Love, in all its forms, has the power to transform us. To make us kinder, braver, and above all, happier. It has the ability to reshape our entire being – but with that force of good comes the potential for adarker path. Curry Barker, known for his horror shorts on YouTube that have amassed millions of views, makes his theatrical debut withObsession, adeeply unsettling tale of love gone horribly, irrevocably wrong.
Bear (Michael Johnston) is amild-mannered young man with unspecified mental health issues who is secretly in love with his music store co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). His best friend and colleague, Ian (Barker’s creative partner Cooper Tomlinson), urges Bear to muster up the courage to tell Nikki how he feels, but he’s too afraid that she will reject him and he will ruin their friendship. After visiting acrystal shop where he picks up aseemingly innocuous toy named a “One Wish Willow”, Bear makes awish that Nikki loves him “more than anyone else in the world”. In the wake of this, Nikki starts to exhibit increasingly odd behaviour, but with the change in her personality comes what Bear has always wanted: her love. They have adreamy honeymoon phase, with tons of kissing, sex, and outright adoration, but when this sours into something more dangerous and possessive, Bear is forced to reckon with the cost of getting what he always wanted.
Get more Little WhiteLies
Barker’s moody colour grading and grip on scare timings combined with two truly remarkable lead performances and sparing but effective use of gore elevateObsession’s familiar premise. His YouTube catalog shows apreoccupation with the uncanny, aperson switching from loving partner to deranged in under asecond, andObsessionbrings these nightmares to unsettling new heights. Barker never opts for the easy scare, constantly surprising and teasing his audience with off-beat movements, invasive sound design, and clever shadow work. It’s acompelling allegory for toxic relationships, co-dependency, and how the person of your dreams can easily turn your life into awaking nightmare. IfObsessionhas any fault, it’s the noticeable absence of afemale perspective, but that may well be the point; much of the terror in Barker’s work begins and ends with the theme of hapless young men seeking purpose and love in theworld.
DespiteObsession’s psychological horror leanings, the film doesn’t skip out on gut-wrenching gore. One scene in particular (involving asteering wheel) is enough to leave you frozen in your seat as you try to process the sudden violence, while IndeNavarrettegives an all-time horror performance as the sickly sweet Nikki, who snaps in and out of atruly terrifying possessed entity. More than anything, the filmannounces an exciting voice in horror filmmaking. While the subtextual gleanings may not be particularly illuminating or fresh,Obsession delivers everything you could want from astory that is as terrifying, maddening, and tragic all atonce.