Although it originally traumatized me as a kid, the horror genre has become a favourite since I returned to it a year or two later, with Scream. Over the decades that have passed since that day, I’ve watched many horror movies, both classic and modern, including many that were made before I was even born. Few of them have impressed me, or stuck with me as much as Curry Barker’s feature debut, Obsession.
When I was younger, a good friend was obsessed with films and wanted to be a director. I don’t think I would have become as much of a film geek if it weren’t for him. We would both regularly check movie news websites, but it’s something that I haven’t done in years. At least partially due to this, Obsession somehow crept up on me and was kind of a surprise. When I heard about it, and the buzz surrounding it, I made a plan to go to see it opening weekend, which wasn’t far off. Although I used to go to the local theatres a lot, especially as a kid, teen and young adult, I’ve hardly been since just before the pandemic. I’d gone to see Weapons, The Long Walk and Scream 7, but before that I hadn’t been since Scream 6.
Chances are you’ve heard about Obsession, and have possibly even seen it. If not, here’s a summary of what this low budget phenomenon is all about:
The movie begins as a young man named Bear (Michael Johnston) practices asking his crush out, and does so in a diner. He’s getting the opinion of a waitress, who’s sitting across the table, while his best friend and coworker watches on. You see, Bear is in love with his other coworker, Nikki, who is played by actress Inde Navarrette. However, as is often the case, he’s been unable to confess his feelings to his friend, due to fear, anxiety, or whatever.
After getting home and receiving bad news, Bear decides that he doesn’t want to go out to trivia night at the pub. He ends up getting talked into it, though, and stops at a magic/crystal store to pick up a necklace for his crush, since she lost hers. It’s there where he sees the One Wish Willow — a seemingly gimmicky toy that one would expect exists as a gag gift or a way to milk people out of money. Bear buys one, and ends up using it to wish that Nikki Freeman would love him more than anyone in the world. Thus begins the breakout hit of summer 2026, which is shockingly still in theatres. That’s impressive! It’s like a Marvel movie, except actually good!
Being that this is a horror movie, that wish ends up not working out as planned. I won’t spoil the movie for you though.
Obsession remains my favourite movie of 2026, and is one of the better horror movies I’ve seen. For this calendar year, it’s at the top, alongside Hokum and Undertone, the first of which I saw the day after I went to see this. It was a good weekend at the movies.
The acting found within this film is better than in almost all of its genre peers, and it’s because of this — especially the performances from the leads — that it is so creepy, unsettling and effective. Inde Navarrette is especially great as Nikki, and shows an incredible amount of range and talent. The film could have failed if the actress portraying that character wasn’t good, but she nailed it. There are so many impressively creepy and unsettling scenes, and most of them involve great acting from the female lead. Her ability to switch tone, use her eyes and facial expressions to convey things and cry on demand was pivotal, and added so much to this cinematic experience.
Michael Johnston is also well cast, and does a good job of playing the likeable loser, who’s in love with the girl of his dreams but doesn’t know how to tell her. It’s believable and familiar, and he gives the character good depth.
Obsession was my first time watching anything by writer/director, Curry Barker, who’s apparently released short films online. This was his feature debut, but you wouldn’t know it. The movie is well written, directed and shot. This all adds to its effectiveness, and why it’s so memorable. However, I do wish that certain scenes involving an animal hadn’t happened.
My first and only time watching this movie was on opening weekend. That is, until I was sent a copy of its 4K UHD/Blu-ray release. That allowed me to watch it a second time, and my hope is that I’ll get the chance to introduce friends to it in the future. At this point, though, I don’t have anyone to watch it with. My family members do not do well with horror movies!
The 4K Blu-ray set includes a digital code (for an app that seems to be US only), a copy of the movie on Blu-ray and a second disc for 4K players. I watched the latter on our PlayStation 5 Pro, using an LG C2 TV (65 inches). Originally, I thought something was wrong, because — after the disc had started up — the TV went to a no input screen. However, it started to play normally after that, with the Universal loading icon coming up.
Obsession wasn’t shot in a normal, widescreen aspect ratio. As such, it’s presented in a sort of stretched fullscreen, with small, black, borders on the sides. This was intentional, and it works to make it all feel more artistic and focused.
While this isn’t the type of movie that exists as a showcase for 4K or pushes the envelope visually (outside of Inde Navarrette’s facial expressions), it looks really good on 4K Blu-ray. I didn’t notice any issues with the transfer.
The movie uses loud sounds for effect, and the 4K Blu-ray does a good job of capturing this. It does have that ‘issue’ where the music can be louder than the dialogue, but I think that’s more intentional than anything, unlike with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It’s a common thing with movies and TV shows, and used to drive me batty when I was trying to watch movies late at night on school nights and not wake my parents up.
The Obsession Blu-rays feature two different forms of special feature:
First, there’s a 19 (or so) minute-long featurette, during which the cast and director talk about making the movie, each others’ performances and more. It’s insightful and interesting, but it’s also brief and could have gone into more depth.
There is also a full commentary track from writer/director, Curry Barker. It’s literally just him talking about the movie, and every scene in it, as well as the music he chose, decisions he made and the program he edited it on. It’s a very interesting and informative commentary track, and an honest one too. Curry talks about scenes that were shot as additional footage, ones that were originally longer, and a scene that he still feels didn’t work. He also talks about how short their filming schedule was, how they made certain things work, how hard everyone worked and how important producers and the art department were. He comes across as very likeable.
The commentary track — which acted as my third time watching this movie, with that viewing occurring right after the second — features a lot of talk about cut scenes and footage. Oddly enough, none of those deleted scenes are available on the disc. That’s a disappointment.
Obsession is a great horror movie, and one that fans of the genre need to see for various reasons. It’s very well made, written, acted and directed, despite being made quickly and on a low budget. The result is a truly effective, unsettling, engaging and creepy horror movie that stays with you. Owning it on 4K and/or Blu-ray is a no brainer, and a good way for those who’ve yet to see it to experience the movie for the first time.
Movie: 93/100
Video: 89/100
Audio: 87/100
Special Features: 70/100
This review is based on a copy of the movie that we were provided with.