The horror genre has a problem with itself: Too often it mistakes loudness for dread, gore for consequence, cheap shocks for genuine unease. Obsession doesn’t make any of those mistakes. Curry Barker’s feature debut is the rare horror film that earns every moment of terror it methodically and intelligently delivers without ever insulting your intelligence.
The story is simple: Bear, a lovesick music store employee, snaps a “One Wish Willow” in half to win his crush Nikki’s heart. He gets what he wants. That’s when things go very wrong. What Barker does with that setup is where the film stops being a genre exercise and becomes something genuinely disturbing. This is a film about male obsession, consent, and the violence of believing your feelings entitle you to someone else’s autonomy. The horror isn’t supernatural window dressing, but it becomes the whole theme. That coherence is what separates Obsession from the pack.
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