Obsession sucked. You are all under the same spell as Nikki was
I genuinely don’t understand the hype around this movie.
Going in, I’d heard people calling it “the most panic attack-inducing movie of all time,” so my expectations were sky high. Instead, I walked away feeling like it never came close to earning that reputation.
My biggest issue is the writing. The entire plot depends on characters making unbelievably stupid decisions.
Bear gets fed his own cat, and instead of calling the police, leaving, or seeking help after his girlfriend’s increasingly disturbing behavior, he just shrugs it off. Every time someone points out how unhinged Nikki is, his response is basically, “I don’t know, she’s just going through some stuff.” It stopped feeling like a believable character and started feeling like the script forcing him to stay stupid so the plot could continue.
The horror itself didn’t work for me either. Most of the scares were just loud sound effects masquerading as jump scares. There wasn’t much tension or suspense being built. Nikki screaming for most of the movie also wasn’t scary..it just became repetitive and annoying.
The story was also incredibly predictable. About 20 minutes in, I knew exactly where it was headed: cursed wish, obsessive girlfriend, friends start dying one by one, Bear refuses to let go because he’s blinded by love. There wasn’t a single twist that caught me off guard.
Tonally, the movie felt completely confused. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a horror movie or a comedy. I found myself laughing during scenes that were clearly supposed to be terrifying. Nikki repeatedly peeing and defecating on herself came across as unintentionally hilarious instead of disturbing. The sequence with the money raining from the sky felt like slapstick comedy, which clashed with the serious tone the movie had been trying to establish.
The Sarah death scene perfectly sums up my issues with the directing. The framing practically announces where Nikki is going to crash through the window. Instead of creating suspense, I just sat there waiting for the obvious jump scare to happen. By telegraphing it so heavily, the director completely killed any tension. Then, when it finally happened, the aftermath looked so goofy that it reminded me of the shrunken heads from Beetlejuice.
Overall, the movie felt like something written and directed by someone with a cool premise but very little understanding of character behavior, suspense, or tonal consistency. There are ideas here that could have worked, but the execution never rises above mediocre.
Final rating: 2.5/5.