Obsession

“Be careful what you wish for” is such a threadbare cliché of life and cinema that it’s hard to believe anything new can be breathed into any story using the term as its foundation — much less a thrilling horror film. Yet here’s 26-year-old writer-director Curry Barker with his Obsession. It might just become yours.

Lovesick Bear (Michael Johnston) has fancied his mate Nikki (Inde Navarrette) for yonks. Desperate to tell her he loves her, he even rehearses his declaration in front of other friends. Despite ample time spent working together in a musical-instrument shop and on the lash downing shots, Bear bottles it. One day, he drops Nikki’s necklace down a drain and while trying to find a replacement, sees a ‘One Wish Willow’ charm. He’s warned about the trinket’sundesirable effects but buys it and uses it anyway, predictably wishing that Nikki falls in love with him. And she does — to extraordinary excess.

There’s a satisfying ‘snap’ when Bear uses the charm that will remind viewers of the carnage that ensues when a similar process occurs in Weapons. But where that riotous chiller caused instant aggro, the feeling here is one of creeping dread and, eventually, complete terror.

Barker, in only his second feature after 2024 micro-budget debut Milk & Serial, proves accomplished at supplying scares, be they jump or slow-burn. Navarrette is sensational as the increasingly unhinged, violent Nikki, and her outlandish actions provide many of the film’s finest moments. To go into too much detail would be to spoil — but a memorable packed lunch, an excruciating party sequence and a devastating car scene are highlights.

This blackly funny, gory take on W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short story ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ — and the hundreds of screen versions derived from it — is obviously far from an original idea. But the way in which it twists and warps the dusty material into a startling meditation on unhealthy infatuations is hugely impressive.