'Obsession' review: Curry Barker's supernatural horror sends its worst wishes to Inde Navarrette & Michael Johnston

Finnkino

So it seems we have a twist on the classic man versus bear debate here. Women just cannot win anymore, I guess. The game is rigged. In Obsession, one of our players is Bear (Michael Johnston, which is definitely not a made-up name), a twentysomething music store employee living in a generic American town. He's bottling up his awkward crush on his best friend and colleague Nikki (Inde Navarrette) as he's never dared to try and make a move to get himself out of the friendzone. Shopping at a store for a gift that would accompany his romantic confession, he encounters a "One Wish Willow", which would make your one wish come true. When he obviously fumbles the confession part, Bear breaks out the willow himself as a last resort. He wishes that Nikki would love him more than anything else. You'd be smart to assume that this wish isn't the best thing in the world. Disturbing and even freaky things follow.

With his sophomore feature but the first one with some money behind it, writer-director-editor Curry Barker makes quite a splash, and a very accomplished one. Barker's swing towards supernatural horror on the big screen goes straight for the jugular and the end result is a really nasty, uncomfortable and entertaining horror ride for the masses despite its low budget. Everything from what's captured by cinematographer Taylor Clemens' camera to the edit proves that the filmmaking here is extremely resourceful and decisive. The creative team doesn't make it easy for themselves either as the movie oscillates between distressing thrills and dark comedy a lot, but the control over the tone is so precise that these tonal shifts keep you on edge throughout. There are a couple of jump scares, but thankfully most of the dread comes from the disturbing premise and awkward interactions, which push your buttons. Confidence, baby!

While the spooky stuff is excellent, Obsession is also mostly a two-hander and so the direction is even more impressive because there's a lot to admire in the performances, too. Johnston navigates Bear's bit-more-than-he-can-chew dilemma deftly and you're even allowed to feel sympathy for his character at first because the naivety comes across. This would be a rad lead performance for a film of this size in any other instance, but there's even more going on in what Navarrette is articulating. Her outing is agonising, terrifyingly unpredictable and extremely physical in a way that disregards vanity at every turn. It's a real showstopper and something that constantly elevates the material. One particularly haunting moment is a scene where Nikki wishes to die—it's a short moment of clarity in a story that works as a piece of shindig more than anything, but its subtlety allows for ideas about stolen agency, sexual assault and Bear's selfishness to surface.

As a screenwriter and observer of the human condition, Barker does have room to grow since his script isn't introducing any sort of twist or personal perspective to discussions about gender dynamics, coercion and masculinity. The women characters aren't exactly three-dimensional either, but at least there's some stuff about Bear's "nice guy syndrome" and modern incel brain that you can discuss afterwards. During the pandemonium, however, you can be affected by the filmmakers' technical proficiency. Visually, from the photography and sets to FX makeup and special effects, the movie is merely competent, although shadows are used fantastically on several occasions. The contrast between light and dark has been horror's strength for 100 years and Obsession is a fine extension to that legacy. So if you become obsessed with this film's thrills, jolts and Navarrette's performance, don't be too shocked. It makes perfect sense.

Smileys: Inde Navarrette, tone, direction

Frowneys: None

Well, that should put a stop to the "make me a sandwich" jokes.

4.0/5

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