This year’s Sundance featured real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie in the body horror film Together, which explored the grotesque reality of being physically fused to one another. The film cleverly turned codependency into a curse, delivering a wincingly effective dark comedy. However, it struggled to find its audience during its wide summer release, partly because the marketing campaign failed to clearly explain the plot or capture its shifting tone between horror and comedy.
At Toronto, YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker’s similarly themed film Obsession is expected to be an easier sell. It enters the festival as a hotly anticipated title, likely to be quickly picked up for distribution. The premise is cleaner and more concise—a love spell gone wrong—and its moments of shocking violence are even more alarming. As a Midnight Madness selection, it’s poised to leave a lasting impact.
Obsession marks a strong next step for Barker, who gained attention last year with Milk & Serial, a low-budget online horror that far exceeded expectations. With Obsession, he proves he can successfully transition to a bigger platform. While his debut played with modern horror tropes, this film looks to the past, blending elements of classic fables and 1980s-style schlock.
The story follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a music store employee with a longtime crush on his coworker and childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). They share a close, almost sitcom-like bond, but despite her affection, she shows no interest in taking their relationship further. When Nikki loses her crystal necklace down a drain, Bear seizes the opportunity to impress her by buying a replacement at a mystical shop. There, he discovers a novelty item that promises to grant one wish.
At first, the wish seems to work perfectly: Nikki becomes irresistibly drawn to Bear, fulfilling his every romantic fantasy. But the reality of her undying, obsessive love soon turns suffocating. Her closeness becomes clinginess, her rationality vanishes, and she transforms into a single-minded entity living only for him. Unprovoked, violent outbursts suggest she’s possessed, twisting the perfect girlfriend into a horrific nightmare.
Despite its seemingly silly premise, Obsession takes a serious approach, avoiding the heavy-handedness of trauma horror. It shares some DNA with last year’s The Substance—a dream product becoming a nightmare—but its tone leans closer to the grim, gory style of the Smile films, amplified by exaggerated sound design. Barker uses the campy setup to explore the day-to-day torture of such a situation: What if your biggest crush finally wanted you back, but they were no longer the person you fell for? What if you didn’t like what you’d turned them into? And what does that say about you? The film delves into the unsettling nature of unconditional, non-consensual love.Love is like a demonic curse, making Nikki ill with her all-consuming need to draw closer and closer to Bear. It torments her, altering her actions and identity, and Navarrette is astonishingly, chillingly effective at portraying the intricacies of this transformation—her voice and body contort into something inhuman and ultimately unrecognizable (her blood-curdling screams are hard to forget). There’s a gripping unpredictability to whatever Nikki might do next that keeps viewers on edge, even if the clues were there all along.
Like the Philippou brothers, who also transitioned from YouTube to create the horror hit Talk to Me, Barker has a passion for visceral, repulsive violence—like head-smashing—and in one particularly gruesome scene, he makes the aftermath even harder to watch and listen to than the event itself. His shocks are brutally efficient, but as a director known mostly for shorts, he has yet to master pacing. The film’s 108-minute runtime feels a bit indulgent, adding slack to what could have been a tighter, more impactful horror in the final act. Barker isn’t alone in facing this issue within the genre, though, and he has time to improve, especially with super-producer Jason Blum recently signing him. It’s the kind of dream ascent any filmmaker would wish for.
Obsession is screening at the Toronto Film Festival and is currently seeking distribution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the film Obsession Review designed to be helpful for both new and seasoned viewers
General Beginner Questions
Q What is Obsession Review about
A Its a brutal horror film about a person whose intense allconsuming desire for a perfect romantic relationship spirals into extreme violence stalking and psychological torment when their affection is not returned
Q Is this movie based on a true story
A No Obsession Review is a work of fiction though it explores themes of obsession and rejection that are unfortunately very real
Q How scary is it Is it more psychological or gory
A Its considered a very intense film that uses both It builds deep psychological dread and tension but also features graphic brutal violence to showcase the physical manifestation of the main characters obsession
Q Why is it called Obsession Review
A The title is intentionally ambiguous It could refer to the main character constantly reviewing or analyzing their obsession or it could be a metacommentary on the audiences experience of watching and critiquing the films disturbing subject matter
Q Who would enjoy this movie
A Fans of extreme horror psychological thrillers and films that explore the dark side of human nature It is not for casual viewers or those sensitive to graphic violence and heavy themes
Content Viewer Guidance
Q What are the major content warnings I should know about
A Viewers should be prepared for extreme violencegore graphic stalking psychological abuse strong sexual content and deeply unsettling themes of obsession and entitlement
Q Is there a lot of jump scares
A While it might have a few its horror is less reliant on jump scares and more on a pervasive building sense of dread and the anticipation of violence
Q Does the movie have a happy ending
A No Given its brutal and tragic premise the ending is devastating and aligns with the films dark commentary on destructive obsession
Deeper Analysis Themes
Q What is the main message or theme of the film
