Obsession - Love Makes You Do The Wacky

Would have gone with the 'be careful what you wish for' tag for my tag, but I like to go with my bad jokes/puns/obscure pop culture references.

It's another horror movie watch for the year. Absolutely love and enjoy them, even when they kind of suck. This one, however, did not. I don't know much about the writer/director Curry Barker, nothing really, but this was a very well written, well directed film.

Start to finish he crushed it...might have gone a little overly with some gore and a gross out scene or two, but overall? Highest of marks.

I've been seeing trailers for it for a while now and much like Weapons you see it thinking one thing, that it'll go one way, then when you finally see the film it subverts your expectations.

In 1998, there was an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Bewitched, Bewildered, Bothered." Xander, after getting dumped by Cordelia and treated a fool the next day, makes the broken hearted mistake of wanting revenge. He did a love spell on Cordelia that would make her fall in love with him. Naturally, it backfired and every woman in Sunnydale fell in love with him. From his best friend Willow, former crush Buffy, even Drusilla (a vampire) falls for him.

I was expecting something like this when Bear makes the wish that Nikki would love him, just dialed up to a horror movie level. Giles sums it up best why love spells and wishes like this are terrible, awful ideas: "People under a love spell, Xander, are deadly. They lose all capacity for reason."

That encapsulates how everything in this movie goes wrong.

These stories begin the same way they always do, with a guy (Bear) who is crushing on his friend (Nikki) who he gets along with, seems to have a great bond and some chemistry with. If not for the fact, they're just friends. He thinks he has time, then finds out she's quitting work soon and she's leaving. He goes to get her a present, a crystal to replace one she lost, but opts for a Wish Making Willow instead. One free wish.

He chickens out and breaks the first rule of wish making...not phrasing it correctly. He wishes that Nikki would love him more than anything else in the world. I want to be clear that wishes like this and love spells are terrible. When you remove consent, its not love. If he cared for her half as much as he implied he does, he would have found a way to break the spell immediately.

Bear is an idiot. A fool for love. Is he the villain? Pretty much. There is some good in him, but he was incredibly selfish. He lets things happen with her, and as things do in movies like this, it takes a turn.

Nikki, played masterfully by Inde Navarrette (Superman and Lois) starts losing herself to an entity that takes her over because of the wish. She's locked insider he mind while this thing becomes the Nikki that loves and is obsessed with Bear to a dangerous degree. She duct tapes the door shut, when he left for work one time she stood in place the entire day, defecating herself, not moving until he returned.

As she switches from obsessed girlfriend to a complete psychotic who refuses to let him leave, screams when he wants a boys night, and some murder and corpse placement, Inde absolutely crushes it. She truly makes you fear her, so much Bear FINALLY decides to do something about it.

He does what he should have done before any of it escalated, go back to the store he bought it and get another wish and undo it. Since he could only make one wish, he'd have to get someone else to do it.

The ending is so dark and disturbing, I'm not even going to spoil it. I read that there were two versions for the ending. The one we saw and another one. Friends and family told Curry to go with the one we saw because it was so much worse and fit a dark tone they were going for.

The cinematography for this, even being low budget, was on point. There were moments where Nikki was standing in the shadows and just the way it looked would give you chills. Inde had so much to work with as the possessed woman who was only fulfilling the wish that Bear made. Her voice acting and facial movements are proof that she is going to go places as an actress. She made a meal out of that role.

Michael Johnston was good as Bear. You empathized with him at first as the shy, nervous guy who just wanted to tell Nikki that he's liked her for a very long time. Then you kinda hate him for what he does to Nikki and how much of a coward he was. He played the role well as a man who was out of his depth, in a prison of his own making.

This is definitely a movie that's rewatchable. It was not just one of the top horror movies I've seen lately, but one of the top movies I've seen lately. The plot was intriguing, the scares were there and the uncomfortability levels kept rising in just the right ways.

Definitely give this horror movie a chance even if you don't love horror. It's going to be one of the top horrors of the year and the performances are great.

Final thoughts:

If you get a chance to make a wish...don't. If you do, spend more than 30 seconds on it. The trickster mentality will bite you in the ass. Think about it, phrase it specifically and pointedly. It'll probably still go off the rails, but at least you tried.

NEVER do a love spell or make a wish that someone loves you. It's artificial. It's not real and let's be honest, it's rapey. So not cool.

4/5...lose points for poop.