Review: Curry Barker’s OBSESSION Captures The Horror Zeitgeist
Nothing quite captures the zeitgeist like a horror film. The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense (to name but a few) were all monumentally successful and enthralled audiences with huge box office grosses. Curry Barker’s Obsession can now be added to that list. Made for under $1 million, the film blew away its opening box office projections and continued to gross more on each subsequent week at the U.S. box office. The domestic box office take currently stands at $238 million – and its global haul sits at $375 million – making it the highest-grossing live-action English-language original film of the 2020s.
It’s a well handled horror, darkly comedic and with good performances. I’m a little bit out of the film’s age demographic, but I enjoyed it – even if I struggle to wrap my head around its enormous success. I guess younger audiences are getting a little tired of special effects extravaganzas and are just looking for good old fashioned storytelling and interesting characters.
A riff on The Monkey’s Paw (with a little bit of Big thrown in for good measure), Obsession sees Bear (Michael Johnston) buy a ‘One Wish Willow’, a supposed novelty toy which, well, grants one wish. He uses it to wish that his co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) will fall in love with him. And fall she does – all the way to Fatal Attraction territory and then far beyond. If love was a Terminator, she’d be the T1000. She will not stop loving Bear until one of them is dead.
There are no real surprises in Obsession and the plot works its way out as you would expect, but it’s well crafted by YouTuber turned filmmaker, Barker. He knows how to build a scene, delivering tension and comedy where needed and throwing in a few unexpected shocks when necessary. At the centre of the film is Johnston and Navarrette – who are both excellent. He gets to play horrified and confused, while Navarrette has more fun as the possessed and obsessed Nikki. I’m no prognosticator for success, but I get the feeling they will go far.
As I said before, the huge success of Obsession baffles me a little. It shouldn’t – it’s a good move after all, but its massive box office gas outstripped many of the big budget summer movies (Supergirl, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Disclosure Day etc). If I was to hazard a guess – and I will as it’s my review – I think it’s probably got to do with younger people and relationships at this particular point of the 21st Century . Obsession is a film about control and fear and oppression and restriction and this has tapped into something for this audience. Nikki never asked to be in a relationship with Bear – ultimately she’s there against her will, while on the flip-side, once Bear gets to the point of feeling smothered by Nikki’s affections, she won’t let him go. I think these are issues a whole generation is dealing with – or at the very least, afraid of dealing with.
I could be wrong though. Maybe there’s a whole untapped audience out there who just wants to see someone eat a dead cat or get repeatedly hit in the face with a concrete block.
Obsession is a film that delivers on its premise. It’s a satisfying film with strong writing and performances that offers up good character moments among the tension. We might just be in the early phase of a new New Hollywood – and wouldn’t it be surprising (and a little ironic) if a whole new group of auteurs like Curry Barker came from having learned and built their skills making content on YouTube?
