Obsession

I’ve been a fan of Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson for a while now. I’ve been following their comedy TikTok, That’s a Bad Idea, for some time because the humor works fantastically for me. Then I found out about his YouTube movie, Milk & Serial and instantly watched and loved it. So when I found out he was getting a theatrical horror movie release I was stoked. Like more excited for a movie than I possibly have ever been. Then I saw all the hype and got worried that it wouldn’t be able to match the expectations being set. Well I’m here to report the hype was very much real. This was clearly a well crafted movie. It’s written and shot well. It has some fantastic scare sequences, but what stands out most to me was the sound design. I absolutely loved the kinda ethereal music playing over a lot of the movie. Music that ultimately crescendoed at the tensest moments, only to snapped into silence, mirroring the snapping of a willow branch. It felt more intentional than just trying to elevate tension, it felt like it was a part of the storytelling. Also got a fair bit of Mourning Dove calls which is always fun. The story, as I’ve stated, feels very well written. On the surface, it’s simply Nikki as a villain, doing insane and terrifying things with Bear being the victim who is constantly the target of these actions. Except that’s wrong and the film knows it. Nikki is the victim. She’s the one who had her autonomy stripped away from her. Bear is the villain for taking it away. You could argue that his wish was innocent given the reality that it probably doesn’t work, but once he’s confronted with the fact that it did work, he still tries to protect it making himself an active villain. In fact, he’s a monster. He knows she no longer has free will, yet still engages in acts she wouldn’t consent to. He sleeps in bed with her, kisses her, and worst of all has sex with her. He deflects his friends concerns to keep what he has even if it isn’t exactly what he wanted. To me this means he wants to have her on his own terms. He’s not someone who made a mistake, he’s a monster who consistently chooses himself. I think the title, Obsession, isn’t really about Nikki, but rather about Bear. What Nikki does to Bear is just the amplified version of what Bear was already doing to her. Fixating on someone who wasn’t reciprocating those feelings. I don’t want to get too spoilery but I’ll say that the ending also subverted my expectations. Given a trend in the endings of recent horror movies involving some sort of curse, I thought we’d get the same “solution.” Luckily, we didn’t and got left with an absolutely brutal ending. My one complaint is that I wanted more time with the fact that Nikki is a conscious prisoner to her body’s actions. That’s a terrifying and fucked up reality where you are trapped doing things you have no control over. We get a little bit of it, but not enough, in my opinion. I’ve been on the Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson train for awhile and I don’t plan on hopping off ever. They are must watch