This week’s horror movie, the first in what’s going to be a four-week run of new horror movies, leading up to the return of the horror spoof comedy Scary Movie on June 6, is Obsession, a new high-concept horror movie from YouTube sensation Curry Parker that debuted at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as part of its “Midnight Madness” program. I only saw it myself a few weeks ago, and please take note that I recorded this video review RIGHT after seeing the movie. (But there are no spoilers!)
Obsession stars Michael Johnston as Bear, a young man who has had a crush on his friend and coworker Nikki (Inde Navarette) for so long that his best friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) finally eggs Bear on to make a move. Before this happens, Bear learns that Nikki lost her beloved crystal necklace, and he thinks that getting her a replacement might help make it easier for him to tell Nikki his feelings. Instead, he finds an object that grants the person one wish, and Bear decides to use it to get Nikki to love him… and that’s where things start to go horribly wrong.
As I mentioned in the video review, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Obsession, having only really seen a teaser to know the basic premise of this “One Wish Willow” object that grants the person with it one wish. This is very much a cautionary tale to be careful what you wish for, and Parker sets things up in such an innocuous way that few will be expecting it to go as far as it does.
It’s hard to believe that there’s any humor inherent in Bear’s situation, especially since I’ve been there myself way too many times over the course of my life, but even more so once you realize how dark and violent things get as the film goes along. It made a lot more sense once I learned later that Parker was part of a comedy duo with Tomlinson, whose character constantly inserts humor into what is increasingly a more awkward and uncomfortable situation. I was particularly impressed with the performances by Michael Johnston and Inde Navarette, neither whom I was familiar with, and their situations with just the two of them are particularly compelling. I can’t wait to see what they each do next.
I feel like wave of recent horror movies produced by YouTubers has been somewhat hit or miss. I loved both horror movies from the Australian Philippou Brothers (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back), and I generally thought they worked better than Chris Stuckman’s Shelby Oaks. In turn, that one was FAR superior to Markiplier’s Iron Lung, which I hated. I didn’t even stick around to watch the whole thing. The point is that it doesn’t matter where a filmmaker comes from, and it makes perfect sense that this new generation of filmmakers would turn to YouTube to share their earliest work, leading to many getting representation, and in some cases, studio distribution. It’s also interesting to see how many of them came to horror from a comedy background, similar to Zach Cregger, who has definitely become the North Star for this new wave of horror filmmakers.
Curry Barker’s Obsession is an impressive debut, particularly in the way it introduces its simple, high-concept premise slowly, then builds and builds things up to an insane level that’s sometimes hard to believe. Its ability to create terror from such a common situation helps make Obsession so relatable and more terrifying for it.
Rating: 8/10
Obsession opens nationwide on Friday, May 15.
