Freaky Nikki: ‘Obsession’ (2025) and the Horror of Being Loved Too Much
‘Overnight Success’ Curry Barker (That’s A Bad Idea, Milk & Serial 2024), is the director of the ultra viral Gen Z horror film, Obsession (2025). He’s been catapulted into the mainstream with his terrifying vision of dating and the deep ceded lack of control young men apparently feel in their tentative young dating lives these days. Being a Millennial myself, I watched it with an understanding that this was for a slightly younger generation. But it still held horrific poignance in a universal sense, especially with modern dating norms such as consent and female empowerment to the point of young men afraid to even date — walking on shards of broken glass, long past eggshells. So, I can understand where this power fantasy gone wrong gets its appeal. It sneakily empowers and disempowers the character, Freaky Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette while also allowing the average teen boy, Bear (played by Michael Johnston) to get his freak on with his dream girl without consent based on a literal ‘wish fulfilment’ fantasy. (The name “Bear” I believe is a reference to the meme of modern women preferring a bear to dating a man.) Obsession acts as a counterpoint to the repressive dating environment that has been dominated by social media and created a repressive and tyrannical lack of options for young men who aren’t “6-6-6” (to use a modern dating metric). This is a familiar trope psychologically in cultures that are going through an end to decadence and perhaps returning to a more civilized societal patterns, which consequently create more restrictive and repressive social norms for men (although unfairly it seems not for women this time around, which is the fertile unconscious ground that this film and it’s successful director are messing around in).
Obsession is a very well-made film with a very strong point of view from the Barker. I’m proud to say this is the first genuinely well-made Gen Z horror movie to hit the mainstream. I was getting worried about this next generation. Wondering if they were going to be able to pull it off. I’m happy the younger generation found a little voice for their fears.
We meet Bear, an average, awkward teenage boy working at a music store with his secret crush, Nikki, (who has an old nickname “Freaky Nikki”). Bear is not great at telling Nikki his feelings. Bear’s best friend, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson, That’s A Bad Idea), tells him he’s too nice and needs to tease her more — to play on her insecurities in a friendly way. Not bad advice, really. But that isn’t Bear’s style. Instead, he ends up looking into good luck charms after his cat dies. Playing for sympathy, he cries excessively over his cat’s demise, rather than the chauvinist approach of his buddy, Ian, to confidentially ask the girl out, instead of weeping over dead pussy.
Bear goes to buy Nikki a gift but comes around instead a box that reads ‘One Wish Willow’ — a novelty object said to grant one wish per customer.
Nikki, Ian, Bear, and Sarah go to a bar together to get their drink on for “trivia night.” Must be a Gen Z thing or just a Curry Barker quirk?
Bear is about to ask Nikki out, but Ian interrupts and cock-blocks him from asking the question. Eventually he worms his way to offering Nikki a ride home. She accepts. She says, “If you’re interested in me, now is the time to tell me.” While also earlier saying “ewww” to a veiled proposition of his interest in her. Seems like she was feeling his vibes but ready to quash them readily upon his confession of his liking her. Just my take. She heads back inside after some false flags thrown by Bear that he has something to tell her. Where are those guts when you need them, eh?
Bear snaps, realizing he’s lost her forever, probably. So, he snaps into the One Wish Willow, wishing for Nikki to “love him more than anyone in the fucking world.” The wish is immediately granted. In hard shadow, she reappears on her doorstep, a pondering, curious shadow, having a change of heart against her true will.
Nikki changes and is suddenly affectionate for Bear in a way that scares even Bear.
There is a long montage of them dating intensely for what looks like at least several months. Then red flags appear. Nikki is becoming jealous of insignificant distractions away from her. She is getting possessive of Bear. The possessor has become the possessed, in a real way. She demands all of Bear’s attention even to the detriment of her own well being. Not eating, sleeping, cleaning herself, just standing in a puddle of her own bodily waste until he returns home even.
Something clearly supernatural is influencing her.
Bear wakes up in the middle of the night to find “Freaky Nikki” hiding in the corner of the room like a ghost, moving unnaturally like she were possessed, whenever she doesn’t get complete control over him. She watches him while he sleeps, anticipating anything he might need were he to wake up at a moment’s notice.
Ian believes something is wrong with Nikki, as does their friend Sarah. Ian demands a ‘boy’s night out’ to prove she isn’t mentally damaged or that something abusive isn’t happening between them. Nikki rejects the time away from her, and acts like a possessed child about it — screaming like a mental patient at not getting what she wants and zigzagging around the room in reverse motion to spooky effect, once even putting a flower in front of her face, iconically, in a tense, totally ‘memeable’ moment, before going back to cutesy, loveable Nikki.
Also, occasionally, Nikki suddenly wakes up as if fighting for self-control again from an alternate realm, for conscious supremacy over this ‘wish’ she has been subjected to. Like she has temporarily broken free from the spell and is terribly frightened of waking up out of a bad dream of being forced to love and obsess over Bear. It’s like she’s woken from a living nightmare, only to subside back into it, as the wish reasserts dominance over her will power. It’s honestly one of the most inspired concepts in this film. Her agency wanting desperately to wake her up, only for the demon wish to overpower her consent.
