Obsession (dir. Curry Barker)

by Jack Martin | May 15, 2026

Certificate: 18

Running Time: 109 mins

UK Distributor: Universal Pictures

UK Release Date: 15 May 2026

WHO’S IN OBSESSION?

Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder, Chloe Breen, Anthony Pavone, Justice, Malcolm Kelner, Anthony Casabianca

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Curry Barker (director, writer, editor), James Harris, Haley Nicole Johnson and Christian Mercuri (producers), Rock Burwell (composer), Taylor Clemons (cinematographer)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A hopeless romantic (Johnston) wishes for his crush (Navarrette) to love him back – with unnerving results…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON OBSESSION?

Have you ever noticed how the most chilling and intense contributions to cinema are often from those with much lighter comedic backgrounds? Jordan Peele was splitting viewers’ sides on Comedy Central before he became renowned as a modern horror maestro. Robin Williams’ darker turns in films like Insomnia and One Hour Photo were as far from the worlds of Mrs Doubtfire and Flubber as one could get. Steve Carell earned an Oscar nomination for playing a real-life murderous billionaire in Foxcatcher. And Curry Barker, the director and writer of the absolutely terrifying horror film Obsession, started out as one-half of YouTube comedy sketch duo That’s a Bad Idea.

Incidentally, “that’s a bad idea” is the thought that’ll circulate the most in your head as you watch Barker’s decisively non-humorous theatrical debut. A follow-up to his first feature Milk & Serial, which you can currently watch in its entirety for free on YouTube, Obsession is filled with people making ill-advised decisions that ultimately put them and others in serious danger, all in the pursuit of unrequited and possibly even entitled love that in and of itself makes one feel gross all over. But rather than simply being glaring narrative flaws, they form a deeply unnerving cautionary tale that will genuinely haunt your nightmares, thanks to Barker’s razor-sharp approach that puts many of the more experienced horror filmmakers to shame.

The film opens with Bear (Michael Johnston), a meek and socially awkward music store employee, struggling to find the right words, or even the right time, to confess his feelings for his co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). She’s everything he could possibly want in a romantic partner: beautiful, charismatic, outgoing, and will happily lend some spare cash to a homeless person at a moment’s notice. If only, in his eyes, she could love him the way he wants to be loved by her. And not, according to their mutual pals Ian (Cooper Tomlinson, the other half of That’s a Bad Idea) and Sarah (Megan Lawless), someone she considers a close friend.

That’s when he finds on sale at a local crystal shop a “One Wish Willow”, said to grant whoever snaps it in half their greatest wish… in Bear’s case, for Nikki to love him more than anything in the entire world. One impulsive snap later, Nikki herself snaps in a completely different way. She immediately makes her apparent feelings for Bear known, which he is more than happy to accept as part of his wish come true – until she quickly begins displaying some rather alarming traits, not just her possessiveness and eerie attachment to him, but also some sudden emotional outbursts and doing something unspeakable to her lover’s recently deceased pet cat.

Yes, it’s one of those “be careful what you wish for” type of stories, but Obsession fully embraces how horrific the concept can be, particularly in the context of modern-day romance. Barker presents both Bear and especially Nikki as severely warped versions of archetypal romantic movie leads: him being the lovelorn loser with a supposed heart of gold, and her as a (literal) Manic Pixie Dream Girl. But here, Bear is less a charming Hugh Grant type and more a pathetic incel with some undisclosed mental health issues – his bathroom cabinet filled with prescriptions is the only hint we get of that – as well as a “nice guy” persona that feels disturbingly like a front for, well, what guys like him are truly after. It is his initial perception of Nikki, one that stems from an outdated male chauvinist mindset that views women like her as a goal to be achieved rather than, well, their own individual person, that triggers a blatant violation of her own agency as he effectively brainwashes her into a life of devotion and passion for him. Everything that transpires is very much on him, including the toxic co-dependency that he all too eagerly enters with someone who no longer has the freedom to make up their own mind, and luckily the script is far from ready to forgive his underlying misogyny.

Even so, Barker leans hard into how frightening it is to be in a situation like this, with someone whose increasing erraticism is both a supernatural occurrence and a psychological breakdown that feels all too real. He employs some stark cinematography to emphasise the bleak and unpredictable nature of Nikki’s growing insanity, often shooting her in creepy silhouette during scenes that would otherwise fit neatly into a more straightforward rom-com, while shots of her simply standing in the background are framed as though she’s a lovesick Michael Myers, always drawing your attention to her even when she’s not in focus. The filmmaker also avoids many easy horror tropes (no fake-out dream sequences or overly loud music stingers here), instead mining genuine scares from an atmosphere where you’re never sure if there’s something or someone hiding in the corner of any dark room, which always leaves you on edge even in the few scenes where Inde Navarrette is not present.

Speaking of whom, while Obsession is already quite excellently made by someone who really understands how messed up this kind of horror can be, it is the absolutely revelatory turn by Inde Navarrette that perfectly elevates the situation into flat-out scariness. Comparisons will no doubt be made to Kathy Bates in Misery or even Isabelle Adjani in Possession, but unlike her spellbound character Navarrette is fully operating on her own terms with a generational horror performance where the actor perfectly treads the line between sweet and terrifying. Just a simple docile look of love across her face is enough to make you squirm in your seat, as are a few unnerving physical background movements in addition to some sudden bursts of violence – one so shocking that it reportedly almost gave the film a rare NC-17 rating in the US – which rank among some of the more gruesome in recent horror history. No joke, this is the kind of horror performance that deserves to at least be in some end-of-year awards conversations; she is that unbelievably good in this movie.

In all, this is a brilliant full-on horror that you simply won’t be able to shake out of your mind, unless you yourself happen upon a One Wish Willow – but as Obsession proves, that may end up being the worst idea of them all.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Obsession is easily one of the year’s best horror films and one of the best overall, for it is a fantastically terrifying take on a classic set-up that brilliantly deconstructs traditional romantic movie archetypes while also, through Curry Barker’s stark filmmaking and a revelatory central performance by Inde Navarrette, scaring the absolute hell out of you.