Obsession (18)
Cast: Megan Lawless, Michael Johnston, Cooper Tomlinson, Andy Richter, Inde NavarretteGenre: Horror
Author(s): Curry Barker
Director: Curry Barker
Release Date: 15/05/2026
Running Time: 109mins
Country: US
Year: 2026
Painfully shy music store worker Baron, known affectionately to friends as Bear, is secretly fixated on bubbly work colleague Nikki. She only sees him as a friend but Bear is determined to express his true feelings. After a bungled attempt to speak from the heart, Bear wishes that Nikki loved him more than anyone else in the world and snaps a One Wish Willow novelty toy. Immediately, she begins to act differently and within days, Bear and Nikki are a passionately devoted couple.
LondonNet Film Review
Obsession (18) Film Review from LondonNet
Painfully shy music store worker Baron (Michael Johnston), known affectionately to friends as Bear, is secretly fixated on bubbly work colleague Nikki (Inde Navarrette). She only sees him as a friend but Bear is determined to express his true feelings with encouragement from his buddy, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson). After a disastrous day, which culminates in the death of Bear’s beloved cat, the lovesick loner buys a present for Nikki – a One Wish Willow – which claims to grant a single heartfelt desire. Bear jokes with the sales assistant that the novelty can’t possibly work and change people’s fortunes for the better. “Or it does work and ruins their lives” chuckles the store clerk, foreshadowing the misery to come.
After a bungled attempt to speak from the heart, Bear wishes that Nikki loved him more than anyone else in the world and snaps the willow. Immediately, she begins to act differently and within days, Bear and Nikki are a passionately devoted couple. Nikki is jealous if Bear sees anyone else, including co-worker Sarah (Megan Lawless), and as he desperately pleads for a little space to breathe, Nikki’s vice-like grip on the relationship tightens. “I love you so, so much. I don’t think I could live without you!” she warns him.
Obsession is a genuinely unsettling tale of otherworldly enslavement, which expands on the time-honoured notion that you should be careful what you wish for. Barker’s script allows its genie to escape from the bottle in the opening half hour then dials up our skin-shivering discomfort, like dragging nails down a chalkboard, by flooding seemingly inane scenes with menace.
Characters conversing with each other through a closed door elicits sudden jolts of fear and a simple act of love – making a packed lunch for a soulmate – becomes diabolically warped and distorted. One bloodthirsty shock is telegraphed too clearly by the camerawork to register satisfyingly as a surprise. Navarrette is plausibly unhinged as her unsuspecting victim constricts her bond to Johnston’s misguided suitor to a suffocating chokehold. With a simple smile, she sends chills down the spine. Supporting characters feel slightly undernourished because Barker’s focus is on the poisonous central relationship. That’s one way to prevent an outburst from Nikki: all eyes remain on her.
– Sarah Lee
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UK and Irish Cinemas Showing Obsession
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