When filmmaker Curry Barker first broke out with his viral YouTube horror short Milk & Serial, he quickly became a filmmaker to watch in the genre space. Now, with his feature directorial debut, Obsession, Barker steps into a bigger arena with Focus Features backing a darkly comic, twisted cautionary tale about desire, control and the dangerous side of wish fulfilment. The film takes a familiar romantic setup and turns it into something deeply unsettling.
The story follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a lonely, hopeless romantic working at a music store who has been quietly in love with his childhood friend and coworker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). After yet another failed attempt to confess his feelings, Bear turns to a mysterious crystal shop and buys a strange trinket called the One Wish Willow. He makes a desperate wish: that Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world.
The wish comes true in the worst possible way. Nikki’s feelings become overwhelming, obsessive and unstable. Her affection turns suffocating, almost violent in its intensity. She cannot bear to be away from Bear, reacts with panic when he leaves, and begins displaying deeply disturbing behaviour as her love transforms into fixation.
An instant connection between the leads
A large part of what makes the film work is the chemistry between its two leads. The emotional weight of Bear and Nikki’s relationship is essential before the horror fully takes over. “Inde and I had an instant connection,” recalls Michael Johnston on working with his co-star. “The moment we met at the chemistry read, we jumped right into some of the most intense scenes of the movie, and it felt like Nikki and Bear met before we did.”
Inde Navarrette also shared that she immediately connected with her character while reading the script, despite Nikki’s extreme emotional arc. “She is the first character that I understood completely,” Navarrette says of her initial reaction. “It was such a euphoric feeling being that confident in knowing who your character is.”
Bringing Nikki’s transformation to life
Navarrette’s performance becomes one of the film’s strongest elements, especially as Nikki’s personality begins to shift in disturbing ways once the wish takes effect. Director Curry Barker was reportedly struck by how naturally she slipped into the role from day one. “On the first day of shooting, Inde’s first scene was when Nikki freaks out after they kiss, and the first take is what you see in the movie,” Barker reveals. “When we saw it that first day, we knew we had the perfect actor for the role.”
Interestingly, her ability to deliver such intense emotional shifts is even more surprising considering her personal distance from the horror genre. “I’m a huge horror fan, but Inde is the opposite,” Johnston laughs, recalling their time off-camera. “We watched Hereditary, and she literally ran out of the room. Seeing her then step onto set and become the engine of horror in this film was incredible.”
The director’s vision
For Curry Barker, the goal was to balance discomfort with dark humour while keeping the emotional core intact. The film uses horror not just for scares, but as a way to reflect on relationships, insecurity and obsession. “Obsession, we have the renowned director – Curry Barker says.
The film Obsession stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Andy Richter, Cooper Tomlinson, and Megan Lawless.