I finally made the time to watch Obsession (2025), and it turned out really good. I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it, but it made sense to work it into 31 Days of Halloween. The film also presented a few ideas for me to chew on, so here are some quick thoughts.
Curry Barker’s Obsession (2025) was really good. It’s incredibly bleak and pulls no punches on the topic of consent. The film is anchored by two strong characters, Bear and Nikki, bolstered by the performances of Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette. The film isn’t wildly imaginative but still very effective, digging into the horror of coercion and brainwashing through the transmuted monkey’s paw metaphor. Of the “careful what you wish for” stories I’ve experienced, this is definitely one of the better ones due to the absolute misery that results for everyone. Solid horror all around.
And let’s be clear: Bear is a monster, and not a victim. He knew right away what he did, and his inaction wasn’t guilt but a mask for the frustration of not getting what he wanted, the way he wanted it. Worst of all is everyone who is brought down with him because of his greed and lust. The One Wish Willow is presented as a gag, but the wistful “I wish she loved me” act is only sympathetic until he ignores her agitated state and complete personality shift. Even if it is hard to fault him in that opening moment due to an apparent gag gift – it seems impossible, after all – his lack of concern is damning. He recognizes something is wrong but also realizes it benefits him and chooses to go with it because he didn’t love Nikki; he wanted to possess her. There is a lot of cat imagery associated with her, beyond the infamous cat sandwich. Bear didn’t really want a partner; he wanted a pet.
The moment that sold me on the film was the scene where Bear used his One Wish Willow to make his wish and the resulting, immediate scrambled behavior of Nikki. I appreciated the way the film showed us the personality of a real person being displaced by an artificial personality and the intense fight within. It is one of the most visceral moments of the film, and one of the least reliant on spectacle as the blood begins to wash over events later. It’s also when Bear should have realized what was happening, but willfully ignored the warning signs. It is where Bear became the monster. We see Nikki essentially rotting and decaying with him, and he still comes off as the most monstrous thing in the film.
I really appreciate the uncanniness of the One Wish Willow, and the conversations between Bear and the product rep, and later the store clerk. It makes me hope we get another film using the One Wish Willow. There is most definitely a potential series of films involving any number of wishes that go terribly wrong. It’s a Twilight Zone concept that makes for a good foundation for a series of stories. There is a lot of potential there to build on the concept.
I quite enjoyed Obsession, and I think I’ll be keeping an eye on what Curry Barker does next. I am perfectly happy to see where he goes from here.
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