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Maybe it was Confucius who said that. More likely, it was Taylor Swift , if we're allowed to paraphrase on the internet. Either way, it's the bloody moral that courses through the veins ofIt rolled through SIFF last week and finds a wider release now, thanks to Focus Features .
If it seems more like a Neon or A24 genre-bending house of horrors, you'd be correct. This film is demented; we're obsessed. Despite the fact that the film borrows its supernatural element and the crux of its unraveling from a less gruesome classic, the 1988 comedythe laughs here are muted, cloaked in irony and situational awkwardness.
"Obsession" was written and directed by Curry Barker, who wasn't born until 11 years after the release of that aforementioned Tom Hanks boy-in-man's-body comedy. In this film, it's not an animatronic fortune teller, but a retro toy called "One Wish Willow" that our lead Bear employs to make a life-altering wish: that his crush and co-worker Nikki should love him more than anyone else in the world.
Inde Navarrette stars as Nikki and Michael Johnston as Bear in OBSESSION, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC The willow's work is swift. Nikki is instantly under a spell, bewitched into loving Bear. She forces an invite back to Bear's place, where the honeymoon phase isn't quite what dreams are made of.
Barker forgoes the traditional route of easing audiences into Nikki's glorified entrapment, preferring instead to showcase the obvious evils of emotional enslavement. Johnston and Navarette play up the unnatural and artificial connection between their characters to crucifying effect. For his part, Bear doesn't want to believe One Wish Willow is the reason behind Nikki's sudden infatuation. He overlooks some of the stranger things she does in the name of her intoxicating love for him.
She lies about her father's health. She duct tapes his front door shut in a petty attempt to keep him from leaving her alone in the house. She does unspeakable things involving his recently departed cat, an act that likely stems from jealousy; Bear is not allowed to love anyone, or any creature, except Nikki. Their friends and co-workers, Sarah and Ian , clock the shift in their dynamic, but wouldn't believe the supernatural explanation.
Bear becomes jumpy and distant, fearful of Nikki, who is growing increasingly erratic. She spends the night standing in a dark corner, watching him sleep. She stands by the front door, unmoved for an entire workday until Bear returns home to find her covered in her own feces. The devil is in the details that Navarette provides Nikki.
Her erratic smile, the glimpses of code-switching from obsessed to horrified at what evil is actively possessing her, a smooth transition through the various stages of delusion. As much as we fear Nikki - and there is a middle-of-the-night sequence that unravels with hair-raising terror sure to help your heart clear your rib cage - we ultimately want to see her win by the film's conclusion.
Inde Navarrette stars as Nikki and Michael Johnston as Bear in OBSESSION, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLCbe our lead as the one going through a hellish transformation. The chaos she unleashes, at least initially, affects her more than anyone else. The performance by relative newcomer Navarrette provides the film's scariest moments, as well as its biggest laughs.
Her turn as odiously enchanted Nikki is hypnotizing and revolting in equal measure. Navarette dials up the deranged kitsch at just the right moments, finding a rhythm that makes even some of the more upsetting sequences a devilish delight. Michael Johnston stars as Bear, Megan Lawless as Sarah and Cooper Tomlinson as Ian in OBSESSION, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC Barker's commentary is open to interpretation, though the clearest sentiment seems to target the current societal reckoning of young white men, once a privileged group, flung down a few notches by feminism and "woke" politics. The "manosphere" and "red pill" theory have been circulating online for a few years, and "Obsession" seems to be positing a bigger question: can the modern woman be caged back in that antiquated, inequitable box?
What would happen if it was attempted? The ending won't be spoiled here, but Nikki's fight for freedom results in a satisfying denouement that gives Bear, and guys like him, exactly what they wished for.
An Army vehicle towing another vehicle lost control Saturday on westbound Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass, causing one of the vehicles to roll over, aStudents at Bothell High School said they don't feel like their voices were heard in a recent vote by the Northshore School Board to eliminate the school's longTwo EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely Four crew members ejected safely after two Navy jets collided Sunday at an air show in Idaho, a show organizer said. The University of Washington community continues to mourn the loss of 19-year-old student Juniper Blessing, who was killed earlier this week.
Entertainment Focus Features Taylor Swift Confucius Supernatural Element Irony Emotional Enslavement Twisted Comedy-Horror Love Freedom
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