Фильм ужасов «Obsession» собрал более 400 млн долларов при бюджете в 750 тысяч долларов

Editor’s Note: All review content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board. One night this summer my friend called me from the movie theater. “I just watched the weirdest movie ever,” she said. She gave me a quick run-through of “Obsession,” the horror movie on everyone’s mind. A week later, I was sitting in an ice-cold theatre, five minutes late to my showing. “Obsession” follows the story of Nikki Freeman and Bear Bailey, two longtime friends and coworkers. Bear is harboring a secret crush on Nikki, and alternatively Nikki makes it clear that she only sees her friend as a brother figure. While buying a gift for Nikki, Bear stumbles upon an ’80s novelty item: a One Wish Willow, said to grant the user one wish of their choosing. Bear wishes for Nikki to love him “more than anyone else in the world,” and she immediately begins to behave like she is interested in him. In a romantic montage, Bear and Nikki play the roles of the perfect domestic couple — carpooling to work, watching films every night, going out to dinner and avoiding their friends in favor of one another. Nikki falls into this pattern eerily quickly, breaking her character in only brief intermissions throughout their early days. In one scene which clips immediately from a dinner date, we see Bear having sex with Nikki, while Nikki remains motionless in bed, a blank, dead-eyed stare on her face. I noticed pretty quickly that a large portion of viewers did not seem to catch the gravity of that scene or recognize it as sexual assault. The scene, arguably one of the scariest moments in the movie, was not understood for what it was because it did not feature blood, violence or a jump scare. That is what stands out most about “Obsession.” It is not a horror film built on bloody graphics or a murderous villain. The terror of the movie is in the lack of autonomy that Nikki holds over herself and her body. Viewers watch as Nikki is slowly reduced to essentially Bear’s pet, going to extreme lengths to receive an equal amount of love from him as she is forced to give him. “Obsession” is a story that is both familiar and unfamiliar all at once. There’s no One Wish Willow in the real world, but there is an epidemic of insecure people wishing to control others. “Obsession” is all too real, and that’s why it works. “Obsession” catches you off guard with its horror. In the beginning Bear is sweet and quiet, and you might initially be rooting for his success in attracting Nikki. But there’s one scene that shows the viewer early on what type of guy Bear is: When Nikki loses her crystal necklace down the drain, he heads to an eclectic shop to get her a new one, a gesture that at first seems thoughtful. However it becomes clear that he doesn’t know what he’s shopping for, and when the store attendant suggests a crystal to bring positivity to her life, Bear immediately shuts her down, saying Nikki would not like it. Though small, the scene perfectly captures how Bear does not value Nikki’s own opinions and believes he knows better. His infatuation with her — or rather the idea he holds of her — overtakes any actual love felt for her. Inde Navarrette, who plays Nikki, stood out in a perfectly subtle way. Nikki’s character demanded an insane performance, and Navarrette delivers in every single scene. She is essentially playing two characters throughout the film: Wish Nikki, who is stuck under the influence of the One Wish Willow and Real Nikki, who is trapped inside Wish Nikki, only able to communicate in a few select scenes. Navarrette brings both sides of Nikki to the screen with an effortless ability to flip between them. I think without Navarrette the film would not be as good as it is. “Obsession” reached heights we haven’t seen from a movie in a while. It surpassed $400 million in box office sales despite only being produced with a $750,000 budget. In a post-lockdown world it’s uncommon to see a movie drawing people into theaters for this long and with this much buzz meaning the death of the big screen might not be here quite yet. Watching the hype around “Obsession” felt a bit like déjà vu from the “Heated Rivalry” fanfare earlier this year, with the pieces sharing similar aspects: a small budget, a new director and a down-to-earth cast. And we loved it despite the odds. “Obsession” proves that good horror doesn’t need massive budgets or A-list stars — though Navarrette deserves an A-list future after this — to create something that draws in an audience. “Obsession” quickly got big and then bigger still. Fans took it over online and made it more successful than what could’ve ever been predicted. Fan edits and theories took over the internet, and I think that’s part of why we love it so much. The movie is so open-ended, with a vague ending for Nikki and a small cast of characters, leaving fans with the ability to create countless theories of their own about it. With the image of that iconic final scene fresh in our minds, we left the theater and my sister played Zara Larsson at full volume to settle us down after the movie. However Nikki’s ending is one that sticks with you, and even sparkly, bubblegum pop couldn’t push that final image from our minds. In fact, I don’t see “Obsession” leaving my mind or anyone else’s for quite some time. Reach Skylar White at [email protected] or on social media @RMCollegian