“Obsession” film review: Love can be so terrible

This year we are being treated to horror: shortly after the release of “Backrooms” the next indie horror hit comes with “Obsession – You should love me”. This is about a wish fulfillment in matters of the heart with terrible consequences.

Dangerous One Wish Willow

The shy Bear (Michael Johnston) has not yet had the courage to confess to his best friend Niki (Inde Navarrette) that he has more than just platonic feelings for her. When he comes across the strange offer of a “One Wish Willow” in an esoteric shop, he thinks it wouldn’t hurt to try and breaks the plastic part, which supposedly makes a wish come true. Of course he wants to be loved by Niki too. That’s exactly what happens immediately and now the film could actually be over with a big happy ending, but with director Curry Barker this becomes the starting point for a merciless relationship story in which we are shown what evil turns a limitless love can take.

Phenomenology of love

What is the nature of love and how can you be sure that you love someone? Very philosophical questions, and if Barker hadn’t worked in the film business, he might have presented something like a “Phenomenology of Love” as his main intellectual work. Luckily, he tells us a scary story instead that shows us very clearly how irrational unconditional infatuation actually is. Ideally, such a situation is mutual; but from the outside, it may seem that you are becoming a prisoner of emotions and exhibiting irrational behavior patterns that seem frightening. With Barker they don’t just seem that way, they actually are, because thanks to the premise of an all-too-successful love spell, he takes everything to the extreme. Poor Niki becomes the victim of a pathological addiction to her involuntary object of desire, even though her former self sometimes tries desperately to fight it (but that’s not good for her health either).

Johnston stunned, Navarrette unleashed

Some scenes are stretched out to the point of being unbearable. This could be seen as failed dramaturgy, but it actually shows us that the characters are unable to express what they actually feel. Bear in particular is a master at making excuses and begins to stammer when he should be speaking plainly. Johnston therefore has a rather passive role and has to primarily act as a stunned and frightened person. Navarette has a much more difficult task: she transforms from a nice girl into an unpredictable psychopath who sometimes stands motionless for long periods of time with a permanent demonic grin on her face, haunts the darkest corners of her bedroom at night, screams and howls uninhibitedly, or provokes outbursts of bloody violence. The situation is becoming increasingly absurd and threatening – and the risk of someone getting hurt seems very likely. But there is also a dark humor mixed in with all the horror, which increases towards the end.

And what do we learn from this? You have to be damn careful with your wishes because they might come true. However, anyone who has been wanting the perfect relationship horror for a while will be overjoyed thanks to “Obsession”.

4 out of 5 dead cats for a little hunger in between meals