Obsession is an original film that has Twilight Zone touches, but dives into dark territory with a woman caught in a supernatural wish! The film is written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker who previously wrote and directed Milk & Serial (2024) that was released on YouTube. His next project is Anything But Ghosts. The wish premise is very like “The Monkey’s Paw” like W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short story. The twist on the supernatural device where all things go wrong makes me think of the Twilight Zone episode, “A Most Unusual Camera” (1960). The movie goes beyond the premise though like other films produced by Blumhouse. The psychological part of the film is the most fascinating part beyond the blood.
The film begins with a closeup of Bear (Michael Johnston), a young man in a swearter, speaking in a diner. He has the young look as the lead in the sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. Johnston starred as Corey Bryant on the supernatural show, Teen Wolf. This is the name almost everyone calls Baron Bailey. He talks to someone saying, “I would choose you over everything.” Then, we see the face of the woman (Chloe Breen), he is speaking to, rehearsing his speech. Bear’s friend, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), cuts in to tell him that it was a cringey speech. Tomlinson co-starred with Barker in Milk & Serial. She tells him to give flowers or candy to his love interest before returning to her work as waitress.
Ian slips into the booth and tells Bear to call her “Freaky Nikki.” He says Bear is seven years late in asking out Nikki. Bear finds a spilled bottle of oxycodone pills, an opoid for severe pain. This was prescribed to Bear’s grandmother. He sees that his cat, Sandy, has died in the kitchen from eating the pills. Bear puts the cat in a garbage bag and then goes to his bedroom to cry. He sees a photo booth strip of Nikki, he is smiling, but she has a bored expression. Then, she is smiling with Ian. He scans through his phone with Ian’s text about going to trivia night. The red cat clock ticks with the eyes shifting side to side. Sound is powerful here, the sound supervisor is David Kitchens, with eerie tension.
He scans through his phone to see Nikki’s Instagram posts. Nikki calls Bear and mentions that she dropped her crystal necklace down a sewer pipe. Bear heads to The Green Man gifts, an actual store in Burbank, to find a necklace for Nikki. His interest turns to what looks like a 50’s novelty toy, One Wish Willow, labeled, “You only get one wish.” This gave hints of the Twilight Zone. The shop worker, Viola (Haley Fitzgerald), tells Bear that people who do buy it complain. Bear buys it almost on a whim. At Barker’s Pub, Bear is with Ian and their friends, Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarette) and Sarah Harper (Morgan Lawless). Navarette played Sarah Cushing on the superhero show, Superman & Lois (2021-2023 and four episodes for the last season). Lawless played Maya Yang in the dramatic movie, The Hate U Give (2018).
Bear eyes Ian. Nikki realizes they are having a silent conversation. Bear orders a Pina colada and Nikki says, “I like a man who is feminine.” Nikki has taken a job and is leaving to write a story. Bear is talking at the bar with Nikki getting drinks with Ian and then Sarah dropping in. Then, he admits that Sandy, his cat, died, Nikki says she is sorry and hugs him. Outside in the parking lot, Ian says they are going to Guido’s Karaoke, but Nikki just wants to go home. Sarah goes with Ian to karaoke. Then, Bear offers Nikki a ride home. She asks Sarah for $20 and snatches it to give the money to an unhoused man huddle in a corner. Bear sees Nikki's compassion. She talks about her story and talking at work. On the drive to Sarah’s house, she says, “You’re the only person I get to talk about this stuff.” Uh oh, Bear is trapped in a dimension “as vast as space and as timeless as infinity”, the Friend Zone!
Bear says he has something for her, but Nikki is disgusted at getting a gift. At Nikki’s house, she asks him how Bear feels about Sarah, having a crush on her. He just says he likes her as a friend. Nikki admits, “When I have a crush on a guy no one knows.” Nikki is a fascinating and complicated person. She is about to leave when Bear calls her Freaky Nikki. This upsets her. Bad advice from his best friend. The pivotal moment happens when Nikki returns to the car and asks, “Do you like me because if you do now is the time to tell me.” Bear says they are just good friends and this is where I lost all sympathy for him. He is complicit in everything that happens from that point. It is a selfish wish trying to find a shortcut instead of dealing with genuine emotions. Alone, Bear opens the One Willow Wish box and finds the twisted mini-wand. In Celtic myth, which seems to be the theme of the shop, willows are the tree of enchantment.
Bear starts up his car and then sees Nikki in shadow on her porch. Brilliant camera work by director of photography, Taylor Clemons. NIkki walks up to the car window and asks about Bear's gift. He says he left it at home. She offers for Bear to come into the house because she just lost her cat and then corrects herself that he lost his cat. Interesting confusion there. She continues to ask him to come inside the house and Bear asks if Nikki is ok. He glances at the broken One Wish Willow. Bear says she is drunk. Nikki says no, but then snaps like the real Nikki has been released by the Wish Nikki.
At her porch, there is one light behind Nikki, but her face is entirely dark, no shadow. She brings up that her dad has died. This gets Bear to go into her house. This is of course Bear's wish, but just not how he wanted things to go which is his problem. In effect, Bear has manipulated her with the wish, and this has real world implications like gaslighting, job loss, or using drugs and alcohol to control a person. There is a jump scare at that point and just a shivering creepiness to Wish Nikki spiraling out of control. This had a couple walk out of the theater for my showing. There are some plot and character flaws, but nothing major. Obsession is fascinating depicting a woman whose smiles and laughs turn disturbing and the horror of control of another person!
Five+ One Wish Willows out of Five!
#Obsession, #CurryBarker, #IndeNavarrette, #MichaelJohnston, #CooperTomlinson, #MeganLawless, #AndyRichter, #HaleyFitzgerald, #ChloeBreen
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