It’s been said that horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin so it should come as no surprise that a sketch-show performer might shift into crafting cinematic terror. Similar to Jordan Peele before him, writer and director Curry Barker was one half of a comic duo before his film debut, 2024’s found-footage piece Milk & Serial. His latest feature is Obsession, a supernatural chiller that follows twenty-something ‘Bear’ (Michael Johnston) who has a longstanding crush on his music store colleague Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Eager to cheer her up after she loses a necklace, he buys her a ‘One-Wish Willow’, a novelty trinket that claims to grant one wish once broken. After dropping her off one night and fumbling the opportunity to express his true feelings, he himself snaps the gift in half out of frustration, wishing that she would “love him more than anyone else in the world”. Nikki then experiences a sudden change of heart, and becomes obsessively infatuated with her admirer.
Classic short story The Monkey’s Paw provides the basis of its plot via inspiration from an episode of The Simpsons, but Barker flips the script on the standard villain vs victim dynamics. As the central protagonist, Bear is positioned as the latter but in the compelling circumstances of the premise, we see the consequences of his cowardice as innocent Nikki essentially becomes trapped in the body of our perceived antagonist. Exploring ideas around consent, manipulation, and toxic relationships, this clever cautionary tale plays out under the guise of a genre flick, captured through the dark and grungy sheen of films such as It Follows or Bodies Bodies Bodies. The young director (and editor) has an immense knack for suspense, opting for effective, unconventional scares and he knows where his camera should be at all times. Many would overplay their hand in dispersing gore and tension but the approach to composition is admirably restrained, often holding the shot on Bear’s reactions which crucially lets us, as an audience, fear what we can’t see outside of the frame rather than showing us too much.
In his big screen debut, Michael Johnston is great in the role of Bear. Depicted as the lovesick romantic in the opening scene as he practices his declaration of love to Nikki, we quickly learn how problematic he can be. Like in the film, he is very much the main character of his own story and his selfishness is key to driving the plot forward. Solid support comes from Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson as friends Sarah and Ian respectively; their parts are really well written, integral to how the film’s catalyst moment impacts upon the group of pals we’re introduced to in the opening act. Another relative newcomer, Inde Navarrette gives the standout performance not just from this picture, but in recent years of modern horror. She brilliantly portrays the duality of the part, terrifying yet terrified as she’s taken over by the affliction she’s imprisoned by.
The film’s tagline reads ‘be careful who you wish for’ in a playful reference to the proverb from which the film borrows from. Despite this somewhat well-worn conception, Curry Barker presents a contemporary story that feels fresh and full of its own ideas. After the likes of Bring Her Back and Weapons last year, horror is in a rich vein of form with Obsession an exciting new voice is announced with a violent, blood-curdling scream.
Cinema Perspective 