{"id":585658,"date":"2026-05-15T15:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585658\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:07:24","slug":"obsession-review-curry-barker-horror-is-comedically-gruesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585658\/","title":{"rendered":"Obsession review: Curry Barker horror is ‘comedically gruesome’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music-shop employee Bear (Michael Johnston) is hopelessly in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but can\u2019t quite pluck up the courage to tell her how he feels. When he casually makes a wish using a store-bought lucky charm, Nikki is suddenly besotted with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful what you wish for\u201d is such a\u00a0threadbare\u00a0clich\u00e9 of\u00a0life\u00a0and cinema that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard to believe\u00a0anything\u00a0new can be breathed into any story using the term as its foundation\u202f\u2014\u00a0much less\u00a0a\u00a0thrilling horror film<\/a>.\u00a0Yet\u00a0here\u2019s 26-year-old writer-director Curry Barker with his\u00a0Obsession<\/a>. It might just become yours.<\/p>\n

\"Obsession\"<\/p>\n

Lovesick Bear\u00a0(Michael\u00a0Johnston)\u00a0has fancied his mate Nikki\u00a0(Inde Navarrette)\u00a0for\u00a0yonks. Desperate to\u00a0tell\u00a0her he\u00a0loves\u00a0her,\u00a0he\u00a0even rehearses his\u00a0declaration\u00a0in front of other friends. Despite ample time spent working together in a musical-instrument shop and\u00a0on the lash downing shots, Bear bottles it. One day,\u00a0he drops Nikki\u2019s necklace down\u00a0a\u00a0drain\u00a0and while\u00a0trying\u00a0to find a replacement,\u00a0sees a\u00a0\u2018One Wish Willow\u2019\u00a0charm.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0warned about\u00a0the trinket\u2019sundesirable\u00a0effects but buys it and uses\u00a0it\u00a0anyway,\u00a0predictably\u00a0wishing\u00a0that Nikki falls in love with him.\u00a0And she does\u00a0\u2014\u00a0to extraordinary excess.<\/p>\n

Barker, in only his second feature after\u00a02024\u00a0micro-budget debut\u00a0Milk & Serial, proves accomplished at supplying scares, be they jump or\u00a0slow-burn.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u00a0a satisfying\u00a0\u2018snap\u2019\u00a0when\u00a0Bear\u00a0uses the charm\u00a0that will remind viewers of the carnage that ensues when a similar\u00a0process\u00a0occurs\u00a0in\u00a0Weapons<\/a>. But where that\u00a0riotous chiller caused instant aggro, the feeling\u00a0here is one of creeping dread and,\u00a0eventually, complete terror.<\/p>\n

Barker, in only his second feature after\u00a02024\u00a0micro-budget debut\u00a0Milk & Serial, proves accomplished at supplying scares, be they jump or\u00a0slow-burn.\u00a0Navarrette\u00a0is sensational as the increasingly unhinged,\u00a0violent\u00a0Nikki,\u00a0and her outlandish actions provide many of the film\u2019s\u00a0finest\u00a0moments. To\u00a0go into too much\u00a0detail would be to spoil\u00a0\u2014\u202fbut a memorable packed lunch,\u00a0an excruciating party\u00a0sequence\u00a0and a devastating car scene\u00a0are highlights.<\/p>\n

This blackly funny, gory take\u00a0on\u00a0W.W. Jacobs\u2019 1902\u00a0short story\u00a0\u2018The Monkey\u2019s Paw\u2019 \u2014\u00a0and the hundreds of screen versions derived\u00a0from it\u00a0\u2014\u00a0is\u00a0obviously\u00a0far from an\u00a0original idea. But the way in which it twists and warps the\u00a0dusty\u00a0material into a startling meditation on\u00a0unhealthy infatuations\u00a0is\u00a0hugely\u00a0impressive.<\/p>\n

A comedically gruesome take on love\u2019s maddening effects \u2014 even more so than last year\u2019s Together \u2014\u202fObsession is so fresh and exhilarating, one can forgive its familiar origins. Curry Barker is set for big things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music-shop employee Bear (Michael Johnston) is hopelessly in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but can\u2019t quite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-585658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}