Obsession: 10 'Fun' Facts About Making the Year's Most Disturbing Horror Film

Curry Barker’s Obsession continues to go from strength to strength, and it comes with an enthralling behind-the-scenes story.

Currently sitting on a box-office of $427 million, the movie now holds the title of highest-grossing horror movie of the ‘20s, taking the crown from 2025’s Sinners.

With the whole world enraptured with the story of Bear and his ill-thought wish to make his crush, Nikki, love him more than anyone, we thought it was time to dig a little deeper into how Obsession came to be. Here are some of our favourite fun facts about making 2026’s most disturbing horror film.

1. An Episode of The Simpsons Was a Key Inspiration

While writer and director Curry Barker has spoken at length about how both Hereditary and Pulse were big influences on Obsession, an early inspiration came from none other than The Simpsons. As he began brainstorming the idea for the film, Barker happened to catch a re-run of Treehouse of Horror II. After pigging out on candy before bed, Lisa, Bart, and Homer suffer from nightmares which form the segments in the Halloween anthology episode. The first nightmare belongs to Lisa and sees the family purchase a cursed monkey paw while holidaying in Morocco. The paw grants the family wishes, but each gets twisted up in some way. 

Speaking about his viewing of the episode, Barker said, “I was thinking... we’ve seen ‘be careful what you wish for’ tons of times. But we’ve never seen my version of it. I instantly started thinking about what I could do with that.” One of the funniest moments of The Simpsons story is when Homer tries to make a safe wish and asks for a turkey sandwich, but even that is marred by turkey that’s ‘a little dry’. The sandwich scene in Obsession is equally memorable, though Bear would much rather dry turkey, than what he actually gets as filling. 

2. The Film Was Shot Over A Short Number of Days

Whereas big budget movies have shoot schedules that last months, in the realm of independent filmmaking, it is often just days. Obsession is no exception, with the bulk of the movie shot across just 20 days, with a further six for pick-ups and reshoots.

Time was a luxury that Barker and the team didn’t have, and so there were often very few takes of any one scene. This can be a risk, but can also help make a performance feel more authentic and improvised than rehearsed and robotic. 

3. Inde Navarrette Gave Different Performances in Separate Takes

One of the big talking points of Obsession is whether Nikki would have been interested in Bear if he had just been honest with her. This ambiguity was intentional, with Barker getting actress Inde Navarrette to record two different takes of the early scenes.

One of these takes was where Nikki was into Bear, and the other where she saw him only as a friend. Then, during the editing process, Barker spliced the two different approaches together. As Obsession is told from Bear’s perspective, this trick works and helps feed into the character's anxiety about whether he should risk telling her his feelings. 

4. Michael Johnston Was Near Blind During Some of The Shoot

If you log Obsession more than once on Letterboxd you get a little message from one of the cast. Michael Johnston’s video includes a little trivia tidbit to show his appreciation and he shares that during the early scenes in the bar, he couldn’t actually see more than about 20 inches from his face.

This was due to him having forgotten to put in his contact lens that day. So anything filmed that day was done so with him barely able to see properly. This might explain some of Bear’s nervous energy, but is definitely something to keep in mind the next time you watch Obsession. 

5. The Car Scenes Weren’t Filmed On Location

Although larger productions can afford to close down roads to film car scenes, or pay for green screen to later composite in the outside world, Obsession was working with limited funds. This meant that any of the sequences set inside a car were actually filmed on a sound stage.

It’s an old movie trick that usually involves some of the crew helping wobble the car off screen to give the illusion of movement. What Curry Barker did though was set up LCD screens outside the windows and played a video of a believable backdrop instead. 

6. There’s a Reason The Music Store Looks Familiar

Nikki and Bear, along with Sarah and Ian, all work at the same music store. Why a store that seems to be very light on customers needs a full staff of four, plus a manager, has been a talking point since Obsession was released. But others have been distracted by the building itself, and, if it looks familiar, it’s because it is the same place seen in Wayne’s World.

That’s right, Bear’s place of work is the same store in which Wayne Campbell’s dream guitar was purchased from. The store in question is Cassell’s Music in San Fernando, California, but sadly, not long after Obsession wrapped filming, the store closed. It is a massive shame as there are likely plenty of fans who would be keen to seek out Bear’s place of work. 

7. At Least One Blooper Made the Cut

Sometimes actors forget their line, flub an action, or simply get confused about what comes next. A lot of the time, the director calls cut, they reset, and the footage never sees the light of day. Other times, the accident is a happy one and works its way into the final cut. Previous examples can be found in Donnie Darko and Looper. During Donnie Darko, Gretchen gets the name of her teacher wrong and Donnie corrects her. That wasn’t scripted but rather Jena Malone getting her words confused. In Looper, the character of Kid Blue is seen attempting some gunslinging tricks only to drop the gun. Actor Noah Segan had been practicing the skill and nailed it every time with that one exception. Director Rian Johnson kept it in as it helped with the comedic element of the character. 

In Obsession there are a couple of instances, but the most notable comes after Nikki returns to Bear’s car after he makes his wish. She opens his door and says, “I know what you're trying to do” before standing up and getting confused whether to turn left or right. She then laughs to herself, at which point Bear asks what she is doing. Within the context of the story, with Nikki being newly taken over, her disorientation makes sense, but the truth is Inde Navarrette really did forget which way she was supposed to turn. 

8. Curry Barker Has A Cameo

Prior to directing Obsession, Curry Barker was a YouTube star alongside Cooper Tomlinson (who plays Ian) and appeared in video after video. Barker also starred in his movie Milk & Serial, but when it came to Obsession he decided to keep himself behind the camera.

He does have a sneaky cameo, though. While he does not appear on-screen, it is Barker that you can hear on the other end of the phone when Bear calls the One Wish Willow helpline. 

9. There’s a Reason That Hansel and Gretel Poem Sounds Strange

During one of Obsession’s big moments, Bear and Nikki head over to Ian’s for a party. The group are sitting around playing a game of Truth or Dare with Jenga blocks, and Nikki uses her turn to read out a poem that she’s been working on.

The words present a haunting twist on Hansel and Gretel and shock everyone at the party. With the poem being Nikki’s voice — or whatever is inside of her — Barker was keen that the dialogue not sound like anything else he had written. In order to ensure this he enlisted the help of his father, playwright Jeff Barker. So it’s Barker Senior we have to thank for that nightmare fuel. 

10. That Vomit at the End Was Almost Real 

During the climax of Obsession, a distraught Nikki accidentally vomits all over Bear. When they were shooting the scene, Inde Navarrette genuinely did almost throw-up on Michael Johnston and so the fear in Bear’s eye during that sequence is real. The reason why Johnston was nearly vomited on for real is that the method of fake vomiting made Navarrette gag.

In order to perform convincing on-screen sickness, Navarrette had to have a tube with fake vomit in her mouth and down her throat. That pipe caused her to retch and cause terror for Johnston. Speaking about the moment, Johnston has stated that he would have been willing to have her really throw up on him in order to make the scene as realistic as possible.