Editor’s note: This review contains mentions of suicide and self-harm and describes scenes of violence that may be disturbing to some readers.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
“Obsession” packs a hearty bite for horror fans, but its screenplay could use more substance for viewers to sink their teeth into.
The film, written and directed by Curry Barker, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will receive a full theatrical release from Focus Features on Friday. Its doomed tale follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a young man who wistfully pines after his music store coworker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) until he makes a wish for her to fall in love with him. Carried by Navarrette’s committed performance, the film’s descent into madness through the lens of an obsessive romantic partner is largely successful, but the screenplay hesitates when opportunities arise to expand characterizations and make Nikki more than a one-dimensional threat.
The general premise of “Obsession” wisely lands upon a dilemma some viewers are sure to find familiar – the discomfort and anguish caused by unrequited attraction to a friend. Such is the predicament for Johnston’s character Bear, who humorously rehearses confessing his feelings to Nikki but cannot muster the courage to verbalize his crush. When he buys a mysterious trinket called a “One Wish Willow,”a twig abruptly snaps, slightly reminiscent of the branch-breaking in Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” last year. Bear wishes for Nikki to reciprocate his infatuation. The first half hour or so of the film effectively captures Bear’s awkwardness, accentuating his subsequent joy as he and Nikki begin to behave as a couple following his wish.
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Of course, Nikki’s obsession with Bear is too good to be true, and her antics become increasingly strange as the film progresses. At first, she uncomfortably watches Bear as he sleeps, and she shuffles around his house with unnatural movements. Other behaviors are more jarring, as she cuts his hair, tapes over his door with duct tape, urinates and vomits uncontrollably around the house and is implied to have put Bear’s deceased cat in his sandwich. There does not seem to be a reliable pattern to Nikki’s outbursts or her tendency to appear possessed – instead, she quickly reverts back to playing the fantasy girlfriend when Bear reaffirms his love to her.
Navarrette deserves praise for her unrelenting adaptability within the role, even when the screenplay fails Nikki and confines her to a fairly static villain. The actress convincingly plays the role of the effortlessly cool girl next door before Bear casts his wish, just as she is believable embodying the violent, aggressive partner she becomes. Navarrette’s wide array of vocal inflections and facial expressions only cements the unpredictability of her character, so much so that the rest of the cast is largely left to react to her commanding presence in each scene.
The underwhelming screenplay loses some steam around the film’s third act once it becomes clear that little additional depth will be cultivated within Bear, Nikki or their relationship. Several threads are left extremely loose. For instance, there are repeated mentions that Nikki’s estranged father does not – as she claims – have terminal cancer. Perhaps, a more experienced screenwriter would have been more intentional with using these superfluous moments, which took up the majority of scenes, to add another impactful layer to Nikki’s personality. Likewise, the story repeatedly pities Bear as Nikki’s victim rather than directly addressing the uncomfortable reality that Nikki never provided consent to be bewitched.
For most of its runtime, the scare factor for “Obsession” is restrained enough that audiences who do not enjoy horror movies might be able to stomach the film. That changes toward the film’s gruesome end when Nikki begins to engage in acts of self-harm before brutally murdering Sarah (Megan Lawless), the couple’s mutual friend who had expressed romantic interest in Bear. Horror fans are likely to appreciate the diversion into gore, but more sensitive audiences should probably avoid viewing the disturbing frames of Sarah’s mutilated skull or her naked corpse.
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The uncomfortable portrayals intensify when Bear learns that his wish cannot be canceled, and he must die in order for Nikki to fall out of love with him. Nikki kills the couple’s other friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) before using a “One Wish Willow” herself, seemingly to win Bear’s reciprocated obsession. Her wish comes too late as Bear has already committed suicide by overdosing on pills, breaking the spell upon Nikki as her regular self returns to consciousness. The closing frame of Nikki screaming in a blood-spattered living room might be the most horrifying moment of all.
Although Bear pays the ultimate price for his ill-fated wish – and Nikki is left as the friend group’s traumatized sole survivor – the film’s presentation of the consequences of obsession feels muddled. Despite the initially relatable concept of an unhealthy relationship where infatuation gets out of hand, the film weakens its possible thematic complexity by forcefully positioning Nikki as the villain and Bear as the victim.
Leaving the mechanics of the “One Wish Willow” fairly ambiguous is a wise choice, but the two lead characters would have benefited substantially from more moral ambiguity. Horror movie audiences are likely to react positively to the film for its entertainment value, but Barker’s writing could have done more than just provide a surface-level look into Nikki and Bear’s dark sides.
This reimagining of “The Monkey’s Paw” film trope delivers on horror and could, with a few refinements to its script, have the haunting tale to go with it.
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