by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Inde Navarrette, Michael Johnston, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter
Intro:
… a terrific, chilling and astonishingly well acted horror film with a genuinely fantastic lead turn from an actress destined for stardom.
Relationships when you’re young – defined here as late teens to early 20s – can be exciting, spontaneous and unpredictable. Those of us longer in the tooth, who’ve reached the “I enjoy historical fiction now” age, often look back on those formative couplings with a kind of myopic nostalgia, wistful but ignorant. Although those dalliances were often defined by passion and whimsy, they could also be confusing, disorienting and, sometimes, pretty bloody scary. Obsession, the debut theatrical release from Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) mines this paradox for tension and drama and delivers a genuinely unsettling experience that might have you deleting your Tinder profile.
Obsession is the story of Gen-Z music shop worker Bear (Michael Johnston), an affable if rather passive young fella, who has a massive crush on his co-worker and best mate, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Despite his strong feelings, Bear just can’t seem to muster the courage to confess his love to Nikki, and one night he purchases a “One Wish Willow” from one of those weird hippie shops. Not really believing the dodgy trinket will work, Bear breaks the stick and wishes that Nikki loved him more than anyone else in the world. The effect is immediate and dramatic. Nikki becomes besotted with Bear, utterly and completely obsessed. And as our feckless hero begins to recoil, she becomes erratic, deranged, and even violent. Bear soon realises that you need to be bloody careful what you wish for.
At its core, Obsession is a monkey’s paw yarn, a story where a wish turns horribly wrong. It’s not necessarily the most original premise for a horror flick, but the film has a couple of strong elements going for it. First up, Barker’s direction is superb. Moody, atmospheric, utilising light and shade in really interesting ways, and showcasing genuinely creepy, anxiety-inducing moments. The second element, the one that really makes the film, is Navarrette’s portrayal of Nikki. Even in a genre as crowded with sterling performances like Kathy Bates in Misery, Toni Collette in Hereditary and Mia Goth in Pearl, Navarette’s turn is an absolute showstopper. She goes from sympathetic, to strange to genuinely terrifying and back again at a moment’s notice and it’s gloriously creepy to behold. Yes, there are sequences of nasty gore and violence in the back end of this movie, however, the highlights are always Navarette acting her damn socks off in scenes that will sear themselves into your memory.
On the downside, the script, while solid enough, never really evolves much past the premise. It’s more iteration than innovation, despite the freshness of the presentation. Also, and this may be a personal thing for your humble scribe, but Bear is such an outrageously wet and gormless character that it’s often hard to root for him as he yet again scores an own goal by being terminally unable to just say what he bloody wants. Statistically speaking, data tells us that Gen-Z isn’t rooting one another and if they all act like bloody Bear, it’s pretty obvious why. Just ask her out, you massive softcock!
Still and all, Obsession is a terrific, chilling and astonishingly well acted horror film with a genuinely fantastic lead turn from an actress destined for stardom. And while it’s perhaps not the most original of premises, it digs deep into the apprehensive murk of fear and emotion and brings up something that is discomforting on a primal level.
Put it this way, if you want the experience of dating a beautiful goth sheila with BPD and substance abuse problems without dealing with the scars, physical and emotional, that result from such an all-advised tryst … Then Obsession is the film for you.
