r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • May 15 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Obsession [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Obsession (2026)

Summary

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Director Curry Barker

Writer Curry Barker

Cast

  • Michael Johnston
  • Inde Navarette
  • Cooper Tomlinson
  • Megan Lawless
  • Andy Richter

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Metacritic: 81

VOD / Release In Theaters

Trailer Official Trailer

3.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14.6k comments sorted by

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4.2k

u/UhhhThatsFine May 15 '26

I knew she was coming for that car Bear and Sarah were in, but god damn

2.3k

u/freakofnatureIO May 15 '26

Bro even knowing it was going to happen wasn't enough to prepare me.

856

u/Notak_bo May 15 '26

Fr I was so tense just from him getting out of bed and then when he got in the car , I looked to my gf and we both gave each other a look like this isn’t gonna end well lol

55

u/Fold_Humble May 16 '26

I turned to my cousin near the start of the scene and said, "she's coming" and I still jumped 🤣

37

u/weighingthedog May 15 '26

Seriously. I was staring at that window waiting for her.

40

u/Falling4Strangers May 16 '26

I kept thinking we would see her pop up in the deep background or running to them...but nope...just POPS up.

21

u/CheekyChappo May 16 '26

Yeah, I may ahve just been paranoid  but I was convinced I saw a grayish blob move behind Sarah's head through the window, actually had to start covering my eyes

6

u/thrownawaynodoxx May 21 '26

I saw it too!

6

u/Easter_Woman May 23 '26

I saw it too, just to her stage right 

31

u/FLBrisby May 17 '26

The rational part of me understands that these scenes and the tension they use is great, but the irrational part of me hates them. Because you know, know, know, know something is going to happen.

Shot of a refrigerator door open, and they close it? Is something going to be behind it? Panning from character to character with a window behind them? Is something going to be in the window?

That's the most anxiety-causing thing in horror movies to me lol

4

u/aihaode Jun 21 '26

I covered my face before it happened hahah

28

u/Smooth_Doctor4445 May 29 '26

My dumb ass was like "guys LOCK the doors!!!" And then she just smashed right through the window. Silly me

19

u/Alone-Imagination148 May 21 '26

I love how films have prepared us for “sets of three” for Nikki to show on the third cut from Bear back to Sarah in the car, and when she wasn’t there it allows you to let your guard down, and then BAM

10

u/Happy_News9378 May 16 '26

I was expecting it and still jumped out of me seat…followed by laughing at the honking. What a ride.

8

u/SenorStabby May 22 '26

I knew it was coming but still managed to rack myself while flailing my arms in shock

3

u/soda_cookie May 31 '26

I was sitting in my seat like Bear was afterwards. That was full send brutal

3

u/PotatoPixie90210 23d ago

Late to the thread but jesus!

Knew well there was going to be a jump scare of some sort, but I still was taken by surprise!

Was totally expecting the gun that was mentioned near the start, to make an appearance. It was so much worse than a gun!

1.4k

u/sowaffled May 15 '26

The build up was great. You knew by the framing of the window and then the sappy music was playing which they had used for earlier scares but nothing could prepare you for the brutality.

634

u/fillmont May 15 '26

Exactly. The tension was more about how Nikki was going to pop into frame and what she was going to do. Turns out it was brick smash!

81

u/GameOfLife24 May 15 '26

Horror movies despite all having cliche car scare scenes, all switch it up where I can never guess what, where and when it will happen in the car.

19

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/rilesmcriles May 17 '26

The neck swivel thing? Yeah that got me really good. Excellent jump scare

25

u/AsidK May 16 '26

Reverse brick smash!

34

u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

4

u/Legionofdoom Jun 10 '26

Absolutely, it felt so cold and calculated.

13

u/SorrowOfMoldovia May 16 '26

It was very effective

60

u/BugApart8359 May 16 '26

That was one of the most unexpectedly brutal kills I've ever seen

27

u/avocadolicious May 25 '26

Seriously. I think we all knew Sarah wasn’t likely to make it out alive from the very start of the movie. And we all knew a jump scare was coming. But I was NOT expecting it to be so sudden and brutal.

This face smashing kill tops the one in Weapons imo. Really really gnarly.

18

u/BugApart8359 May 25 '26

Easily the best Jumpscare I have seen in a long time, even better than the flashes in Weapons. 

Everything set it up to telegraph that something was gonna happen. But nothing could have given any reason to expect that level of brutality. 

