Obsession is a deeply unsettling and unpredictable movie that will crawl under your skin and make you feel more uncomfortable than you’ve probably ever been in a movie theatre.
Written by Mariane Tremblay
After its Midnight Madness premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025, Obsession earned rave reviews, claiming it was one of the best horror movies of the 2020s and a standout in the Midnight Madness section, which definitely piqued my curiosity. While I wasn't able to watch it at the festival, I've been impatiently waiting ever since.
Written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker in his feature film debut, Obsession follows Baron "Bear" Bailey (Michael Johnston), a music store employee who secretly—or perhaps not so secretly—has a crush on his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette, who gives one og my favourite performances of the year). But how is he supposed to confess his feelings to her? Following the advice of his friends, Bear decides to buy Nikki something special and visits an occult shop, where he stumbles upon One Wish Willows, novelty toys that claim to grant one wish per person when broken. After a night out with their friends, Bear drives Nikki home. When they arrive in front of her house, she asks him, out of the blue, if he likes her, but he nervously denies it. Frustrated with himself, he breaks the One Wish Willow, wishing for Nikki to love him more than anything else in the world without realizing the consequences such a wish may bring. After all, why would a novelty toy actually work?
I’m not that easily unsettled by horror movies, as they usually operate with the same pattern, which is mostly just very predictable jump scares. But this movie, truly, is something else, and I think it will haunt me until the end of time—I still think about it even a few weeks after watching it, and it still makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thing with Obsession is, even though you know something is about to happen, the movie still finds a way to surprise you and make you jump out of your seat.
When I got out of my screening, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream, cry, or throw up. I couldn’t tell if I was simply unsettled or genuinely traumatized by what I had just watched. It was a whirlwind of emotions, but one thing is certain: walking to my car alone in the parking lot at midnight was an experience. I don’t think I’ve ever walked that fast before, and for some reason, I even checked the back seat before driving away. And when I finally went to bed that night, I was very grateful the TV was on. Although when I woke up in the middle of the night, I had to turn the light on because the darkness genuinely made me panic a little—what if someone was standing in the corner of my room?
Obsession is a deeply unsettling and unpredictable movie that will crawl under your skin and make you feel more uncomfortable than you’ve probably ever been in a movie theatre. Everything from the sound design to the editing, the lighting, and the way it’s framed adds another layer of tension throughout the movie. But truth be told, the more I think about Obsession, the more torn I am about how I genuinely feel about this movie, as its "message" can ultimately go both ways. And now that I think about it, I've been feeling like this ever since I stepped out of my screening. I previously claimed that it was one of the best horror movies I've ever seen, and that I loved everything that's wrong with Barker's mind, which I could still stand by, but the thing is, this movie can be good and effective only if Barker's intentions behind it were as deep as the story might suggests; but if he didn't think it through as much, then it's just disgusting and there's not much to like about whatever would actually be wrong with his mind.
Obsession is a reminder of how toxic relationships can become, and how some people would rather ruin someone else's life than be alone. From the moment Bear makes his wish, everything that follows is rooted in entitlement rather than love. Nikki’s autonomy is stripped away instantly, and what unfolds is not a romance gone wrong but a complete erasure of her personhood. Bear is not the victim here—Nikki is.
Even when the real Nikki is at her lowest, begging him to kill her, his response is not empathy or recognition of her suffering. Instead, he brings it back to himself: "Is it really so bad to be with me?" And that line says everything. Her pain never outweighs his desire to be loved. Her suffering is secondary to his need not to be alone. And what makes it even more disturbing is that Bear never actually loved Nikki—he loved an idea of her. He clung to a version of her that existed only to fulfill his wish, while ignoring the real Nikki’s humanity entirely. And while One Wish Willow Nikki went on to cause destruction and violence, he still refused to let go, because abandonment seemed more unbearable to him than the consequences of what he had done. And the most horrendous part is that, by the end of the movie, Bear’s death frees him, and in a twisted way, it also frees Nikki, but far too late. She is left with the aftermath, the trauma, and the wreckage of a life he destroyed. Which is what makes Obsession so unsettling: not that love turns dark, but that possession is mistaken for love in the first place.
Even if I'm now unsure of where I stand when it comes to Obsession, one thing is sure: its theatrical run is an impressive one, grossing over $200 million worldwide on a $750,000 budget, ultimately proving that Indie horror movies are just the best. And if you have the chance to catch it at your local theatre, I think you should go for it and form your own opinion on this movie that seems to be dividing audiences more than we think.
Comments
Post a Comment