No One’s Really the Villain in ‘Obsession’

It’s so tempting to point fingers in Obsession. 

Before we dive into the villains (or non-villains) of YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Curry Barker’s latest horror flick, a quick low-down: Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a lovestruck dope who can’t find the balls to ask his best friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) out on a date. Not wanting to go through the awkwardness of a confession, Bear decides to use a One Wish Willow to wish for her to love him “more than anyone in the fucking world.” Naturally, disaster strikes.

Obsession gives us all the usual suspects to fear and hate. There’s Nikki, the conventional “big bad” of the movie, in the sense that she’s fallen under the One Wish Willow’s spell and will stop at nothing to make sure Bear loves her. There’s Bear, the one who made the wish in the first place without thinking about the consequences. There’s even Sarah (Megan Lawless) and Ian (Cooper Tomlinson, Barker’s fellow YouTuber), the two other members of the friend group who are trying their best not to get involved in… whatever’s happening between Nikki and Bear.

Is There More to Bear Than Meets the Eye?

While it would be so easy to turn any of these players into a nasty villain, Barker presents us with a cast so deliciously human that you’ll find yourself wondering what you would do in a scenario like Obsession’s. As much as some of us may despise Bear for making his wish (and a poorly worded one at that), Johnston’s portrayal of him is so empathetic that you’ll quickly realize (albeit with a twinge of shame) that you’ve been Bear. Haven’t we all had that weird, icky crush on someone out of our league (plus points if they’re your best friend)? And haven’t we all hated the cringiness that comes with telling someone how you really feel? 

Even Johnston himself isn’t quite sure where Bear exactly stands on the evil spectrum. “I never thought of Bear as a villain,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, “but what really drew me to this story was the gray morals of it all. [T]he truth is, Bear has good in him and he has bad in him, like all of us.”

Is Nikki More Than A Crazy Girlfriend?

And then there’s Nikki.

It’s clear from the first 15 minutes of Obsession that Navarrette fleshed out all the layers that come with playing Nikki. In the hands of a lesser actress, the One Wish Willow victim could have easily been played as a snarling, screaming, and superficial “psycho girlfriend.” It’s a well-worn (and problematic) trope we’ve seen before: think Misery, atal Attraction, Pearl (whose screaming Navarrette took a lot of inspiration from when working on Nikki). There’s some delight that comes with watching a woman go rogue (we love female rage!), but it’s a one-dimensional and fleeting sort of glee. 

Thankfully, Navarrette knows just how to keep us rooting for Nikki, even after the big scares start to crop up in the movie. Nikki is never completely evil; instead, she’s tragic, sympathetic even, and Navarrette expertly toes the line between giving us a classic monster and making us see a part of ourselves in Nikki’s quest to find the love that she deserves. “I’ve never not had sympathy for Nikki,” Navarette told Vulture. “My goal with Nikki was to play her in a way that those who have been perceived as the crazy girlfriend can go, ‘Finally, somebody understood. Somebody understands what has led up to that point.’”

On its surface, Obsession is deceptively simple when it comes to asking us to pick sides — but don’t be fooled! We’ve all been a Bear, and we’ve all been a Nikki, and when watching Obsession, it’s best to hold all comments until the final curtain call.

Obsession is currently screening in Philippine cinemas.

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