Obsession is a mildly interesting Monkey’s Paw handshake, which mostly only makes a monkey of the viewer – at least to the extent to which it functions as a pure horror film.
A boring music store simp/wimp, Baron (aka, Bear) tries out his sweet nothings on a waitress he enlists to portray his wannabe love interest, co-worker Nikki, in a no-stakes practice-session while his buddy Ian looks on to offer pointers. The waitress, maybe working hard for tips, thinks the gambit is cute. The pal, not so much.
Nikki tells Baron she has lost a crystal necklace and he seeks out its replacement as a grand romantic gesture, exploring a local curiosity shop, a la richer and more atmospheric efforts like Blood and Black Lace, Inferno or even Gremlins.
Among the various new-age knick-knacks, Baron finds a novelty ‘One Wish Willow,’ which makes a very bold brand-claim.
On a shared ride home Baron tries and fails to make his feelings to Nikki known, ultimately turning instead to the toy to grant his wish – to requite his unrequited love, as it were. As the song goes, “I put a spell on you…Because you’re mine.”
Unfortunately, this spell turns Nikki into a demon entity, an obsessed demon entity and not all, but some hell, breaks loose.
It’s a neat idea, to be sure, especially when in one delicious scene, One Wish Willow’s customer service department (!) reminds Baron of his moral obligation to protect rather than exploit Nikki, the film’s actual victim.
However, while it’s all fine and dandy to subvert tropes, invest in well-rounded characters and play with an audience’s antipathy toward entitled losers like Baron- it’s another altogether to bring the goods.
Obsession lacks atmosphere: it’s got that flattened ‘streaming service’ visual aesthetic. The whole thing has a very WB network vibe and is overly reliant on jump-scares too (but this is a Blumhouse production, so, you can expect efforts that flop more than slap).
There’s much discussion online about the extent to which Baron is incel or incel-coded. If anything, he’s not sinister (or is that capital “S” Sinister?) enough. Speaks to a broader issue of the film’s punch-pulling.
You see, Obsession’s set-pieces are clawless. Baron’s cat reveal is a camera pan while the other cat scare simply falls flatter than such a grotesque moment should. For recent kitty comparisons, compare the woozy, ghastly public-reveal in Smile or even Pet Semetary. There’s a much-referenced and very silly liquid nod to The Exorcist, which lands literally and not figuratively. Homage? More fromage…
What’s frustrating about Obsession is that there’s a kernel of a good movie in here, a creepy, wannabe ‘nice guy’ who lives inside his head, taking advantage of a would-be love interest – while rebuffing another (Sarah, with whom Baron has natural chemistry).
Ultimately, however, there are lots of idea-less films about obsession which smack harder, P2, Fatal Attraction, 13 Cameras, Unsane, Maniac, Creep, to name a few.
*** (out of 5)
