It’s impossible to talk about Curry Barker’s horrifying feature debut Obsession without mentioning Inde Navarrette‘s star-making performance as Nikki. She starts things off as a confident young woman who is transformed into a possessive, increasingly terrifying shell of her former self after her hapless coworker Bear (Michael Johnston) makes a wish on a novelty toy for her to love him “more than anyone else in the entire world.”
What makes the performance so effective is that she never lets Nikki become a caricature of a possessed girl, even as the film spirals further and further into nightmare territory. Like Jeff Goldblum, who was snubbed for Best Actor for his performance in The Fly, Navarrette manages to maintain a sense of humanity, clinging to fragments of her former self and pleading for mercy as Bear’s wish hollows her out from the inside.
In one of the earlier scenes in the film, Nikki sits across from Bear at a restaurant, her eyes sparkling as she reminds him that she loves him “so, so, so, so, so much.” When Bear asks her if she loves him more than anyone else, she looks around the restaurant with a girlish, slightly bashful expression. “Yes,” she quips, her lips suddenly tight. “More than anyone.” But before Bear can even muster the courage to ask her the question that’s actually on his mind, we already know something terrible is about to erupt. This is truly brilliant stuff.
In Dread Central’s review of Obsession, Editorial Director Josh Korngut wrote: “The not-so-secret weapon is Inde Navarrette as Nikki. Her ghoulishness has all the makings of a newly minted horror icon. I’m not exaggerating when I say this performance is genuinely startling. Think of Mikey Madison’s fireworks in Anora, then imagine she’s been bitten by a Deadite suffering from the world’s worst migraines. Her suffering is nearly as frightening as the suffering she enacts on the world around her. It’s a revelation.”
Mikey Madison, of course, is fresh off her own remarkable breakout. The Academy handed her the Oscar for Best Actress for Anora, a small, scrappy indie where she was simply undeniable. It was the sort of newcomer performance that will, without question, catch the eye of an entire industry and its audience. By happy coincidence, Madison also belongs to the horror canon, having played Amber Freeman in 2022’s Scream, making her the first Ghostface to ever snag an Oscar.
Navarrette and Madison are two exceptional performers who share skill, charisma, and unheard-of levels of talent. The biggest difference between their circumstances is, of course, genre. A few years ago, it would have been nearly impossible for a horror performance to take center stage. Now, however, things seem to have changed in a big way. Unfortunately, there’s one horror performance that was never given the recognition it deserved…
Speaking to Dread Central, Navarrette gave flowers to Toni Collette, whose intense performance as Annie Graham in Ari Aster’s Hereditary—which is still considered one of the most glaring Best Actress snubs in recent history—served as inspiration for her performance as Nikki. “Toni Collette, holy cow—like, just what an absolute performance,” Navarrette told us. “She inspired me a lot…to kind of just say, ‘You gotta send it, you gotta do everything that you possibly can.’”
Thankfully, the Academy seems to be changing its mind when it comes to recognizing performances in the horror genre. In 2024, Demi Moore earned a Best Actress nomination for her performance in Coralie Fargeat‘s body horror hit The Substance, signalling a major shift in how the genre is viewed by awards voters.
Then, this year, Ryan Coogler’s Southern Gothic vampire epic Sinners received a record-breaking 16 nominations, with Michael B. Jordan winning Best Actor for his dual performance as Smoke and Stack. Meanwhile, Amy Madigan also won Best Supporting Actress for Zach Cregger’s supernatural horror hit Weapons. And if all is fair, it’s time for Inde to receive that same recognition for playing Nikki.
Obsession is, without a doubt, a striking, star-making turn for Navarrette. And no matter what happens during the 2027 awards season, she’ll continue to shine in major roles throughout her career and become a household name. Still, if the Academy is truly entering a new era where horror is taken seriously, then her fearless—and fear-inducing—performance deserves real recognition.
Obsession is only in theaters this Friday, May 15. You can grab your tickets here.
Categorized:Editorials