The Scream Queen

The internet has given birth to many horrors; and now, it is doing the same thing for horror directors, as YouTubers have officially started their takeover of the genre. The Philippou brothers (aka RackaRacka) have had two major horror hits in Talk To Me and Bring Her Back, mega internet star Markiplier made waves with his future cult favourite Iron Lung, and 20 year old Backrooms creator Kane Parsons has become A24’s youngest director with the eponymously named feature releasing this week. However, one viral sketch comedian has truly left his mark on the genre, and indeed the internet. That man is Curry Barker, a fresh-faced 26 year old, who has set social media alight with his brutally dark debut Obsession. But is the film really something to obsess over, or are we witnessing the internet hype beast strike again?

*Major spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

Be careful what you wish for; it’s a tale as old as time. Granted, if Bear (Michael Johnston) had taken this warning a little more seriously, maybe Obsession would have turned out less Fatal Attraction and more When Harry Met Sally. But alas, when our protagonist/antagonist snaps the gimmicky ‘One Wish Willow’ branch, his wish comes true in the most disturbing way possible. Bear has longed after best friend Nikki (a star-making performance by Inde Navarrette) but never quite worked up the courage to ask her out. Assuming his position in the ‘friendzone’, he decides that there is no other logical option than to rely on a likely fake wish; and when he begs ‘I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone else in the fucking world’, just like the willow branch, Nikki snaps into an entirely different person. Suddenly, she can’t (and won’t) leave Bear alone. At first, it’s love’s young dream, as a montage shows the two of them in a honeymoon-like trance. But slowly, the cracks begin to show, with the real Nikki trying to break free from the spell she’s been forced under. While she is trapped in there somewhere, it becomes apparent that the entity-possessed Nikki is not just a crazy jealous type; she’s crazily obsessed with doing whatever it takes to win Bear’s affection, to fatal consequences.

While Johnston does his best to portray Bear empathetically, he is just plain pathetic (Bear that is, not Johnston). A coward from beginning to end, Bear is the latest member of the ‘but I’m a nice guy’ club, joining the likes of slimy Josh from Companion, unreliable narrator Tom in (500) Days of Summer, and literally every man in Promising Young Woman. It’s a compelling trend in new age horror, as we transcend from serial killer slashers and monsters under the bed to something far more real and terrifying; entitled men fuelled by rape culture. Like the other examples mentioned, Obsession is an acute observation of incel culture and the disturbing misogyny in which it is rooted. On the surface, Bear is the classic male archetype that we are supposed to feel sorry for; at the start of the film his cat dies, he is clearly very lonely, and he is stuck in a perpetual state of yearning over a girl he’s sure doesn’t like him back. He’s quiet and comes across as kind, particularly compared to his friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), who fits the more classical popular male archetype (it is revealed near the end that he has actually been sleeping with Nikki all along). But inside, Bear is so stuck in this cycle of self-pitying victimhood, he cannot see that he is actually the villain. This is no more apparent than when he phones the number on the back of his ‘One Wish Willow’ box, hoping for his wish to be modified. Modified. Not cancelled; even when it is clear that ‘Nikki’ is not the real Nikki, just a figment of Bear’s wish. He consistently avoids consequence; whether its refusing to kill Nikki when she tragically pleads for death, or blaming his cat for overdosing on medication he left out. This culminates in the fatal final act; after possessed Nikki kills both Sarah and Ian, Bear decides the only way out is for him to kill himself. It had to be either him or Nikki, and once again, he chooses the easy way out by leaving Nikki, who is freed from her trance upon Bear’s death, to clean up the mess he created. It is a hard but undeniable truth, that often women must be the ones to pick up the pieces of a man’s wrongdoings. Yes, Nikki is technically free again, regaining the agency that was cruelly taken her. But, she will presumably be jailed for murder, carrying the burden of a crime she was not responsible for committing. As Nikki says ‘not all love stories are romances.’ In fact, the most famous ones rarely have a happy ending.

Inde Navarrette as Nikki is already being hailed as ‘performance of the year’ on social media, as her dual portrayal of real Nikki and entity Nikki is as disturbing as it is heartbreaking. Although we only get a glimpse at what Nikki is like before Bear makes his wish, Navarrette goes beyond the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ stereotype to show a character who is complex, kind, and has genuine dreams for her life. When this persona breaks through the entity’s facade, it is a devastating reminder that although Bear might not have killed her, he certainly took away her life. But it is within her performance as the possessed Nikki that Navarrette truly shines; her uncanny movements in the dark are hauntingly eerie, her larger than life smile is filled with pain and torture, and her erratic mood swings leave us always anticipating her next move. And even when you can see it coming, like the brutal car scene with Sarah (Megan Lawless), it will still make you squirm in your seat rather than roll your eyes. After Amy Madigan’s win at the Academy Awards earlier this year, it seems performances within the horror genre are finally being recognised; hopefully, Navarrrete won’t go unnoticed next awards season.

Final Verdict:

Obsession; an extreme interest in someone or something, that you think about all the time. Curry Barker’s feature of the same name will leave you feeling just that. It’s an unshakeable experience, particularly for female audiences, as Barker’s modern take on ‘be careful what you wish for’ is a disturbing critique of incel culture and male entitlement. A jaw-dropping uncanny valley performance from Inde Navarrette will stay with you long after the credits roll, as a new horror scream queen is undoubtedly born. It’s a tour de force debut which isn’t afraid to make audiences uncomfortably shift in their seats whether it’s at Nikki’s erratic behaviour or glaring Bear’s cowardice. So, if you’ve been waiting to see the next best thing in horror, Obsession is your wish granted.