Be careful what you wish for

The saying “be careful what you wish for” became a terrifying reality in the new film, Obsession.

If you’ve ever had a suffocatingly obsessive partner, this film will leave you in a cold sweat and desperately wanting to now block them.

This claustrophobic nightmare of a film takes the ultimate relationship red flag and mutates it into a chilling, supernatural crisis.

Obsession brilliantly flips the script on traditional possession tropes, treating the fake toxic romance itself like a spreading, unstoppable curse.

The onscreen chemistry between Bear (Michael Johnston) and his unhinged co-worker and crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), elevates this indie horror into a big-screen masterpiece.

You can feel the slow, harrowing transition from Bear’s wish – “I wish Nikki loved me more than anyone in the world” – into the obsessive, possessed monster she ultimately becomes.

The wish slowly takes root, causing Nikki to violently fluctuate between her normal self and a state of pure fixation.

This slow burn allows Bear to initially exploit the situation, but his complacency quickly turns to regret as he searches for a loophole to cancel the wish, only to realise he is entirely out of options.

Director Curry Barker ensured the horror hits incredibly close to home by using genuine psychological dread and jarring practical scares rather than cheap CGI tricks to make the audience feel just as trapped as the protagonist.

It’s clear Barker carried over his wicked dark humour from his popular sketch comedy YouTube channel That’s a bad idea into Obsession.

Visually, the film uses tight framing and heavy shadows to mirror Bear’s growing entrapment, making his cosy apartment feel like a prison cell.

Barker’s cinematography captures the grim, unwanted evolution of Bear’s wish as the scenes grow increasingly dark and serious.

Despite the film having been produced on a micro-budget of about $750,000, it has grossed more than $220 million worldwide, earning over 300 times its production cost.

It misses a perfect five-star rating only because the ending didn’t quite match my personal vision for how this nightmare should have concluded.

Ultimately, Obsession is a masterclass in psychological tension that will leave you entertained and completely terrified of dating.