If you want better world-building
Choose Rose of Nevada. It scores 5.0 vs 3.0 for world-building, with a 4.5 overall score.
Obsession Movie Review
Bottom Line
Choose it for relentless psychological dread, dark humor, and a standout lead performance. Skip it if you need airtight supernatural rules, brisk pacing, or restrained gore.
Best for
Best for horror fans who like slow-building psychological dread, dark comedy, intense performances, and bursts of graphic practical violence with relationship themes to unpack.
Not for
Skip if you dislike gore, possessive-relationship horror, or stories that leave supernatural rules partly unresolved, or if you need a consistently brisk pace.
Verdict
Obsession turns a familiar wish-gone-wrong setup into unusually effective relationship horror. Reviewers overwhelmingly praise the volatile lead work, confident direction, shadow-heavy visuals, sound design, and creeping tension. Its dark comedy and themes of consent, agency, loneliness, and entitlement give the simple premise more weight than its supernatural mechanics suggest. The tradeoff is the script: some reviewers find the middle overlong, the wish mythology unclear or unevenly explained, and a few tonal pivots or scares veer toward self-parody. Even those reservations rarely erase the film’s impact. It is a nasty, funny, emotionally bruising crowd horror whose execution matters more than the familiarity of its basic premise.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
42 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.020 (48%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.413 (31%)
-
Neutral 2.5-3.46 (14%)
-
Negative 1.5-2.43 (7%)
Pros
-
The central performances draw exceptional praise, especially the volatile, physically expressive work around Nikki and the anxious, compromised portrayal of Bear. Even mixed reviews often single out the leads.
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Performances are one of the film’s clearest strengths: most reviewers praise the cast’s commitment and control, though a few find some early or supporting work awkward.
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Most reviewers find the film genuinely scary, praising its dread, sudden shocks, and unsettling behavior over routine jump-scare mechanics. A minority report that some early scares play as silly or unintentionally funny.
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Genre satisfaction is extremely strong. Horror-focused reviewers repeatedly call it a standout, favorite, or top-tier modern horror film, especially for its blend of dread, gore, comedy, and psychological discomfort.
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Entertainment value is very high for most reviewers, who call the film a blast, a crowd-pleaser, or a morbid joy even when the experience is deliberately uncomfortable.
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The themes around consent, agency, loneliness, entitlement, and distorted ideas of love are widely viewed as substantial and resonant. Some reviewers wish the film followed those ideas further.
Cons
-
The runtime is a recurring weakness in the direct assessments, with critics calling the film overlong and arguing that its tension does not always justify the full length.
-
Plot clarity is a recurring weakness around timing and supernatural rules. Reviewers cite confusing chronology, overly explained moments, and wish mechanics that are never fully laid out.
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The one direct assessment of character chemistry is negative, criticizing the main group for feeling artificial and showing little chemistry.
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The soundtrack receives a mild criticism: the pop selections are considered less inspired than the film’s much more celebrated original score.
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The One Wish Willow mythology divides reviewers. Some like its spare, suggestive rules, while others find the supernatural logic underexplained, inconsistent, or frustratingly underdeveloped.
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Dialogue reactions are split: one reviewer praises believable natural delivery, while another dismisses the writing as shallow TV-writers’-room cleverness.
Cast & Creators
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Nikki FreemanNavarrette receives the strongest performance consensus: reviewers praise her rapid shifts between warmth, menace, despair, and physical derangement. Even a mixed assessment concedes her intensity in the film’s heightened horror scenes.
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Writer/DirectorReviewers largely praise Barker’s command of dread, timing, visual tension, and darkly comic escalation, treating the film as a confident announcement of his directorial voice.
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ComposerBurwell’s score is repeatedly singled out as haunting, gorgeous, moody, and essential to the film’s tonal movement from uneasy intimacy to full horror.
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BearJohnston is praised for making Bear anxious, pathetic, and credibly conflicted without losing the character’s human vulnerability. One critic finds his work limited to surface emotion, but most of the direct assessments are positive.
