Overview:
Obsession follows Bear, a quiet guy who makes a wish for his coworker Nikki to fall in love with him. The wish works. The wish works way too well, and what starts as an awkward crush turns into a suffocating nightmare for everyone involved. Underneath the supernatural angle, the film is really about loneliness, entitlement, guilt, and the terrifying realization that you cannot always undo emotional damage once you’ve caused it.
First Thoughts:
I really loved this film. What stayed with me most was the emotional nuance of being trapped on both sides of the situation. Nikki is obviously imprisoned inside something violating and terrifying, but Bear also becomes trapped by his own desperation once he realizes the fantasy he wanted has become something monstrous. The movie constantly asks: Can you fix what you broke? Can you live with it? And how much damage can people justify before they stop recognizing themselves? It’s messy, uncomfortable, and honestly one of those movies that keeps replaying in your head afterward.
Characters/Portrayals:
Inde Navarrette absolutely sold the horror of feeling trapped inside yourself. Even in quieter moments, there was this constant panic underneath Nikki that made her loss of agency genuinely upsetting. Michael Johnston’s slow unraveling as Bear was also incredibly well done because he never turns into a cartoon villain. You understand him enough to see how loneliness and entitlement slowly twist together. Ian and Sarah added a lot to the emotional fallout too, though I honestly wanted even more of the friendship dynamics once everything started collapsing. Ian’s secret especially felt rich enough that I wish the film had spent more time letting everyone sit in the emotional consequences of their actions instead of resolving some of it so quickly.
Writing:
The writing really understood obsession as emotional suffocation. The dialogue felt natural and conversational even when things became disturbing, which honestly made everything hit harder. It reminded me a bit of Speak No Evil and Funny Games in the way blunt, realistic conversations slowly pull you into horrific situations. I also appreciated that the script handled its archetypes with nuance. In a very post-#MeToo landscape, it would’ve been easy to flatten everyone into simple victims or villains, but the film allows people to be complicated without excusing the harm they cause.
Direction:
Barker really leaned into discomfort in the best way. The early sweetness and charm make the darker turns land even harder once the film tightens around you. I also appreciated how restrained the direction felt. The movie doesn’t constantly scream at you to be scared. Instead, it lets awkward pauses, eye contact, and emotional discomfort slowly build tension until scenes start feeling claustrophobic without even needing traditional horror beats.
Pacing:
This is definitely a slow burn, but it works because the pacing mirrors obsession itself. Things start small and almost harmless before slowly becoming impossible to escape. The emotional claustrophobia between the characters reminded me a bit of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, where conversations themselves start tightening the room around everyone. Nikki and Bear, Bear and Ian, Nikki and Sarah… every pairing carried its own tension and imbalance. Even the softer scenes felt slightly off in a way I really liked.
Visuals:
The visuals leaned heavily into shadows and partially obscured spaces, which made everything feel emotionally boxed in. The chiaroscuro lighting especially reminded me of Dead Ringers and Audition, where darkness becomes part of the emotional language of the film. Bear’s gloomy house especially worked as an extension of his emotional state: isolated, stagnant, and increasingly oppressive as things spiral.
Sound Design/Orchestration/Soundtrack:
The sound design made everything feel awkward, intimate, and emotionally wrong in a way that really got under my skin. Sound was a character that is set to make sure you never relax, even during silence. Even scenes that should’ve felt romantic carried this low-level anxiety underneath them. Honestly, some of the sex scenes stressed me out more than the horror scenes. The score also stayed restrained, which helped the tension creep up naturally instead of forcing it.
Final Thoughts…for now:
This honestly feels like relationship horror where intimacy itself becomes the monster. It’s less interested in jump scares than emotional erosion, loneliness, guilt, and the consequences of trying to force connection instead of letting it happen naturally. I could absolutely see this becoming a cult rewatch movie. My biggest critique is still that I wanted more fallout between the friends because the emotional consequences were some of the richest material in the film. Still, I left thinking about it long afterward, which is usually the sign a horror movie really worked for me.
Films That Came to Mind While Watching:
Romeo and Juliet, The Substance, Get Out, Fatal Attraction, Lisa Frankenstein, Boxing Helena, Speak No Evil, Funny Games, Dead Ringers, Audition, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner all floated through my head while watching for different reasons tied to obsession, emotional claustrophobia, awkward intimacy, and relationship power dynamics.
Obsession ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Directed by: Curry Barker
Written by: Curry Barker
Starring: Inde Navarrette, Michael Johnston, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless
Country: USA
Year: 2025
Production/Distribution: Focus Features
