OBSESSION
****
Directed by Curry Barker.
Starring Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson.
Horror, US, 108 Minutes, Certificate 18.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 15th May by Universal Pictures.
After making a splash with his $800 YouTube viral horror MILK AND SERIAL, writer/director Curry Barker jumps into the mainstream with this highly anticipated spin on Monkey's Paw tropes. The wish at the centre of the twisted events here is granted by the seemingly innocuous One Wish Willow, a stick presented in retro packaging that when snapped, grants you your heart's desire. Mindlessly, yet desperately, using it here is the sad and lonely Bear, a young man dealing with a number of issues, the most prominent of which is his intense and unrequited crush on his co-worker Nikki, an intelligent, beautiful and kind woman who may or may not feel the same way about him. Soon realising that the innocuous gift he originally bought as a joke is anything but, Bear realises too late the old adage of being careful what you wish for, when Nikki’s new found romantic feelings for him come with a whole lot of unnerving details and behaviours as Nikki’s feelings soon trigger other behaviours that cause no end of regret for the lovelorn Bear.
Fans of that’s a bad idea, the online stable of Barker, and Cooper Tomlinson, who also has a supporting role here, will no doubt be expecting their patented style of comedy that escalates into unfamiliar, offbeat and often unsettling territory. That Barker manages to mix that style of comedy and horror so well in his big screen debut is heartening enough but it is the fearless nature that lets him stray more into the valley of discomfort that makes this work so well. The premise of the film feels familiar, the kind of thing that could have been used over twenty years ago for some kind of Farrelly Brothers type comedy, but Barker twists it into something truly unsettling here. Issues of consent, mental health, guilt and responsibility are all touched on, presented along with a number of equally memorable set pieces that display this young director's equally proficient knack at presenting memorable, frightening imagery that is as unsettling as anything you will have seen on a cinema screen in quite some time. One intense conversation between Nikki and Bear filmed in long shot looks, and feels, like it was filmed backwards to be played in reverse. The effect is unnerving enough, especially when presented in the film’s tight 4:3 framing that only heightens the films increasing claustrophobia, that when the scene is punctuated with a scare, it works far more successfully than any number of now tired, played out quiet, quiet BANG scares that less imaginative directors have come to rely on.
That this handling of increasing terror and offbeat humour is presented so successfully can also be attributed in no small part to its leading duo of Michael Johnston and Inde Navarette. As Bear, Johnston gives what could have been a mopey one-note character a real sense of pathos and sympathy with a sensitive portrayal of a leading man who realises all too late that he could have gone about all of this in a far more sensible, not to say consensual, way. If he did though then we would not bear witness to Inde Navarette’s blistering, show stopping performance as Nikki. This idealised object of affection soon turns into one of the genre’s most exciting and truly unpredictable characters since Amy Madigan’s Oscar winning turn as Aunt Gladys from last year's WEAPONS. It may seem a random comparison at first, but Navarette plays Nikki as a figure who you sympathise with despite her increasing psychotic behaviour which leads herself and her unwitting partner into some truly disturbing territory. Madigan’s high profile win notwithstanding, Navarette deserves just as much attention and acclaim for her character work here that marks her out as a singular talent. If there is any justice awards organizations, who all too often turn a blind eye to the genre, would award her for her sterling work here.
There is a real sense of darkness at play here that is thrilling to experience. No easy answers are presented, and despite the humorous edge the film truly takes no prisoners. As a mainstream introduction to himself, Barker could not have done a better job. With his follow-up ANYTHING BUT GHOSTS already in the can, we hopefully do not have too long to wait to see what else he is capable of. With the recent news that he will be directing the next TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE film, a long neglected franchise in desperate need of quality control, it feels like we have yet another young director who is guiding the genre as a whole along in an interesting, untapped way that matches this century's tumultuous social climate.
Iain MacLeod