Obsession came out in theaters in May of this year, and has since then earned over five hundred million dollars. That’s over 650 times its budget of $750,000! Its profit has even surpassed another popular 2026 hit, Backrooms, by more than $100 million. But why was this movie such a hit? What about this movie causes millions of people to go to their local theater and buy a ticket?
The movie follows a group of friends; Bear, Nikki, Ian and Sarah. They’re presumably in their twenties, and all work together at a video store. Bear has feelings for Nikki, but he can’t muster up the courage to confess to her. He goes to a metaphysical shop and buys a One Wish Willow, which is designed to give the user one wish when broken in half. Bear ends up wishing that Nikki would love him, and well…that’s where everything amps up.
Obsession was directed by Curry Barker, a 26-year-old who had previously been making content on social media with Cooper Tomlinson, who actually ended up playing Ian in the movie. They both had been making, mostly, comedy shorts on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. On his own, Barker has also published several horror shorts on YouTube, one of the most popular being “The Chair.” According to Barker, he had hoped to be an actor since high school, which led him to his social media skits, horror shorts, and eventually directing his own movie.
With a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s clear people enjoyed Obsession. Specific aspects of the movie that have been cited as favorites include the sense of dread the movie incites in its viewers, as well as its underlying cultural messages and the outstanding performances of the actors, particularly 25-year-old Inde Navarette, who plays one of the main characters, Nikki. One review, for example, cites the movie’s “genuinely palpable sense of terror” while another claims Navarette “approaches Oscar-level intensity as Nikki, turning on a dime from caring cajoling to screaming threat.” However, some criticisms of the movie claim that Bear and Nikki’s characterizations were flat and that the social commentary the movie implies is not quite cemented enough. One review comparing the movie to Jordan Peele’s Get Out wrote that it “fails to achieve the pinnacle of social commentary that Get Out achieved.” Despite the few criticisms, the overwhelming majority of people seem to agree that Obsession is an excellent movie and stands out in the modern horror movie scene.
But…what is this underlying commentary and meaning behind Obsession that is being non-stop discussed? What is the cultural significance of the movie, and where is this implied? It’s said that Obsession is an allegory for toxic and controlling relationships, as well as sexual assault and gender roles. By using the One Wish Willow, Bear unintentionally robs Nikki of her ability to give consent, and the movie shows her slow deterioration following this, representing the emotional turmoil that can come from situations where someone is being controlled. Experiences like this can destroy someone’s sense of self and create almost a new version of them, represented in Obsession in an amplified way by the slow escalation of Nikki’s erratic obsessive behavior. When it comes to gender roles, Bear’s character aligns with the fairly new idea in the media of the “nice guy.” A guy who seems nice at first, but buried underneath it’s discovered he does not have the purest of intentions. The movie comments on how many men view women, simply for the selfish idea of what women provide them rather than seeing them as their own independent person with their own desires. Bear loved the idea of Nikki, not necessarily Nikki as a person, which is why he was so willing to continue his relationship with her even after it was clear that it wasn’t really her. Overall, the movie touches on some powerful topics and has a lot of small hints throughout towards what it represents on a broader scale.
It’s interesting to consider the background and hidden meaning behind the horror movie that blew up earlier this year, stirring up widespread conversations everywhere. It’s truly a powerful film, and it will definitely cause people to tune into what Curry Barker is working on next, perhaps making him one of the well-known directors in the horror industry in coming years.
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