Release Date: May 15, 2026 (theatrical, wide) | September 5, 2025 (World Premiere, TIFF – Midnight Madness)
Runtime: 1hr 49min (109 minutes)
Rated: R – sexual content, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, grisly images and strong bloody violence
Production Companies: Under the Shell, Blumhouse Productions, Capstone Pictures, Tea Shop Productions
Producers: James Harris, Haley Nicole Johnson, Christian Mercuri, Roman Viaris, Mark Lane
Cinematography: Taylor Clemons
Editing: Curry Barker
Music/Composer: Rock Burwell
Obsession (2026)
Director & Writer: Curry Barker
Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter
The monkey’s paw fable and its premise have been tackled an abundance of times — from text, to television, to film. It is nothing new to bare our minds to. What makes Curry Barker’s new film Obsession stand out in that regard, however, is his gritty, frightening, and gruesome take on the tale as old as time.
Barker had recently made a name for himself with his first feature-length found-footage horror film Milk & Serial, which he self-released in the summer of 2024 on YouTube alongside his comedy sketch partner, Cooper Tomlinson — who also makes an appearance in his new feature.
Obsession thrives and is quite literally carried on the back of one of its leads, Inde Navarrette, who portrays Nikki — a young woman whom our other protagonist, Bear (Michael Johnston), is completely infatuated with. All trails eventually lead Bear to a novelty shop, where he becomes intrigued by a “One Wish Willow,” a kitschy antique toy that promises its user a wish upon splitting it in half. This is where the chaos and terror begin.
Barker does a quick and efficient job of establishing and building the world we are thrown into alongside these two, and their other co-workers and friends, Ian (Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless). With only a brief introduction to Bear’s current state of living, a switch is flipped — or rather, a willow is split — and everything is immediately topsy-turvy. Though the descent is gradual and subtle in its build toward the extremities of what ultimately occurs at the literal hands of Bear.
As much of the marketing and logline has already communicated, it is no mystery that Bear uses the “One Wish Willow” to wish for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world. What follows, however, is far less simple than that sentence makes it sound.
This sets up a horror film grounded in the suburban mundane — set amongst ordinary neighborhoods and regular people — one that shines in its use of lighting and shadow to portray the dark, intimate hell that Nikki is dragged into once the wish transforms her into something unrecognizable. Something that only wears the face of the person she once was.
Inde Navarrette is a spectacle and, as aforementioned, the undisputed MVP of this film. The physical commitment, the body language, the layered antics she brings to every frame showcase a performer fully locked into a character we’re largely kept in the dark about. We’re only given disturbing glimpses of what’s truly living and hiding underneath it all, and Navarrette makes every one of those glimpses count. Her performance will be remembered for years to come, immediately solidifying her as an icon and a staple within the horror community. Navarrette stands comfortably alongside Mia Goth in Pearl, Lupita Nyong’o in Us, and Toni Collette in Hereditary — the kind of company that isn’t bestowed lightly.
While Barker has proven himself a connoisseur and emerging master of horror and suspense, the rising trend of comedy-horror also fits squarely in his wheelhouse — a natural extension of his sketch comedy roots from his YouTube days. With the Philippou Brothers finding recent success with Talk to Me and Bring Her Back, and Kane Parsons making his theatrical debut with Backrooms, online personalities — and YouTube personalities in particular — are finding remarkable success venturing beyond their usual content to pursue far more ambitious creative endeavors. Barker adds himself definitively to that list, and has already established himself as a force to be reckoned with, having recently been tapped by A24 to write and direct a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimagining.
That said, Obsession will, for many, register as just as comedic as it is terrifying. Some of the laughs scattered throughout the runtime can be attributed to something as elemental as discomfort — which is entirely valid, and very much by design. But Barker also has an innate sense of timing, knowing precisely when to let the tension breathe and when to puncture it with something absurd, cringey, or wildly out of pocket. It is dark comedy used not as relief, but as a weapon — and it lands.
What also makes Obsession stand out beyond the timelessness of its tale is the manner in which Barker is able to modernize its core elements and make them viscerally relatable to the world we’re living in today. The “be careful what you wish for” trope has always been a rich sandbox, especially when the possibilities feel endless. Barker keeps it deceptively simple. But a simple concept does not make for simple themes. Plenty is excavated here — from Bear’s “nice guy” persona and the rot of male entitlement, to questions of consent, coercion, and autonomy. Barker trusts his audience’s intelligence enough to not editorialize, to not underline his commentary in red ink and hold it up to the light. He shows, and he shows relentlessly.
The film also taps into a very specific anxiety that permeates the contemporary dating landscape — particularly for Gen Z and Millennials. The gender dynamics, the friend zone, the male loneliness epidemic — these are not abstract concepts to today’s audiences. They are lived-in anxieties, and Barker channels all of them through the horror genre without ever making the film feel like a think piece wearing a costume.
Obsession is one of the best horror films of the year — and perhaps one of the best films of the year, full stop. It packs an exploration of modern romantic anxieties, entitlement, and the consequences of emotional cowardice into a tense, frightening, darkly comedic, and genuinely unforgettable experience. Inde Navarrette is, without question, a force to be reckoned with. Michael Johnston matches her energy in his own right — grounding the film in just enough sympathy to make Bear’s unraveling all the more difficult to watch. And Barker, at just 26 years old, proves he is not a filmmaker to be slept on.
The monkey’s paw has curled many times before. It has never felt quite like this.