Obsessed with Obsession: a Horror-Comedy for the Ages
by Norah Spence
Curry Barker, a 25-year-old YouTube filmmaker, premiered his first feature length film, Obsession, at TIFF’s Midnight Madness program this past September—a horror-comedy that Focus Features deemed worthy of a $15 million acquisition. Obsession, starring Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston, follows Bear (Johnston), a hopeless romantic whose fixation on his long-term crush, Nikki (Navarrette), goes too far—dragging both of them into a co-dependant ‘love’ affair. This hilariously-disturbed tale of infatuation tests the limits of what all-consuming love really means and does so with just the right amount of depravity.
The film begins with Bear practicing his crush-confession on a waitress at a local diner. We see how head over heels he is for Nikki, his speech is produced, a little over-board, and perhaps too Pride and Prejudice-y for a couple of minimum-wage music store employees. Accompanied by his friend and coworker, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson aka Barker’s creative partner), the three engage in a witty back-and-forth about Bear’s shameful circumstance. From here on out, Obsession establishes a tone that blends humour with absolute uncertainty—we wonder: how is this shy, sensitive young man capable of the horror we are expecting? Well, with the help of an elusive magical object that promises to grant its user one wish, anything is up for consideration. After wishing for Nikki to love him more than anything in the world, Obsession’s nightmare-fuel story really takes effect.
But Obsession isn’t a total horror-camp-fest. The film touches on difficult topics and examines consent in more ways than one. Bear’s ‘nice-guy’ persona lends itself to the hopefulness, and sometimes pity, we feel when Nikki obviously doesn’t reciprocate his feelings for her. Nikki’s character, a beautiful, outgoing, young woman is then put in an awkward position—do we root for her wellbeing? Or Bear’s infatuation for her? Typically, characters like Bear are the ones being rooted for. We, as the audience, want him to win—to get the girl and to live happily ever after. When his wish finally comes true, we’re ecstatic. But there’s one caveat—Nikki didn’t consent to this, and neither did Bear, at least not to the extent that it came to.
The real star of the screening, however, was the audience. The theatre was filled to the brim and any latecomers were forced out of the room due to a lack of available seating. When Obsession eventually started, the audience instantly erupted in laughter during the diner scene and every punchline thereafter. As the movie got less funny and more disturbingly corrupt, so did the viewers: oohs and aahs and the occasional “oh fuck” could be heard quite clearly from various areas around the room. The audience was so entertaining it made me wonder whether the movie itself is really that good or if the community I watched it with was just that funny.
Although my enjoyment of the screening is due, in part, to the movie-loving community I watched it with, Curry Barker’s Obsession lends itself to an audience with a good sense of humour and perhaps one with a deeply disturbed idea of what “love” is. So, next time you have a crush on a coworker, maybe ask yourself: do they feel the same way about me? If the answer is no, follow-up with: could I make them feel the same? If the answer is yes, take yourself to a solo-screening of Obsession and see for yourself how your situation is likely to turn out.
