Nothing is quite as disheartening as the moment we realise magic is not real. We spend a large part of our childhood wholeheartedly believing that the world around us is populated by enchanted beings and mythical occurrences, which makes life seem much more whimsical than it actually ends up being in reality, proving that logic is often the biggest adversary to imagination. Yet, there is still something to be said about those who genuinely still believe that there is something more to life than meets the eye, which is the root of millennia of traditions built around the supernatural, the myths and legends evolving over time and creating world-spanning literary odysseys that are both rich and evocative. One area that has fascinated many is the idea of being able to wish for something, and how these stories very rarely end up having the desired effect, as there always seems to be some caveat that complicates the wish, often causing unmitigated chaos as a result. This premise was the inspiration behind Obsession, the sophomore directorial outing of Curry Barker, who assembles a few different influences (which include the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs, as well as “Treehouse of Horror II”, the seminal episode of The Simpsons that Barker has said most directly inspired this film, being one of the many popular interpretations of this classical horror fable) to tell the story of Bear, a reserved young man who finds himself at a moral crossroads when he decides to tell Nikki, his co-worker at the music store where he works, that he loves her. However, rather than telling her directly, he uses a mysterious novelty toy called the One Wish Willow, which apparently grants the person who snaps it in half any wish that they desire – but where the consequences are entirely their own to deal with, something that Bear doesn’t realise until it is far too late and he begins to regret ever considering making the wish in the first place. A monumental work of contemporary horror that feels rich, exhilirating and like a genuine step towards a new era in the genre, Obsession has already been hailed as an absolute cultural sensation, and unlike many other films that become overnight successes, it more than earns the hype, being one of the smartest and most witty horror films of the past few years, and one that is most certainly going to establish Barker as one of the most essential voices in modern horror.

John Waters famously said “life is nothing if you’re not obsessed”, with the idea of becoming so fixated on a particular subject or concept being the root of many fascinating conversations, ranging from the philosophical to the biological. There is naturally a long, sprawling lineage of films that also explore the topic in detail, looking at how becoming too focused on achieving a particular goal, whether tangible or abstract, can cause even the most level-headed of people to spiral into madness. Obsession is evidently built from this same idea, looking at how a young man who finds himself falling so deeply in love with someone who he feels is well within his grasp (by virtue of them working together and existing in the same social circles), but yet is somehow far out of his league, always slightly elusive to his subtle hints that he craves something deeper within her. There’s an honesty to how Barker constructs this film that underlines that he is a very young man, someone who still has a wide-eyed optimism about the world and genuinely believes that love does exist – so he chooses to make a violent psychological horror about how far someone will go to hold onto the person that they love. Like many modern horror films (particularly those lumped under the crude label of “elevated horror”), there are deeper ideas that inform Obsession and make it a far richer and compelling work, at least in terms of its core ideas – and the reason this film has proven to be such a sensation, especially amongst younger adults that are generally within a stone’s throw of the director’s age group, is that it manages to be one of the most stark and realistic depictions of how it feels to be young and in love today. The younger generation has overcomplicated the act of expressing your love so much (with at least half a dozen unofficial courtship stages before one can even dare attempt to label the prospective relationship) that it seems almost easier to get the supernatural involved. It’s a fascinating concept, and the very simple premise, which has its own unique twists and turns but never to the point of feeling like it is sacrificing the core message that Barker intends to communicate, which makes a monumental difference and is one of the key reasons that this film is such an enormous success.

Part of what makes Obsession so compelling isn’t only what it says, but also how it communicates it. One of the surest signs of Generation Z gradually becoming more prominent as artists is found in the rise of a very specific kind of playful nihilism embedded deep within their work, one that is self-deprecating but also not pitiful, and instead tends to be much more introspective, even at its most outrageous. Barker is someone who has always veered towards the comedic in his previous pursuits, with his early work as a YouTube content creator before transitioning into filmmaking being built around the kind of absurdism often found in the artworks produced by his peers. He brings a lot of this to Obsession, which is about two people falling deeply in love with one another, but rather than through organic methods, it is done through dangerous flirtations with the supernatural. It’s an exceptionally funny film (to the point where it often plays like a demented romantic comedy), and has multiple tonal layers that Barker uses to his advantage, crafting a fascinating work that consistently keeps us engaged, even when it can intentionally come across as quite derivative. It’s astounding that someone so young was able to create something this complex in terms of how the story is told – the exact plot is quite simple, but there are small details that we’d more readily find factoring into works by more seasoned veterans, such as the director’s refusal to offer too much backstory or explanation to the circumstances surrounding the film. This keeps the story quite lean and straightforward, and avoids any overt exposition – Barker, like many of his cohorts, works on the principle that the only information that needs to be communicated is that which can fit organically into an ordinary conversation without it becoming clear that it is being used as a means to move the plot forward. As one of the year’s sharpest and most insightful screenplays, Obsession is a marvel – and while many aspects deserve to be celebrated and appreciated about this film, I’d argue that the writing is the strongest aspect, since it reflects Barker’s ability to take a simple premise and turn it into something extraordinarily meaningful.