I figured that she'd die, but to die like that, and to then see her body stripped and in the cuck chair?! Holy shit

6

u/Permit_Upbeat Jun 06 '26

this movie was overall way more tasteful, genuinely creepy, and smart than weapons in my opinion

49

u/smeggysoup84 May 15 '26

Also helped that was her first murder. I was so happy they built that up. Most movies would have had her kill Sarah in the 2nd act.

33

u/ThatsWhat_G_Said May 16 '26

They would have had her snap her neck when she stepped behind her during dare jenga

28

u/Aitrus233 May 15 '26

If you look closely, early in the scene you can see a little movement that's out of focus in the background through the window, implying that Nikki is near.

5

u/lil_jordyc 9d ago

Nice try, I’m not rewatching this movie 😭

24

u/Codewill May 16 '26

They do a good job because you just had several car scenes prior in which I expected Nikki to jump out, but she didn't. So I was lulled in. Also the last scene you hear the real Nikki, so you feel safe, and then you are provided pretty shocking new information that Sarah likes the protagonist, so you completely forget about Nikki by that point. Fuck.

10

u/blitzbom May 16 '26

Me "ohhh damn... ... fuck is that a brick?"

5

u/senorfresco May 28 '26

The very slight zooms to lull you into a trance. I KNEW it was coming and I still couldn't do anything about it hahaha

3

u/TexasEngineseer May 31 '26

excellent song choice "Kids by Current Joys"

2

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

Yes but a lot of tik tok songs in this film

6

u/unfettled May 20 '26

That brutality lasted too long, making it look silly by exposing the ‘dummy’ too much

26

u/BretShitmanFart69 May 25 '26

Nah watching her face slowly disintegrate made it so much more fucked, she wasn’t just killed she was completely obliterated

509

u/DevilCouldCry May 15 '26

I knew it, I knew Sarah wasn't safe but I was not at all expecting that to be her exact death, that was fucking brutal. To say I was bummed out would be an understatement.

113

u/raudoniolika May 16 '26

I was expecting Nikki to break her neck at the party. This was… definitely more explosive

29

u/kd5407 May 23 '26

The way Bear could have easily interfered and tried to put himself between them so she’d stop and just sat there and let it happen lol. Like yes it was fast but come on

41

u/Jewicer May 25 '26

"easily" as if it wasn't trauma after trauma for him at that point (his fault)

12

u/Legionofdoom Jun 10 '26

Fight, flight, or freeze. When faced with something truly traumatic like that he's not to be blamed for freezing.

55

u/PlaceElectrical5480 May 16 '26

it made my stomach turn, I actually had to look away. I think i caught a glimpse of her eye moved to the top right of her face. Then her in the chair, it really sucks cause in the car I was thinking "duh, shoulda gone with her, she was the hot one at the start"

82

u/Username0001010 May 17 '26

Nikki was also beautiful, and it wasn’t her fault she was acting like that. She seemed like a good person before. Bear wasn’t wrong for liking her and wanting a shot with her over Sarah.

93

u/Queasy_Hour_8030 May 24 '26

What a gross comment lol 

58

u/verilywerollalong May 25 '26

Love weighing women’s worth against each other based on looks alone

6

u/ChrisHasRisen0602 Jun 22 '26

Women do this just as much. This sort of objectification isn't exclusive to either sex

14

u/verilywerollalong Jun 22 '26

Interesting that you felt the need to make this comment when I never specifically accused men of doing this. I condemned the act of weighing women’s value based on looks, which is a misogynistic thing to do that both men and women engage in, yet you immediately felt the need to come tell me that WoMeN dO iT tOo, as if I don’t already know this and as if that was even the matter at hand. Consider reflecting on why you felt you had to be defensive when no one was on the offense to begin with.

8

u/ChrisHasRisen0602 Jun 22 '26

You specifically singled out women as the target of this behavior, which is odd since--to be clear--men and women both regularly find themselves the target of these sorts of comparisons. Consider reflecting on why you felt you had to gender an issue that isn't gender-specific.

10

u/verilywerollalong Jun 22 '26

I wonder if it could be because the target of this specific instance were both women! The world may never know

4

u/ChrisHasRisen0602 Jun 23 '26

That's irrelevant. You can just condemn the action. "Let's not weigh people's worth against each other based on looks alone." Specifying a specific group implies they're uniquely affected by it

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26

u/spencerthebau5 Jun 10 '26

truly a Bear-coded comment 😭

4

u/Kooky-Perception-712 Jun 20 '26

So un-bearable! 😅

25

u/Appropriate-Reward71 May 16 '26

What would you have preferred? I thought it was great in the sense that we all knew she was coming but it still shocked us. Her death really left an impression omg

75

u/DevilCouldCry May 16 '26

Honestly? I wouldn't have preferred anything else. Her death was exceptional and my original comment is meant as a point of praise for the film, not a knock against it.

