Obsession

i want to start this off immediately by saying how much i love the fact that they’ve used unknown actors with a baffling talent. it’s not easy to grasp such characters to the meadow (especially nikki, whose actress was formidable) but they did such an amazing job that left me speechless. Not onto the important notes—as for the cinematography, the game with the shadows was amazing. the start of the movie being settled at night, LOTS of scenes accompanying their sleep, nikki’s silhouette being dark from head to toe in numerous scenes (shoutout to the one scene where the only shimmer you could see was her eyes and her necklace) and her figure hidden in the dark of the bedroom corner at night. The slow zoom-in was highly remarkable as well, giving in to the uncomfortable creepy feeling that makes you reel back; I think that the beautiful part was exactly this: the suddenness. i rarely knew what to expect, and that was, most importantly, played perfectly thanks to the movements. She blinks back for a split second, terrified, with an actress that knows how to play both and switch to the other in the blink of an eye. she screams and scuttles backwards (and pleads to be killed) for brief scenes that is enough for me to shiver. nikki’s character is grappled between herself and the demon that is in her—her body twists, walks backwards, stands awkwardly like she doesn’t know how to. it’s an innocent detail, but plays the most crucial part about the horror category that the movie easily falls into, making it the biggest genre element instead of the plain, over-used focus on blood. Overlapping to it, the spurt of the soundtrack—ending with a cut off—at the armrest-gripping scenes was a cherry on top. i’m a firm believer that a good soundtrack and the witty use of it is essential to make a scene channel to the public what you really want it to channel, and in “Obsession” that worked seamlessly. “What have you done?” The ending is what I can use to close the chapter. A voice breaks in, telling Nikki to wake up, and she does. Despite not being herself, she begged Bear to kill her, bartering her life away instead of his, but he locks himself in the bathroom and swallows the pills he can find before he can think it. The music plays and the ending flows with a slow, soft music in contrast with the bloody screams of horror, presenting the ending as nothing but a bittersweet, almost ridiculous joke. The story does not forget the actual Nikki. It shows her struggles, how she’s trying to crawl out of her own body; she’s locked in with no way out but with some sudden resigned words and jerks of realization, albeit getting shut out back again with the redundant hits of surroundings against her skull. All the pieces were congruent with one another, fitting together like puzzles. It plays well with a great pacing, getting right into things when it should and ending it along with Bear’s death, not leaving space for an useless and unthinkable continue.