What Critics Said About Obsession’s Concept And Direction

IndieWire’s Christian Zilko gave the film a B+ grade, calling it "proof that the Cregger-ification of 2020s horror is in full effect," with its blend of sadistic violence, ironic needle drops, and comedy extracted from people responding to tragedy in self-serving ways earning ready comparisons to Barbarian.

Variety’s Guy Lodge said, “Obsession initially seems simplistic, and even a bit silly, in its rehash of the age-old monkey’s paw trope. Like the consequences of that ill-considered wish, however, it proves eerily hard to shake.”

Rue Morgue Magazine was more direct in its praise, writing that Barker taps into emotions audiences will find relatable, hooking viewers into the central situation before spinning it into territory that is genuinely chilling, per Rotten Tomatoes.

The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus, drawing on over 100 reviews, says, “Taking an icky conceit and twisting it to deviously crowd-pleasing ends, Obsession is dauntingly disturbing while also skillfully amusing and thrilling.”

Deep Focus Review was relatively measured, acknowledging that the blend of humour and what the critic described as gristly terror is "wildly entertaining, particularly in a packed theater at a late-night screening," while noting that the film is overly reliant on ironic needle drops and that its characters occasionally lack the dimensionality the premise deserves.

RogerEbert.com’s Katie Rife described the film as "quite messy, splattering blood and bad vibes all over every available surface," an ambivalent appreciation of the film’s commitment to its own maximalism.

What Critics Said About Obsession And The Awards Question

The awards conversation has been dominated by Navarrette, and the critical record supports the attention. Boston Hassle called her performance "one of the most fearlessly committed comic-horror performances in recent memory," per Rotten Tomatoes.

Dread Central’s Josh Korngut wrote: "The not-so-secret weapon is Inde Navarrette as Nikki. Her ghoulishness has all the makings of a newly minted horror icon. I'm not exaggerating when I say this performance is genuinely startling. Think of Mikey Madison's fireworks in Anora, then imagine she's been bitten by a Deadite suffering from the world's worst migraines. Her suffering is nearly as frightening as the suffering she enacts on the world around her. It's a revelation".

Variety’s awards column described Navarrette’s performance as one that "demands awards attention," drawing direct comparisons to the horror performances that recently broke through at the Academy, Michael B. Jordan in Sinners, for example while acknowledging that genre bias and the film's May release remain structural challenges.

Next Best Picture wrote that the performance positions Navarrette well to accumulate mid-season prizes that could keep her name visible through the year.

What Critics Said About Obsession's Weaknesses

Not every review was unreserved. Deep Focus Review raised the most substantive critical objection: that the film presents Bear as a sympathetic protagonist despite the fact that he has committed an act of profound violation, and that the story punishes him without clearly establishing that he has understood the lesson he should have learned.

The critic drew a parallel to Passengers and The Stepford Wives in noting that the horror of Bear’s wish is ultimately a form of captivity that the film occasionally risks framing as a romance complication rather than a moral catastrophe.

Keith & the Movies flagged a related issue, noting that while Nikki is compelling throughout, Bear stays largely in one gear, which is a sustained state of shock that keeps Michael Johnston’s character from developing the dimensionality that would fully hit home the film’s emotional stakes.

Where The Critical Consensus Arrives On Obsession

The film is not without its detractors, but the score and the volume of the positive reception suggest they are in the minority, which is unusual for a horror feature, especially a debut one. What the critical record shows most clearly is that Obsession is a film that knows exactly what it wants to be — a crowd-pleasing, viscerally effective horror film with a strong thematic premise about consent and autonomy — and that it delivers on those terms with enough conviction to overcome whatever unevenness sits underneath the surface.

As a debut from a 26-year-old director who reportedly made it for $750,000, though, Obsession has already exceeded what the critical conversation usually asks of a film this size.