Director Curry Barker humble requests for his viewers for patience, a virtue arguably present in his film Obsession. Protagonist Bear (Michael Johnston) waits seven years to profess his love to his coworker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). After dropping her off to her house, it seems like he’s okay with waiting and suffering for seven more years. But prior to that ride, he buys the self explanatory One Wish Willow, wishing that she loves him back. An exaggerated version of his wish comes true, complicating their dynamic in the music store where they work. He starts noticing erratic behaviour from her and he’s not the only one – their friend group also notices things. Namely, their best friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) takes note of things, but Bear can’t tell him why Nikki’s weirder than the average clingy girlfriend.

This film uses impressionistic world building, focusing on what matters – she doesn’t like him, now she does. That leaves other questions, like how old are these characters, which, if we’re patient, the movie answers that. These characters are old enough to drink while their other friend, Sarah (Megan Lawless), is waiting to go to college. So that makes them obviously in their early twenties, young enough to have “will they won’t they” tension. Or young enough to think that rejection from someone they’ve had feelings for for years is the worst. Of course, because it comes with horror as a genre, it shows viewers that there is something worse. Obsession reminds viewers that the worst thing is for one’s wishes to come true, a thing we’ve seen before and don’t mind seeing again.

Horror films have different kinds of perspectives when it comes to the monsters that it’s depicting on screen. The simplest one is ‘get out of the monster’s lair unscathed, maybe even kill the thing so it won’t come back’. It’s more complex, though, if the monster, as in Obsession, moves into one’s home and it’s kinda their fault. Misusing magic and playing God is as old as Frankenstein but it’s something viewers like seeing many times. This time around though, a beautiful woman becomes a monster on the inside and eventually, outside. Nikki becomes less of a person, and Bear has to confront the idea of their person losing their autonomy. She’s just like me. And that’s the tragicomic beauty of a film like this, as a monster transfigures and reveals themselves.

Obsession is a seemingly simple horror film, depicting characters’ pathos with smidges of violent gallows humour, bordering on comedy. Even with that, it makes enough out of the idea of a person losing that autonomy and what that looks like when that happens. Playing a character with no free will is quite the challenge, yet Navarrette is up to the task of bringing that idea and giving it flesh. The film also expresses that lack of autonomy through its art direction, which makes me ask another question – why houses? Aside from Sarah, whose father (Andy Richter) is alive, the other three main characters seem to inherit houses from parents. But even that luck runs out as peoples homes turn into hellholes – Nikki duct taping Bear’s front door is quite the indelible image.

Obsession is available to watch in select Canadian theatres.