{"id":10042721,"date":"2025-12-02T14:08:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/?p=10042721"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:38:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:38:20","slug":"the-obsession-teaser-will-scare-you-until-you-love-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanyaland.com\/2025\/12\/02\/the-obsession-teaser-will-scare-you-until-you-love-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The &#8216;Obsession&#8217; teaser will scare you until you love it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of the bigger acquisitions out of this year&#8217;s TIFF was Curry Barker&#8217;s <strong><em>Obsession<\/em><\/strong>, which hit the Midnight Madness program like a tsunami and swept a bunch of Focus Features&#8217; cash out to its producers. It looks like the bigger companies have gotten sick of A24 and NEON owning the summer-horror distribution pipeline, so what better way to kick off these jams than with a big festival favorite? We didn&#8217;t get a chance to check it out while we were on the ground in Toronto, but we&#8217;ve heard pretty good things, and it&#8217;s got a hell of a plot &#8212; think a &#8220;love potion&#8221; episode of your favorite cartoon amplified with some horror-comedy and turned it up to eleven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyhow, Focus dropped a teaser trailer for it earlier on Tuesday, perhaps to suck in some of those <em>Five Nights at Freddy&#8217;s<\/em> viewers who can no longer avoid theaters after Universal realized how dumb a same-day release on Peacock was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"OBSESSION - Official Teaser Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters May 15\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0G5CjgPw1x4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In lieu of a short official synopsis, here&#8217;s the description for <em>Obsession <\/em>from <a href=\"https:\/\/tiff.net\/films\/obsession\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the TIFF50 Program<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8220;Woe is Bear (Michael Johnston), who has long carried a torch for his childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). When another attempted profession of love fizzles, Bear wistfully wishes for romantic reciprocation, unfortunately doing so while in possession of a trinket with supernatural properties of&nbsp;The Monkey\u2019s Paw&nbsp;variety.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Suddenly, Nikki is all over Bear, and he is quick to indulge in this long-desired turnabout while ignoring the ramifications of her intensifying fixation. Before long, Bear\u2019s fantasy turns to nightmare as Nikki\u2019s personality begins to twitch with a disturbing dysphoria that sinisterly suggests her autonomy has been usurped by a malignant entity that wants them both, body and soul.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8216;Be careful what you wish for&#8217; may be a staple in the horror genre, but writer-director Curry Barker enlivens this well-worn premise by lacing its inherent irony with a wickedly wry tone and an anxious tension that\u2019ll plummet the stomach of even hardened Midnighters. Having honed high-concept absurdism and creeping dread from his online productions, Barker deftly demonstrates a savvy command of tone and terror reminiscent of fellow sketch comedian Zach Cregger\u2019s&nbsp;&#8216;Barbarian.&#8217;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As with that auspicious debut, Barker\u2019s first feature preserves an uncomfortable relatability in its hyperbolic scenario. Though literally featuring a customer service call from (and possibly to) Hell,&nbsp;&#8216;Obsession&#8217;&nbsp;cuts to the quick as it lays bare the innate violence in romantic objectification with an unforgiving candidness. That&#8217;s made all the more disarming, thanks to exceptionally nuanced performances, particularly from Navarrette whose &#8216;Freaky Nikki&#8217; oscillates between doe-eyed desire and devastating torment that will chill you to the bone.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Obsession <\/em>hits theaters on May 15. Feels like it would have been a pretty obvious home run on Valentine&#8217;s Day weekend, but what the hell do we know? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the bigger acquisitions out of this year&#8217;s TIFF was Curry Barker&#8217;s Obsession, which hit the Midnight Madness program like a tsunami and swept a bunch of Focus Features&#8217; cash out to its producers. It looks like the bigger companies have gotten sick of A24 and NEON owning the summer-horror distribution pipeline, so what better way to kick off these jams than with a big festival favorite? We didn&#8217;t get a chance to check it out while we were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":10042722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19452],"tags":[9891,26409,8141,36016,20251],"class_list":["post-10042721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-filmtv","tag-film-news","tag-header","tag-horror","tag-obsession","tag-trailers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The &#039;Obsession&#039; teaser will scare you until you love it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s called &#039;Obsession&#039; \/ It&#039;s called &#039;Obsession&#039; 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