#obsession review

[got-them-blues]

Obsession (2026)

[justlydsstuff]

Obsession

God where do I start?

The actors of this movie truly did a fantastic job. Nikki seems so incredibly scary at times and you can truly see the difference between cursed Nikki and the real Nikki. Also Inde Navarrette somehow manages to switch between facial expressions so fast, it’s fascinating.

About Bear… I truly hated his character. Which makes me guess that the actor, Micheal Johnston, also did a good job. The fact that he manages to portray a selfish man so well makes his character truly dislike-able.

For the plot itself, I have to say this movie’s concept was just fascinating. Since I was little, there would always be said ‘but you can’t wish for love’. In every single movie where one could wish or control something like that, it was always said not to do it. Well this movie did exactly that. Though I think his wish only went so wrong cause he worded it really weird. ‘I wish for Nikki Freeman to love me more than anything’. I mean come on. That wish itself makes you thing, huh that sounds wrong.

Now here starts the spoilers:

After he did that stupid wish in his car, Nikki instantly turned around and god was that scene creepy. I truly got the chills watching that scene in the cinema. Just the lighting and everything. It was chefs kiss.

My favourite scene was the one while they were having a date in the restaurant. That repeated no while getting louder is such a peak performance. Also I loved the detail in the sex scene. Like the way she was just laying there all limp with her face not moving. It was such a nice detail.

Also to add, I think there were only two actual times I jumped in my seat from surprise. The one scene in the bedroom where she’s watching him sleep and the car scene with Sarah. (That scene looked so fake though).

I think that the cursed Nikki didn’t know how to act around Bear as the real just Nikki wasn’t in love with him. The fact that she first acted a tiny bit like his dead cat, Sandy says a lot. Watching him sleep, waiting by the door without moving, clinging to him etc. After she killed Sarah she acted a lot like Sarah. She tried painting the tattoo and all that. It is such a fascinating detail, I truly love it.

For the ending, I do think it’s sad that Nikki is alone at the end. Sarah and Ian are dead. Bear as well. Additionally, I hate Bear. He's such a horrible human being. Nikki begged for help and all he asked is if it's so bad to be with him. Like dude, that's not the point.

Anyway, I'd honestly give this movie a 10/10. I loved this movie so much. Maybe I'll write a fanfic about Nikki x reader sometimes.

[venus4thoughts]

ִ ࣪𖤐 — my thoughts on Obsession

Watched Obsession at the cinema last night and I just have to share my thoughts or I might go insane. Please beware that this is a very spoiler heavy review!!

I genuinely do not know how to explain the effect Obsession had on me other than saying that it made me feel absolutely miserable. I gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd, but after leaving the cinema I just sat there staring at my screen, completely unable to put my thoughts into words. I have watched a lot of horror films, but I have never had a film get under my skin quite like this one. As I’m writing this review a day later it’s still predominantly on my mind.

First of all, the performances are absolutely incredible across the board, but Inde Navarrette completely blew me away. Her performance is genuinely one of the most impressive horror performances I have ever seen. The amount of emotion, physicality, and sheer terror she brings to the role is unbelievable. There are scenes later in the film that simply would not work with another actress.

What struck me almost immediately was how insane Nikki was from the point Bear broke the stick. Going into the film, I assumed Nikki’s behaviour would start out relatively normal and gradually become more extreme. Instead, she is deeply unsettling from the very beginning. The first scene after Bear makes his wish already made my skin crawl. When she gets back into the car, puts her head on the dashboard, and starts sobbing, it sounds like she is crying so hard she can barely breathe, yet her body and head remain completely still. It is such a small detail, but it instantly gave me goosebumps.

What I love a lot about this film is that the One Wish Willow itself is not cursed. At first, I assumed that was where the story was heading. Surely the One Willow Wish was evil, right? Except it isn’t. Ian gets exactly what he wished for. The shopkeeper already used his wish and seems perfectly fine. The problem is not the wish. The problem is Bear!!

Bear’s wish is fundamentally selfish because it completely destroys Nikki’s autonomy. There is no “good” version of granting a wish that somebody loves you more than anything else in the world when they simply do not feel that way. The wish cannot create genuine love, so it has to replace Nikki with something that can provide it, some kind of entity. That idea becomes more horrifying the longer the film goes on. Nikki is possessed, but she is still there. Trapped and suffering :(

This is where the film’s portrayal of Bear becomes so effective. He is such a perfect depiction of a “nice guy”. He claims to love Nikki, but he has no interest in knowing who she actually is. He is in love with the idea of being with her. Every time Nikki’s humanity tries to break through, his concern is never truly about her wellbeing. His concern is maintaining the fantasy he wished for which is why he tried to change the wish instead of trying to cancel it immediately (not that that would have worked anyways, but it was very telling of Bear’s character)

The moments where the real Nikki briefly resurfaces absolutely broke me. The phone call where you hear her screaming in agony sent chills down my spine. Her confused “what the fuck?” when she temporarily regains awareness. The tears in her eyes and her blank expression while they have sex. Her desperate attempt to kill herself with the broken bottle. Every single glimpse of the real Nikki made me feel worse and worse.

