Obsession breaks major box office record amid praise as the ‘most f*cked up horror movie’
Topics: TV And Film, Cinema, Social Media, Tyla Recommends, Tyla Exclusive
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Focus Features
Topics: TV And Film, Cinema, Social Media, Tyla Recommends, Tyla Exclusive
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Obsession
A brand-new indie horror film is taking the world by storm after breaking a major box office record.
Obsession, which landed on the big screen last month (15 May), is the film everyone is talking about right now, and it's hardly surprising given its near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, cinching a cool 96% on the Tomatometer.
With a budget of just $1 million, the seriously creepy movie made a staggering $151 million at the box office and, even more impressively, it sold more tickets in its second weekend at the box office than it did in its opening weekend, which is a pretty unprecedented feat.
Advert
"Obsession is the ONLY wide-release horror film on record to grow in its second weekend at this scale," Jason Blum, the CEO of horror-focused studio Blumhouse, which produced Obsession, shared on X.
Check out the official trailer here:
Written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker in his theatrical debut, Obsession follows Bear (played by Michael Johnston), a music store employee who buys a supernatural toy that grants him his wish for his friend Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette) to fall in love with him.
Given the genre, the ordeal inevitably ends up resulting in some pretty stomach-churning consequences, leaving viewers to dub it the 'most f*cked up horror movie' they've seen in years.
And why? Well, to be defiantly reductionist, the film isn't about ghosts or blood-sucking vampires or flesh-eating zombies.
No, the real monster is the perils of what has been coined 'Nice Guy Syndrome'.
For all its supernatural horror and violence (and there's a lot of it), Obsession is ultimately a story about entitlement disguised as kindness.
On the surface, the film's premise feels sympathetic and relatable; unrequited love is universal, after all.
Initially, many viewers may understand the desire to be seen by someone they care about, but Obsession expertly reveals that Bear's wish is not really about love at all - he wants compliance.
This makes him the real villain, despite all of Nikki's trance-state, gory and f*cked up behaviour, which includes feeding him his own dead cat, standing in her own waste for an entire day, and violently killing two people like it's nothing.
Rather than confessing his feelings and risking rejection, Bear takes a shortcut and refuses to even give Nikki the opportunity to say no to his advances.
The film's horror emerges not simply from the consequences of the wish, but from the mindset that made the wish seem justified in the first place.
The most revealing moment comes when Nikki, trapped in unimaginable suffering, begs Bear to let her go.
"What's so bad about being with me?" he says, instantly turning himself into the victim.
This powerful line, which has gone viral on TikTok, exposes the film's true monster.
Bear understands that Nikki is suffering, and he understands that her feelings are no longer her own, yet his concern is not for her pain, but for why she still doesn't want him.
It's at this precise moment that Obsession becomes a critique of the modern 'nice guy' stereotype.
Bear sees himself as a good person, believing he has been patient, sensitive and deserving.
In his mind, Nikki's lack of romantic interest is not a reflection of her own feelings but a failure to recognise his value.
Rather than accepting rejection, he convinces himself that he is simply owed the affection he has not received.
This exact mindset of entitlement and childlike petulance reflects a much broader cultural narrative that tells lonely men they deserve love if they are good enough, patient enough or have suffered enough.
Under this belief, relationships become rewards rather than mutual choices.
And Bear embodies that exact thinking. Despite what he did and continues to do throughout the film, he does not see himself as a villain because he believes he is finally receiving something he earned.
It's important to note that Obsession intentionally keeps viewers largely within Bear's perspective.
While Nikki's agency is stripped away following the wish, the 'real version' of her conveys flashes of confusion, terror and grief that reveal the human cost of Bear's actions.
The audience sees enough to understand that Nikki is not simply 'crazy', a tired narrative we've seen for decades now about 'insane' girlfriends and 'nagging' wives, or possessed.
She is a person whose ability to choose has been stolen.
By remaining inside Bear's point of view, the film forces viewers to confront his decisions directly. He knows Nikki is helpless, and he continues the false relationship, all while having sex with her unconsenting body.
Obsession ultimately serves as a warning about men like Bear believing they are 'one of the good guys'.
That belief allows him to justify increasingly horrific choices while convincing himself he is acting out of love.
The film's most unsettling idea is that monsters do not always see themselves as monsters. Sometimes they see themselves as nice people who think they deserve something they were never entitled to have.
And in Obsession, everyone around Bear pays the price for that belief.
After watching the film, fans rushed to social media to share their verdicts, explainers and an avalanche of fan theories which only prolonged the chills up my spine.
"Obsession was truly the most f*cked up horror movie I’ve seen in a long time. That girl scared the sh*t out of me. He could’ve just told her he liked her, and none of this would have happened," penned one X user.
A second gushed: "I watched Obsession today and my god, that's the best horror movie I've seen this year.
"It made me jump and squirm in my seat, there's so much I can say, everything was sooo good, even the cinematography left me stunned. 10/10."
"Been a horror movie fan since I was a kid and Obsession, hands down, is one of the best movies I’ve seen. Still thinking about it weeks later. Can't wait to watch it again," confessed a third.
A fourth similarly warned: "Guys I’m a serious horror enjoyer and I’m TELLING YOU Obsession is NOT a joke.
"IT’S LITERALLY THE BEST HORROR MOVIE in years and it’s INSANE
"I thought all the hype was gonna be 10/10 marketing and then 5/10 movie BUT NO. It’s actually 10/10 WTFFFFF."
"Obsession is ultimately a film about how ordinary men can commit extraordinary violence while genuinely believing they're the victims. How a 'nice guy' can wish someone into a cage and then slowly rationalise why he shouldn't let them out," offered a fifth. "How the distance between fantasy and reality can cost lives."
Another agreed: "Obsession is important for women to watch because they dissect male entitlement and the ‘nice guy’ myth. Bear did not give a f*ck about Nikki. Who the f*ck hears the person they love scream in agony and thinks 'what’s bad about being with me :('."
And a final X user echoed: "The real horror of Obsession is Nice Guy Syndrome."
Obsession is currently available to watch in selected cinemas.