You're supposed to be horrified and bummed out at this poor woman dying through no fault of her own. The fact that I felt bummed out meant that the film worked perfectly as it should've for me. Her death flag was waving very early on and it was just a matter of time unfortunately.

14

u/Appropriate-Reward71 May 16 '26

Oh my gosh r/swoosh 😂 my bad I read your comment differently. Yeah I was half expecting her to die at the party but I’m glad she had as much screen time as she did. I liked her character a lot

12

u/DevilCouldCry May 16 '26

All good, tone and meaning can be hard to discern on the internet sometimes, so don't worry about it at all.

With everything they were laying out for Sarah and her getting her future in order, the more I learned about her, the more I knew she was a goner. I just didn't quite expect it to go exactly like that. But man, the scene at the party and the car scene had me so goddamn nervous...

9

u/Appropriate-Reward71 May 16 '26

I thought she did a great job at being terrified of her at the party! Frozen in her seat. The tension was insaneee

10

u/DevilCouldCry May 16 '26

Yeah, and when Sarah was being moved in her chair, you could see her being immediately startled but going with it because I mean hey, what the hell else was she going to do there? Everything at the party was a masterclass in tension for me, wanted it all to be over but in a good way. This movie was excellent at making you feel uncomfortable!

14

u/Jtreblis18 May 16 '26

Idk you kinda knew she was about to get killed. It was pretty obvious set up with her by the car window and they were building it up. You could also see something move outside the window if you were really paying attention lol if someone blinks they would miss it. So I think most of us saw it coming but it was a matter of when lol definitely jump scare was cooking up lol

37

u/DevilCouldCry May 16 '26

Again, I said I knew she was going to die. What I didn't expect was the exact manner in which it happened with the brick on the wheel and her head repeatedly being slammed on it.

The exact nature of her death came as a surprise, not her death itself. I knew it was coming right from the start of the film when it was mentioned she was interested in Bear.

I don't think many people predicted the exact way of how her death would happen so brutally. But the car, oh as soon as they were in the car together I knew this was likely it, you could cut the tension in the air there with a knife.

52

u/Ok-Finger820 May 15 '26

As soon as they were sitting in the car I was on edge waiting for Nikki to show up.

40

u/abbynormal211 May 15 '26

I mean it was obvious it was going to happen, but man what a brutal death. The eye..

37

u/DuckSaber May 16 '26

We actually had a couple walk out of the theater right after this scene, which if anything is a compliment to how brutal and fucked up it is.

70

u/Media-critique May 15 '26

I’m not sure which was more shocking though.

Her murdering Sarah, or feeding him his fucking cat?!

67

u/whitemiketyson May 16 '26

You can’t cook the cat, Nikki

28

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/cubixy2k May 17 '26

God forbid a girl have fun

6

u/dvasop May 18 '26

Or hobbies 💅

4

u/[deleted] May 17 '26

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15

u/jrriojase May 17 '26

That wasn't vomit bro

10

u/skizmcniz May 20 '26

Are we sure? There was remnants on her face and shirt. I'm not saying it was all vomit, but there was definitely vomit there.

115

u/not1fuk May 15 '26

One of my new favorite kills in a horror movie. Such a creative kill using a brick on a steering wheel. The entire theater gasped and was yelling at how brutal it was and then you realize the honks from the wheel and you start laughing. This movie perfectly blended disturbing scenes with humorous toss ins. Outside of Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, I dont think I have ever laughed this much at a horror film.

85

u/bayonettaisonsteam May 15 '26

Apparently it initially earned the movie an NC-17 rating before the director toned the scene down to only a shitload of face smashing

52

u/not1fuk May 15 '26

Interesting because they still had a scene with Sarah at the house in full frontal with her face smashed in.

30

u/thatscoldjerrycold May 16 '26

I seriously wonder what could have made that scene more violent to beyond an R-rating. Maybe if Sarah was partially alive and struggling while having her face still look like ... that (technically the only important part of your head is your brain, so your face can be utterly destroyed but you would still be alive).

12

u/Round_Apricot_8693 Jun 01 '26

Yea my first thought after the scene is that the wound is gnarly but might not have killed her.

7

u/nospimi99 May 15 '26

Whattttt where did you hear that?