The most devastating scene in the entire film for me was when the entity is asleep and the real Nikki briefly emerges. She just quietly begs Bear to kill her over and over again. By that point I was already emotionally exhausted, but that scene genuinely made me tear up in the cinema. And then, somehow, the film immediately makes it even worse!!

When Bear responds by asking, “What’s so awful about being with me?”, I genuinely could not believe what I was hearing. My boyfriend and I exchanged the most horrified look imaginable. It perfectly crystallises everything wrong with his character. Nikki is literally begging for death rather than continuing to exist in this state, and his response is still centred on himself. It is one of the most selfish and disturbing lines I have EVER heard in a horror film.

The tension throughout the second half is almost unbearable. The car scene with Sarah was especially brutal because you know exactly what is going to happen. The entire sequence is built around anticipation. You know Nikki is coming. You know somebody is going to die. You spend the whole scene waiting for it, dreading it, and yet when she suddenly smashes through the window it STILL scared the living shit out of me. The violence that follows is so gruesome that I genuinely had to look away while Sarah’s face was being repeatedly smashed into the steering wheel…

And then there was this one moment I thought was absolutely brilliantly made, because when Nikki started walking backwards like a stop-motion character, I nearly went into cardiac arrest. I had goosebumps for what felt like the rest of the film.

By the final act, I felt genuinely sick to my stomach, just utterly miserable. The film keeps finding new ways to twist the knife. Bear eventually trying to end the wish by getting someone else to wish for it should feel like redemption, but after everything that happened, especially after he tried to modify the wish instead of immediately ending it, I found it impossible to sympathise with him.

Which is why the ending felt so perfect. Of course Bear does not have the courage to follow through with killing himself. Of course the only reason he dies is because Nikki uses the wish against him, forcing him to love her just as obsessively as she loves him. It is cruel and completely fitting. The entire film is built around the horror of having your identity and autonomy taken away, and in the end Bear experiences a fraction of what he inflicted on Nikki.

I left the cinema feeling awful. I had goosebumps throughout the film, I had goosebumps walking out of the screen, and I still got goosebumps thinking about certain scenes afterwards. I have genuinely never had another horror film affect me in quite the same way.

Obsession is one of the most evil, cruel films I have ever seen, and I mean that as the highest compliment possible!!

[agentnico]

Obsession (2026) review

After the movie, I went back home where my wife greeted me with a cheerful “I love you, baby,” and I’m not gonna lie, I nearly turned around and walked straight back out the door.

Plot: After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

What Obsession essentially delivers is a feature-length horror reimagining of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode in which a botched love spell causes every woman in Sunnydale to fall obsessively in love with Xander, turning his life into a chaotic nightmare. Curry Barker takes that basic premise and twists it into one of the most disturbing and deeply uncomfortable horror films in recent memory — which is honestly impressive considering the original Buffy episode still mostly plays like a sitcom with a body count.

I’m not someone who scares easily, which is partly why horror has never been a genre I naturally gravitate towards. Yet Obsession genuinely unnerved me. What Barker accomplishes here is impressive precisely because he relies on such simple filmmaking techniques. Whether it’s the use of looming shadows and silhouettes — reflecting the protagonist’s fixation on the person he truly wanted to be with, but is no longer there — or the subtle rewinding of footage to make the “girlfriend” move in an unnatural, uncanny way, the film proves that the most effective horror often comes from restraint rather than excess. Turns out you do not need twenty gallons of CGI blood when somebody smiling too long can already ruin your evening.

And yes, there are jump scares. Normally, I dislike jump scares because they tend to feel like cheap tricks designed purely to provoke an audience reaction. The trope has been overused to the point where most can be predicted well in advance - horror fans can practically sense them like Spider-Man’s danger instinct at this point. However, Obsession contains one involving a car — that’s all I’ll say to avoid spoilers — which I saw coming a mile away, yet it still made me jump. That moment works because the film has already built such an oppressive atmosphere of dread that even the predictable becomes effective.

