Obsession: Be Careful What You Wish For, Especially in Love

Almost everyone has had a crush on a friend and secretly wished for a magic button that would make them feel the same. Obsession takes that teenage fantasy, gives it a real magic button, and shows what happens after you press it. Small spoiler: not romantic at all.

The story follows Bear, a shy music store employee played by Michael Johnston. He's long been in love with Nikki, his friend and coworker, played by Inde Navarrette. Through an object he buys, Bear gets the chance to make one wish. He wishes for Nikki to love him. The wish comes true. The problem is that forced love turns out not to be love. Nikki becomes too clingy, too obedient, and slowly more unstable. Sometimes the real Nikki seems to be trying to break out of that shell. That's where the film becomes truly frightening.

What made Obsession a conversation piece is its director. Curry Barker isn't a name from a prestigious film school. He's known as a YouTube sketch comedian, alongside his partner Cooper Tomlinson, who also appears here. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025, then opened in cinemas on May 15, 2026, through Focus Features with Blumhouse among the producers. And it blew up. On Letterboxd it gathered hundreds of thousands of reviews with an average around 4.2 out of 5, and sat at number three on the site's user-voted best films of 2026. For a horror film, that's rare.

I think there are two reasons it hit so hard. First, the premise is very simple and everyone gets it immediately. It's a classic monkey's paw story, a wish granted at a terrible price, wrapped in a situation young people instantly recognize. Second, the film quietly talks about something darker than ghosts: control, unhealthy relationships, people who think they love when they actually want to possess. And the film doesn't lecture. It lets the horror speak for itself.

The heaviest load sits on Inde Navarrette. Her role is hard: she has to be sweet, terrifying, sad, and funny all at once. The film only works if you believe there's a real Nikki trapped behind the obedient one.

The risk of a premise this simple is obvious: once the wish is granted, where else can the story go? A film built on one strong idea is always tested in its final act, and for seasoned horror fans, monkey's paw stories have turns that are easy to see coming. Its strength lies elsewhere: a discomfort that keeps rising, slowly.

Barker is reportedly working on his next horror projects, including a new take on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. If Obsession is the introduction, I'm curious how far this guy can go.

Watch it with friends. Better yet, watch it with your crush. Then see if you can still look each other in the eye afterward.