Obsession: a peak of anguish and black humor (review)

A shy guy wishes that his crush loves him more than anything in the world. He is granted and… the nightmare begins. Curry Barker, new horror prodigy, creates a mischievous fable about control and consent.

The Anglo-Saxons have this idiomatic expression: “Be careful what you wish for”. Something like “be careful of your desires.” A warning that resonates in hundreds of stories featuring magical wishes and their more or less tragic consequences, from the tale of Aladdin to the horror classic The Monkey’s Paw. It’s a trope, a fictional “trick” as old as time, here superbly reinvented by Curry Barkerlittle genius of scares and comedy revealed by the YouTube channel “that’s a bad idea”.

Obsession is his first “professional” feature film. The story of Bear, a guy who is not very comfortable socially, who cannot declare his love for Nikki, the girl of his dreams, and ends up asking a mysterious stick from the brand “One Wish Willow” that his crush loves him “more than anything in the world”. The wish comes true and it’s love, literally: Nikki, clearly possessed, only has eyes for Bear, to the point that it becomes very, very worrying…

But let’s not say too much. The plot is minimalist and the enormous pleasure provided by this mischievous fable about control and consent lies precisely in its art of concision. Curry Barker has retained from his YouTube videos a fabulous sense of ellipsis and an infernal knowledge of editing. He knows how to create a climate of anxiety, increase the pressure, let a scene last until the explosion – an outrageous sound effect, a brutal cut, a flash of shocking violence or a paralyzing cry from his actress (the astonishing Inde Navarrette). Obsession is that rare bird: an ultra-buzzed film at festivals (from Toronto to Sitges) and which keeps all its promises upon arrival. Like a wish that comes true, yes.

By Curry Barker. With Michael Johnston, Indie Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson… Duration: 1h48. Released May 13, 2026