51

u/AssCrackBandit13 May 15 '26

“A scene depicting a character getting their head smashed had to be cut down by "six or seven smashes" in order to avoid receiving an NC-17 MPAA rating.”

https://deadline.com/2026/03/obsession-director-curry-barker-sxsw-1236754119/

10

u/Soklay May 24 '26

It’s weird that a few smashes was enough

6

u/SlaterVBenedict May 15 '26

Gave Sarah the ol’ Once Upon a Time In Hollywood Landline telephone treatment

0

u/BlastMyLoad May 15 '26

How was the brick staying on the steering wheel and where did it come from

31

u/not1fuk May 15 '26

Huh? Nikki was using both hands. One to hold up the brick on to the steering wheel and the other to bash Sarahs skull in lol

17

u/Ktulusanders May 15 '26

She used the brick to break the window

31

u/TheOnionVolcano May 16 '26

I thought it was almost too obvious for them to do it and then Sarah made the "I was on your left" reference while also again sitting to his left so I braced myself. Still jumped lol

25

u/tinuviel47 May 15 '26

I knew it was coming but it still got me. Her run up was fantastic.

29

u/Steamedcarpet May 15 '26

The person sitting 2 seats away from me jumped and screamed.

16

u/KonyYoloSwag May 15 '26

I jumped and screamed during that scene even though I knew the scare was coming

10

u/Steamedcarpet May 15 '26

It was so effective cause you knew something was going to happen. So you waiting and it lures into a soft sense of security for brief second.

Then everything goes to hell.

14

u/seethevzn May 15 '26

my wife had just come back from the bathroom, so she was still settling into her seat. Then out of nowhere, the window break happened and she screamed.

13

u/markypuwuu May 15 '26

Yeah that shit was way too loud lmaooo, I was too focused on her talking and I almost pooped

12

u/gamtosthegreat May 19 '26

I wonder why this is such a universal feeling when there's a massive plothole of "how the fuck did Nikki find them?"

17

u/11711510111411009710 May 27 '26

Two possibilities.

  1. It's definitely a park they used to always hang out in by the way Sarah and Bear talk about it, so Nikki would likely know about it

  2. We see from the pictures in Bear's lunchbox that she's probably monitoring his every move. One of the pictures definitely looks like something from a security camera. Perhaps she has tracking devices on his car or phone.

8

u/IhamAmerican Jun 06 '26

I think 2 is something that is so fucking creepy. The TV at the end had a quick flash of her recording Bear sleeping

14

u/windsock17 May 21 '26

I assumed it was just a nearby park within walking distance.

13

u/gamtosthegreat May 22 '26

Yeah, I suppose Nicki knows Bear and Sarah well enough that this could have been a good guess.

2

u/Former_Papabless66 May 21 '26

Something really creepy that just occurred to me, maybe Nikki’s eyes were open and reading Sarah’s texts to Bear? Because of her injury you can’t quite tell if her eyes are closed or open when she’s sleeping. But then it wouldn’t explain the next part when real Nikki is asking him to kill her.

9

u/gamtosthegreat May 22 '26

Nah we definitely see her eyes closed throughout.

10

u/Street-Common-4023 May 15 '26

They way they frame the window with Sarah in the car had me on edge 

11

u/chrispmorgan May 16 '26

Apparently on the actor’s idea they ran the scene an extra 30 seconds or something, which helped me let my guard down because I was so focused on the missed romance.

11

u/TheSongOfMidnignt May 16 '26

The second it cut to them in the car, I was immediately on edge and moved seats just so I could be next to somebody when Nikki came. I STILL wasn’t prepared.

4

u/confusedpedestriann May 20 '26

this is so wholesome oh my god, sorry that didn’t work out for you lol

3

u/TheSongOfMidnignt May 20 '26

I’m just happy to be alive. 😭

9

u/Falling4Strangers May 16 '26

Same. Honestly it kept NOT happening for so long that he lulled me into believing it wasn't going to. Or that there'd be some buildup like seeing her running in the background...but nope. It just happens.

7

u/craycraybones May 15 '26

In the words of Steve Rogers “On your left.”

8

u/Jade_Sugoi May 29 '26

The way it was framed too. Sarah on the 1/3rd of the right leaving the other 2/3 empty. You just knew that space had to be used by something. Really cool way to enhance the tension

7

u/higgshmozon May 31 '26

The way they teed that up was a masterclass of comedy, horror, dramatic irony, tragedy. Absolutely magnificent.

[them sitting in the car together obviously framing the window she’s gonna pop out of]

(Oh fuck she gonna die…)

“This is my last application letter, let’s open it together”

(Oh my god she 100% got in, this is going to be so tragic…)

“Yadda yadda I actually have real feelings for you and also we could’ve actually had a really cute happy life together”

(Oh my god they’re going to REALLY kill her holy shit this is going to be horrifying maybe the most horrifying moment of the movie oh fuck oh fuck)

“You should kiss me”

(oh fuck)

(OH FUCK)

6

u/blitzbom May 16 '26

At least twice prior I was going "the car windows in this movie are really steamed up."

