Focus Features has released a second official trailer for Obsession, alongside new artwork, as the horror film gears up for its May 15 theatrical debut.
The feature marks the big-screen debut of filmmaker Curry Barker, who first gained traction online through the sketch-comedy channel That’s a Bad Idea with collaborator Cooper Tomlinson. Their 2024 horror project Milk & Serial became a viral success, helping position Barker as one of the more closely watched digital creators making the jump into feature filmmaking.
Obsession stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Tomlinson and Megan Lawless. The film follows a hopeless romantic who breaks the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart — and gets exactly what he asked for. It doesn’t take long, however, for him to realise that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Barker has previously revealed how the idea was sparked while watching an episode of The Simpsons in which “Bart gets a monkey paw and causes a bunch of chaos” — a pop-culture twist on the classic cautionary tale that clearly left its mark.
Building on the classic wish-gone-wrong premise, Barker shapes the story into something more psychologically pointed. Navarrette, in particular, leans fully into the film’s central fixation, embodying obsession in a way that gives the concept a human edge rather than playing it as pure genre device.
Obsession will screen at this year’s SXSW Film Festival on March 14 and March 17 before opening exclusively in U.S. theaters on May 15.
