Obsession - Movie Review

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Good evening. This is the Oscar expert here and it's time to review Obsession directed by Curry Barker. The film follows Bear, a 20-some guy with a crush on his friend Nikki who doesn't seem to like him back. So, he makes a wish for her to love him and the wish becomes terrifyingly real. This was an extremely uncomfortable watch in every single way.

[00:00:19]It is genuinely scary, which is something that I do not say very often about movies. It's freaky and chilling and unsettling and also loaded with great dark cringe comedy. Your skin will be crawling and you won't know if it's because you are cringing or if you are scared is probably both. I was surprised that this film was scary given the premise because then the concept, you know, is his girlfriend is the monster here and so what could possibly be so scary about that? But no, Nikki is horrifying. She is wildly unpredictable, switching between chilling quiet and sudden shrieks and jerky uncanny body movements. So, it's just this constant feeling of being on edge. And he cannot escape. It is as much a horror nightmare as it is a social nightmare because if he does not stay near her and affirm her love, she will erupt and it will be even worse. And Indie Navared's performance as Nikki is so wild and uncanny. She is just a showstopper here. From her wild manic emotional swings to terrifying facial expressions and body movements, there's no telling what Nikki could do next. This attribute of this character makes it very scary and also very fun.

[00:01:30]It doesn't have a lot of logic to it.

[00:01:32]Like Bear wonders this as well. He's like, "Well, why why is she doing like scary [ __ ] Why does this make her do scary shit?" We don't know. The movie doesn't know. It's because it's scary.

[00:01:41]It's because the movie is trying to scare us and therefore Nikki does scary things. So for Curry Barker, it seems that the end result of shaking the audience around is the goal here. And I think it is true that horror films are often less terrifying the more we know about things. But I would maybe argue that like on a deeper level, the film falters a little bit here. It's operating in such absurd territory that it can no longer ground itself in some of the social themes that it presents early on because it is a story about the mindset of like, oh, I wish this girl would like me back. And it kind of deconstructs that a bit and says that, you know, that really strips this person of their agency. There's also a great scene early on where when he is embracing her, he can't tell if he is violating her consent or not. But I feel like when I try to take these ideas further and evaluate like how they develop with the story, I don't really get anywhere. I kind of hit a brick wall. And so I came away mainly thinking that this was just a thrill ride. And as a thrill ride, it's pretty top shelf. It is a really well stylized movie, too.

[00:02:41]Curry Barker is very focused on the atmosphere, the performances, the tension, and really less is more with the direction and the editing here. The camera is often fixed. It's rarely in closeup. A lot of filmmakers try to build tension through cutting, through, you know, a variety of angles and making it punchy by cutting between them. But Barker's camera is unnervingly patient.

[00:03:03]And where there could be a lack of tension due to the lack of editing punctuation, it's actually made up for by the sound design and ambient score.

[00:03:12]And I think that that was a smart way to sort of trade off the different elements of film making. And I really loved the detailed soft lighting here and how terrifying it was whenever Nikki was lit in shadow. And that was a major part of how it managed to be so spooky when really the monster here is just this normal person that we're looking at. And also because Indie Navaretti is just so good. She is asked to go to wild places here and she is gleefully up for the challenge. I feel like she's going to be a big star after this. I've even seen some early Oscar buzz for this which I cannot hate on at all. If we can drum up enough support that some critics groups do it, then I'll be happy. But as much as I would delight in seeing that happen, I don't think she's going all the way. And I also enjoyed Michael Johnston a lot here. He's perfectly awkward and allows the character to be sympathetic and frustrating and odd all the same. He is asked to react to a whole lot here. And I was really impressed with how they always felt believable and grounded. Obsession is one of the most visceral moviegoing experiences I've had in a while. One of the scariest movies I've seen in a while. It's really wellcraftrafted, in some ways inventive. You know, not quite profound, but uh what a roller coaster ride. I would give it an 8 out of 10.

[00:04:23]It'll be in theaters next weekend. Take your friends. Thank you for watching.

[00:04:27]Thank you for subscribing. What kind of scary things would happen if your wish came true?