Obsession is an American psychological thriller/horror packed with its thought-provoking and moody atmosphere, individual performances, originality in concept, and suspenseful elements.
This horror does not build in the conventional way where dependence on jump scares or loud moments to highlight a flinch in your seat.
It’s far more uncomfortable when creating inner unease and which never happens with brute force; instead slips away leaving you feeling that something, everything is going more wrong.
In a corner store Bear (Michael Johnston) is attracted to a pocket-change product called One Wish Willow.
Split the cylinder in the middle and break into two pieces, then make a wish.
“I wish Nikki loved me more than anyone in the world,” Bear wishes.
It’s not just a line of dialogue. It is already Bear’s entire mistake.
Nikki (Inde Navarrette) is an unsettling character.
“I’ll be anything you want me to be,” she says and it comes across as completely harmless. It is the opposite.
Bear asks his friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) if this One Wish Willow really works and is advised to Google it. User responses are divided. Some say, “Yes,” others, “No.”
The audience laughed in all the wrong places and I suspected too much tension had to be relieved. The director should have taken this into consideration. An audience deserves an emotional release or easing stress comes the inevitable giggle.
Bear cries out, “I wish that I never made a wish!”
Even after Nikki suggests, “Maybe we should break up,” Bear figures a way out of his intractable obsession.
Feel like you want to be unnerved? Obsession will do it.
Originally, my intention was to write about The Mandalorian and Grogu, however one of the projection lights at Sun Cinema, specifically in the Mitchell Theatre, needs replacement.
However, the Nicholson and Tambo cinemas are showing movies as they should be seen.
Having not seen The Mandalorian and Grogu in optimum conditions, I cannot review it properly, though will say that it might have been entertaining if I could see everything on screen.
Movie: Obsession
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Curry Barker
Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson
Rating: ****
Reviewed by Lawrenty
