Obsession

A precautionary tale for the irresponsible cat owners out there Spoilers and lots of yap below: I love a horror joint that tells you the gist of the plot upfront, but still works. Because imo, horror is best when it satirizes. Insight about our own fatal flaws is more disturbing than any ghost or goblin. And so, the highest praise that I can offer this movie is that it really reminded me of American Psycho: it is a stylistically gripping, seething satire of a hollowness that lurks in contemporary culture. Instead of the morally vacant consumeristic abyss of Gen X yuppies, it’s the gendered dating sins of Gen Z on the chopping block tonight. 1. Bear - Cowardice Misogyny Ngl I was ready to see homeboy burn after that IG stalking scene I kept wondering why Ian got a billie with no scratches and Bear got royally fucked up. I settled at this: in a good Monkey Paw story, the consequence balances. A sinful wish is met with a debilitating cost. And Bear is going straight to hell Bear’s true desire is to bypass consent. He wants blissful reciprocation of an unrealistic crush. He wants Nikki, with none of the hassle of communication or risk or vulnerability. Let the obvious seeds of a healthy relationship rot. As the chaos unfolds, we see his true colors. The most striking scenes are those where we see the real Nikki: screaming through the phone, flashing through at the party, whispering in her sleep. These establish that Bear fully understands the true cost of his wish: he has caused the complete enslavement of Nikki’s body, the stripping of will and agency from a still-present, still-conscious mind and soul. In a movie like It Follows, the isolated protagonist recruits their friends to help. But Bear is not only content to tolerate his evil in isolation - he defends it to his friends. He’ll lie and say she really loves him. Hell, he’ll even dabble with cheating on her.  And in the end, he’s too chicken to pull the triggers. So Chekov’s Oxycodone grants him a true coward’s exit. Poetic injustice. 2. Nikki - Woman as the Agent of her own Objectification The criticisms of Bear are plain. I found the satire pointed at women to be more subtle, but still there. Contrast Nikki, before and after. Her style, actions, affectations, attitude. Look at the costume, the makeup, the expressions.  Nikki’s transformations are a hyperbolic form of a woman twisting herself out of proportion for a man. It’s that critique of post-feminism, about woman as the eager and willing agent of her own diminishment, but taken to the extreme. You see shards of yourself, of past friends or lovers, in Nikki? Embarrassed about what you did when you got hung up on that ex? Well, don’t you wish you had a magic curse explaining it all away.  But in the end, who has to face the consequences of all this bullshit? The surviving victim 🤪 I could go on, but whatever, you get it. This movie rocks.  And, once again, we have a movie more feminist than Barbie My production highlights, for the sickos: Sound: loved the owl hooting during the warning scenes, especially the morning ones. An out of place alarm that tips your subconscious into eerie discomfort Makeup: devoid of special effects or prosthetics, and based on a blending of internet trends with a personal history with abusive relationships. Oh yeah baby Cinematography: So dark. So much headroom. Lots of visual tension Shot in Curry Barker’s own apartment: man knows style 300x returns on a 750k independent budget: true gen z flashpoint la la la