Obsession
The big development in Hollywood these days is independent movies like Backrooms and Obsession, low-budget flicks made by Gen Z YouTubers, breaking past “establishment” gatekeepers. The Gen Z kids have been killing it at the box office.
I went to see Obsession, Curry Barker’s horror film about a young couple who, well — it’s basically Play Misty for Me (look it up, kids) with a supernatural twist.
In short, the young man uses a mumbo-jumbo trick to get hot girl to like him. Really, really like him. Yeah, be careful what you wish for.
Pros: There is one scene that takes place in the front seat of a car that made me literally jolt in my seat. Yes, it was a dreaded “jump scare,” but it was earned because, somewhere in the back of my consciousness, I was afraid something like it might happen. And then it did. And it got me.
Cons: For most of the film, I was more depressed than fearful. I felt bad for young people who, college degree or not, find themselves working minimum-wage jobs and splurging on “trivia nights” at the bar for entertainment. No wonder these penniless kids resent older generations. Release: 2026 Grade: B
Would I watch it again? Possibly. It’s a well-made movie, but not all that new.
**
Send Help
Director Sam Raimi is still living down a scene in his breakthrough movie The Evil Dead in which a girl is sexually assaulted by … a tree limb. I suspect much of Send Help, Raimi’s latest movie, is meant to atone for that sinful scene — at least in the eyes of woke Hollywood.
The movie, in which a male boss and his female subordinate get stranded on a deserted island (think Swept Away), seems hellbent on paying back old-time misogyny with modern-day misandry.
The male gaze? More like the female gaze. Raimi’s camera lingers on naked Dylan O’Brien’s backside as he stands in the ocean surf. Meanwhile, Rachel McAdams “bathes” in a waterfall — without removing any clothes.
There are multiple scenes in which the much smaller McAdams out-muscles co-star O’Brien in hand-to-hand combat.
And then there is the infamous faux castration scene. I could almost hear Raimi whispering to Hollywood, “Does this make up for the tree-limb scene?” Release: 2026 Grade: B-
Would I watch it again? No.
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