What makes the movie so unsettling is the constant sense that something is deeply wrong, a feeling that only intensifies as the situation spirals further out of control. One moment in particular keeps coming back to me: a scene where the possessed girl simply stands there, smiling unnaturally at the camera while the shot lingers uncomfortably long without cutting away. It immediately reminded me of the final scene of Pearl, where Mia Goth grins and cries directly into the camera during the credits. You almost don’t know whether to laugh, recoil, or look away — which, to be fair, is also my reaction whenever someone makes direct eye contact with me on public transport for too long. That lingering discomfort is exactly what makes Obsession so effective.

We also need to talk about Inde Navarrette as the possessed girl, because this is a genuine star-making performance. She initially carries the familiar “girl next door” charm, but the film constantly subverts that image by pushing her into moments of complete instability and madness. One moment she appears calm and composed; the next she is screaming, sobbing, or contorting her face into something genuinely unsettling.

I’ve already mentioned the unnatural way she moves, along with the lingering glances and disturbingly soft tone of voice, but it’s Navarrette’s absolute commitment to the role that elevates those moments from simply creepy to genuinely terrifying. Curry Barker deserves enormous credit for what he accomplishes behind the camera, yet Obsession ultimately works because Navarrette fully throws herself into the horror of the character. Her performance is unpredictable, uncomfortable, and deeply unnerving — the kind of turn that lingers in your mind long after the film ends.

In conclusion, Obsession delivers on its simple premise by fully committing to the bit, and succeeds in my eyes as one of the most terrifying horror films in recent years, proving just how much can be done with so little. I mean, now I’m genuinely afraid of my wife professing her love to me. Before watching this movie, she’d say it multiple times a day and I never thought twice about it. Now every “I love you” is followed by the intrusive thought: “is she obsessed with me?” and, more importantly, “am I about to suffer the same fate as the poor soul in this film?” Horror that can take something as warm and ordinary as affection and twist it into a source of dread is doing something right. Gosh, relationships are tough, aren’t they?

And just to be absolutely clear, dear, if you happen to read this review: I love you very much, you are wonderful, and this paragraph was written entirely in the name of film criticism and definitely not out of fear for my own safety. Which, honestly, is probably the highest compliment I can give a horror film like Obsession.

Overall score: 8/10

[v-67]

Watched Obsessed today.

Really creepy. Wouldn't genre it as a horror but more as a supernatural thriller maybe?

Not even as a thriller. But, rather creepy. So thriller yes maybe?

Okay, the genre left aside. The movie was a real creepy one.

And the creepy part is that without the element of the 'make a wish' thing, people actually are in such dysfunctional relationships.

That, my dear friends, is one of the most scary things.

And as much as the jump scares and the erratic behaviour scared and worried and made me make a wtf face, they did a good job in making me worry and get scared about when would nikki go crazy. It's like, now I'm expecting it but she just goes, oh okay. It's like, my heart rate went up that something's gonna happen and then it doesn't. But you anticipate the crazy. It's like the flinch thing. So good job I think?

The movie was really creepy. To analyse it in depth, I would first state that how are these guys living alone at that age? Aren't they teenagers? 18 or 19 probably?

Okay, maybe an agreeable aspect that kids move out and stuff.

Next, the character of bear. Insecure, wanting to have nikki live with him even when the real one asked him to kill her. Insecure yes, but also scared, wounded, confused. A teenager.

He should've tried something the moment the thing with the cat happened.

Often in horror movies when something creepy is coming up, I just say out loud, man, run away. But in this scenario, I couldn't ask the guy to high tail it because it's a scenario he created. Yes, he didn't know if the wish would really work or not, but, after he suspected and later on confirmed it works, the moral dilemma of it makes you not ask him to run away. But rather deal with it somehow. But it was hella creepy.

Also what, gun shots heard? Kid disappeared? No one does anything about it? No police men asking around? Also what, he came in with blood smeared up on himself, nothing? What kinda neighbourhood they living in to normalise shit like this?

ALSO THE CAT SANDWICH WAS MY BREAKING POINT. WHO DOES THAT!!!????

Also when she was standing in her filth. I couldn't even look ngl.

Poor cat.

Bear died the way his cat did....

But, I am glad that bear took those pills and died because if he had lived, it would be the most saddest life they would have had to live. Both of them had someone inside them, and those people locked them away. A suffocating sad relationship. Extremely sad. And a maniacal one too.

The actress did a good job. I'm not sure about the actor. Some scenes it felt like, hmm? What? What are you doing? I'm not saying acting maybe, because he did act well, maybe it's about his dialogues and the delivery, and some scenes where a rational man wouldn't do the same?

