Obsession

A dweebish incel (Michael Johnston) uses a new-agey novelty item called a “One Wish Willow” to cause his hottie workplace crush (Inde Navarette) to fall in love with him. It works. Then it keeps working. Fantasy becomes reality overnight. Then affection becomes obsession and dream becomes nightmare. Be careful what you wish for.

This little fever dream comes from Blumhouse, an independent studio whose micro-budget model gives filmmakers great creative freedom if they can keep production costs low. It has virtually revolutionized the horror genre.

It’s the feature directorial debut of Curry Barker, who impressively stretches his production budget through clever editing, the creative use of light (or rather shadow), a committed if unseasoned cast and a few original jump-scares. 

This little genre exercise has been so highly rated by both viewers and critics that it’s almost churlish to point out its shortcomings. But about halfway in, the one-trick premise runs out of ideas and starts repeating itself. After a certain point it’s simply amping up the shrill and violence, and the ending’s a mess. 

I admire filmmakers who can do a lot with a little, but this could have used a couple of rewrites and maybe a trained actor or two. Still, for fans of the genre, Barker is certainly a horror storyteller to be watched. (118 min)