Obsession

OBSESSION 🥤 (2026)

The friend zone has produced a lot of bad decisions.

Making a supernatural wish so your best friend falls in love with you might be the worst one yet. That’s the deliciously unhinged premise behind OBSESSION.

OBSESSION is a movie made for two kinds of people: the guys who’ve had that “crazy” overly invested girl in their lives, and the girls who’ve watched their  guy friend go from “I’ll always be here for you” to “I think I’m in love with you.” This film takes both ideas and pushes them to their absolute breaking point.

If you’ve never experienced either, the horror and comedy might go right over your head. But if you have, or you’ve lived through the reverse, with a crazy guy or girl friend determined to escape the friend zone—this movie will have you laughing, cringing, and wincing at everything that transpires.

The story follows Bear, a guy hopelessly in love with his best friend, Nikki. Unable to tell her how he feels, he makes a wish for her to love him back, unknowingly rewriting both of their lives in the process.

There’s a lot of praise to go around for the success of a film. From Inde Navarrette’s powerfully possessed performance to Michael Johnston’s flinching descent into reaping what he has sown, every piece matters—but the first flowers belong to director Curry Barker.

I had no idea who Barker was when OBSESSION started generating its well-earned buzz. Then I looked him up while researching for this review and realized I’d been watching his sketches for years. Suddenly it all clicked. That chaotic, unhinged energy that makes his online work so entertaining is baked into every frame of this movie.

This film is outlandishly horrifying in a way that can lean hilarious or terrifying depending on the situation. Sometimes it crosses both at once. Someone you've slept with standing motionless in the darkest corner of your room at 3AM, watching you sleep? Nightmare fuel. Your girlfriend screaming because you want one boys' night with your friends? Hilarious, mainly because it's happening to Bear and not you.

If you've seen the trailer, you'll probably spend the first act wondering why this guy doesn't just leave. There's finally being loved by the person you've always wanted... and then there's finding pieces of your dead cat in your sandwich.

At some point, even the crazy/hot/amazing sex scale stops balancing the equation.

The brilliant twist isn't that Bear can't escape, it’s realizing he doesn't deserve to. And that’s when it begins to dawn on me, he may be the main character who’s going through all of this alone, but he’s also the villain.

OBSESSION cleverly disguises him as a pathetic, sympathetic loser, when in reality he's the architect of everyone else's misery.

The real villain isn't the obsessive girlfriend, it's the "nice guy" who waits patiently in the friend zone, pretending friendship is unconditional while secretly expecting it to become something more. It's friendship as emotional investment, with romance as the expected return.

That's what makes Nikki's story so heartbreaking. Every brief moment where she claws back control of herself feels like watching someone battling addiction. The real version of her is still there, you can see her fighting, but she's trapped beneath something she never chose.

We're living through an era of situationships, emotional unavailability, and people desperate to be loved wholeheartedly. OBSESSION asks a terrifying question: What if you got exactly what you wished for?

I completely understand why people have been obsessing over OBSESSION all year. Now I'm one of them.

It's a modern psychological thriller with an unmistakably fresh voice, one that reminds you just how electrifying the genre can be—and proves that originality remains the genre's greatest weapon. I can't wait to see what Curry Barker does next. 

Enjoy!

8.2/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 1hr48mins

Where: Now available on digital platforms to buy or rent and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray™ and DVD July 14th from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

The Richmond Reviewer Obession Review - July 4th, 2026.

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