Obsession (2026): A Review (Review #2220)

OBSESSION

I know a couple that has been dating for some time now. They have their cute nicknames for themselves as both individuals and as a couple. They travel together but would insist, if anyone dared to ask, that they are not physically intimate. Apparently, whenever they go out of town on their de facto honeymoons, all they do at night is sing hymns and play canasta. While watching Obsession, I was reminded of these two lovebirds. Granted, there are no otherworldly possessions involved with the couple that I know of (to my knowledge, anyway). Obsession hits familiar horror tropes, and I suppose gives audiences what it wants. It never quite worked for me, though.

Baron, universally known as Bear (Michael Johnston) has yearned for his coworker Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) for some time. His friend and coworker Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) insists to him to Nikki does not reciprocate his feelings. We get stronger hints that their fellow friend/coworker Sarah (Megan Lawless) does have stronger feelings for Bear. Bear, however, will not be denied his own dream girl of Nikki, or at least denied his chance to pursue a relationship. In efforts to curry favor with Nikki, Bear rushes to buy a crystal necklace to replace the one Nikki just told him that she'd lost. At the shop, he opts to buy not the necklace, but a "One Wish Willow", a novelty item from the 1980s that will do just that. Bear makes his one wish: "I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone else in the world".

In the classic case of "be careful what you wish for", Nikki now becomes besotted with Bear. He might be happy about that, but he also sees that Nikki at times acts strangely and erratically. She brings Bear's dead cat out of the bag, so to speak. She hovers in corners in a creepy, vaguely demonic way. She lies about her father dying of cancer. She tapes the door to his house, where is now pretty much living in, and does not want him to leave.

Bear continuously insists that Nikki's freaky behavior is not a sign of mental or psychological instability. He keeps asking her to "stop being weird". Being weird, however, does not cover the full extent of Nikki's manner. The culmination of her eccentricity comes when at a boys' night out party that she cajoled Bear into taking her to, Nikki recites an incestuous take on Hansel and Gretel. She then pulls Sarah's chair out rather than let Bear kiss her after a game prompt would make him do that. She concludes by becoming incoherent and attacking herself with a broken beer bottle in front of the horrified partygoers.

Nevertheless, Bear still will not let Nikki go. There is something seriously wrong with Nikki, who whispers to Bear pleas to kill her. The One Wish Willow hotline was no help. Neither are Ian and Sarah, whose lives are as much in danger as Bear's is. Who will live and who will die before this Obsession ends?

I think that a reason why Obsession did not become one for me is that I am not a horror film fan. I do not hate the genre. I just do not get scared at movies. I also, for better or worse, get hung up on details. A major component of Obsession is that Bear calls the phone number on the One Wish Willow box. Desperate to reverse the wish, he turns to said number. I kept wondering how the phone number to a novelty item made before any of the characters would have been born still functioned.

Perhaps this is overthinking things. I will grant that. There were, however, other elements that made me think that Obsession is now becoming the most overrated film of 2026. As much as writer/director Curry Baker might push me to see Bear in a negative light, I couldn't. I did not see him in a positive light. I found him to be a wimp and simp. The first alarming signs when it came to Bear was when he rushed out to buy a replacement necklace. This is not the act of someone in love. This is the act of someone attempting to curry favor with someone (no pun intended). Again, granted it sounds like something the male lovebird I know would do. 

Truth be told, I never cared for the four principal characters (Andy Richter playing a small role of their boss who is also Sarah's father). The acting from all four is mostly flat. I can give a little leeway in that those are the characters. Bear, Nikki, Ian and Sarah are remarkably dull people who speak in pretty much monotones. Out of the four, I think Megan Lawless' Sarah was the most competent. She had a good scene with Bear late in Obsession when she talked about her hopes and fears about getting into an art school. I can also give grudging respect to how Sarah's icing did pop out almost out of nowhere.

I, however, thought everyone else in Obsession was simply awful. I remain permanently puzzled over how Inde Navarrette is being touted as a potential to probable Best Actress Oscar nominee. She was like most everyone else in Obsession: serviceable to a bit exaggerated as Nikki. I think that she was also hampered by Baker's screenplay and directing. Obsession uses a lot of horror tropes that I think ended up backfiring on the film.

For example, we get the dark cinematography, dominated by greys and browns. We get the overtly spooky music, particularly in a montage that is supposed to show the idyllic first few days of the Bear/Nikki romance. However, when it comes to Navarrette, I think it was a mistake to have her appear as this overtly creepy, shadowy figure from time to time. She looked less like a person and more like a hellish creature. Now, I understand that was the intent. For me, though, I think that undercut any genuine terror by staying close to horror cliches. At the scene where Nikki is supposed to move Sarah's chair and demand Bear kiss her, I was not filled with dread. 

I was filled with laughter. 

I was also not overwhelmed with Michael Johnston's Bear. Yes, Bear was supposed to be totally weak-willed and pathetic. However, I thought Johnston made Bear almost comatose and unable to show any true emotion. There does not seem to be any evolution in Bear via Johnston's performance. His constant cries of "Stop being weird" came across as not having just words. They were not demands. They were not pleas. They were just statements.

Cooper Tomlinson was probably the worst of the bunch. While I felt genuine sadness at his fate (I recoil at films that do harm to innocents), he was flat throughout the film.

I watched Obsession with a growing sense of puzzlement over how it is seen as some kind of cinematic breakthrough. It is a second-rate horror film that has bad performances and typical horror tropes. The biggest obsession that I have seen is from Obsession fans. 

DECISION: D+