A big question remains though. Is Obsession a flash in the pan film that will be quickly forgotten after it has left cinemas or will live it on as a cult classic loved by horror fans for generations to come.
Written and directed by Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) Obsession centres around downtrodden music store employee Bear (Michael Johnston – Slash). He lives a mediocre life made a little bit brighter by the fact that he gets to work with his best friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson – Treasure Trackers) and Sarah (Megan Lawless – The Hate U Give). Also a colleague is his very close friend and crush Nikki (Inde Navarette – Trap House).
On one particularly bad day, that sees the death of his cat, on a whim Bear buys an item known as a ‘One Wish Willow’ which supposedly when broken will grant the ‘breaker’ their wish. Later that night, after once again finding that he can’t tell Nikki how he feels, he decides in frustration to break the willow and wish that Nikki was in love with him.
To his surprise the wish comes true but it soon becomes very clear that this is not going to be a relationship with romantic dates and a happily ever after. Instead there are doubts at every turn, friends who question what exactly has happened, lies and above all a potentially deadly obsession.
Boundaries
The general theme behind Obsession is not new. The idea of a ‘love spell’ having deadly ramifications – popular television shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer have used to great effect while Curry Barker himself admits that a Halloween episode of The Simpsons was a huge inspiration behind Obsession.
What Obsession does do differently though is push the boundaries and take the horror behind the idea into some extreme territories.
Once Nikki gaffer tapes the front door shut so that Bear won’t leave the house you begin to release that the film is going to head into some dark places. The surprise is though just how far Barker lets this film go – and for that he needs to be congratulated. It feels that these days a lot of horror filmmakers seem to ‘tone down’ their films in a bid to appease distributors who don’t want the dreaded ‘R’ rating limiting their audience. Barker disregards that and lets the film become as gorey as he wants it – although I should warn people wanting to see the film that unless you are okay with extreme horror you may struggle a little with this one.
Barker’s screenplay explores the theory of toxic relationships alarmingly well, so well in fact that one friend said to me the film actually made him realise that perhaps he is better off with nobody ‘loving’ him. Yes, that is the power that this film has.
Part of that power comes from just how natural the film feels throughout. The dialogue between friends is so realistic that it feels like you are there in the room with them while the characters themselves also feel ‘real’ and not something that has been created for a Hollywood blockbuster. That in itself is the power of indie cinema – and it is one of the reasons why I love low-budget films like this so much.
Adding to that power are also the performances of Michael Johnston and Inde Navarette. The latter’s performance during some of the more hardcore scenes has to be seen to be believed. They will stay with you for a long time and a lot of that comes down to the fact that Navarette goes above and beyond when she needs to. Likewise, Johnston is brilliant throughout and it is easy to see that both have big futures ahead of them now the film has done so well at the box office.
Obsession is a stunning indie horror that is about to launch a lot of careers. Like Johnston and Navarette the brilliance of this film will see Hollywood opens its door to Curry Barker and hopefully he embraces it because this film shows why he is one of the most promising young horror directors out there.
Obsession is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘18+’
3.5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus.