I wouldn’t even begin to know when the last time was that I could write a streaming review for a movie you could also still see in a theater, but that is the case for Curry Barker’s Obsession, now streaming on Peacock. This psychological horror film is an exceptional examination of modern dating, combined with a unique look at consent.
We join the story when Bear (Michael Johnston) decides that he needs to tell his long-time crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), that he wants to go out with her. When she loses a necklace, he goes to buy her a new one to replace it, but instead is captivated by a novelty One Wish Willow, with its claim to grant one wish to the person who breaks it. After a disastrous effort to ask her out, he breaks the toy, wishing that Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world. Unfortunately, his wish has some terrifying unintended consequences.
If you’re going into Obsession hoping for something that will make you scared to look under your bed, you will probably not find that. It does have some great jump scares and a few moments of gore, but concerns itself far more with ideas about free will and what it means to be in love than with more traditional scares. But make no mistake, it handles that brilliantly.
Because this movie was made on a very limited budget, it relies almost entirely on the performances to sell it, and they really do. It is essentially a four-person cast. Bear’s best friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) feels like he will be the villain at first blush, and he’s not great, but even he is less detestable than Bear. Their friend Sarah (Megan Lawless) is a wonderful “pick-me” girl. Johnston is fantastic as the pathetic man who can’t just tell a girl what he wants and then ignores the real problem that he creates.
But Obsession is about Nikki, and Navarrette is more than up to the task. Her facial contortions, combined with wildly varying vocal use, are absolutely mesmerizing. She has to play a character who is not in control of herself, but who also isn’t completely gone, so the underlying pain has to be present, and the way that she portrays that is utterly brilliant.
I don’t often talk about set and production design, but I also feel like Obsession deserves a shout-out for that as well. Production designer Vivian Gray and art director Sally Choi both give us a remarkably realistic world for these young people to inhabit. Bear lives in his grandmother’s home, and they dressed it in such a way that we get no sense of who Bear is because he doesn’t really have his own personality at all. Truly, the visuals in the film are essential to telling the larger story, and they are remarkably effective.
Love is hard and complicated, but it is also something that can’t be forced. Obsession reminds us that love that isn’t freely given isn’t love at all, and no amount of pretending that it is makes you a good person. And forcing your will on someone is decidedly not sexy.
Rating: 4/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on July 24, 2026.
Ooh - now I kinda want to see this. Makes me think of “Companion” in its themes of love and well, free will, but it’s probably quite different in its execution.