{"id":14467,"date":"2026-05-16T19:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14467"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:10:53","slug":"obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/05\/16\/obsession\/","title":{"rendered":"Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Obsession<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Curry Barker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Curry Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Rock Burwell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Taylor Clemons\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 15, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder, Anthony Pavone, Justice, Anthony Casabianca, Chloe Breen.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0You know, in a very perverse kind of way, it could be argued that Obsession<\/strong> is a rom-com disguised as a supernatural horror-thriller. The basic scenario of a guy resorting to some kind of hocus pocus to win the girl of his dreams could very well have been a fluffy Nora Ephron piece in the 90s. Writer-director Curry Barker (no relation to Clive) takes it in a completely different direction, a dark and disturbing one with an unsettling sense of humor. Be warned, it\u2019s NOT for the weak of heart or stomach.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Baron (Johnston, Teen Wolf), \u201cBear\u201d to his friends, is in love with his friend and co-worker Nikki (Navarrette, Superman & Lois). He wants to tell her. His best friend Ian (Tomlinson) tells him he\u2019s better off staying in the friend zone where Nikki put him. If he confesses his feelings to her, it\u2019ll just make things weird for their little group which also includes Sarah (Lawless, The Hate U Give) who likes<\/em> Bear. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Bear has to put it out there no matter what the cost.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The trouble begins with a wish made on a magical object called a \u201cOne Wish Willow\u201d. Bear picks it up at a novelty shop. All you have to do is break it in half and make your wish. That\u2019s what Bear does after an awkward attempt to tell Nikki how he really feels about her. He wishes for her to \u201clove him more than anything in the world\u201d. Now what is it they say about being careful what you wish for?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Right after Bear makes his wish, Nikki instantly transforms from an intelligent, independent-minded young woman to…… something else. It\u2019s almost like she\u2019s possessed. She\u2019s definitely not who she was before the wish. Nikki instantly falls head over heels in love with Bear, but it\u2019s not a healthy kind of love. She starts acting differently. Her behavior becomes erratic. She loses all autonomy. She walks around with an empty look in her eyes and a malevolent smile on her face. Occasionally, she\u2019ll start screaming for no reason. Then she becomes violent, committing acts of violence against herself and others. It scares Bear, but he chooses to stay the course, always making excuses for her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Because we\u2019re not talking about a lighthearted Ephron romp here, it will NOT end well for these star-crossed lovers. Barker, a comedian best known for being one half of the \u201cthat\u2019s a bad idea\u201d comedy duo with Tomlinson, goes all in with Obsession<\/strong>. In only his second feature film, the filmmaker seems destined to join the exclusive \u201cMasters of Horror\u201d club alongside John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Zach Cregger. His third film Anything but Ghosts is in post-production and he\u2019s next slated to deliver a reimagining (NOT a remake!) of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I\u2019m anxious to see what he has in store for us. He doesn\u2019t shy away from showing us the ugly side of love, one defined by malignant selfishness and unhealthy infatuation. The discomfort you feel is completely intentional.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only time Barker shows anything resembling restraint is this one super-gory scene that almost earned Obsession<\/strong> the dreaded NC-17 rating. He had to trim a few seconds to get an R. It\u2019s still pretty graphic though. It\u2019s not the most disturbing thing in the movie however. That would be the nasty business involving Bear\u2019s deceased pet cat. Early on, he comes home to find him dead after accidentally ingesting oxycodone. That\u2019s bad enough. Then Nikki enters the picture. The ultimate fate of the feline is something that will turn a lot of stomachs. It may even cause a few to consider vegetarianism.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is my first time seeing Inde Navarrette in anything. I can\u2019t speak to her other work in TV and film, but based on her perfectly calibrated performance in Obsession<\/strong>, I am confident in saying a star is born. She absolutely knocks it out of the park as the crazy, obsessed Nikki. Like her director, she\u2019s all in. She deftly balances her manic outbursts with brief moments of clarity revealing that what\u2019s going on with her is more insidious than a mere crush that\u2019s gotten out of hand. It\u2019s a tricky act that would trip up most young actresses, but Inde nails it. Bold and bonkers in equal measures, it\u2019s the best performance of its type since Isabelle Adjani in Possession (1981).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Johnston likewise does a great job as Bear, a typical nice guy-type who really isn\u2019t so nice after all. He slowly reveals his true selfish nature by letting things with Nikki go as far as they do. It\u2019s bad enough he used a cheat code to get her to love him like he loves her, but it\u2019s made worse by his failure to act after he learns the truth about what\u2019s really happening with Nikki. Through the bad choices he makes throughout, Bear\u2019s fate is far from a happily ever after.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Obsession<\/strong> moves to a rhythm entirely its own. It\u2019s a wild ride from start to finish. It\u2019s shocking, brutal and darkly funny in how it speaks to unhealthy relationships and the side effects that affect all those in close social proximity. It\u2019s difficult to watch at times, but it\u2019s in the moments that make you look away that force you to look closer. I know, it makes as much sense as anything involving love. Isn\u2019t that precisely the point?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Obsession (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Curry Barker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Curry Baker\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Rock Burwell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Taylor Clemons\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 15, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder, Anthony Pavone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Obsession-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14471,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467\/revisions\/14471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}