Obsession : Fantastic Fest Review

I would say anyone reading this, myself included, has at one time had a crush on someone who didn’t return those feelings. With that absence of affection, I’d also bet there isn’t one of us who hasn’t wished for that crush to love us back. It’s okay to admit it — you’re in a safe place. Of course, those wishes usually go unanswered (I’m personally 0-for on mine), but what if — just what if — one actually came true?

Bear (Michael Johnston) has one focus in life right now: Nikki (Inde Navarretta), a girl he works with. Bear is very much into Nikki, but for now, they’re just friends. He’s ready to take things to the next step and has even been practicing confessing his feelings to their friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), using him as a sounding board. Finally ready to tell Nikki, Bear stumbles across a novelty “wishing willow” gift while shopping for her and, on a whim, decides to buy it.

That night, after hanging out with Nikki and watching their conversation go sideways, Bear uses the wish — and suddenly, something snaps in Nikki. Instead of heading home, she asks if they can go back to his place, as it seems she’s instantly fallen in love with him. At first, it feels like Bear’s dream has come true… but soon Nikki’s affection turns obsessive. She doesn’t want to be apart from him, her love becoming suffocatingly intense. Even their friends, Ian and Sarah (Megan Lawless), begin to notice that something is seriously off. What started as a fantasy quickly spirals into a nightmare, and Bear begins to regret ever making that wish.

Written and directed by Curry Barker, Obsession could be described as a cautionary tale — a classic “be careful what you wish for” story — but it’s far more unnerving than that. With each passing minute, the movie grows more disturbing and more unhinged, in the best possible way. What Obsession does brilliantly is take a universal idea we’ve all had and push it to its absolute brink. The result is a film filled with tension, dread, and some truly dark turns.

This film straddles horror and comedy, often using awkward, uncomfortable moments to mask its darker intentions before escalating them to terrifying extremes. Johnston and Navarretta give the story its power, their performances sell both the humor and the horror, with Navarretta especially committing to the role in a chilling fashion. The apartment where much of the story unfolds feels like a pressure cooker, steadily building until it finally blows.

Unsettling, vicious, and unforgettable, Obsession takes a simple wish and twists it into a nightmare. Thanks to Barker’s direction and Navarretta’s performance, this is the next horror movie you’ll find yourself obsessed with.