Movie Review: Obsession

TW: Movie contains animal death/ abuse, extreme gore and violence, suicide

If you are looking for a completely surprising movie, ‘Obsession’ ticks that box. This 2026 masterpiece will soon become a classic with its realistic acting, familiar storyline and atmospheric music.

‘Obsession’ stars our main character Baron as he struggles to admit his feelings for a female friend, but when he is put under pressure, he makes a radical decision that changes his love interest Nikki forever.

The producers of Blumhouse productions bring us a very traditional storyline with the movie, one which involves supernatural elements. We’ve all watched plenty of horror movies that include some sort of supernatural element which causes the main consequence, such as Ouija boards or tarot cards. This movie is no different, by including a witchcraft shop. However, due to the repetition of storylines like this, it is safe to say they are overused and unoriginal, especially when done poorly. This was not the case for ‘Obsession’, it kept me looking around the cinema in fear and was the most anxious I have felt whilst watching a horror movie.  Initially this movie was appealing to the book because of the assumption that it would be the same easy watch as all the other movies that follow this formula, but it utterly obliterated any traditional feelings I had when watching.

Something that made the film extremely effective was the lighting. Initially the film starts off quite bright, additionally it is noticeable that in moments of potential hope the actual lighting brightens up. But, for the most part this movie is quite dark which completely compliments the journey and events that happen in the plot, furthermore this subtle detail makes an incredible difference to the watching experience by heightening the fear factor. The effect of the lighting is imperative to the plot as well, due to the main character being morally ambiguous, it appears that the lighting reflects the moments of him wanting to free the girl he has put through hell and in contrast the moments where he wants to keep her for himself. The unbalance between the light and dark shows us his moral compass is broken.

Another stand out in this movie is the soundtrack that consists of a combination of indie songs and synth sounds. It is imperative to mention this as a standout feature because you simply can’t ignore it in the movie! The carefully selected songs add eeriness to the already creepy movie without being over played. The timing and the choices help the trajectory of tension continue as the characters experience so many emotions between extreme obsession as well as paranoia.

Overall, the acting, the level of gore and continuous disturbing things that happen, along with the lighting and soundtrack make this movie a very well formulated horror. It is definitely one you do not want to miss out on because it’ll make you feel what a lot of horrors fail to achieve.

I would rate this 5 stars. 

Written by, Jasmine Molineux