3 out of 5 declarations of love (Average)
If I were to describe my experience with Obsession like a date, I’d say that date was good, but not good enough that I’d call it back again. Obsession is a much-hyped horror flick (well, by film festivals anyway) that takes the ever-intriguing warning of “Be Careful What You Wish For” to some dark, bloody places and has a star-making turn by Inde Navarrette (of TV’s Superman & Lois) as the titular Obsessor, but some slow pacing and occasionally clangy dialogue make it a good, but not great horror experience.
Bear (Michael Johnston) has nursed a major, totally unreciprocated crush on his lifelong friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) for years. When Bear impulse-buys a One Wish Willow (one of those cheap novelty items) that supposedly grants everyone exactly one wish and uses it wishing Nikki would love him more than anyone in the world, it seems to work immediately. At the total disbelief of friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless), the romance whirlwinds faster than a Nicolas Sparks book, only for horrifying unforeseen happenings to mutate this love story into a living nightmare.
Inde Navarrette is the primary reason to see Obsession. She was solid on Superman & Lois, but devours this role with gusto and commitment uncommon for most young TV stars making the jump into feature films. The movie demands her to frequently flip between intense emotions on a dime, and while the script sometimes stumbles, she nails it outside of one or two small moments. The remaining cast is solid if unremarkable (Though Michael Johnston sometimes reminded me of a young Josh Hutcherson) and the scenes of gory violence are well-placed and shocking. It’s also impressive how much the movie accomplishes on its $1 million budget.
Director, writer, and editor Curry Barker got his start on YouTube (an increasingly common origin for newer filmmakers this decade), and while the pacing drags at times, some of Nikki’s dialogue makes her sound like the personification of the Obsessive Girlfriend meme, and some scenes should’ve been tightened up, I see potential in Barker to make something better someday. This is a dark, bloody story that isn’t afraid to go to some uncomfortable places, and while I personally won’t go out on a 2nd date with it, I’m happy I experienced its crazy once on a big screen over matinee popcorn. Obsession shows Inde Navarrette as a name to look out for and takes its wishful premise to some admirably disturbing places, but some slow pacing and moments of bad dialogue hold it back from fully enveloping my cinematic heart. See it if you were interested, skip it if not.
Rated R for Strong Bloody Violence, Grisly Images, Sexual Content, Pervasive Language, and Brief Graphic Nudity