Obsession: The Horror Movie Breaking New Grounds

Courtesy of Focus Features

The 2020s have been a solid era for horror movies, and 2026 continues that trend with Obsession. Directed by YouTuber Curry Barker, Obsession stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette in an incredible psychological horror movie about a music store employee named Bear who loves his best friend Nikki. Wanting her to fall in love with him, he makes a wish on a toy that comes true, but it shows that wishes have consequences as Nikki’s newfound love turns into an unhealthy obsession, leading to horrible consequences. Along with the solid streak of horror movies, YouTubers getting into directing movies has also become more common. Last year, movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann’s movie Shelby Oaks was released. Early in the year, the movie Iron Lung was released, directed by YouTuber Mariplier. Recently, along with Obsession, Backrooms has also been a hit, directed by YouTuber Kane Parsons. Yet it seems Obsession is becoming the most successful both critically and at the box office.

Obsession’s best strength is the performance from Inde Navarrette as Nikki. Once the wish is made, Nikki’s behavior becomes crazy and unhinged. Navarrette goes all out in capturing how obsessed and insane Nikki becomes from her actions, facial expressions, tone, and body language. All of this is done without help from CGI and AI. She gives what many consider to be the performance of the year so far, and perhaps should already be a contender for next year’s Oscars. Mike Johnston as Bear, who makes the wish, also does well in showing a young man conflicted on how to act on his feelings and processing the results of his wish. At first, he likes that Nikki finally loves him, but becomes scared and uncomfortable when it results in lies, creepy actions from Nikki, jealously when he interacts with their friend Sarah, invasion of privacy, and fear for his life. While Inde Navarrette is the scene stealer, Johnston does well in showing his many facial reactions and scared tone when he talks.

There are many unpredictable surprises that make Obsession stand out from other horror movies, many of which result from Nikki’s unpredictable actions. The horror element works in so many different ways, from the psychological aspect to the gruesome, violent aspect, embraced in the third act. Some scenes are perfectly unsettling for both the audience and the characters, watching what is happening for themselves. It has a strong message of being careful what you wish for.

Obsession isn’t just winning over critics and audiences. It’s become one of the most successful movies of 2026. The budget was between $750,000 and $1 million. As of right now, Obsession has made over $162 million worldwide. It’s done this while competing most of its weekends against Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Between the strong word of mouth for Obsession and the lack of desire from general audiences to rush to see the new Star Wars movie, Obsession has succeeded in the weeks after its release, having one of the biggest second weekend increases of all time. For general audiences between the ages of 18 and 34, Obsession has been a hit. It shows that younger audiences are becoming more open to new projects that try new things and drifting away from IP movies that don’t do anything special or unique. Even going up against another hit horror movie like Backrooms hasn’t slowed down Obsession’s strong run. While the summer movie season will get more competitive with movies like Masters of the Universe, Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, and Supergirl coming out this month, Obsession started the season off on a strong note.

Obsession is also a promising sign for new directors, whether they are emerging from YouTube or other places. In a year with great directors having movies coming out like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Steven Spielberg, and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, it’s great to see Curry Barker deliver his first theatrical movie, and it's among the best of 2026 so far. Hopefully this encourages more people to direct movies and take that risk. There are still plenty of movies left in 2026 to come out, including the end-of-year award season movie releases. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Obsession ended up on a lot of people’s top 10 movies of 2026 lists, as well as the top horror movie of 2026.

Overall, Obsession has become one of the best 2026 movies and one of the most profitable. It’s got great horror elements and an amazing performance from its lead actress. Hopefully, more YouTubers learn the right lessons from Curry Barker and can enjoy the same success as him, and also make quality movies. If you’re into horror movies, I highly recommend you check out Obsession.

My final grade for Obsession is an A. It’s a great horror thriller that will not disappoint horror fans.

What are your thoughts on Obsession? Let us know in the comments below.