Starring Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless.

Written & Directed by Curry Barker

Blumhouse / Focus Features / Universal – in Cinemas now

When Bear buys a vintage ‘One Wish Willow’ toy, his wish is for his childhood crush to love him more than anyone else in the whole world comes true with terrifying consequences.

I’ve always loved a bit of ‘Be-Careful-What-You-Wish-For’ horror, ever since, aged about nine, I completely wigged myself out by reading W.W. Jacobs’s classic short story, ‘The Monkey’s Paw’. If you’re unfamiliar with itm then I advise you to seek it out tout de suite as the grandaddy companion to Curry Barker’s excellent popcorn chiller Obsession.

On the surface, Obsession is something of a Ronseal movie doing exactly what it says on the tin. If you’ve seen the trailer then you know exactly where this is going, but its pleasures lie in the execution. Michael Johnstone as Bear (that’s his name, not a character in a furry onesie) perfectly pitches his obsession for Nikki (Inde Navarrette) just half a step this side of creepy stalker incel. To complement this, there are suggestions that Nikki may have a history of mental instability that makes what she turns into conceivably an extension of her true self.

When the movie sticks to these ambiguities it is at its strongest – an exploration of psychosis and the darker corners of mutually destructive coercive control and submission. Where it loses the plot (literally) is when it strays into half-baked – and frustratingly unresolved – suggestions of possession and other vaguely occulty goings-on. It also has a tendency to stumble on its own tonal inconsistency. There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments of over-the-toppery, but they sit uncomfortably at times with the movie’s more serious themes.

Verdict: Nonetheless, Obsession is a compelling and unsettling watch especially as it lures the audience in with popcorn exploitation horror riffs before dragging you to its nihilistic Cronenbergian conclusion. 8/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com