There were many things I liked about this film, and one major drawback that I disliked. I thought that the acting was superb, especially by the lead actress. The horror elements were also very strong, in a way that never (to me) felt cheap. The tension was perfect throughout the film. On a deeper note, I enjoyed the bait-and-switch of the “Obsession” being the female lead’s for the male’s, as opposed to the other way around, as I assumed at the outset. I think that horror films are at their best when they reflect something in society, and I thought many scenes in this film did a fantastic job of playing on the horror of an inescapable, abusive relationship.
However, I think this film truly consists of two excellent films, and that it suffers for their combination. The first is a story about Bear’s fear of “Possessed Nikki” (who serves as a different character than Nikki) and her abusive treatment of him, echoing the very real fear that people in abusive relationships feel, with a standard horror genre amplification. The second is a story about Nikki’s being forced into a relationship with Bear without her ability to resist or act in any way of her own accord, echoing a slightly different but equally real fear. I think that these could have been two separate, fantastic films, but that combining the two diminishes the power of both stories. Instead, the film seems too interested on telling a story in which the abuse is two-sided (both the Bear–>Nikki and Nikki–>Bear relationships reflect abusive relationships), which seems to me a strange and somewhat distracting message in an otherwise brilliant horror film.
Leave a comment