Curry Barker’s studio debut OBSESSION is by far the most impressive output of the recent YouTube alumni, sitting alongside the massive success of creator backed horror films like Kane Parsons’s BACKROOMS and Mark Fischbach’s IRON LUNG. The film is at once familiar, with a simple premise, but devastatingly effective. Unrelenting, unsettling and terrifying at times, OBSESSION offers a lot more than just well-crafted scares.

After failing to pluck up the courage to ask out his coworker and long-time crush, Nikki (Inde Navarette), Bear (Michael Johnston) snaps his ‘One Wish Willow’, a novelty trinket, and wishes that she will ‘love him more than anyone else in the world’. Although the monkey’s paw trope that dictates unintended consequences is well-worn (Bear’s wish, predictably, goes very wrong) the idea feels fresh in Barker’s capable hands. The script is punchy, with the tension refusing to relent until the inevitable bloody conclusion.

The performances add life to what otherwise might fall into clichés recalled by the premise. Michael Johnson’s depiction of a ‘nice guy’, is a character Gen Z audiences will be especially familiar with. Shy and sweater-wearing (he even owns a cat), Bear seems sensitive enough in the opening scene, pouring his heart out in a rehearsed declaration of love to his dismayed best friend Ian, Cooper Tomlinson, Barker’s partner in internet sketch comedy. Especially so when Ian suggests negging to capture Nikki’s attention. The passivity that drove Bear to conceal his crush for years turns sinister as Nikki’s behaviour grows more and more manic. Johnston’s considered performance is soon overshadowed by Inde Navarette who expertly navigates both sides of Nikki; a sarcastic, sweet cool girl and pathetically, psychotically obsessed. Her unpredictable performance provides the film’s most memorable scares. Cloyingly sweet one moment then homicidally violent the next, Navarette’s performance belongs right alongside notable scream queens like Mia Goth and Isabella Adjani.

OBSESSION is at its most effective when subverting rom-com trappings. Rock Burwell’s romantic, synth-y score is used to great effect; upbeat tones slide all too quickly into unsettling. The uncanny tone is pushed further by cinematographer Taylor Clemons’s excellent use of lighting. Once Bear gets his wish, shadows and dark spaces dominate. The motifs of silhouettes on Nikki are memorably creepy, especially when only her eyes can be seen peering out of the darkness. It’s a great nod to Meg Ryan’s famous twinkly eyes in films like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, or, perhaps, to a predator lying in wait.

Although Barker’s comedy roots provide much needed levity in a story seemingly doomed to tragedy, he is surprisingly sensitive to the tragedy of Nikki’s situation. The film takes pains to highlight her lack of autonomy, through physical performance such as sudden self-aware shrieking and her unnatural, stop-motion movements in the dark. The film uses the language of intimate partner abuse, allowing for an interesting exploration of victimhood. Although the film is never in doubt as to who the true victim of Bear’s wish is, it doesn’t shy away from depicting the terror of living with a possessive, fanatical partner. Bear’s increasing isolation, his constant paranoia and Nikki’s constant, futile apologies for behaviour that only escalates will be all too familiar to some viewers.

OBSESSION is the perfect thriller for the era of the ‘manosphere’, where online debates wonder which of being stuck alone with a man or a grizzly bear is preferable. Though not overly delicate with his messaging, Barker delivers a satisfyingly thoughtful, entertaining and unnerving studio debut.