Obsession

You've no doubt heard about Obsession by now. You may well have seen it, too. The word of mouth effect on this film has been unlike any other we've seen for years, taking what modern Hollywood would call a shoestring budget of $750,000 and turning it into a $220 million+ hit. That doesn't happen every day, but is audiences' obsession with Obsession borne out of a genuine love for the movie, or is it just to see the "crazy girlfriend" film you've seen on Twitter? Thankfully, it's the former, even if there are still plenty of people online who will watch the film, thinking that Nikki is the one to be afraid of even though she was trapped in her own body by a guy too scared to ask her out.

The premise of Obsession takes us to a small town, where Bear (Michael Johnston) finds himself on the cusp of telling his crush Nikki (Inde Navarette) how he feels about her, only to then back out. After visiting a strange store that sells "One-Wish Willows," an item that can grant you one wish if you break it, Bear wishes that Nikki loved him more than anyone in the world. This wish works, and what follows is an hour and forty-nine minutes of terror, brought about by someone so infatuated with the idea of a person he could never stand to see if the real version would have liked him.

Inde Navarette is the key to this film. Her performance as the wish version of Nikki and the real Nikki is nothing short of incredible. The way she emotes, her movements, the slight alterations in her voice. We can praise the script and the directing as much as we like, but without Navarette the whole film falls apart. She's seriously that good, and while her expressions have been seen across the internet since the film premiered, you have to see the whole film to realise just how impressive she is. As terrifying as she is sympathetic, Nikki is the type of horror character we'll be talking about for years to come. I've seen a lot of talk about Navarette becoming a scream queen off the back of this role, but I hope that she gets the chance to explore much more than the horror genre, as it's clear she has the potential to define anything she's in if given the screentime.

You've likely heard the praise for Navarette, but I also think it's worth highlighting Johnston as Bear. Barker, too, deserves a lot of praise here, for how good the film is at making sure we hate our "protagonist" and know the type of guy he is right from minute one. Bear is a typical "nice guy," a man who doesn't offer much besides the idea that he'd be the best boyfriend ever to a girl who treats him right. The toxic mindset this produces, the way in which he latches himself and his worth onto his ideal of Nikki is brilliantly represented by Johnston. Even before the wish, before we meet Nikki for the first time, we're made well aware of where Bear's priorities lie. After his cat dies in the first few minutes of the movie, he's seen crying on his bed. Not about the cat, but about how Nikki doesn't just like him. His yearning is relatable, but his actions and mindset are pathetic. Bear exists in a world where he wants everything to land in his lap, without any real effort. His friends tell him to flirt with Nikki, only for him to dismiss the idea as stupid. He's a dream chaser who has bound his feet to the floor with cement. It's a wonder his other friend, Sarah (Megan Lawless), even likes him.

Compared to the other viral horror movie of the minute, Backrooms, Obsession isn't nearly as good at setting a consistent level of terror throughout its runtime. Where Backrooms can be scary even under the artificial glow of office lighting, Obsession needs the dark to make you jump, but it uses it incredibly well. The lack of lighting around Nikki when she's first been transformed, the way there's a sparkle in the black pits of her eyes like there's something else trying to get out, it's all made the most of to leave you in the dark about what we're dealing with here. It could be a ghost, a demon, but in reality, it's just the version of Nikki Bear claimed to want, with the original trapped deep inside. It's a horrible concept to deal with, made even worse by Bear's reluctance to accept his responsibility in the hell he's caused for someone he claimed to love.

Obsession is a dark take on modern love. It can be fun to laugh at some of the things the obsessed Nikki does, pointing at your girlfriend saying "that's so you," but Barker never intends the end result to feel like a big joke. He trusts you to be aware that Bear is by no means the victim in this story. He's living in the hell he's created, one he has forced Nikki to be with him in, as a spectator in her own body. It's an incredibly dark concept to delve into, and one that is sure to leave a lasting impression, one that might make you think again when you next load up a dating app.