Supernatural tales of wishes gone wrong exist as a minor genre staple. For an update on that theme, we head to 2026's Obsession.

Baron "Bear" Bailey (Michael Johnston) boasts a major crush on his co-worker Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) but she clearly views him just as a friend. One night Bear discovers a novelty item called "One Wish Willow", a trinket that claims it'll live up to its billing and give its possessor a single wish that comes true.

Though he doesn't believe it'll do anything, Bear buys it as a lark and uses it to hope Nikki would love him absolutely and totally. To Bear's astonishment, it succeeds but this doesn't work out as well as Bear expects.

As I write this in early August 2026, Obsession sits in seventh place at the US box office for the year with a total to date of nearly $263 million. Worldwide, the movie has taken in almost $475 million so far.

On their own, those numbers don't seem remarkable until you consider a few factors. For one, Obsession offers an "R"-rated horror flick, a genre that tends to be profitable but that rarely reaches audiences so large.

Even more remarkably, though, Obsession exists outside of established franchises, comes from a writer/director known primarily for YouTube videos and includes no actors with any star power at all. When Andy Richter is by far the most famous person in a cast, that means the movie includes no "names".

Throw in the fact Obsession cost a mere $750,000 to make - or about one-third of one percent of the budget for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the current top dog as I write - and there's no question what the year's biggest surprise hit and most profitable flick will be. Backrooms became another inexpensive horror success but it had more money and more stars so it doesn't quite match the stunning success of Obsession.

After all that hype, do I think Obsession deserves its status as a massive box office smash? Probably not, but it does deliver an enjoyable cautionary tale.

Inevitably, any audiences that take in an out of nowhere hit like Obsession will view it through a different lens than the folks who watched it earlier. The latter group will gravitate toward diehard genre fans and the "latecomers" will likely exhibit less affection for horror.

Also, the folks who didn't watch Obsession until it'd made buckets of money simply went in with expectations of a classic film. The earlybirds more likely took it on its own merits.

I fell somewhere between those poles. I saw Obsession about 10 days into its run, so the movie'd already become a hit but it hadn't yet demonstrated the amazing legs that allowed it to wind up as such a smash.

I thought Obsession provided a good but not great flick when I saw it theatrically and this second screening maintains the same view. Although I can’t quite explain why it turned into such a juggernaut at the box office, that doesn’t mean I don’t get its appeal.

Though he comes from the aforementioned background as the creator of YouTube shorts, writer/director Curry Barker forms a solid narrative here. Obsession proceeds in a coherent and logical manner as it draws us into its story.

Barker doesn’t telegraph much and he allows the events to unfold gradually. I like that Obsession doesn’t feel the need to shock/startle the viewer right out of the gate, as it allows the creepy horror to build naturally.

The actors help sell the material as well. In particular, Navarrette doesn’t go cartoony or over the top as Nikki.

Navarrette easily could overdo her character’s behavior but she holds back in an appropriate manner. Johnston plays the straight man and grounds matters.

Does any of this make Obsession a horror classic? No, but it delivers a quality genre effort.

Obsession appears in an aspect ratio of 1.50:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a positive presentation.

Sharpness looked solid. A few shots were slightly soft, but not to a substantial degree, so most of the movie seemed accurate and concise.

No jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws were a non-factor, as the movie stayed clean.

Like most modern horror, Obsession favored a mix of teal and amber. Within their parameters, the colors appeared solid.

Blacks seemed deep and tight, while shadows were smooth and well-delineated. In the end, the transfer proved to be appealing.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt positive about the pretty good Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Obsession. Given the nature of the story, moody environmental information dominated the mix.

These elements filled out the speakers in a fairly involving manner. The movie didn’t become a constant whiz-bang soundfield, but it created a decent sense of place.

The more active “scare moments” used the spectrum in the most dynamic manner, but they failed to appear on a frequent basis. Instead, music and moody ambience became the most prominent components.

Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise. Effects depicted the elements with acceptable accuracy and boasted pleasing low-end when necessary.

Music showed positive clarity and range, and they also packed solid bass response at times. This was a perfectly positive mix for the material.

A few extras appear and these open with an audio commentary Barker delivers a good but not tremendously insightful track here. He digs through useful topics in a generally positive manner but he sags at times and doesn’t quite make this a “must listen” chat.

I also feel disappointed he never relates why he chose the movie’s oddball 1.50:1 aspect ratio. That exists as such an unusual frame that there must be a good rationale for it but Barker never spills those beans.

Obsession Unleashed goes for 19 minutes, 13 seconds. It includes remarks from Barker and actors Inde Navarrette, Michael Johnston, Megan Lawless, and Cooper Tomlinson.

The featurette digs into the movie’s roots and development, story/characters, cast and performances, storyboards, photography and editing, stunts and effects. Inevitably “Unleashed” repeats some notes from Barker’s commentary but it nonetheless delivers a pretty good little overview.

A stunning example of a no-budget flick that brought in massive bucks at the box office, Obsession doesn’t reinvent any supernatural horror wheels. Nonetheless, it explores its subject matter in a lively manner and becomes a quality genre entry. The Blu-ray offers solid picture and audio along with a few bonus features. Although I can’t quite explain why audiences went so gaga for it, Obsession still brings a compelling and creepy experience.