Focus Features has released the first trailer for Obsession, the breakout feature debut from writer-director Curry Barker and my personal favorite film from last year’s festival cycle. The studio has partnered with Blumhouse for the U.S. release, and you can watch the first teaser for the terrifying title below.
Obsession made its world premiere as a midnight screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was hailed as a shocking and unsettling descent into abject horror. The film went on to play sold-out screenings at Fantastic Fest and later won Sitges’ People’s Choice Award. It currently holds a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Jason Blum now serves as an executive producer on the project, with both Blumhouse and Focus Features logos appearing on marketing materials.
Obsession is the first proper full-length feature from Curry Barker. The terrifying film stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, and Cooper Tomlinson in star-making turns that will have audiences talking come May 2026. Navarrette in particular delivers a jaw-dropping performance. In my 5-star review out of its TIFF world premiere, I wrote:
“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.”
In the film, after breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
One of Obsession‘s central themes is consent and bodily autonomy—tricky subject matter that filmmaker Curry Barker handles with care.
“I think that when you’re dealing with a movie that has to do with forcing someone to love you, yeah, it’s inevitable. The whole movie is kind of about consent—in the sense of controlling someone to love you, the premise itself, right? And really showing Bear is not necessarily a good guy,” he told us in an interview earlier this year.
Check out the Obsession teaser trailer here:
Obsession arrives in theaters on May 15, 2026.
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