Obsession shocks the world, but not how you think
Everyone loves an underdog, don’t they? All the great Hollywood stories start with an underdog. Rocky. The Karate Kid. Cinderella Man. Even Star Wars. All classics, all tales of the little guy overcoming every obstacle, beating the odds and emerging on top. We eat it up. Maybe it’s because we all see ourselves as an underdog? I have opinions on that subject, but they aren’t for this venue. Whatever. It is hardly debatable that we, as a nation and possibly a human race, root for the guy (or girl) refusing to submit to the inevitable. And that’s the real attraction of Obsession.
The story told in Obsession is basically this: lovelorn wimp Bear (Michael Johnston) is so desperate to have the affection of long-time friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) that he is willing to place his futile hopes on a witchcraft novelty toy, the One Wish Willow. For $6.99, Bear purchases what any sane person would know to be an impulse-buy of no actual value to force Nikki to give him what he desires…her love. It’s not hard to wrap your head around Bear’s motivations on their face. Self-serving, immature, even delusional want. The motivations of a child. It’s not until you dig a little deeper that Obsession starts to get ugly (or uglier, if you like).
Credit where credit is due
Right from jump street, I want to say that the two lead actors gave very serviceable performances. If Johnston isn’t a spineless wimp IRL, then he did a remarkable job in the role. His character was 100% cringe and that seems like it would be hard to believably pull off. Navarrette absolutely sold the part of an obsessed, psychotic girlfriend. I imagine that would be an easier part to play because it only demands that you commit to the over-the-top antics (think Jim Carey in nearly every role). So, kudos to them. Well done.
As for every other role in Obsession…well…I feel like pretty much anyone with a lick of acting courage could have filled the bill. Oddly, the only name of note was Andy Richter, of Conan Obrien second banana fame. How or why he was in this movie is a mystery. Blink and you’ll miss him, if you even knew who he was to begin with. But whatever.
You just got Punk’d. By a rookie.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock when it comes to Hollywood news, you already know the story behind the story. Obsession was written and directed by YouTuber Curry Barker and is his first wide-release horror movie. It was made on a budget of $750k and shot over a period of just weeks. To this date, it has grossed over $166M. Eat your heart out, Scream 7.
Obsession now exists in the rarified air of The Blair Witch Project in terms of budget-to-revenue percentage. If Hollywood isn’t panicking right now, the studios have surely created a department of non-mainstream talent acquisition. With ever rising production costs and insane star salaries, they’d be fools not to take note of the Obsession lesson.
I’m still trying to figure that out
So how did Obsession get so popular? In a time when theaters are struggling, what is putting butts in seats for this movie? I have a couple of theories, and none of them are awesome. I’d be very interested in having open discussions. Here goes nothing…
Content consumption is at an all-time high and not slowing down. In the long-ago, CC was considered an event. Dad and Mom would get gussied up to go to the theater and see the latest Humphrey Bogart movie.
Then along came television. Content Consumption took a massive leap upward. Moms would watch their ‘stories’ while folding the laundry. Kids would get up early on Saturday to watch cartoons. Then came HBO (now over 50 years old, and that bakes my melon). CC is now available 24/7.
Not long after, cable tv. The internet and streaming services. All content, all the time, in your pocket, on a device with more computing power than the room-sized magnetic tape spinning devices that sent astronauts to the moon. All in our lifetime.
So, it comes as zero surprise that a little guy YouTuber created something that captured an amazing amount of attention. When content comes from everywhere, constantly bombarding us with choices for our addiction to distraction, lightning was going to strike somewhere away from the Hollywood machine. And you can bet it won’t be the last.
But there has to be more to it, doesn’t there?
When I look at the male lead character for Obsession, I see a pitiable, weak, directionless, borderline slacker in the company of other slightly less pitiable characters. And I wonder…does this very low-T character resonate with young adults these days? Are they so scared that they can’t muster the courage to ask a girl out? So desperate that they will try anything? Even novelty witchcraft? Do young men sit in their cars alone at night screaming in frustration because they lack the confidence to go after their current heart’s desire?
These are some of the deeper issues that the popularity of Obsession brings to mind. Just observing the decline of maturity and stoicism in youth today. I guess that kind of empathy is something that usually comes with age.
SO…your humble Average Dude is going to give Obsession a wimpy 2 stars out of 5. A sad score for a sad movie. I went to see it partly out of curiosity, partly because my best friend’s eldest wanted a Dude’s night and it was his choice. We both agreed that we should have seen Backrooms instead.
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