One of 2026’s most disturbing and thrilling movies is available to watch this week

'A must-see, hard-hitting film that is sure to provoke rich discussion'.

Written and directed by YouTube star Curry Barker, the film follows Bear (Michael Johnston, Teen Wolf), a sad, painfully shy romantic who breaks the mysterious "One Wish Willow" so that he can win the heart of his crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette, Superman & Lois).

Soon after getting exactly what he asked for, he discovers that "some desires come at a dark, sinister price."

Obsession is a bruising and thrilling horror movie, which blends exciting filmmaking and rich themes, something all the more impressive given its modest $1 million budget.

Writer-director Barker is a showman at heart. After all, he honed his craft making shorter form films on YouTube (we'd highly recommend his earlier work The Chair and Milk & Serial), where it is vital to hook the audience early and fast.

He applies similar theatrics to Obsession. He establishes Bear and Nikki's initial relationship quickly and extraordinarily effectively. In this, he's aided by two fantastic performances by Johnston and Navarrette. The waves of desperation and yearning just radiate off Johnston's Bear in the story's opening stretch. Navarrette, meanwhile, gives Nikki humour, hunger for life, and a special je ne sais quoi that could light up a room.

Just as speedily as he establishes the characters' dynamic, Barker turns it on its head. Bear purchases the One Wish Willow on a whim from a hilariously off-kilter shopkeeper (the writer keeps the product and everyone involved with the production and sale of it, stunningly strange and mysterious) and snaps the item.

From this moment on, Bear gets his wish. Nikki is devoted to him, but something's off. This new Nikki hangs on his every word to an uncomfortable degree, never breaking eye contact with him. She even makes up lies to stay in his company.

This behaviour grows increasingly erratic. An early example is her startling reaction to Bear wanting to attend a boys' night with his pal Ian (Barker's close collaborator Cooper Tomlinson). That's before Nikki eventually becomes a threat to herself and others.

Even more disturbing is that, amidst all this unwavering loyalty from Nikki to Bear, there are sudden, short outbursts where she begs to be freed. These moments suggest that the woman Bear first fell in love with is being held prisoner by something else occupying her body, Get Out-style.

Barker's direction and Navarrette's central turn will be singled out for praise by the public, and deservedly so. Together, the pair keep the terror and thrills constant. Through smart camera placement, emphasising empty space in the frame, Barker consistently creates an unease that something terrible is about to happen.

But then, he'll hold for much longer than expected. Often, his characters will instead have a believable human conversation, which is then cloaked in impending doom. Just when the viewer can't take the suspense any longer, that these characters whom they care about are about to be put in deep peril, Barker finally delivers the scare, with the end result frequently worse than you could ever imagine.

Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette in Obsession

Navarrette is astounding, too. She sells her character's overnight transformation into a nightmarishly codependent partner with a go-for-broke performance, full of off-kilter line readings and bizarre body movement. Yet, she's also simultaneously monster and victim. The brief moments of the real Nikki peeking through this subversive façade feel utterly heartbreaking.

Lurking just beneath Obsession's ingenious 'careful what you wish for' premise is a probing of dark, murky, uncomfortable everyday topics: How thin is the line between love and obsession? How much of fitting into a couple involves changing oneself? How many red flags would a person ignore in a relationship to avoid being alone? How many people crave another person's love, really out of a need for validation?

Yet, Bear's wish reflects his true desire, and the movie plays out like a punishment for him for thinking only about Nikki through his own wants. As actor Michael Johnston (doing yeoman's work in a quieter part that is also part-monster, part-victim) sums up eloquently in the press notes: “The tragedy is that he doesn't wish for Nikki’s happiness. He wishes for her devotion.” She does become devoted, just nightmarishly so.

Plus, when it becomes clear that this new devoted Nikki is not the person he fell in love with, and that the original Nikki is suffering greatly, Bear's reluctance to act is disturbing. This is because of the suggestion that his longing for some form of love outweighs his fear and/or guilt in causing her harm.

Plus, the movie establishes early on that there is most likely only one way this story can end. Yet, the film doesn't really subvert that, leading to a predictable and oddly abrupt conclusion.

Still, Obsession is a must-see, hard-hitting horror that is sure to provoke rich discussion amongst those who see it. Expect big things for Barker, Johnston and Navarrette in the future.

Obsession Interview

JOE caught up with writer-director Curry Barker and stars Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston to talk about Obsession, ahead of the movie's cinema release on Friday, 15 May.

During the conversation, we asked Barker and Johnston about crafting a protagonist in Bear who is morally grey and questionable, for whom audiences can have differing opinions.

On this, Johnston said: "We always talked about how we wanted to keep Bear grounded and relatable for as much as possible.

"When he does start making these decisions, it is up to the audience to judge him.

"What I've seen mostly is varying opinions on Bear. I've heard some people walk out of the screening... where they're like: 'He deserves to burn in hell for all eternity.'

"And then I've heard some people say: 'He just made the wrong choice. I really feel bad for him'

"That's just really cool to have all these different opinions... I'm really looking forward to what people say."

Barker, meanwhile, shared that when he was initially pitching Obsession to studios, several wanted to transform Bear into a more straightforward hero.

The director told JOE: "I had to fight really hard to keep Bear's character this way.

"There were drafts of this movie, when we were trying to get it made, where studios would be like: 'I'll greenlight your movie, but you have to make Bear the hero.'

"This is 100%… People were like: 'I'll make Obsession, and I'll give you double the budget, but you have to rewrite it, and you have to make Bear do the right thing.'

"And I was like: 'No'," he said, laughing. "I didn't want to make that movie."

As JOE mentioned above, Navarrette gives a bravura, virtuosic, horror performance for the ages as Nikki.

Yet, it may surprise audiences that the actress isn't the biggest fan of watching horror movies. In the press notes for the movie, Johnston states: “I’m a huge horror fan, but Inde is the opposite.

"We watched Hereditary, and she literally ran out of the room, [so] seeing her then step onto set and become the engine of horror in this film was incredible.”

When JOE asked Navarrette about this, she replied: "I want to clarify it's not that I'm not a horror fan. I am a fan of horror.

"It's just I have to limit it if I want to get sleep and if I want to be alone in a house safely," she joked.

That said, Navarrette was drawn to the part of Nikki because she felt like she was "a well-thought-out character".

"She was fully-fledged. She wasn't just a girlfriend. She wasn't just obsessed. There were multiple different aspects to her," she explained.

"I was really excited about getting the opportunity to talk to somebody [gesturing to Barker] who thought about a character like that, and then also having the chance to portray her, so I was stoked."

Obsession is out in cinemas on Friday, 15 May.