Obsession Feature Scores
Explore all 42 feature scores for Obsession, organized into pros and cons.
Scores by Feature
Summary
42 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.020 (48%)
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Positive 3.5-4.413 (31%)
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Neutral 2.5-3.46 (14%)
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Negative 1.5-2.43 (7%)
Pros
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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.
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The synth-heavy score is repeatedly praised as haunting, gorgeous, atmospheric, and crucial to the film’s escalating dread. Reviewers often describe it as one of the production’s standout elements.
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The film’s slow-building dread and claustrophobic tension are among its most consistently praised qualities. Reviewers often highlight framing, pacing, and sound as working together to keep the pressure rising.
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Reviewers repeatedly describe the film as sad, haunting, upsetting, or emotionally bruising, with the trapped-Nikki material giving the horror unusual emotional weight.
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The story is usually praised as an efficient, compelling use of a simple premise, though one mixed review regards the overall movie as merely okay rather than transformative.
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Barker’s direction is widely praised for confidence, timing, restraint, and command of dread. A sharply dissenting review finds the visual direction banal and aesthetically thin.
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Cinematography is strongly praised for shadow-heavy compositions, claustrophobic framing, and precise lighting. Even a mixed visual assessment acknowledges clever tricks within the low-budget presentation.
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Reviewers praise the film’s message about coercion, objectification, selfish desire, and the difference between love and possession, often noting that the ideas emerge through the horror rather than lectures.
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Sound design is a major strength, with reviewers describing the audio as masterful, immersive, and precisely timed to make quiet scenes and shocks physically tense.
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Dark comedy generally complements the horror and gives the film a wicked, uncomfortable energy. Some reviewers, however, find certain laughs unintentional or the humor cruel rather than controlled.
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Audience appeal is strongest as a communal horror experience: reviewers describe it as a must-see crowd movie that invites discussion, repeat attendance, and watching with friends.
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Editing is praised for economy, sharp rhythm, and knowing when to linger versus strike suddenly. Reviewers credit the cutting with helping the slow burn stay destabilizing.
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Originality is debated: several reviewers call the execution fresh and distinctive, while others stress that the Monkey’s Paw foundation is familiar or not groundbreaking.
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Rewatch interest is mostly positive, with viewers wanting to revisit the film or buy it, though one second viewing made its repetitive structure more noticeable.
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Supporting performances are generally seen as grounding the central nightmare, with particular praise for Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson. A few critics find parts of the ensemble rough or wooden.
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The reviewers who directly assess plot originality praise the film for pushing a familiar wish-gone-wrong structure into a fresh, modern extreme.
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Practical effects are praised for being gnarly, committed, and tactile, with gore that makes the film’s bursts of violence feel immediate rather than polished away.
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The visual approach is usually praised for muted palettes, deep shadows, retro texture, and unnerving compositions. A notable dissent calls the look aesthetically flat and uninteresting.
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Ending reactions lean positive, with several reviewers calling the finale satisfying, brutal, smart, or perfect. Dissenters criticize indecision, rushed denouement, or a failure to fully stick the landing.
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Reviewers value how the film connects its horror to contemporary loneliness, gender anxiety, and modern relationship dynamics, giving the old wish premise a distinctly current social frame.
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Character work earns praise when the friend group and Bear’s flaws feel lived-in and revealing, but some critics find Nikki’s arc too linear or the ensemble underwritten.
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The violence is generally praised when it arrives suddenly and earns its shock, but one critic finds a prolonged murder more cartoonish than nauseating. The brutality is a feature for gore-friendly viewers, not a neutral content count.
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Production design earns positive notices for small, convincing details and a tactile low-budget look that supports the film’s strange, decaying atmosphere.
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Pacing is one of the clearest tradeoffs. Some praise a deliberate slow burn and tight editing, while others find the second act uneven, the progression insufficiently signposted, or the film somewhat drawn out.
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Several reviewers value how grounded the characters and relationship dynamics feel despite the supernatural premise. One major dissent argues the characters feel artificial and unrelatable.
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The make-up effects receive emphatic praise for convincing gore that earns the film’s age rating without feeling merely splashy.
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One review directly praises the film’s treatment of love as curdled, self-centered possession, finding the relationship horror effective precisely because it rejects conventional romance.
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One enthusiastic reviewer says the theatrical experience was worth more than the ticket price and would gladly pay to see it again.
Cons
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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.
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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.
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Special-effects reactions are mixed: one violent effect looks weak enough to draw criticism, while another review finds the exaggerated effects cartoonish in an enjoyable way.
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The horror-comedy balance works very well for some reviewers, who admire the jarring shifts and control. Others experience tonal whiplash or need much of the runtime before the humor and horror feel balanced.
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The screenplay is divisive. Supporters praise tight, memorable writing and thematic intelligence, while detractors flag repetition, missing connective tissue, weak character logic, and incomplete ideas.
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.
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Sound SupervisorKitchens’ sound-supervision work is praised for helping intensify Nikki’s performance and building the film’s offscreen reservoirs of rage and unease.
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ActorFitzgerald’s brief contribution is warmly received, with one reviewer simply calling her performance great.
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IanTomlinson gets mixed notices as Ian: some reviewers say he grounds or elevates a potentially stock friend role, while one critic calls the performance wooden.