A truly disturbing moment is when Sarah finds a note in Bear’s lunch, as Nikki feeds Bear a sandwich made from his dead cat. A truly twisted moment that sold me on the hardcore potential of the movie that was unfolding. Well played.
Later, in place of a “boy’s night out” it’s just another hangout, but it also includes Sarah, not just Nikki. A game is being played where Bear is tasked with kissing the person to his left, which is NOT Nikki, but Sarah. Sarah seemed too open to it, knowing Nikki was his. Nikki, possessed and hilariously she is obviously, murderously pissed, walks right behind Sarah, physically moves her chair away from Bear, and puts herself in Sarah’s place and puckers up to be the one who is kissed to Bear’s left. Ian’s concerns are basically confirmed to the group now.
Later, Sarah confesses she “was the girl to the left” fishing for a kiss. Nikki obviously takes ruthless vengeance in real time for this attempt with her love.
One of the funniest Gen Z moments in the film is the scene where Bear calls ‘customer service’ for One Wish Willow. It’s a classic laconic, deadpan, ‘we can’t do much about that’ type of responses. I found it genuine, funny, and as I suspected, and was able to confirm, was played by Curry Barker himself.
The rest of the movie unravels with Freaky Nikki’s possession escalating to greater and greater ludicrous heights, culminating in an inverted modern take on Romeo and Juliet, minus the true love. A true masterstroke to conclude this sordid tale.
Obsession Uppers:
This Director clearly had a solid vision and executed it very well. For such a young director (Mr. Barker is only 26 years old!) the only thing to conclude is that this young man has tremendous promise. I’m excited to learn he is attached to an IP, but we’ll see what he does with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which is reportedly his next project. He has vision and can get it done on the cheap. I’d caution him on scaling up too quickly, the same way I’d caution a boxer from moving up the ranks too quickly. Visionary directors are notorious for being crushed by access to too many options, too big of a budget, surrounded by vultures he may not be ready to fend off and protect himself from, and many other foreseeable issue. As they say ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems’. I hope he stays true to his visions and tells his film his way decisively because we desperately need new visionaries these days. It’s a real drought out there, to be honest. Mr. Barker, I hope will have his own successful run, like another Mr. Barker we knew back it in the late ‘80s.
The acting from Michael Johnston as Bear resembled bits and pieces from so many average boys I knew in high school it was remarkable. He was relatable and yet his disastrous desire to wish for Nikki’s enslavement was a character choice that was from the writing talents of Curry Barker himself (the screenwriter as well as director and editor). The amorality of this crooked decision was a key driver to the engine of this story. It was simple, relatable, frightening and honest. That last part is why he made $350,000,000 off of a $750,000 budget. Hollywood take note. If you’re going to do wish fulfilment, make it ‘honest wish fulfilment’ even if it goes awry in the scariest of ways. Start from a place of honesty. It’s promising to see it still can exist in the current environment.
Lastly, the performance of Nikki Freeman from Inde Navarrette was right up there with Sophie Wilde as “Mia” in Talk to Me (see Talk to Me Review: A Haunting Examination of Social Media and Possession), another recommended film about a single supernatural decision spiralling into tragedy. An excellent performance, enhanced even further with Curry’s scary effect decisions and style.
Obsession Downers:
I didn’t experience any serious downers when watching Obsession. It was clear, concise, well acted, well directed, well written, no bullshit, no wasted scenes, very little wasted potential. Everything was carefully chosen.
The only thing that didn’t quite work and was a bit of a joke, was the duct taped door. All that wasted duct tape didn’t prevent Bear’s escape for more than a couple of seconds of effort, which is more of a condemnation of “Big Duct Tape” companies not even being able to stop a door from being opened with minimal force. It was funny, but not perhaps intentionally. It was kind of just humorous.
The murder of Sarah was also predictable, but the smashing of the face of a life-sized dummy doll to hamburger, just for a gore scene, has been overplayed in movies as almost a new trope over the last decade, that frankly did it more effectively in the Terrifier series. There was some restraint in the way they did it, and the build-up was good with the actress playing Sarah (Megan Lawless). Just the effects were paint-by-numbers face demolishing at this point. Every hot horror movie does this now which makes it pedestrian, less unique or effective. I was more moved by the chair moving scene, with Nikki looming behind her. That was realer.
These are minor, petty gripes, and frankly can be dismissed granting the overall film was terrific. I am genuinely interested in any sequels that are sure to follow, especially if Curry Barker is at the helm of them. Congratulations Gen Z! You’re going to be ‘okay.’ Keep up the ‘good’ work. Uncle Brian is impressed.
Directed by: Curry Barker
Written by: Curry Barker
Produced by: James Harris, Christian Mercuri, Roman Viaris
Cinematography by: Taylor Clemons
Edited by: Curry Barker
Music by: Rock Burwell
Special Effects by: Allie Shehorn
Cast: Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Michael Johnston, Megan Lawless
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 49min
Studio: Capstone Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Tea Shop Productions, Under the Shell
Distribution: Universal Pictures, Focus Features
