The obsession with Obsession is scary, not the film itself
My rating: 30%
Published: 2026-6-2
Beware of spoilers.
Obsession was supremely overrated. I enjoyed Backrooms more but I also thought Backrooms was somewhat overrated. Both films were ok, neither superb.
Obsession prob had potential but what we were given was definitely not special. Too predictable, didn’t really do anything new or particularly well. Even given the silly storyline, a lot of it was nonsensical.
The last 10-15 mins or so of Obsession especially seemed rushed and odd. Just a few examples: Ian wishes for a billion dollars and it immediately came tumbling out of the ceiling. They couldn’t even directly film it coming out of the ceiling because it would look stupid. Then after Bear goes back to his home, Ian comes over and says it worked, he got a billion dollars. Uh, did Ian forget Bear was there when it happened? Also, Bear’s decision to kill himself seemed very shortsighted when there were obviously other options.
It also relied too much on jump scares. I don’t react to jump scares but I could tell that’s what they were going for with the loud sudden bits where a few people around me in the theater reacted.
There were numerous more interesting horror or horror-adjacent films released in just the last year or two that if I’m not mistaken so far haven’t fared as well as Obsession in terms of ratings and box office (Together, Bring Her Back, Weapons, Presence, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Heretic, Terrifier 3, to name several off the top of my head) that I wonder if there’s something unusual skewing its success. Maybe marketing drew in people who don’t watch many horror films. No idea.
Update:
{After some comments I received on other sites for clarification or otherwise, I added the below:}
Relativity. Good for a low-budget first film. But a stick-figure drawing doesn’t compete with the best works of Leonardo da Vinci.
I could talk about numerous categories here but I’ll talk about one I haven’t seen mentioned as much. Many things just didn’t make sense, in a bad way, like the script doesn’t gel, in some cases maybe mixed with mismatched acting by or directing of Bear. Some examples, beyond what others mentioned:
(1) Bear hangs up after hearing Nikki screaming on the phone call with the willow company. Instead of utilizing a perfect opportunity to dig further (by speaking with Nikki and the dude on the phone), he looks to be in a state of despair (IIRC) – yet at the same time, relatively un-shocked … considering it was the first obvious confirmation (to Bear) something supernatural was going on.
(2) Bear looks pretty unsurprised when cash rains from the ceiling, like he was expecting it, although that’s way more obviously supernatural than demonic Nikki.
(3) Wish sticks are extremely powerful, to the degree anyone can become an instant billionaire, yet apparently this power not only hasn’t been exploited to any obvious degree in the world, but seems, somehow, virtually unknown among the human population.
(4) The general acceptance of Bear to supernatural events yet generally treating Nikki like she’s not really possessed, etc.
I understand the director was big on YouTube, and I’m wondering if there’s a huge YT fanbase pushing up the ratings which may explain some but not all of the rating inflation.
To give credit, this film is good for a low-budget first film. But this touches on an important dimension: relativity. I’d say it’s a RELATIVELY GOOD film GIVEN those assumptions (Can I do better? Seriously doubt it, in this universe), but rating or praising highly RELATIVE to other films that achieved much more undermines the usefulness of the rating system as a gauge.
As an analogy, I wouldn’t say that a stick-figure drawing by a 1-year old kid can compete with the best works of Leonardo da Vinci. Sure, I might rate the kid’s drawing relatively good for their age, but I wouldn’t say it deserves the reputation that Da Vinci’s best works have. The parents praising the kid’s drawing and saying it’s better than the Mona Lisa represent the fanbase.
Then again, if we can understand how the parents might perceive it that way, we may also understand all ratings are just an expression of subjective human opinions; doesn’t really matter in the long run. I’ll just have to try harder before making a trip to the cinema to determine what’s worth my time without going as much by ratings and box office. It’s far from the first time a highly-rated film has made me wonder why it’s gotten so much praise, although this issue has been less common on my end for horror films (but speaking of recent horror films, I definitely found Nosferatu overrated too – I even napped during it, something I didn’t do during Obsession, so I guess there’s a point for Obsession).