Obsession sits in that rare space where a horror movie somehow becomes the actual pop culture event of a season.
Curry Barker wrote and directed it after building an audience on YouTube, and this was his first feature. The movie stars Michael Johnston as Bear, a music store employee too nervous to tell his coworker Nikki how he feels and Inde Navarrette who plays Nikki, a girl whose autonomy is stripped away. It's a supernatural psychological horror movie, and it deserved every bit of the buzz around it this year.
The plot is simple: Bear picks up a novelty toy called the One Wish Willow, initially meant as a gift for Nikki, and instead uses it himself. He wishes for her to love him more than anyone else in the world. The wish works almost immediately. And what starts as every hopeless romantic's fantasy turns into something closer to a nightmare, because Nikki doesn't just fall for him. She loses herself completely.
If you've seen Get Out or Talk to Me, you know the type of horror this leans into. It's less about jump scares and more about the slow, sick feeling of watching someone lose control of their own choices while the person who caused it stands there deciding what to do next.
The Highlights
- Inde Navarrette as Nikki. She's doing the heaviest lifting in this movie and she absolutely kills it. Watching her body language shift from a normal person to someone stripped of free will is so unsettling. There are some scenes where the "real" Nikki briefly breaks through the spell and begs to be stopped, and they are some of the most upsetting moments I've watched all year.
- Bear as an uncomfortable mirror. Michael Johnston plays him as the nice guy we've all met at some point. That one that's quiet, a little awkward, and seemingly harmless. You spend the first few minutes rooting for him, and then you watch him choose himself over and over again, even once he knows exactly what's happening to Nikki. I was disgusted by his actions, that scene where the real Nikki begs him to kill her and his response "What's so bad about being with me?" pissed me off in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. He's a coward who made one impulsive wish and the film lets that cowardice curdle into something disturbing.
- Cinematography and Sound Design. The visuals lean into an eerie, off-kilter feeling without needing a huge budget to sell it, and the score sits right underneath every scene, cranking up the tension exactly when it needs to. Great work there from the cinematographer and sound designer.
- The pacing doesn't waste your time. Nothing about this movie drags, every scene is pulling you forward, and by the time it gets to the darkest stretch, you're already too invested to look away.
Fair Warning
- This is a heavy watch. The film deals directly with consent, manipulation, and what it means to take away someone's ability to choose. There are a few scenes that are kind of hard to sit through. Just brace yourself.
Overall Thoughts
Obsession earns its reputation as one of the best horror movies of 2026. It's a gripping, uncomfortable look at what happens when someone decides their feelings for you matter more than your right to choose them. Bear had so many chances to just tell Nikki the truth about how he feels for her. Instead he took a shortcut, and the film makes you watch every consequence of that decision play out.
Also worth noting, for a film made on a budget under a million dollars, it's now sitting north of $500 million worldwide, which makes it one of the most profitable movies ever made, horror or otherwise.
My Rating: 9.1
PS: I keep thinking about how differently this story would have gone if Bear had just told Nikki how he felt in the first place. Though I guess that's the whole point, the shortcut is always tempting but it's never actually free.
Do you think you would have immediately picked up on Nikki's weird behavior, if you were in Bear's position?
Comment below and let me know!
More reviews and takes at The Watchlist Chronicles.