Obsession
My review of a movie that may just usher in a film renaissance
If you have not seen Obsession but plan on seeing it, I have a word of advice: wear earplugs. This one is a screamer, and if you are traumatized by jump scares accompanied by lots and lots of high pitched wails, you’ll want to steer clear. I wore earplugs but my poor husband did not, and he regretted it. Despite all the screaming, I thought Obsession was a good movie, a solid 7 out of 10 stars. It was good, not great. My husband thought it was one of the worst movies he has ever seen. Horror is not his genre.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Obsession is that it was made with a microscopic budget by an almost unknown, 26 year old filmmaker named Curry Barker who only had one Youtube short film to his name before this project. Wikipedia says that a measly 1 million was spent on the film, which was filmed in a matter of a few weeks using unknown actors. As of the date of this writing, the film has grossed roughly 180 million dollars, making it one of the most profitable films ever made. In comparison, its Disney competition, The Mandalorian and Grogu made 250 million, which seems impressive until you consider it had a “lean” production budget of 165 million and would have to gross 500-600 million to break even. I think it is safe to say that Obsession wiped the floor with Mandalorian and his cute little pal Baby Yoda, and much of that reason is because people are sick and tired of everything woke and Disney.
Spoilers and a 95% full synopsis follow for Obsession, so be warned.
Obsession is the story of a lonely young man named Bear who pines for an aspiring novelist named Nikki. Both Bear and Nikki work at a music store that sells vintage gear and somehow manages to stay in business despite there being almost no customers, a ton of employees, and a boss that does not seem to care that they sit around talking all day. It is uncertain how old the kids who work at the store are, but we are to guess they are in their late teens or early 20s. When we meet Bear, he is practicing lines meant for Nikki on his friends in a greasy spoon. Bear reveals that he is crushingly insecure, and though he dreams that Nikki will one day swoon and fall into his arms, he knows deep inside that it will never happen. Bear’s friend suggests that he work on himself and approach Nikki when he is ready. Bear half-heartedly agrees.
When Bear gets home to the empty house he has recently inherited from his dead grandmother, he finds his beloved cat Sandy lying on the floor, dead. The cat has somehow gotten into Bear’s massive collection of antidepressant drugs and has OD’d. (Bit of a plot hole here — I have 6 cats and they don’t rifle through my medicine cabinet unless that’s where I am storing the cat treats and catnip) Though he is extremely depressed and for good reasons, when Nikki calls and invites him to a party, Bear reluctantly says “yes”. On the way to the party, Bear stops by a new age shop that sells crystals because Nikki complained on the phone that she had lost her crystal necklace. Though Bear does not find a good replacement necklace to give to Nikki, he does pick up a gag gift that catches his eye called a One Wish Willow.
At the party, despite the advice given him by Ian to play it cool, Bear tries to blurt out to Nikki that he’s deeply interested in her. He is thwarted in his message by sheer chance. Nikki is high on molly, so after the party during which he failed to declare his love, Bear agrees to drive her home.
While saying a long goodbye, Nikki mildly confronts Bear and asks him “Do you like me?”
Bear, ever the shrinking wallflower, does not say yes, despite it being the perfect opportunity to confess his affection for Nikki. He says “No”, blatantly lying to her for fear of putting himself out on a limb. When Nikki departs, Bear breaks his One Wish Willow, wishing that Nikki should love him more than anyone in the world. Almost immediately, Nikki returns to Bear’s car and asks if she can sleep over at his house, claiming that her father is dying of cancer.
Bear and Nikki don’t sleep together that second, but it is not long before they become lovers. Bear is happy and fulfilled with his dreams coming true, and he did not have to do any of the inner work that Ian suggested. Nikki is his. She moves in with Bear, refusing to leave his side, and it is implied they spend a few days (or weeks?) in the bliss of a new and passionate affair.
There are only a couple of problems. Nikki seems a bit too eager to please. Another issue is that she starts messing with his dead cat. Though I presumed Sandy the cat was buried or sent off to be cremated, Nikki manages to create a makeshift altar in the middle of the floor with Sandy’s corpse as the centerpiece, and this won’t be the last time we see this unfortunate, dead animal.
Nikki gets into one of her first fights with Bear. She watches him while he is asleep because she is just so full of love for him. She then screams like a poodle-skirted bobby soxer who has just caught Elvis Presley’s sweaty leather jacket from the front row. For some reason, screaming is one of possessed-Nikki’s only means of expressing emotions; screaming and hitting herself in the head with various household objects. Bear, ever the late bloomer, finally starts becoming alarmed after this fight, wondering if something is genuinely off in this “perfect” relationship of his. Nikki quits work presumably to spend more time with Bear at home and makes him a sandwich which she sends with him to work in a lunch bag. (Bear is a bit of an aspiring restaurant critic, FYI, and he chats with Nikki about this quirk of his in one of their early romantic scenes.)
