by Eric Lindbom
OBSESSION (in theaters) is a juicy Gen Z update of the evergreen adage from the 1902 short story “The Monkey’s Paw” — be careful what you wish for.
Sensitive teen Bear (Michael Johnston) is marooned in the friend zone with Nikki (Inde Navarette) a fourth of his Trivia Night quartet and can’t express his true feelings. Visiting a boutique store that trades in crystals and mystical merchandise, he plans to gift her a kitsch toy that promises a wish come true. Instead, he uses up the wish himself that she love him above all others. Like all those who cut a Faustian bargain things go sour when Nikki is transformed into a needy harpy who first smothers than worries and finally terrifies him (as well as the audience).
Screenwriter and director Curry Baker screws with our rooting interest since ‘nice guy’ Bear is entirely complicit in his forced error dilemma. Like the suburban husbands who birthed THE STEPFORD WIVES he’s not really searching for real love but a controlling fantasy like the bully bros who sneer “your body/my choice” at women. Even if we don’t necessarily sympathize with him, we flinch at the embarrassment Nikki causes him in public places and then shudder at her increasingly unhinged acts, some of which involve his already dead pet cat.
Those who don’t take one-night stands seriously might hope the worst for villainous femme nut jobs Glenn Glose in FATAL ATTRACTION or Jessica Walter in PLAY MISTY FOR ME. However, Nikki never asked to hook up with besotted Bear so we can’t blame the she-monster she becomes. Yet was this dream girl somewhat of a nightmare in normal life? Curry teases us that she once had the nickname freaky Nikki. So is she completely possessed or has some inherent mental instability been super-sized to a murderous extreme?
Inde Navarrette, a former regular on CW’s SUPERMAN & LOIS, keeps us guessing and quaking with an absolute stunner performance. Navarrette taps into a wide spectrum of crazy – from whiny to multiple octaves of shrieking. Her facial vocabulary of tainted smiles alone are as disturbing as her stammering apologies and eventual bodily self-abuse. Johnston sweats his way effectively as the freaked Bear whose own fixed grin practically dices his face as he constantly pretends all is okay. Neither his pals Sarah (Megan Lawless), who crushes on him, or his snarky buddy Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), source of ample comedy relief, believe him. While targeted at the teen market, OBSESSION taps into broader male phobias about addled women. Though inevitably bloodier than the cringe black comedy THE DRAMA it also has a far more pungent, non-cop out finale.
The back story behind OBSESSION is as impressive as the on-screen result. While many hand wringers opine that ballooning budgets are killing Hollywood, Curry Barker birthed OBSESSION with a $750 K budget but the seams don’t show. While confined to several sets, Taylor Clemons’ cinematography never feels cramped, and Rock Burwell’s score amplifies the queasiness with off-handed grace.
Barker cut his teeth doing sketch shorts on YouTube with co-star Tomlinson and the two collaborated on an earlier shoestring horror MILK & SERIAL which they brought home for the princely sum of eight hundred bucks!
Barker is part of a new breed of desperately needed low budget horror creators. Another is 20-year-old Kane Parsons who’s adapting BACKROOMS for A24. It’s an expansion of his own popular Web-only series which, itself, was inspired by an anonymous user on a 4chan imageboard who created the germ of the concept. Here’s hoping we’re truly entering a flowering of crowd sourced (and therefore audience tested!) horror, concocted organically and free from the limited IP-obsessed sequel vision of bean counters and the poor hacks they hire. When it comes to cheap thrills, count me in!
Eric Lindbom is a hardcore horror buff with a strong stomach, weaned on the Universal classics from the ’30s and ’40s. He’s written film and/or music reviews for City Pages, Twin Cities Reader, LA WEEKLY, Request magazine and Netflix. He co-edits triggerwarningshortfiction.com, a site specializing in horror, fantasy and crime short stories with illustrations by co-editor John Skewes. He lives in Los Angeles.