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SarahLawless is consistently well received in the reviews that assess her directly, with Sarah described as credible, grounded, commendably played, and a high point of the supporting cast.
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Director of PhotographyClemons’ shadow-heavy lighting and camera work draw strong praise from several reviewers for making the film look controlled and unnerving on a small budget, though one critic dislikes the overall visual presentation.
View all 42 feature scores and cast & creators
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other Movies, this product is above average in value for money, plot originality, makeup quality, near average in visual style, supporting cast performance, below average in chemistry between characters, soundtrack quality, runtime.
Comparison summary
42 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher30 (71%)
-
Same as average within 0.3 pts6 (14%)
-
Below average 0.4+ pts lower6 (14%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| chemistry between characters | 2.0 | 4.1 | -2.1 |
| value for money | 5.0 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| plot originality | 4.8 | 2.9 | +1.8 |
| makeup quality | 5.0 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
| romance quality | 5.0 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| story quality | 4.6 | 3.1 | +1.4 |
| editing quality | 4.8 | 3.3 | +1.5 |
| soundtrack quality | 2.5 | 4.0 | -1.5 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better chemistry between characters
Choose Leviticus. It scores 4.7 vs 2.0 for chemistry between characters, with a 4.2 overall score.
If you want better soundtrack quality
Choose Exit 8. It scores 4.7 vs 2.5 for soundtrack quality, with a 4.2 overall score.
If you want better special effects quality
Choose Project Hail Mary. It scores 4.9 vs 3.0 for special effects quality, with a 4.3 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
Barbarian
- Similar: humor, violence, and retro horror style The reviewer places the film in the same vein as Barbarian for its tonal and stylistic mix.
Companion
- Similar: relationship horror The reviewer describes the film as spiritually similar to Companion.
It Follows
- Similar: creeping atmosphere The film’s sickening, slow-creeping atmosphere reminds the reviewer of It Follows.
FAQ
Is Obsession actually scary?
Most reviewers say yes, especially because of sustained dread, sudden shocks, unnerving behavior, and sound-driven tension. A minority find some early scares silly or unintentionally funny.
How strong are the performances?
The performances are one of the strongest points of agreement, with the central turn receiving especially intense praise for its physicality, emotional shifts, and menace.
Is the story original?
The basic wish-gone-wrong structure is familiar, and some critics explicitly call it unoriginal. Others argue that the modern relationship framing and execution make the old premise feel fresh.
Does the dark humor work?
Usually, according to the reviews. Many enjoy the uneasy collision of comedy and horror, though a few feel certain laughs become unintentional or create tonal whiplash.
Is the movie very graphic?
The film is repeatedly described as bloody, grisly, and suddenly brutal, with praised practical effects. Reviewers also stress that its psychological discomfort often matters more than the gore.
How is the pacing?
It is deliberately slow-building, which some reviewers find highly effective. Others call the second act uneven, the runtime overlong, or the character progression insufficiently signposted.
Does the ending satisfy?
Reactions lean positive, with several reviewers calling it brutal, smart, satisfying, or perfect. A smaller group finds the final stretch indecisive, rushed, or unable to fully stick the landing.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - Kennie J.D.
- Review score
- 4.7
Article Reviews
onderhond.com
The excellent presentation, the superb performances, and the slick build-up all support the premise and turn this into a film full of iconic...
- Review score
- 4.1
eyeforfilm.co.uk
A desperate wish for love goes terribly wrong.
- Review score
- 4.7
dailyiowan.com
The moment I heard the opening notes to “Forever” by The Little Dippers and saw the credits roll on screen, I opened up my Letterboxd to...
- Review score
- 2.5
voicemag.uk
Curry Barker's debut feature is a truly gnarly horror thrillride to get infatuated with.
- Review score
- 4.5
flickeringmyth.com
Obsession, 2025.Directed by Curry Barker. Starring Michael Johnson, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy...
- Review score
- 3.8
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