What to know
- Obsession is a viral psychological thriller from filmmaker and YouTuber Curry Barker.
- The film premiered at TIFF before becoming a social media and box-office success.
- While marketed as horror, the movie plays more like a psychological thriller with supernatural elements.
- At its core, the story explores themes of consent, manipulation and unhealthy relationships.
- Obsession is currently playing in theatres.
Don’t be afraid of viral film Obsession: Psychological thriller is a cautionary tale
Underneath the viral thriller’s supernatural premise is a cautionary careful-what-you-wish-for plotline is a story about consent, control and the dangers of getting exactly what you wish for.
Curry Barker’s Obsession is not a horror film, however it’s marketed. Like Jordan Peele’s fantastic Get Out, studios do these films a disservice by classifying it under a genre that some filmgoers avoid altogether. I am one of those people. But rest assured, Obsession is simply a psychological thriller with a supernatural element. Only the ominous music makes it scary.
Written and directed by Barker, a popular YouTuber whose 2024 feature film debut, Milk & Serial, made for $800 USD, was lauded by critics, his follow-up, Obsession, has become a Tik Tok sensation and box office hit. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, part of its Midnight Madness programming, and opened in theatres May 15.
SPOILERS AHEAD
A cautionary tale disguised as a romance
Pretty much all of us have wished, with a blow of a candle, an eyelash on the cheek, a four-leaf clover, that a certain boy or girl of our dreams would love us back. Maybe you’ve even shopped at an occult shop. By applying W. W. Jacobs’ 1902-penned “three wishes” curse The Monkey’s Paw to a romantic plot, Obsession becomes another careful-what-you-wish-for scenario. That is the premise that becomes a nightmare. Dig deeper and it’s a story about consent.
Baron (Michael Johnston), nicknamed Bear, pines for Nikki (Inde Navarrette), his childhood friend and co-worker at Cassell’s Music shop, but just doesn’t have the guts to tell her how he feels. He is more than a quintessential lovesick puppy dog, gazing at her with creepy infatuation. He sickens the viewer from the get-go for his embarrassing behaviour. Who would’ve thought the tables would turn?
When she loses a crystal necklace down the drain, he goes into the new age shop to buy her a replacement as a surprise gift and winds up adding the One Wish Willow novelty from the counter. It’s surprising the film isn’t named after this crucial prop, rather than the trite title it was released under. There is a mini-series, starring Richard Armitage and Charlie Murphy, from 2023, by that name.
After dropping Nikki off in his car and failing yet again to tell her how he feels, the pathetically smitten Baron gives the One Wish Willow a go, following the instructions on the red and gold packaging, snapping it in half, as he says, “I wish Nikki Freeman would love me more than anyone in the fuckin’ world.” Bam. She appears at his car, insisting he come inside and have drinks. They end up at his place instead, and the obsession begins.
Over their instant relationship, there’s kissing, sex, tantrums, screaming, crying, lies, cuddling, sorrys, I love yous, duct-taped doors, just the usual clingy stuff. Basically, he asked for it, and he knows she’s falling all over him, even having sex with him, because of a spell, and he goes along with it. When his friends tell him point blank, he is taking advantage of her because she is not in her right mind, he denies it.
So, maybe Obsession is a horror, but not in the traditional sense. It’s a cautionary tale.
Just let nature take its course. Chill. Be yourself. Don’t force it. Keep jealousyjealously in check and you’ll survive. Maybe even fall in love without games and manipulation.
