Writer/director Curry Barker’s second feature film, Obsession, which follows his 2024 debut Milk & Serial, often feels like something that has been seen before, but the sheer exuberance shown by everyone involved seems to share for the undertaking allows the whole of the film to overcome the sum of its parts.
The film begins as the audience is introduced to Bear (Michael Johnston), a hopeless nerd who happens to be head over heels in love with his best friend, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Unfortunately, Bear’s problem is that he’s unable to tell Nikki how he feels and his other friend, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), is continually prodding him to get him to admit his crush and perhaps move on to the next stage of his life.
Frustrated by his lack of courage and the seemingly never-ending roadblocks erected between himself and happiness, Bear comes across a eclectic shop wherein he finds a “One-Wish Willow” novelty item that guarantees to grant anyone their sincerest wish. Of course, as is always the case with mysterious objects granting wishes, item exacts a terrible price upon its user.
Once he has expressed his desire for Nikki to love him, the wish seems to come true beyond Bear’s wildest dreams. But, as is often the case with wishes of this sort, the hoped for result is nowhere near the one that he receives. Soon, as the situation grows more convoluted and conditions become far more dire, Bear must find a way to break the wish before something sinister takes hold.
Barker’s approach to the story is that of an old-school type horror film. Things seem hopeless for the pathetic Bear until he makes his wish and then, for one brief moment, until the horror behind said wish is realized, Bear seems relatively happy with the result. This is achieved through the inversion of several archetypes of the genre that fans will likely identify and revel in as the story unfolds. While the plot itself may feel a bit forgone from the onset, the relationship between the various characters and the appeal of Bear as a hopeless everyman make the film a bit less cloying than it might be otherwise.
Inde Navarrette in “Obsession.” Photo by Courtesy of Focus Features – © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
As Bear, Johnston shoulders most of the weight of the film in the sense that he is the one that needs to elicit sympathy and, for the most part, that proves successful. Navarrette’s work as Nikki is a bit less sympathetic, but that is likely by design as it would be hard to slant anyone other than Bear as the definitive hero or villain of this particular tale. Still, Navarrette manages to make Nikki both victim and villain as well.
Less a horror film than it is a thriller with elements of the horror genre sprinkled throughout, Obsession plays somewhat similar in tone to director Parker Finn’s 2022 entry to the horror genre Smile, Barker’s film sports a perspective that takes on the genre while simultaneously having some fun with it and pushing its boundaries to a certain extent.
WHERE TO WATCH: (powered by JustWatch)
| Producer: | James Harris, Christian Mercuri, Haley Nicole Johnson, Roman Viaris |
| Release Date: | May 15, 2026 |
| Running Time: | 108 minutes |
| Starring: | Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Megan Lawless, Cooper Tomlinson, Andy Richter |
| Writer: | Curry Barker |
| MPAA Rating: | R (for strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, and brief graphic nudity) |
| Director: | Curry Barker |
| Distributor: | Focus Features |
| External Info: | Official Website |