Not only is Obsession a tremendous calling card for Barker as a writer and director, but it serves as a brilliant springboard for the two leads, who I am almost certain are going to ascend to astronomical heights based just on the strength of their performances in this film. Michael Johnston is Bear, the shy young man who realises that he can’t hide behind his sweetly sensitive exterior forever if he truly wants to get what he wants – but this momentary burst of arrogance leads him to make a fatal mistake that ultimately causes everything to spiral out of control. This film is essentially 110 minutes of wall-to-wall chaos, but Johnston is the stoic centre at the heart of it all, trying to maintain his composure (and frankly his sanity as well), gradually unravelling until he realises that there is simply no way out, and that he has to live with the mess that he has inadvertently caused. It’s not very often that we find a horror performance succeeding through being more subtle and quiet (although there are plenty of moments where Johnston can show his skills), but in a film where the absurdity is present from start to finish, it does help to have a lead who can weather the insanity without becoming a caricature. However, the opposite is the case for Inde Navarrette, who delivers what could quite possibly be the horror performance of the year. In the role of Nikki, a young woman who becomes the accidental victim of supernatural intervention, leading her to lose her perspective and instead embrace an entirely new personality that acts as the catalyst for the chaos that consumes the film. At a glance, it seems like an opportunity for any young actor to play to the rafters and have fun – but what Navarrette does with this material is far more impressive than just playing into the madness of the story. Every subtle detail – each facial expression, line reading and gesture – interacts with the bold choices that she makes, leading to the creation of one of the decade’s most sinister and terrifying villain performances (although whether Nikki can be considered the antagonist of the story is subject to debate), and one that is going to be remembered as one of the greatest of this current era in horror. Both leads are absolutely extraordinary, and there are layers to both their performances that make Obsession so unforgettable, Barker having found a pair of brilliant actors to bring his vision to life better than any of us may have thought possible.

There isn’t much more to do on the topic of Obsession other than echo the praise that has been consistently thrown at this film for the past couple of months. It signals the arrival of a brilliant new voice in contemporary cinema, someone who seems poised to redefine horror, as well as hopefully reach out into other genres to bring the same brilliantly demented vision to life in a range of different films that would benefit from Barker’s extraordinary gifts and clear ability to make films that have much more depth than we would expect. The film is exceptionally well-directed, having the kind of self-assured artistic swagger that comes when it is made by a director who is very much secure in his vision, and willing to do whatever it takes to realise it – the fact that there were rumours that a more established horror filmmaker secretly directed the film and Barker only stood in as the face of the film only goes to show just how impressive the scope of his work here was, since this is about as far from an amateur production as we one could get – every detail of this film is precise, both visually and conceptually, and the overall product is unexpectedly polished and nuanced in a way that is genuinely quite surprising. Barker has an enormously promising future ahead of him (and as someone who considers The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to be the greatest horror film ever made, I am very comfortable in the knowledge that he is taking over that franchise and helming the forthcoming revival), with his incredible approach to both the thematic and formal aspects of a horror film being far sharper and meaningful than many of his peers. It’s not often that we find a filmmaker who not only impresses us in how they burst onto the scene, but actually instil a sense of hope that the industry still has genuinely brilliant voices emerging, which is one of the many reasons we can cherish Obsession, a film that did not need to be this inventive and provocative, taking a relatively simple concept and turning it into something absolutely extraordinary. It already feels like a generation-defining work, and while it may not overtly reinvent the genre, it instead ushers us into what is very clearly a contemporary renaissance of horror filmmaking, and it is truly exciting to be witnessing the ascent of someone who I truly believe represents the future of filmmaking in a very meaningful way.