Obsession: The BRWC Review. By Simon Thompson.
Writer/director Curry Barker’s Obsession is an excellent horror film, in the same vein as Zach Cregger’s Barbarian and Weapons in how it combines humour, shocking violence, and a stylised retro aesthetic. What makes Obsession work narratively is that it’s a fresh take on the old cliché of being careful what you wish for, taken to its absolute extreme. In a world with more toothless Insidious and The Conjuring style PG-13 slop than you can shake a stick at, the fact that squarely graphic and uncompromising adult horror such as Obsession and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners can still slip through the cracks is a truly beautiful thing.
Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnston) who harbours an unrequited crush on his co-worker/childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). At the end of his tether, Bear finds himself in a magic shop where he decides to buy Nikki a novelty gift of a One Wish Willow, an object that once broken in half grants a single wish. After fumbling his main opportunity to tell Nikki the truth, Bear uses the One Wish Willow out of frustration, wishing that Nikki loved him more than anybody else, with Bear’s wording resulting in dire consequences.
Obsession is the end result of what would have happened had Stephen King and George A Romero collaborated to make Big. What I mean by this specifically, is how Barker takes a horrific fantastical concept, yet places it within an everyday mundane context, so that the disturbing imagery on display hits uncomfortably close to home, just as King and Romero’s work at its best does.
While Barker’s script explores many contemporary issues around modern relationships/dating on the one hand, Obsession is a movie which plays like a love letter to classic 80s-90s horror, such as The Evil Dead series, Creepshow, Tales From The Crypt, Re-Animator, almost every John Carpenter movie ever shot, Hellraiser, and Candyman in terms of how it isn’t afraid to use violence to shock you.
That isn’t to say, however, that Barker relies simply on violence and gore to scare you, as through careful pacing and well staged sound cues, he builds an oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere that only tightens its stranglehold over the audience more and more until the final act.
The cinematography for this movie is some of the most distinctive I’ve seen in a new release for a while. In a world of Nolan misery light blues, and the current sickening push towards absolute realism, Barker’s visuals are a delight in how they mix strong shadows with the presence of one or two bright colours to create a sense of mood.
Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette are both fantastic in their respective parts, and if this movie doesn’t lead to long and successful careers for both of them I don’t know what will. While Johnston plays it understated as Bear, bringing out the character’s cripplingly shy social awkwardness, it’s Navarette’s performance as Nikki that steals the show. Without going too deep into spoilers, to see the difference Navarette’s performance shows from before and after the inciting incident is astonishing, with her displaying a kind of Annie Wilkes on a cocktail of amphetamines and human growth hormone level of homicidal obsession that viscerally gets under your skin.
If you care about original horror movies in any way, shape or form, go and see Obsession at the first chance you get. This is a first class horror movie in its deft combination of old and new ideas and genuinely palpable sense of terror.
