I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: a review of "Obsession"

 

"OBSESSION"
Written and Directed by Curry Barker
**** (four stars)
RATED R
RUNNING TIME: 1 hr 49 min

"U ask me if eye love U
It's automatic
'Cause every time U leave me
Eye die
That's automatic 2..."
-"Automatic"
music and lyrics by Prince 

Everyone who knows me personally, as well as for any of you who have followed this blogsite over the years, knows that my relationship with the horror film genre is tenuous at best...despite some films within the genre existing as beloved to me. 

Curry Barker's "Obsession" has rapidly sailed to the top of my favorite films of 2026, as well as an entry in the horror genre that is so successful in its entirety that I deeply appreciated how it transcended any genre trappings--while simultaneously upholding them--to deliver what I felt to be a profoundly clever social statement about interpersonal relationships for a generation born and raised in the social media age. 

In its own way, it felt to be more than fitting that this was the first film I watched after experiencing Olivia Wilde's excellent third feature "The Invite," as what Barker has helmed feels designed to inspire deep conversations and debates long after the end credits have scrolled regarding the nature of the film's title and its implications, as well as statements and allegiances towards the film's primary characters. Curry Barker's "Obsession" clearly has much more on its mind than cheap thrills and excessive gore. It does what the finest horror films accomplish...it haunts superbly.

Curry Barker's "Obsession" stars Michael Johnston as Baron Bailey a.k.a. "Bear," an introverted, socially awkward  twentysomething who lives alone with his cat Sandy in the house inherited from his deceased Grandmother and works as a music store employee alongside his small circle of friends including Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), Sarah (Megan Lawless) and Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette), on whom Bear has housed a longtime crush yet is terrified to tell her.

When Nikki announces her intention to at long last leave the music store as well as move away from town, Bear urgently feels the need to finally express his true feelings but again crumbles. Out of frustration with himself, Bear, while holding a novelty item called a "One Wish Willow" (purchased when he attempted to buy a necklace for Nikki), cracks open the trinket and voices a wish that Nikki would just love him more than anything else in the world.  

And as the saying always expresses, be careful what you wish for...

I have to say that if Curry Barker's Obsession" is a signal to where the horror film genre can travel, I just may find myself more willing than ever to take the plunge to view them more often! Just as Zach Cregger's "Weapons" (2025), Barker's film accentuates story and character far above mere shock value ensuring the story carries weight and the experience resonates and "Obsession" has deeply accomplished that feat with me.  Also like "Weapons," Barker takes an almost Grimm's Fairy tale conceit and expands and deepens the concept so that exists beyond anything resembling the standard slasher throwaway or unconscionable torture porn. 

While nowhere near as volcanic and orgiastic as Coralie Fargeat's extraordinary "The Substance" (2024), Curry Barker's "Obsession" is offering a cultural commentary, a societal warning set in our smartphone addicted, post social-distance era of the COVID-19 pandemic as our interpersonal connections became more fragmented and strained, our collective societal development arrested and fractured, and sense of empathy and accountability eroded. I really do not feel this is terribly far off to suggest that not only does this film sit in good company with the likes of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' "Ruby Sparks" (2012) and Jordan Peele's "Get Out" (2015)--which it is clearly honoring throughout--but also alongside David Fincher's "The Social Network" (2010) and Spike Jonze's "Her" (2013), films where social isolation and loneliness fuel destructive outcomes. 

The crux of Curry Barker's "Obsession" firmly lies within the character of Nikki and how she is embodied through Inde Navarrette's ferocious, wrenching performance whose twists and turns are delivered with such alacrity and a knowing pain, distraught, wrath, and sensitivity that is transcends anything that could, be construed as exploitative and ensures the film sails far above any "girlfriend from Hell" pitfalls. In fact, if there was a film that "Obsession" recalled for me the very most it was  none other than David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" (1992), the tormenting, brutal story of the final seven days of Laura Palmer's life as portrayed in a shattering swan dive of a performance by Sheryl Lee, who I remain shocked that she was never fully recognized for the fearlessness of her work in a torturous performance.

For all of the hallucinogenics and dream logic, Lynch's film boldly depicted a story of a young woman grappling with familial abuse, repeated sexual assault and the society who completely let her down as she was suffering. With "Obsession," Inde Navarrette creates a frightening Matryoshka doll of a performance in Nikki Freeman (note the irony of her surname), discovering and unleashing the layers of a young woman fully robbed of her agency and made an emotional and sexual prisoner to Bear in a situation not of her making in the least and caused solely by to Bear's inability to speak and own his own feelings initially and due to his level of selfishness and self-preservation at the expense of Nikki's independence entirely. 

Granted, I would like to think that we have all existed in this space at one point or another, especially during adolescence, when powerfully intense feelings for another person are birthed and at times remain unsaid for fear of losing that particular object of desire. Honestly, who has not themselves uttered a wish just as Bear, for hoping that the one you love would reciprocate your feelings? The problem, and the ensuring tragedy, arrives once Bear with full knowledge continues the charade for his own benefit despite curious warnings from friends, his own doubts and fears and even with Nikki completely coming unglued in front of him. 

For that matter, much should be regarded for Michael Johnston's strong performance as Bear as he glides this precarious balance of sympathy and pity against the outrage and fury he deserves as he is unwilling to face the consequences of his actions as the fear of losing what he claims to have always wanted outweighs personal responsibility, his own guilt and shame and  the acknowledgement that he has intentionally violated Nikki for his own ends. In many ways, I am stunned that there is even any sense of debate whether to the relative "heroics" and "villainy" of both Bear and Nikki because for me, Curry Barker's film clearly knows which side it is on. Trust me, there is no way to think otherwise especially when hearing the nightmarish sounds that erupt during and continuing through a large portion of the closing credits. Barker's "Obsession" wants to ensure that we do not escape the horror easily...just as Nikki could not. And again, Inde Navarrette is a force of nature and believe me, I sincerely feel that she should be remembered during awards season as her work is pure and unforgettable.  

Much like Olivia Wilde's "The Invite," Curry Barker's "Obsession" feels like a throwback as well as a gauntlet thrown down in our current cinematic age for a return to pure  storytelling fueled by well drawn characters and situations, inventive filmmaking and a thoughtfulness that prevents the film in question from being another disposable entry that is forgotten before you even return to your homes. This film certainly delivers the goods, from shocks and terror to sudden blasts of the ultraviolence. But, it is so m much more than that.  Also like "The Invite," it is a cautionary tale about relationships, how we can tend to lose ourselves when wanting to earn and keep attraction and affection as well as what occurs when emotions and conversations go unsaid, unacknowledged and unaccounted for as the intense pain inflicted, whether intentional or not, wreaks emotional and psychological havoc.

I now have my eye on you, Curry Barker. After the grand success of "Obsession," I am excited to see what you come up with next!