Obsession (2026) Review
4.75/5
Curry Barker, Inde Navarrette, and Michael Johnston. Be prepared to remember those names. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with them already, because with Obsession, we see the emergence of three breakout stars.
Obsession follows Bear, a young man who is in love with his friend Nikki but is too scared to make a move. He instead turns to a One Wish Willow, which grants him his wish of making Nikki love him more than anything else, but he soon learns there are dangerous consequences for his actions. Directed by Curry Barker, the film stars Inde Navarrette as Nikki, Michael Johnston as Bear, Cooper Tomlinson as Ian, and Megan Lawless as Sarah, who all turn in great performances to make this one of the best movies of the year so far.
Like Zach Cregger, the Philippou brothers, and more before him, Curry Barker is a comedy sketch YouTuber breaking into the horror game. He’s already dabbled in the genre with short films like Milk and Serial and The Chair, but with his first feature-length film, he’s proving he has one of the most interesting new voices in filmmaking. What is very clear from the very beginning is that Barker is extremely experienced behind the camera, utilizing many techniques to amplify tension or to drive home points. I couldn’t stop thinking about how almost every interaction between Bear and Nikki is shot in a shot-reverse shot format, where two characters are conversing, but the shots alternate between them, rather than having both characters in the frame at the same time. Barker uses this to amplify the disconnect between the two characters, while also setting up tension for later scares.
In addition to his feel for the camera, you can sense his appreciation for tension and atmosphere. In my opinion, a horror movie is only as good as the moments between scares, and this is a movie that genuinely never lets you feel settled. He crafts scenes that always have you cautious for an explosion and, with some tasteful homages to classics like 2001’s Pulse, genuinely terrify you when they come. What Barker does so well is fill the quiet moments with so much unease, making you feel unsettled before the loud scares come. He does this incredibly well with his use of shadows, hiding Nikki’s face and only showing little glints of light in her eyes, making her feel inhuman. At one point, Bear and his friend Ian are talking at work after Bear makes his wish, and the entire time, you can see Nikki in the background, out of focus, never breaking eye contact with where Bear is.
The engine of Obsession, though, is the immaculate Inde Navarrette. What she brings both physically and emotionally to the role of Nikki truly cannot be understated. She gives a truly well-rounded performance as we meet and fall in love with the Nikki that Bear fell in love with but then are horrified at the Nikki she becomes after the wish is granted. The way she contorts her face into picture-perfect smiles and frowns; the way she walks in and out of shadows like a stop-motion puppet; and the way she delivers her lines like she just became human all round out one of the best characters, let alone horror characters, I’ve seen this decade. Navarrette has said she drew a lot of inspiration from Mia Goth in Pearl, and it shows.
Every person who watches Obsession can come out of this movie and cling to a different theme the movie explored. Barker makes it clear that even though we are following Bear around, he is no protagonist. Nikki is a victim, stripped of her freedom by a man who felt like he deserved it because of how strongly he felt towards her, even though he never could tell her. Johnston has spoken about how he wanted to bring a relatability to Bear, and in this current era of “nice guys not getting the girl,” he feels like someone who believes he is in the right. It makes his portrayal of Bear enjoyably despicable as he casually displays evilness. It reaches its tipping point when he converses with the real Nikki, and instead of show any remorse or compassion, he doubles down on his decision. He continually takes advantage of the situation until it crosses his boundaries, and even then, he still frames his thinking as how he can get out of it, not how Nikki can be saved. The ending is extremely poignant because of this; his decisions (or lack of a decision) are a showcase for that selfishness.
Final Thoughts
There are so many more thoughts to be had and a lot more scenes to dissect in order to properly tell you how good Obsession really is. For a minuscule budget and a largely unproven cast and crew, they came together and created a film that, for me, cemented itself as one of the best horror films of the decade. Whatever Curry Barker, Inde Navarrette, and Michael Johnston do next, count me in, but until then, make Obsession your next watch.