Reviews

An exciting new voice in horror has arrived in the form of Curry Barker.

Barker, who broke out with his 2024 feature debut Milk & Serial, which he released for free on YouTube, has now proven his horror credentials with his first cinematic feature, Obsession.

The film tells the story of Bear (Michael Johnston), a music store employee who is in love with his friend and colleague Nikki (Inde Navarrette) and is afraid to tell her how he feels.

So, instead of being honest and taking a chance, he uses a One Wish Willow – confident that it won’t actually work – and wishes for Nikki to love him more than anything else in the world.

As we’ve learned from this familiar concept, the wish becomes true, but in a twisted, horrifying way that makes Bear regret making it.

Nikki loves him too much and becomes clingy, obsessive and volatile, behaving like an insecure scorned woman or a child with separation anxiety. She is too codependent and won’t let Bear have any space or alone time or hang out with others without her.

But wait, there’s more! The supernatural magic of the One Wish Willow has done something disturbing to Nikki. She starts exhibiting unnerving, freaky behaviour, and this escalates to the point where she becomes incredibly violent and dangerous.

Navarrette establishes herself as one to watch with her scream queen performance. Nikki requires her to switch between different modes, often within the same scene, and we see so many different sides to her. She is sweet and normal one minute and totally terrifying the next, and she makes it seem effortless.

You should try to see this one with a crowd because it’ll make the experience much more fun. Obsession is a stressful, genuinely scary horror that will have your heart racing. It evokes audible reactions to the gory violence as well as the silly decision-making from Bear, and you’ll have plenty to discuss when you walk out of the theatre.

Obsession is the best original horror of the year so far, and one of the best overall too. If you’re a horror fan, you don’t want to miss it!

In cinemas from Friday 15th May

By Hannah Wales

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