Other movies and TV shows have addressed the whole “I wish more than anything that the person I had a crush on loved me” notion in cutesy, romantic-comedy style.
Writer-director Curry Barker takes the premise and goes in the opposite direction by presenting the scenario as a nightmare—and Inde Navarrette is here to act the living shit out of it.
Bear (Michael Johnston) is really in love with Nikki (Navarrette), but he’s in the friend zone, mainly because he doesn’t have the balls to express his true feelings. Before he can work up the gumption, he stumbles upon a wish-stick gimmick in a boutique—and makes the big wish upon his novelty purchase.
That wish comes true—with a vengeance, as Nikki becomes ultra-obsessed with him. Things start off nice enough, with Nikki getting cuddly, but that quickly morphs into her taping doors shut and standing in the middle of a room when Bear leaves, and waiting in that same spot all day until his return, bathroom breaks be damned.
Johnston is fine as the nebbish Bear, who learns that just being friends with somebody isn’t so bad after all, but the real reason to see the film is Navarrette and her star-making performance. Her wide-eyed, ear-to-ear smile is perhaps one of the creepiest things you will see in a movie this year. The stuff she does with her voice and movement to complete the tragic disintegration of Nikki is truly marvelous, in a horror-film sort of way.
Barker, who has made his mark on YouTube with his sketch comedy and short films, shows he can bring the scary with the funny.
There are some decent laughs in Obsession, but you won’t remember the film for that. You will remember it for every nerve-shredding moment in what needs to be everybody’s Valentine’s Day movie going forward.