Curry Barker’s Obsession hit theatres this last weekend, and it’s just as twisted as the trailers promised. You might remember Curry Barker from his found-footage debut feature Milk and Cereal (2024), which was released for free on YouTube (if you haven’t heard about that movie, it’s awesome, go check it out) but Obsession is his first studio movie. This new tale takes a twist on that classic Monkey’s Paw story with a fiendishly evil little item called “The One Wish Willow”. It looks like the kind of thing you’d see advertised in a comic book but, as always, be careful what you wish for…
Our lead, Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes that his longtime crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), Would fall in love with him. More specifically, that she would love him more than anybody else on the planet. And, surprise-surprise, that obsessive love leads (eventually) to murder because instead of getting struck by cupid’s arrow, Nikki acts as though she’s been stabbed in the heart with a 100,000cc dose of Love Potion no. 666.
“…spends a lot of time mining its horrors in eerie and unsettling sequences, but Obsession isn’t afraid to get GORY”
The true intensity of the story takes a little while to build but there is no looking back once Bear has put this whole mess into motion. By the time the bodies start piling up it’s already too late and for a movie that spends a lot of time mining its horror in eerie and unsettling sequences, Obsession isn’t afraid to get G O R Y. The darkest moments of the movie come from the exploration of its own themes but it still finds the space to be incredibly brutal and bloody.
The movie plays with tropes and story beats that you’re super familiar with but goes in completely different directions than you’re expecting. You can probably name a dozen Monkey’s Paw movies as fast as ChatGPT can but it’s all about the little decisions and mini tweaks that make Obsession such a wild ride.
Sight unseen, I’m sure you have a lot of reasonable questions about this whole One Wish Willow thing. Questions like: Okay, so this person has been changed completely from what they used to be, but are they the same person? Is that original person in there somewhere, or are they someone else entirely? And how the hell does this supernatural Wish Willow work anyway?
Barker answers a lot of those questions up front but it’s largely through the unpredictable actions of Nikki and the dynamite performance from Inde Navarrette who embodies both Nikki and Whatever The Hell Nikki Has Become is a dual role of spliced personalities. Thankfully, the story isn’t too concerned with explaining the inner workings of its supernatural engine. It only gives you enough info to understand what’s happening and to buy in to the nightmare as it unfolds in front of you.
“…features a dynamite performance from Inde Navarrette who embodies both Nikki and Whatever-The-Hell-Nikki-Has-Become in a dual role of spliced personalities”
If you are looking for sequences that are going to keep you awake at night, relationship horror that might give you nightmares, I highly recommend checking out Obsession. It’s in theaters right now, continuing to prove that May 2026 is going to be the best month for Horror this month. I don’t know if you’ve look at what else is playing at your local cinema right now, or what other freaky stories we have waiting for us on the release calendar, but you are super spoiled right now if you’re a Horror fan. So, if you have the time to see another(!) contender for Best of The Year, see Obsession with a packed audience because you are absolutely going to hear people scream.
Curry Barker’s Obsession is in theatres now. Let us know what you thought of this Monkey’s Paw fright fest in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord! Social Media is A Cesspool. Come Hang Where The Cool Creeps Are.
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