the cinemas.