May 2026 has already given us a fantastic indie horror, that came as a massive surprise (well, must indie horrors come as surprise – palatable or not) with Hokum. And as Davina McCall always asked on Big Brother, “Do you fancy another one?”
For those of you who do not know Curry Barker (Obsession’s director), he forms one half of the duo behind ‘That’s a Bad Idea‘, a comedy skit page that has amassed millions of followers across all social media. The other half of the duo, Cooper Tomlinson, stars in front of the camera in this film. Their comedy escapades have deep, absurdist connotations that also link to horror in multiple ways. And that’s the tee; that’s exactly how Obsession feels.
A wish goes awry, as Bear (Michael Johnston) realises that wishing for his crush on Nikki (Inde Navarrette) to be reciprocated, isn’t as ideal as it sounds.
And that’s putting it lightly…
Obsession feeds fear as something beyond the supernatural. It’s something that can be geniune; something as simple as a human being showing affection. Chauvinistic desires are the true terror. The wish becomes exactly what the main character intends only to find out what he intended isn’t ideal.
Barker may have just crafted a film for the ages! The common horror trope, jumpscares, seem to be something Barker wanted to evolve. And he did just that, they can only be coined as “inverted jumpscares”.
Considered to be in the same bracket as a joke to comedy; a jumpscare to horror has been utilised through the years as something to momentarily scare purveyours, usually with no grandstanding meaning. Barker literally reverse-engineers the idea of a jumpscare to encapsulate something grander, much more horrifying, as something that happens within a scene – not just an added edit.
1h 49m of unbrandished terror that brutally screams in your face (much like the main character) and keeps peaks high. This being said, this reviewer believes a particular scene near the beginning of the film feels like a scene that should have taken place further down the line. Nowhere near a bad scene, just something that gets the heart racing, and the film doesn’t reach THAT peak again for a while.
Inde Navarrette as Nikki is truly memorising. A recap of 2026 across all film will certainly include her performance her. Basically spanning four roles, Navarrette never weavers any of them. She causes the terror. She feels the terror. She is the terror. Although the main character is Bear (who is included in every scene – the film always from his perspective), Nikki steals each scene as a performer and a character. Notably, and on-going GIF which includes Navarrette as Nikki falsely laughing, whilst covered in blood. Just one of the great scenes.
I profusely recommend cinema-goers to watch this great film if they can. The release in UK isn’t as big as it could be unfortunately, so the amount of showings will be sparse. Picked up by Focus Features (Universal Pictures) at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, a bidding war ensued over this hot property. Under Universal, and under Blumhouse inadvertently, let’s hope Obsession gets the exposure it deserves.
