{"id":702956,"date":"2026-05-29T20:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702956\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:58:12","slug":"backrooms-vs-obsession-which-is-better-and-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702956\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Backrooms’ vs. ‘Obsession’: Which Is Better, and Bigger?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d and who? Looking beyond the numbers \u2014 because, yes, the new \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie was crowned king of the Memorial Day box office \u2014 the movies dominating theaters and conversation right now aren\u2019t the ones with Lucasfilm and Disney+ IP. Instead, two new original horror films from directors in their twenties are ruling the discourse, and scaring up serious business. We dive into these new movies on the latest episode of IndieWire\u2019s \u201cScreen Talk<\/a>\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

Focus Features plopped down $15 million for its first earnestly Gen Z horror movie, \u201cObsession<\/a>,\u201d out of the Toronto Film<\/a> Festival in fall 2025. The careful-what-you-wish-for possession romance is directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker, who already reportedly has a reported eight-figure offer on his next film \u2014 even though he was already slated to reboot \u201cThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre\u201d for A24. <\/p>\n

\"PARK<\/a> \"Everytime\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Plus, \u201cObsession\u201d actually improved at the box office by nearly 40 percent in its second weekend. Absolutely rare<\/a>, and absolutely unheard of for a horror title.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at A24, 20-year-old Kane Parsons has turned his YouTube series \u201cBackrooms<\/a>\u201d into a new surreal horror film starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. Reviews have been strong<\/a> \u2014 as they were for \u201cObsession\u201d \u2014 for Parsons\u2019 liminal space horror movie, for which he\u2019s already planning follow-ups<\/a>. He\u2019s about to be in as high demand as Barker, as \u201cBackrooms\u201d already stirred up $10 million in Thursday previews alone and is looking at an at least $60 million opening.<\/p>\n

While we have to truly wait and see how \u201cBackrooms\u201d does and how audiences receive it, why do we think \u201cObsession\u201d is on such a roll? Part of that has to do with the movie\u2019s storyline, in which the lead actress Inde Navarrette (people are calling for an Oscar nomination, but here is a character with no agency, in a movie that doesn\u2019t have the same Academy juice as \u201cWeapons\u201d or \u201cThe Substance\u201d) plays a woman who\u2019s essentially completely subjugated by her captor \u2014 sorry, boyfriend \u2014 due to the curse he\u2019s set upon her. He\u2019s using her body for sex and ignoring, up to a point, the visible anguish writhing beneath her possessed placid demeanor. Is the movie\u2019s incel-like fantasy what\u2019s powering the film? We debate this, but it sure seems like.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the podcast, we also wrap up the Cannes Film Festival and take a look at which of the winners out of last weekend\u2019s Palme d\u2019Or ceremony<\/a> are most likely to make their way to the Oscars<\/a>. We talk about \u201cFjord,\u201d \u201cThe Black Ball,\u201d \u201cAll of a Sudden\u201d (unlikely to have the same momentum as director Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s last nominated film, \u201cDrive My Car\u201d), and potentially \u201cThe Man I Love,\u201d which is still looking for a buyer. <\/p>\n

Movies like \u201cCoward\u201d and \u201cAll of a Sudden\u201d will almost certainly represent their respective countries at the Academy Awards; much of Palme winner \u201cFjord\u201d is in English, but we\u2019re told that so far it will still be eligible for the International Feature Oscar.<\/p>\n

While Ryan has candidly not seen \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu,\u201d Anne reviews the film, as well as the hit \u201cThe Sheep Detectives.\u201d Post-Cannes, Ryan caught up with the horror movies instead.<\/p>\n

Listen to this week\u2019s episode below or on your preferred podcast platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Mandalorian\u201d and who? Looking beyond the numbers \u2014 because, yes, the new \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie was crowned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,283466,134,1689,344,85719,1591,190408],"class_list":["post-702956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-backrooms","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-movies","tag-obsession","tag-podcasts","tag-screen-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}