Bear (Michael Johnston) is a music store employee with a crush on co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). When he impulsively buys her a ‘one wish willow’ novelty from a new age store – crack the stick in half and make a wish – and then fails to give her gift, he uses it himself and wishes she will love him ‘more than anybody else in the world’. Love him she does, with a supernatural intensity that turns his hoped-for romance into a nightmare.

Much has been written of Obsession‘s trajectory to success. Writer/director Curry Barker started his career as a sketch comedian on YouTube, and given the chance to make a low-budget feature pivoted to making a horror film instead. That film premiered last year in Toronto, where Focus Features picked up the rights for a record-breaking USD$15 million, and its global theatrical release has resulted in a jaw-dropping $400 million gross to date. This is a massive commercial hit, with strong critical acclaim, and it is now available for viewers to rent it online to watch it at home.

Superficially the film has a somewhat uncomfortable premise, but Barker’s execution of it and the themes he draws from its consequences elevate the film to an unexpected degree. Initially portraying Nikki as a seemingly possessed, extreme sort of obsessive girlfriend, Barker soon begins actively depicting her as the film’s central victim. Her suffering is visceral and provocative. Inde Navarrette’s performance is so effective and intense that a long, successful career on the screen seems inevitable – not to mention very well deserved.

At first it is difficult to blame Bear for his unanticipated and disturbing situation. Certainly his is an easily recognisable personality of the emotionally repressed young man unable to simply express his feelings and thus have them pickle and sour inside of him. As Nikki’s obsessive behaviour increases, however, Bear is presented with a string of moral choices and – like the classic doomed protagonist of many a horror film – fails every single one. Michael Johnston presents an emotionally fragile protagonist, and successfully balances the needs of keeping the audience’s interest and making the necessary foolish choices for the narrative to work. Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless are also very effective in their supporting roles.

The film is hugely impressive in technical terms, with much of its horror impact coming from the film’s excellent sound design. There is an overwhelming sense of dread underlying the action. The most impactful moments come with a perfect jump-scare suddenness. Barker has presented what is, in the end, a fairly straightforward ‘monkey’s paw’ story of making a wish and seeing it twisted into terrible misfortune. His achievement is in taking such a well-exercised story and using to explore toxic masculinity from such a specifically male point of view. There have been a run of films along these themes in recent years, almost exclusively from the viewpoint of a female protagonist: Promising Young Woman, Companion, Birdeater, and so on. Hopefully this latest iteration breaks through to the 50 per cent of the audience that really need to hear the message.

All of that, and it is one of the year’s best horror movies too.

Obsession is now available to rent online via Foxtel, Prime Video, YouTube, Google TV and other outlets.