At work sans Nikki, Bear has a meaningful chat with his music store co-worker, Sarah, who admits that she is applying to schools and keeps getting rejected. Bear realizes that Sarah might have had eyes for him all this time, but he was too distracted by Nikki to notice. Bear notices a note that Nikki wrote to him in his lunch bag that says something to the effect of “Hope you enjoy cat, my little food critic” and realizes he’s eating his dead cat Sandy between two slices of bread. At this point, Sandy the dead cat has gotten more mileage than my 2006 Toyota Scion. Also never mind that rigor mortis would have set in, rendering Sandy’s flesh as hard as a rock. Nikki was using her newfound demon juju to tenderize it? I digress . . . At any rate, Bear finally definitively knows that he and Nikki are having trouble in paradise.
Bear calls the One Wish Willow Support Hotline, and the friendly customer service man seems to know his exact plight. To Bear’s amazement, the customer service man says the wish can only be broken if he or Nikki dies, after which Nikki’s voice comes on line, screaming her head off.
To Bear’s and everyone else’s chagrin, Nikki invites herself to a party at Ian’s house. While playing party games, Nikki launches into a creepy rendition of Hansel and Gretel that has to do with some brother-on-sister action. It’s gross. Somehow this drunken game turns into Truth or Dare, and Bear is dared to kiss the person to his left, which is Sarah. Nikki pushes Sarah to the side and kisses Bear in her place. Nikki then screams for the umpteenth time and stabs herself in then face with a glass that she breaks on a table. Bear takes Nikki to the ER. Presumably she is sent home with some good sedative drugs.
While Nikki is asleep, Bear agrees to meet with Sarah, who texts him demanding that they talk. Right before he sneaks out, the real Nikki’s voice emerges from possession-addled Nikki, whose Bear-obsessed demon is temporarily asleep. She asks Bear point blank “Please kill me”. Bear returns with “Why don’t you want to be with me?” and the real Nikki chillingly answers “I have never been with you, Bear”.
Bear sneaks out and is driven around by Sarah, who expresses concern over Nikki’s increasingly psychotic behavior. They have a brief conversation in the car where it is revealed that Sarah liked Bear all along. Nikki, it is revealed, had been sleeping with Ian on and off, and Sarah thought her relationship with Bear might have been to get revenge on Ian. Of course the second Sarah and Bear got the remotest bit cozy, Nikki appears and violently murders Sarah right there in the car. Nikki tells Bear to go home while she disposes of Nikki’s body.
Instead of going home, Bear goes to the crystal shop looking for more One Wish Willows. He belatedly learns they are called One Wish Willows for good reason — you can only use it once in your life and if you don’t like your wish, too bad. He goes to Ian’s and tries to explain the whole sordid mess. Ian naturally does not believe him, and when Bear hands him the One Wish Willow trying to get him to undo his botched relationship with Nikki, Ian scoffs and wishes for a billion dollars. Piles of cash start falling from the ceiling.
That’s most of the movie. As far as the final scenes and the plot twist that happens in most major horror movies and definitely happens in this one, I can put them into the comments if anyone wants me to do so.
And now my opinion!
I went in wanting to like Obsession more than I did. Because of its tiny budget, unknown actors, and indie feel, Obsession reminded me of 2022’s Talk to Me, an Australian horror film about a group of teens who contact the spirits of dead people using a dead person’s embalmed hand as a sort of psychic telephone. Talk to Me was at least a 9 out of 10 for me because its concept was so unique and well done. Though atmospheric, it managed to tell the story of its lead character with poignancy and restraint, and that is not something I can say of Obsession. We are supposed to find Nikki’s screaming funny, as if there is anything hilarious about a young woman’s disintegration into suicidal madness. The theater was packed full of teenage boys and girls. Not one of them laughed and neither did I. Obsession was too depressing and nihilistic to be funny. That said, Obsession was well-paced. Though it was predictable, it kept it interesting enough to make having to excuse myself to go to the bathroom rather annoying. (If you want the real reason streaming is killing movie theaters, there it is. I can make my own popcorn at home for pennies and go to the bathroom whenever I want) I went to the bathroom during the part where Bear calls the One Wish Willow hotline.
Obsession is bad because all horror movies of the Make a Wish genre are bad. Obsession is good because of its actors. Michael Johnston resembles Joaquin Phoenix in more ways than one: the guy can truly act. I believed that Bear was a real person, and it is difficult for me to feel that in a horror movie. Inde Navarette, who played Nikki, is probably about to be very famous, so I hope she knows how to handle it. All of the actors did great in this film, and that speaks to the directing and writing of Curry Barker.
Obsession and unearned love
At its core, Obsession is a tale of the dire consequences of unearned wealth in the form of love. Bear wants Nikki and will do anything to get her, including displacing her will (and eventually her will to live) for his own selfish purposes. The true villain in Obsession is not the demon that possesses Nikki. It is Bear. Ian suggests that Bear work on himself in the opening scenes of the film. Bear won’t have any of it. He wants Nikki, damn the consequences, and the consequences end up being damning.
Feminist reviewers are trying to warp Obsession into Example A of the patriarchy ruining everything. Their premise is that because Bear is straight and has a penis in this movie, that he usurps Nikki’s (and vicariously all women’s) autonomy because all men are evil and don’t want women to have free will. I have news for them — women also behave badly and this movie could have just as easily featured a woman named Bear (She-Bear?) who wished on a stick to get a man named Nick to love her more than anything else in the world.