Coming onto next, I wonder what if they had done something like: Ian got the million dollars right? What is Bear and Ian ran away to a whole another place w that money and got Nikki locked up somewhere until they got their hands on another make a wish thing? And then paid someone to make the wish Bear wanted. That way, they would have found a good resource of living plus they would be free.

And ofcourse he could have repaid nikki by having her live in a better way. To repay her for the trauma he didn't mean to, but ultimately caused.

But man, the most terrifying part of this movie was how in actuality people can act like this. Being in the legal field, and seeing divorce cases, you sure know that people be crazy.

So yeah, that was the most terrifying part. But honestly such erratic behaviour is peak scary. I ain't gonna lie, I'm writing this and thinking if i dare look up and see someone standing in the middle of the hallway, I'm gonna lose my shit.

Let's think of good things.

Let's think of Shoyo. Let's think of Rengoku. Let's think of Naruto. Let's think of Ace. Yes, good things. Sweet characters. Wholesome teams, wholesome bonding. Empathy, care. Yep yep yep yep yep.

Okay, that was all for my review. Also it was the first horror genre classified movie I saw in the theatres.

I have seen one more before, but it was horror comedy. And this one as well, I wouldn't classify it as horror.

Creepy. 100% yes. Thriller? Maybe.

But India also had a lot many scenes cut off, so maybe I don't have the whole picture too.

Okay, alright.

I hope they're at peace.

And they don't come to haunt people up.

Scary af. Imagery in my head is doing the haunting man.

Let's think of good things.

[got-them-blues]

obsession is one of the most infuriating things i've watched in a long time because never have i come across a main character who is as much a loser as bear. nikki literally gives this man an opening to confess and him being such a fucking moron, denies it and then decides the next logical step is to make a wish for her to like him back. bitch are you in fucking high school? what the fuck are we even doing here???

the worst part of this movie is when nikki is literally begging to be freed from the nightmare he's trapped her in, this absolute clown has the audacity to ask, "is it so bad being with me?" tf do you think bro? she literally tells you that she has never been with you. even in this situation, knowing whatever has happened till now, he's still caught up in this pathetic "woe is me" spiral instead of accepting that this shit is fucking messed up.

i can be objective enough to admit that there was probably a point in my life where i was enough of a loser that i might've fantasized about something similar.

but I'm not fucking 15 anymore.

if you can't ask someone out, congratulations buddy, you now get to experience one of the oldest human traditions: yearning. do it like everyone else. write shitty poetry. stare at the ceiling at 2 a.m. listen to depressing music. get rejected. move the fuck on.

don't ruin everyone else's lives because you couldn't say one sentence. even when you had the chance to, dumbfuck.

although, the party scene gave me skin crawling cringe, i also kind of laughed during it. till i didn't.

other than that, it was just a ragebait of a movie honestly.

[chaztalk]

I just saw Obsession for the 2nd time in theaters last night, the first movie I’ve only seen twice in theaters. It’s one of those movies that works being in theaters because the sound is so important.

Now for my non-spoiler review, it’s an incredible unique original with a low budget with no A list actors in it. The acting is great. The actress that played the main girl deserves all the praise but I also think the actor that played the main guy deserves some flowers as well. The score is amazing. Rock Burwell is probably gonna be the top artist on my Spotify wrapped. I love the way the film was shot, like I even got a shirt with my favorite shot of the film. And the discourse that’s happening around the film makes it all the more interesting. But my favorite part about it is that it’s not your typical horror. It’s not really scary. It’s the kind of movies where the more you think about it and the ideas around it, the more it makes your skin crawl.

[rayyay05]

I finally watched obsession and it was very good! like a 9/10. I have less thoughts on it than I did about Backrooms but I still loved it very much. Some parts i wanna talk about under the cut (spoilers)

okay omg so I’m a pretty big pussy when it comes to horror movies y’know? jump scares freak the shit out of me. but I watched Obsession with my bestfriend who like NEVER gets really scared from horror movies. But the scene were Nikki comes up to the car and smashes Sarah’s head in with a brick. Oh god that freaked the shit out of both of us. I think it was the combo of seeing Nikki moving in the background for one instant, and the tension in the fact that there had been like 2 other scenes shot like that in a car that you think your gonna get that type of scare.

also i wanna talk about Nikki’s story at the party, i think it’s just a gross fucked up version (more fucked ip i guess) of this story. OG nikki views Bear like a brother, but has to love him because that’s his wish. she doesn’t just have to love him, she has to love him more than anyone else.

also at the end of the day Bear really pmo. Your girlfriend cooks your cat and scuttles around the house at night, and you’re still defending her to your friends?????? get help dude wtf. i get that your all caught up in having a girlfriend and what not but dude she’s fucking crazy man