Obsession

Having a crush is something everyone has probably experienced at least once in their lives. The same goes for Baron ‘Bear’ Bailey (Michael Johnson). Shy, a bit awkward, works in a music shop and loves cats. Bear is part of a four-person friend group, all of whom work at the same music shop. The friend group is just like any other. They laugh, go out for drinks and feelings start to develop. Sometimes mutual, sometimes not. Bear just wants one thing; his friend Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) ‘loving him more than anyone in the world’. Being the awkward teenager he is, Bear struggles to tell Nikki how he really feels about her and buys her a gift to try and shoot his shot with Nikki. The only logical gift is a ‘one wish willow’ since Nikki is very in touch with her spiritual side. Bear fails to tell Nikki his well prepared love confession and snaps the one wish willow in half out of disappointment with himself. Nikki suddenly makes a complete 180 and is suddenly very interested in Bear, like she became possessed, does the one wish willow actually work?

The story continues with Nikki and Bear dating and spending every single minute together being a completely normal couple in the ‘honeymoon phase’. The occasional weird Nikki moments are momentarily brushed off by a lovestruck Bear, who is just over the moon with this new version of Nikki since she can’t seem to live without him. But even the Nikki-bewitched Bear can be objective towards Nikki’s behaviour, as it grows more and more out of control. The ‘new’ Nikki is clearly not okay to the point that the friend group turns towards Bear to ask what’s going on. Even as Bear notices Nikki’s increasingly disturbing behavior, he chooses to ignore it because he doesn’t want the relationship to end.

The story continues with Nikki and Bear dating and spending every single minute together being a completely normal couple in the ‘honeymoon phase’.

Having an obsessive partner is unfortunately a canon event in real life for some people, which is precisely why this movie portrays this very well in an extreme and very uncomfortable way. Inde Naverette who plays Nikkie Freeman brings an outstanding performance playing a partner with a complete lack of boundaries. It’s hard to believe she hadn’t been able to land a job 1,5 years before she got the offer to play one of the lead roles in ‘Obsession’. Her performance perfectly captures Nikki’s increasingly unsettling nature.. I won’t be surprised if she lands an amazing job after this, because portraying two very different sides of the same character can sometimes come off as lame or uninteresting, but Inde Navarrette nails the part to an extent.

Nikki’s possession also raises interesting moral questions surrounding Bear’s actions; The movie deals very well with some underlying moral questions for every character, which is rare in the horror genre. No generic side-characters and just jumpscares as character development for the lead actors to add some stakes but real growth and depth. It changes real fast from a movie about a romantic idea and a ‘wish stick’ towards an unhealthy portrayal of obsession and moral codes.

‘Obsession’ is a must-watch for every horror and thriller fanatic, utilizing simple visual effects and more depth to scariness than just jumpscares every five minutes. And with the power system in the form of a ‘one wish willow’ which gives the user exactly what they wish for gives me the impression that this isn’t the last we’re gonna see in this universe.

8/10