Inde Navarrette Reveals the Tragic Love Story to Watch After Obsession [EXCLUSIVE]

If you can’t get enough of Curry Barker’s Obsession, you might be looking for movies of a similar ilk to dive into next. Well, one of the film's stars, Inde Navarrette, has the perfect solution.

Navarrette plays Nikki in the hit horror movie that’s taking the box office by storm right now. The internet is flooded with fan theories, memes, and calls for a sequel.

If you’re in the latter camp of needing more after watching Obsession, you might not even need to stick within the horror genre, as Navarrette reveals in an exclusive interview with JustWatch that there's a romantic comedy which actually delivers everything you need.

Obsession and 500 Days Of Summer Have A Lot In Common

In the interview, Navarrette discusses the merits of the 2009 flick 500 Days of Summer, and suggests it’s weirdly very compatible with the themes presented in Obsession.

She said: “500 Days of Summer is a great movie… I think that Obsession and that movie kind of might be very similar.”

She’s absolutely right. While the two films are wildly different in tone – 500 Days of Summer has significantly less smashed skulls and jumpscares – they both centre around a man who longs to be loved by the girl of his dreams, only to find that things don’t always work out the way you hoped.

Nikki and Bear’s relationship is built upon the powers of the One-Wish Willow, and there is simply no escaping the fact that Nikki never really wanted to be with him. While 'Real Nikki' is trapped in a kind of demonic purgatory, 'Wish Nikki' makes life hell for Bear by loving him just a little too much.

Tom and Summer in 500 Days, meanwhile, start a casual fling that means something very different to each of them, and it ultimately ends in heartache when that clash of interests is confronted.

Essentially, the two titles feature romantic relationships that were doomed to fail from the start. So, if you enjoy films about unrequited love with problematic protagonists and a few shocking twists, you’ll definitely find a lot to appreciate in both of these movies.

Is Tom The Villain Of His Own Love Story Just Like Bear?

On a first watch of 500 Days of Summer – like in this JustWatch Party Podcast clip – most viewers see Tom as an endearing and unwitting victim, while Summer is regarded as the heartless villain of the story. I’ll admit, I felt the same initially, but upon a rewatch, we learn that’s not actually true.

Summer told Tom from the get-go that she didn’t want a serious relationship. Sure, the pair have a lot of fun and seemed really happy together, but she’s well within her rights to call time on that when she realises that he’s not the one she wants to spend her life with.

Granted, inviting Tom to a party at her apartment only to reveal she is engaged is a bit harsh. However, for Summer, the chance of rekindling their past romance was never on the cards. She genuinely just wanted to be friends with Tom again.

On the flipside, Tom is actually kind of the bad guy in all of this. Not only does he ignore Summer’s initial boundaries when it comes to the kind of relationship she wants, but he also projects his own fantasies onto her and then blames her for not living up to that, even though she never agreed with his sentiment of finding “the one”. In truth, Tom never truly knew Summer; he just loved the idea of her.

The same can be said for Bear in Obsession, albeit to a far more severe level. Despite seemingly being friends with Nikki for a very long time, he’s fairly oblivious to what actually makes her tick. He doesn’t know how to talk to her, he’s unaware of her life beyond their friendship, and he misses all the signs that she’s secretly been sleeping with his best buddy, Ian.

Obsession is not a love story at all; it’s a classic case of a guy falling for the ‘cool girl’ without actually taking the time or putting in the effort to really get to know her. All of this drives Bear to very selfish means to make the relationship work, and it causes Nikki trauma and suffering beyond belief.

To make matters worse, even when he realises the dream relationship has become a nightmare and learns in no uncertain terms just how miserable the real Nikki is because of his wish, Bear lets his own ego prevent him from doing the right thing and bringing it all to an end.

Tom and Bear may have very different methods when it comes to navigating relationships – and find themselves in vastly different situations, too – but both of these men have one major thing in common: they both think they’re the heroes of their own story who have been dealt a rough hand, when in reality, they were the villains all along.