‘Obsession’ Is a Brilliantly Dark Fable about Confusing Love with Romance

When you look at ideas of romance through a patriarchal lens, you can see how love becomes a means of conquest. You “win” a woman’s heart, and that is “romantic.” How a woman feels about this is beside the point. If you’re a nice guy (whatever “nice” means), then you should be rewarded. Love is not something to be shared, but something to be obtained. The toxicity of these beliefs fuels Curry Barker’s disturbing and shocking horror film, Obsession. Using the “Monkey’s Paw” conceit of a wish gone bad, Barker and his cast, particularly the remarkable Inde Navarrette, commit to the bit, bringing a simple fable of male infatuation to one of immediate dread, surprising dark comedy, and nightmarish imagery that will haunt you after you leave the theater.

Bear (Michael Johnston) has had a longtime crush on his co-worker and childhood friend Nikki (Navarrette). While his pals and fellow employees Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless) encourage him to just go for it, he can’t muster up the courage to tell Nikki how he feels. Instead, in a moment of frustration, he uses a “One Wish Willow” he picked up at a New Age boutique. He wishes that Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world. She becomes obsessed with him, and that obsession quickly turns to dangerous psychosis. The more Bear tries to get Nikki in check, the more he realizes how destructive his wish really was.

There’s a telling exchange between Nikki and Bear before he makes his wish. Nikki aspires to be a writer, and she tells him that she’s writing a love story. Bear responds that it’s a romance since all love stories are romances, but she gives him a loaded look as if he couldn’t really understand the distinction between the two. But Bear’s confusion is commonplace, and instead of respecting Nikki enough to accept a “no” to his love (which he won’t even confess because he’s so afraid of rejection), he creates a scenario where “no” is impossible. He wants to be rewarded with her affection, not share a connection.

What’s particularly remarkable about Obsession is how it can take the simple idea of punishing Bear for his transgression and hold our attention for the whole movie. There are no real “outs” here (even the teaser trailer shows Bear’s futile attempt at calling the customer service line for One Wish Willow), so the film has to hold us with Nikki’s unraveling and Bear dealing with the fallout. While Johnston is great (he reminds me of a young Billy Crudup), this is Navarrette’s show, and she gives one of the year’s best performances. As good as Barker is at setting the scene, Navarrette’s choices are so bold and distinctive that you never know what’s coming next. It’s not simply that Nikki is “crazy,” but that Navarrette knows how to convey a singular kind of horror where she has to play both the ideal girlfriend and puppet to supernatural forces. She dominates the picture so thoroughly that even when she’s not on screen, you can feel her presence.

The movie sits nicely alongside last year’s Companion as horror filmmakers demonstrate that the “nice guys” are some of the most insidious villains of our time. For all the bloody mayhem Obsession unleashes as it nears its climax, perhaps the most disturbing scene in the entire picture is when Bear is having sex with Nikki, and her face is completely blank. It’s a rape, but one he can’t even conceive of as he has essentially rewritten her soul, deprived her of her humanity, and ignored her desires in pursuit of his own pleasures. By casting himself as a “romantic,” Bear shows the depths of his malevolence by dismissing the real Nikki. He doesn’t want the reality of her love because his idealized version of her has no greater interest than his satisfaction. Sure, this is the worst possible outcome of his “wish,” but the wish is rooted in his cowardice and inability to handle rejection. While some may want to sympathize with a 20-something guy who just wants to be loved by his hot friend, Obsession thankfully never loses sight of the fact that the one who’s truly suffering is Nikki. She’s trapped in someone else’s wish, and it has ripped away her humanity until only this disturbing version remains.

The challenge for the audience isn’t only in watching Nikki unravel but also in comprehending that Bear is no mere victim in all this. Just as the film leans into the “be careful what you wish for” trope, audiences should be careful to note that this isn’t happening to Bear but because of Bear. When men write themselves as romantic heroes whose good intentions take precedence over everyone else’s desires, they become villains. The “obsession” of the title clearly doesn’t apply only to the transformed Nikki. It’s an indictment of every guy who felt his one-sided love should be enough to win him his prize.

Obsession opens in theaters on May 15^th.