By George & Josh Bate
Following in the recent footsteps of Chris Stuckmann and Markiplier, Curry Barker becomes the latest YouTuber-turned-horror filmmaker with his feature directorial debut Obsession, an intense and uncomfortably hilarious that takes the ‘be careful what you wish for’ staple of the horror genre to its most twisted extreme.
Screening at this year’s inaugural Beyond Chicago, Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnson), a young man who has long had romantic feelings for co-worker and childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). After coming across a mysterious “One Wish Willow” and when his latest attempted profession of love disappointingly fizzles out, Bear impulsively wishes that Nikki loves him more than any other person on the planet. The wish suddenly comes true, much to Bear’s surprise, but before long his fulfilled fantasy becomes a sinister nightmare.
Obsession finds Curry Barker follow up his acclaimed horror short Milk & Serial with a movie that firmly feels like the quintessential example of post-Barbarian horror. Like filmmaker Zach Cregger, Barker makes the switch from sketch comedian to horror filmmaker with uncanny ease and deftly flexes a command of conflicting tones. Cregger’s film elicits laughs from the very first scene, which finds Bear practice a profession of love to a random waitress at a diner only to be spectacularly roasted by his friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson). The humor doesn’t stop there, even as the anxiety that accompanies an increasingly tense dilemma ramps up.
In a manner similar to Cregger, Barker in part extracts comedy from the sickeningly self-serving ways in which people respond to disturbing or traumatic situations. Upon cracking the “One Wish Willow” open and making the wish that the woman of his dream finally reciprocates his feelings, Bear faces all manner of warning signs that something is awry. Nikki suddenly changes from a vibrant young woman full of personality and quirks to a hollow, doe-eyed object of desire. If that wasn’t unsettling enough, Nikki’s personality occasionally undergoes a startling shift, which suggests that the real Nikki has been relegated to the background while some kind of entity takes control of her body. And yet, despite the sudden shift in Nikki’s behavior and random bouts of screaming, Bear manages to push his concerns to the periphery in favor of finally fulfilling his longstanding romantic fantasy. This results in a myriad of solid jokes, largely sold by actor Michael Johnston’s expression of palpable anxiety and concern that is then followed by a particularly strong willful ignorance.
Obsession doesn’t take this inner deliberation of Bear far enough beyond comedy, however. While we see Bear anxiously navigate the love of his life acting strangely and erratically, we rarely see Johnston’s lead character delight in the situation he has caused nor reckon with the guilt of what he’s done. Instead, Bear is portrayed more innocently, seeming more like a deer in the headlights in awe of the baffling events unfolding before him than a man who has just stripped a woman of her autonomy. This handling of the protagonist fosters ample laugh out loud moments, although it leaves the potential for a more complex examination of a morally questionable character firmly on the table.
Thankfully, the rather superficial approach to its protagonist is relatively easy to overlook due to the strength of an awards-worthy and star-making performance from Inde Navarrette. Barker’s film relies heavily on the actress known for playing Sarah Cushing in The CW’s Superman & Lois to both disarm the audience with her strangeness and chill them to the bone with her depths of depravity. Simply put – Obsession would not work anywhere near as well as it does without Navarrette triumphantly commanding the screen with a performance that, come the end of the year, should be up for awards consideration.
Compared to the more awe-struck Bear, Navarrette’s Nikki brings the expression, personality, charm, and terror of Obsession to life. After briefly seeing Navarrette embody the role of the actual Nikki at the beginning, she miraculously finds a way to transform her body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, stature, and gait to reflect the drastic impact of Bear’s fateful wish coming true. Navarrette’s performance proves so authentic that, despite looking exactly the same as the real Nikki from the beginning, it’s difficult to imagine the pre- and post-wish Nikki are played by the same actress, such is the versatility she exhibits.
Working from a screenplay that is intimately in touch with the dynamics of modern dating, Navarrette redefines the term ‘toxic relationship.’ Barker takes all the lovely and warm aspects of being in a romantic relationship and pushes them to such an extreme that what was once beautiful becomes anything from hilarious to horrifying. Whether it be her excessively pouting at not being able to kiss Bear during a game night or longingly staring at him without blinking while at work, Nikki’s odd behavior fosters plenty of laughs, until Barker steadily makes Navarrette’s character more and more unsettling. The humorous and disarming nature of Navarette’s performance lulls the audience into a false sense of security as Barker masterminds some genuinely creepy moments in the movie, sometimes out of nowhere. A scene involving Nikki watching Bear sleep makes for particularly scary viewing as Barker (despite having no narrative reason to do so) makes Nikki move and talk in extraordinarily offputting ways. Such is Barker’s command of tone that Obsession can oscillate between the most disturbing customer service call put to screen to a crowd-pleasing gag that will have moviegoers bursting with laughter.
For as twisted as Obsession becomes, however, the film feels somewhat restrained in the ultimate execution of its premise. Those less familiar to crazier horror films will likely find Barker’s film to be a riotously outlandish time, but those more well versed in crazy horror like Inland Empire or Audition may find Obsession to be a tad tame and even overhyped.
That being said, Obsession seems like it is converging on a botched ending before finding its footing at the last moment and ultimately concluding on a deserved note. It’s certainly dark but not necessarily bleak, while taking advantage of the beautifully succinct lore surrounding the “One Wish Willow.”
VERDICT: 7.5/10
Curry Barker makes his feature directorial debut with Obsession, an intense and uncomfortably hilarious horror movie that gives new meaning to the term ‘toxic relationship.’ Barker’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed short Milk & Serial takes the ‘be careful what you wish for’ staple of the horror genre to its most twisted extreme while deftly balancing humor in a manner fans of Zach Cregger’s work will admire. Like Barbarian, the film extracts great comedy from the sickeningly self-serving ways in which people respond to disturbing or traumatic situations, which is actualized by lead actor Michael Johnston’s expression of palpable anxiety and concern that is then followed by a particularly strong willful ignorance. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t take the time to examine a morally ambiguous character in a more nuanced way, largely failing to explore Bear’s delight at having his fantasy fulfilled and reckoning with the situation he has caused. These issues are relatively easy to overlook, however, due to an awards-worthy and star-making performance from Inde Navarrette, whose transformative turn into the post-wish Nikki fosters devious laughs and horrifying outbursts. Obsession may prove to be a tad restrained with the craziness that ensues, especially for more seasoned horror fans, although there is certainly enough insanity, depravity, and uncomfortable humor to render it a crowd-pleasing thrill ride. With Obsession, Curry Barker announces himself as a horror filmmaker to look out for and Inde Navarrette proves that she is a young actress that demands your attention. If you thought your relationship was toxic, just wait til you see this.