There’s a time-honored phrase, “Be careful what you wish for,” which implies that, even if you are granted what you think you want most, everything you know and love could be impacted. In pop culture, we’ve seen countless variations on this concept, often being inspired by the W. W. Jacobs short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” in which a shriveled monkey’s paw grants wishes, but twists them into horrifying scenarios. We’ve seen the concept adapted in everything from Tales from the Crypt to The Simpsons to Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and even the movie Wish Upon is based on the concept.
A new take on the concept is about to land in theaters, leaving many of us wondering whether Curry Barker’s Obsession will be any different. After all, the premise is that Bear (Michael Johnston) wishes his childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) would fall in love with him, leading to terrifying ramifications. Speaking with MovieWeb, Barker revealed exactly how his movie stands out from the crowd:
“I remember some of the early comments, where people were saying, ‘Oh, this feels like we’ve seen this movie before. This is such a silly idea, a wish gone wrong, we’ve seen this,’ but what I was really intrigued by when I first came up with this idea is how we haven’t seen this before because, even if you’ve seen an adaptation of someone wishing that somebody loved them, they didn’t really go there. They pulled their punches, or they didn’t … It fell flat, and so I actually thought that this was a concept that was to be explored, something that we hadn’t really seen before.
It was a playground for me. It was really exciting to dive into, ‘What would she do? What would she not do? What would feel silly for her to do?’ Not making this just a killing movie where she goes on a killing spree, but more intentional about why she does the things she does and what her goals are.”
Given that the film currently has a 97% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Barker’s strategy seems to be paying off. Barker and Johnston credit the film’s success to the fact that Bear made the wish at a vulnerable time, so he didn’t account for his wish actually being granted or what that would mean for Nikki.
“He’s at his most vulnerable. He’s tried and failed to tell the girl of his dreams how he feels, and he had the perfect opportunity to do so,” Johnston shared. “So I think that moment may make him a bit more relatable, because we all know what it’s like to have a crush, especially when they might not like us back. He’s at his most vulnerable when he makes that wish, and he doesn’t expect it to actually work right. It’s really what makes him a little more potentially villainous.”
Barker added, “It would be silly if he were like, in that moment where he just had that horrible night with Nikki, where he’s, it’d be silly if he were like, ‘I wish that Nikki loved me, but I also wish that she was really happy and it was really healthy.’ Because that would mean that he thinks that this wish is gonna work, right? He’s throwing it away. He doesn’t know.”
Whether the film’s terror resonates with audiences as it does with critics will be determined when Obsession hits theaters on May 15.
Obsession
- Release Date
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May 15, 2026
- Runtime
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108 minutes
- Director
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Curry Barker
- Writers
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Curry Barker
- Producers
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Christian Mercuri, James Harris, Roman Viaris, Haley Nicole Johnson
