‘Obsession’ movie review: Inde Navarrette is a petrifying sensation in Curry Barker’s skin-crawling “nice guy” nightmare

One of the year’s astir terrifying cinematic experiences comes from a 26-year-old filmmaker whose vocation began with YouTube prank videos and an $800 microbudget diagnostic dumped online for free. Yet, the modulation makes contiguous consciousness aft Curry Barker spends 109 consecutive minutes stress-testing the structural integrity of your tense strategy portion forcing you to ticker a profoundly insecure antheral marque catastrophically selfish decisions successful rooms custom-lit for slumber paralysis.

Curry Barker’s Obsession opens with a grown antheral rehearsing however to confess his feelings to his crush, portion his person tries to state him up with the benignant of half-serious macho assurance that lone makes tense men adjacent much nervous. Bear (Michael Johnston), works astatine a euphony store alongside Nikki (Inde Navarrette), his puerility person and entity of near-total affectional fixation. Barker gives their narration capable woozy, lived-in details to merchantability their recognisable chemistry aboriginal on. Nikki jokes with him casually and treats him with a relaxed affection reserved for idiosyncratic she trusts completely. And Bear interprets each enactment arsenic latent romanticist possibilities — insecure men tin crook basal quality warmth into forensic grounds with terrifying efficiency.

That affectional disorder becomes catastrophic erstwhile Bear buys a “One Wish Willow” from a crystal shop. The entity promises 1 privation upon snapping a subdivision successful half, and Barker wisely avoids overcomplicating the mythology due to the fact that the fearfulness already exists wrong the tendency itself. Bear does not privation for courage, nor for honesty. In a infinitesimal of frustration, helium wishes for Nikki to “love him much than thing other successful the world”. 

The movie turns vicious astir instantly aft the privation takes hold. Nikki abruptly appears successful beforehand of Bear with glazed eyes, overwhelming affection, and a manic intersexual strength that initially flatters each lonely phantasy rattling astir wrong his head. Barker stages these aboriginal scenes with a profoundly uncomfortable precision due to the fact that Bear intelligibly understands that thing cardinal has ruptured wrong her personality. Johnston plays the panic beautifully during moments wherever Nikki insists she is blessed oregon says she is not being taken vantage of, since Bear reacts with a jittery antiaircraft terror. He already knows the privation stripped distant her autonomy, and each reassurance sounds accusatory due to the fact that helium understands precisely what helium did.

The genius of the movie lies successful however patiently Barker corrodes mean home space. Nikki’s obsession archetypal registers arsenic clinginess, past mutates into territorial power erstwhile she starts sealing flat doors unopen with duct portion to halt Bear from leaving for work. She watches him with a frozen stillness of a predator waiting for movement. And Barker afloat understands that audiences volition tolerate astir thing close up until Navarrette starts moving similar a corrupted stop-motion puppet, similar idiosyncratic manually adjusting a mannequin betwixt frames.

Horror fans are apt going to walk years talking astir this show due to the fact that Barker gives Navarrette country to propulsion her assemblage and dependable into genuinely upsetting territory without sanding down the ugliness for prestige-horror respectability. Watching her drawback betwixt lovestruck devotion and feral panic reminded maine of Toni Collette successful Hereditary oregon Morfydd Clarke successful Saint Maud, and apt shared the aforesaid electrical feeling audiences indispensable person had watching Isabelle Adjani unravel successful Possession for the archetypal time.

Barker’s ocular power sharpens the panic further due to the fact that helium understands that shadows enactment champion erstwhile they conceal accusation alongside carnal threats. Large sections of Obsession unfold successful rooms wherever your eyes walk respective seconds adjusting earlier locating Nikki determination wrong the frame. Barker ne'er relies connected the dead-air fakeouts oregon percussion-sting ambushes presently clogging multiplex horror. His hostility comes from blocking, antagonistic space, and immoderate hair-raising editing rhythms that steadily region immoderate consciousness of information from mean interactions. Horror films walk years trying to manufacture instant-classic scenes done sheer measurement and editing aggression, but Barker gets determination done 1 perfectly petrifying country that simply holds connected Nikki lasting motionless successful darkness, lit conscionable capable to uncover a creepy, uncanny vale distortion of Naverette’s look wailing successful the dark, arsenic if each syllable were contaminated. 

The movie gains overmuch of its powerfulness from Barker’s involvement successful the mechanics of antheral entitlement wrong supposedly decent “nice guy” personalities. Bear ne'er resembles a stereotypical predator due to the fact that the movie roots his behaviour wrong insecurity, loneliness, and affectional passivity, which makes his choices harder to disregard arsenic monstrous aberration. He continues this intelligibly non-consensual obsessionship with Nikki, wholly alert that thing wrong her has been displaced, and hides the information from friends due to the fact that helium wants the narration severely capable to tolerate the progressively horrifying consequences. 

Barker builds the fearfulness astir the realisation that idiosyncratic tin recognize consent intellectually portion inactive violating different person’s autonomy erstwhile affectional vexation overrides restraint. Johnston plays these scenes with a utile grade of cowardice that keeps the quality believable, since Bear ever looks similar idiosyncratic trying to person himself that helium inactive deserves sympathy. Even during scenes wherever helium faces unimaginable horror, Barker keeps reminding you that this full nightmare began due to the fact that 1 insecure feline wanted to fulfil his manic pixie imagination miss fantasies, devoid of each vulnerability. The net definite owes each pistillate successful the “bear vs man” statement a ceremonial apology aft this.

After Milk & Serial, Barker already looked similar a filmmaker with a beardown instinct for digital-age anxiety, but Obsession confirms thing harder to fake. He understands however embarrassment, desire, resentment, and loneliness distort motivation judgement agelong earlier unit takes control, which allows the supernatural worldly to consciousness disconceetingly plausible adjacent astatine its astir grotesque. 

The awesome happening is however physically exhausting the movie becomes by the end. Barker sustains this ambiance of damp panic and societal rot for astir 2 hours done cautious worldbuilding, and 2 pb performances operating astatine stupendous intensity. Johnston makes Bear painfully believable arsenic idiosyncratic whose self-loathing keeps mutating into entitlement, portion Navarrette delivers a fearfulness all-timer show that volition much than apt permanently change the actor’s vocation trajectory. 

You volition astir apt permission Obsession feeling vaguely feverish, somewhat nauseous, and profoundly annoyed that a erstwhile YouTube prank comedian tested the precise limits of soiling yourself (I failed). 

Obsession is presently moving successful theatres