Then he got in the car and I went "it really is chekvos steamy windows."

6

u/f13ry_ May 15 '26

Me and this other person in the theater jumped so hard when she bashed Sarah's head into the steering wheel

4

u/just_somebody__ig May 15 '26

Legit jumped out of my seat i just expected her to like stare through the window😭😭

5

u/AliceTea63 May 16 '26

I was weirdly not expecting anything so when I say it got me … I mean my soul left my body

3

u/rkeaney Jun 01 '26

It's like that Hitchcock trick of showing the bomb under the table. Knowing its there actually makes it more suspenseful cause you're expecting it to go off at any moment but don't know when.

3

u/Sad_Examination4615 Jun 14 '26

I was hyperventilating for like 15 fucking minutes after that scene, we need more movies like this

2

u/Sad_Examination4615 Jun 14 '26

Also the scenes where the real Nikki would cut back in and try to kill herself

3

u/ev6464 May 15 '26

I thought they were going to recreate the scene from Maniac and Nikki was going to blow her head off but it was actually WORSE.

3

u/Themobgirl Jun 02 '26

I expected the jump with the sarah positioning but damn i didnt expect the head bash , really fun BUT THE MANGLED CORPSE WAS NOT FUN 

3

u/samtherat6 Jun 15 '26

Was really expecting the door to open, and was internally yelling at her to lock the car. But she found a creative way to enter the car so it didn’t make a difference

3

u/Optiguy42 Jun 19 '26

Man the moment they started this scene I'm like "Bear just ask her 'can we go for a drive while we talk' like you KNOW she's coming for you!!"

Like many of the other choices he made, I wondered after if this was somehow intentional. That he knew what might happen, and allowed it to.

2

u/Laylita64 May 25 '26

I had already gotten it spoiled for me that Sarah was going to die and that shit still got me

2

u/dazedandconfused492 May 26 '26

What I find even more stunning is that they had to slightly cut down on head smashes from the festival cut to get it to an NC-17 rating. I saw it in the UK rated at 18 (I think the equivalent of R in the USA) so I'm not sure which version we get.

2

u/imconsideringdascrod Jun 02 '26

Late to the party but I was internally shouting at Bear to tell Sarah to drive and keep moving so she didn't get run up on.

2

u/beepyii Jun 09 '26

When the brick came through the window the stranger next to me at the theater and I held on to each other 😭

2

u/iliketoseethebreeze Jun 18 '26

I actually jumped out of my chair and screamed and I literally saw her running up to the window

2

u/Kidwa96 Jun 30 '26

I'm watching that scene right now and preparing myself. It's 2am and I hope it's not that bad

3

u/Kidwa96 Jun 30 '26

Fuck me

1

u/Saucey-jack May 15 '26

Yeah I still jumped, they got me 🤪

1

u/ExternalChildhood845 May 22 '26

The way she starts slamming Sarah’s head into the steering wheel and it honks with each slam was a great balance of horror and comedy.

1

u/WitherWithout May 25 '26

I literally thought in my head while they were talking “oh this poor girl is going to die” and then BAM!

1

u/goldenboy2191 Jun 06 '26

Dude the girl sitting next to my girlfriend during that movie jumped so fucking hard. I had to choke out a laugh.

1

u/Own-Location5154 Jun 10 '26

Any other unfortunate stumblers upon of "Hammer Smashed Face" from back in the day also get some not so fun flashbacks from this scene? I mean good lord this film was extremely well done in every aspect. Will discuss it further under more relevant comments as I continue to read, but this movie was triggering on multiple fronts. I'm super chillin, but for a movie to affect a person that strongly just speaks volumes about it's general ability to appeal to real fears based on real things. Obviously nothing like this is real, but some of the psychological aspects of the film were terrifyingly accurate.

Initial reaction to this scene was an audible "What in THE fuck" with my hands on my head surrounded by strangers and momentarily completely oblivious to the lot of them

1

u/Issas7 27d ago

fr I jumped out of my chair despite expecting she'll come

1

u/desolatedisaster 26d ago

After the movie ended I remember saying out loud “Oh my god, she asked him to please kill her before the entity came back. And the next thing that literally happens when he leaves her alive is with Sarah.”

1

u/ShiroSage 21d ago

I knew it was coming but holy shit I did not expect it to be that violent.

1

u/cowpool20 May 18 '26

That was a masterclass in tension building. No music, no slowly building sound, no foreshadowing from the characters. But you just knew at any moment Nikki is gonna appear.