GENRE | 'Obsession' Makes One Wish Willow x SIFF 2026

"It's weird how you two are dating all of a sudden."

Focus Features / Blumhouse Productions

Profilic 25-year-old That's A Bad Idea YouTuber Curry Barker, hailing from Mobile, Alabama, makes his proper theatrical feature debut as an independent filmmaker with a deceptively simple yet twisted supernatural horror romance, Obsession. Essentially a "be careful what you wish for," monkey's paw-type parable, insecure music shop employee Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes for his co-worker and childhood friend (Inde Navarrette) to fall madly in love with him. You get the idea where this is going. Her unnatural love turns into a violent, well, "obsession," rather quickly. Terror ensues.

After Bear makes his aforementioned cursed "One Wish Willow" trinket, a magical stick purchased for $6.99 from a local crystal shop, Navarrette's Nikki becomes extremely possessive of him, much to his horror. Bear quickly regrets his decision and becomes desperate to rid himself of his dreamgirl. Barker, who also edits the film, makes clear choices about how to slowly ramp up the horror escalation. Navarrette makes a clear breakout star turn as both the girl-next-door archetype before morphing seemingly into the "crazy girlfriend" role that's genuinely terrifying.

Barker exploits subtle elements of toxic loser masculinity (a real "beta" type) while imbuing Johnston's Bear as a more or less "good guy" who's ultimately far too ineffectual and just plain stupid to be truly threatening. Longtime collaborator Cooper Tomlinson, the other half of TABI, adds some much-needed relief as the bro-y friend/co-worker and voice of reason. While the nature of non-reciprocal love and wishing against it is inherently nonconsensual, the film takes its logic and genre tropes to extreme lengths as it mocks conventional ideals of romance with some dire consequences.

Obsession confidently takes one of the more straightforward horror setups and inverts its romantic comedy elements to expose unhinged aspects of personal desire and unrequited attraction. It's an emotional roller coaster of meltdowns, tantrums, and bursts of self-harm. Barker's talent and patience for slow burn filmmaking that exploits his characters' flaws superbly.

Obsession screened at the 2026 Seattle International Film Festival as part of the WTF program, where it won the SIFF Seattle Critics Award, for which yours truly had a ballot.


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