With: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder, Anthony Pavone, Justice, Anthony Casabianca, Chloe Breen, Malcolm Kelner
Written by: Curry Barker
Directed by: Curry Barker
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, and brief graphic nudity
Curry Barker's feature filmmaking debut Obsession is a vicious, cutthroat horror tale that feels familiar but keeps things fresh with its humanity, its shocks, and a star-making performance by Inde Navarrette.
Baron (Michael Johnston) — otherwise known as "Bear" — works at a music store with his friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), Sarah (Megan Lawless), and Nikki (Inde Navarrette). He's in love with Nikki, but doesn't know how to tell her and doesn't want to ruin their friendship. One night, on the way to trivia night with the group, he stops to buy her a gift and finds a toy called One Wish Willow. He uses it to wish for Nikki to love him back, and it seems to work.
She spends the night at his place, and they begin spending all their time together, but she also begins acting very strangely, like watching him from a dark corner of the room while he sleeps. She also becomes frantic and unhinged when he leaves her side or if she suspects that he doesn't love her back. As things get worse, Bear hatches a desperate plan to set things right again.
Many horror stories, going back to the 1902 story The Monkey's Paw and possibly earlier, have tackled the familiar theme "be careful what you wish for," and Obsession does that with a vengeance. It's easy to identify with Bear (as unlike a "Bear" as a person can be), who needs to practice what he wants to say to others in advance, and orders a Piña colada at trivia night, as an insecure fellow who loves from afar. After his wish, he painfully understands everything that's wrong about what he's done to Nikki, from forcing his will upon another to the knowledge that he hasn't earned her love (it's not "real").
But it's Navarrette who makes the movie. We can feel the depth of her attachment to Bear, more agony than bliss. She throws herself fully, bodily and emotionally, into this performance, and she shows the skill of a Jim Carrey or a Bruce Campbell in her ability to switch on a dime, to go from zero to bonkers in a wink.
Meanwhile, behind the camera, Barker sets up every shot for maximum impact, doling out the most effective jump scares in ages, and making the skin crawl. Obsession may be too merciless to invite multiple viewings, but then again, some horror hounds may not be able to stop thinking about it.
