"Obsession," The Horror Flick That Will Wish You Back to Normalcy

In the world of "be careful what you wish for" scenarios, "Obsession", a bone-chilling small scale horror film by viral sensation and one-time stand-up comic Curry Barker, effortlessly takes the lead. It is a mesmerizing package that begins like an old gag with a familiar facade, only to unravel into a haunting horror show that will remind you of the value of precise wishful thinking.

Last year at the Toronto Film Festival, Focus Features snagged the rights to "Obsession" for an impressive $14 million, a whopping fourteen times the expenditure on the film's making caused a stir. This denotes a giant leap from Barker's previous film, "Milk & Serial", which was produced with a mere $800 and resulted in a hit YouTube release. Barker is on a roll with varied works under his name. His latest project? Collaborating with Blumhouse and Focus on his third feature "Anything but Ghosts," and a reboot of the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with A24 is underway.

The film industry's rising star, Curry Barker, 26, has proven his mettle in genre wisdom, low-budget production ingeniousness, and tapped into GenZ's pulse. The drive in Barker's breakthrough film, "Obsession" is dialogue, relegating the majority of the action to quirky domestic environments. The narrative spins a tale of a romantic crush turned eerie nightmare due to a magical twist, morphing into an excessive romantic comedy…until it suddenly pivots into slasher territory. Barker's knack for infusing fear definitely struck a chord with Jason Blum, who came on board as an executive producer.

"Obsession" also hails as a breakout moment for on-screen sensation Inde Navarrette. Known for roles in "13 Reasons Why" and "Superman & Lois," Navarrette excels in her bone-chilling role. She dons the character of Nikki, a cheerful, supportive friend to the protagonist, Bear, a music store worker with a crush on Nikki but too scared to admit it.

Enter the One Wish Willow, a fragile stick that promises to grant one wish when it snaps in half. Bear, driven by desperation, wishes for Nikki to love him more than anything in the world. This changes everything overnight, turning the loving friendship into a terrorizingly uncontrollable romance, raising questions and suspicions among their friends, Ian and Sarah. The struggle between the real Nikki and the over-dependent version of Nikki induced by the wish is brilliantly brought to life by Navarrette's expressive performance.

"Obsession" doesn't hold back on delivering a grim narrative twist of the toxic dating culture, complete with references to misogynistic manosphere-era notions. It drags the viewers into the bleak reality of a relationship formed by a forced bond, as the depth of the plot shadows the seeming fun and playful premise.

The twisted plot matches the grisly fallout in "Obsession" along its journey of frightful shocks and chilling narratives. The One Wish Willow becomes a character in its own right, existing only because it does, such ambiguity adding to the eerie beauty of the film. The finish of "Obsession" leaves some unanswered questions, adding to the film's lingering, eerie chill, showing that Barker's filmmaking skills have dramatically improved since his internet days.