Horror films often rely on monsters appearing in the form of ghosts, creatures, bloodthirsty villains hiding in the shadows. But in Kari Barker’s Obsession, the real terror is far more familiar: emotional dependency, blurred boundaries, and the dangerous confusion between love and fixation.

In an exclusive conversation with India Today, writer-director Currie Barker and actors Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrete get candid about the film’s emotional core, modern dating culture and how passion transforms psychological vulnerability into horror. The conversation started with a simple question: After living inside such emotionally intense characters, did the film make them feel cynical about modern relationships?

Michael Johnston, who played the bear, admitted that the story resonated with lessons he had learned earlier in his life. “That’s a good question,” he said. “I went into it knowing that Bear has this idea that this girl is going to somehow make her life better instead of dealing with her issues. I’ve already learned that lesson in my life. So going into this movie and getting to inhabit that character was really therapeutic.”

For Johnson, Bear’s emotional dependence was less a fantastical exaggeration and more an uneasy reflection of how people sometimes expect romance to heal personal emptiness.

However, Barker saw it differently when writing the story. “Being its author, I think I was able to separate it from any text,” he explained. “I was mostly just excited to be on set making a movie that I wrote.” When jokingly asked if the movie made anyone feel like “If this is love, I don’t want it,” Inde Navarrete quickly clarified what she believes is at the heart of the obsession.

He said, “There is a difference between love and romance. There is a difference between love and passion.” “That’s really what we wanted to take home.”

Despite the film’s volatile emotional turmoil, Navarrete insists that she still believes in love. “No, because I love love,” she said, laughing. “But passion is different. Maybe it taught me the difference between love and romance.”

That difference became one of the film’s strongest thematic threads. Passion doesn’t just mean romance becoming toxic; It’s about emotional imbalance, projection, and the dangerous idea of ​​attributing self-worth to another person.

Beyond the relationship drama, Obsession also stands out in how it handles horror. The film avoids relying too heavily on physical monsters, instead allowing emotions and psychological degradation to be the real source of fear.

When asked if that metaphorical approach to horror was intentional, Barker pointed to one of cinema’s oldest tricks.

“Oh yes, definitely on purpose,” he said. “Don’t show the shark, okay? That’s what we learned from Jaws. Not showing your monster is a psychological trick that people have been using for years. I think sometimes the mind is much more effective than what you can create on the screen.”

He added, “Letting the mind run wild is a very old trick in the book. I’m not re-inventing the wheel, but it’s something I really like.”

That emotional realism also shaped the performance. Both Bear and Nikki are emotionally demanding characters, requiring the actors to oscillate between vulnerability, fear, and emotional fallout without losing authenticity.

Johnson recalled how collaborative the filming process became between takes. “I was always impressed by what India brought to the table,” he said. “I don’t think I was surprised because he felt that way from the jump. But when we were doing it I was very conscious of: Wow, we’re killing it.”

He said that Barker encouraged experimentation on the set. “Once we had what we needed, if we had time, we could play around and try different things. Sometimes we would find little moments in scenes that made everything feel more real and grounded.”

For Navarrete, Johnson’s strongest work came in scenes he did not see during filming. He said, “My favorite moments in the movie are actually when Michael is alone.” “It’s in his eyes. It’s the ground reality of how he plays the bear. It’s very low-key, but it’s very real and very impactful.”

Because many of those scenes were filmed separately, watching the final cut became an emotional experience for him. “We watched it for 15 minutes before the quiz last night and I was crying,” she revealed. “He works wonders.”

One of the most emotionally devastating arcs in the film is that of Nikki, a strong-willed woman whose sense of agency slowly begins to erode under the emotional weight of the story.

That complexity, Johnson revealed, almost took the film off the deep end. Originally, Nikki was supposed to die. Johnson shared, “There was an ending where his character decides to end it all.” But Barker said one particular take changed everything.

He added, “She did an amazing job with the version where she’s alive.” “And we just gave it one take. It was amazing. Then everyone on the set went silent.”

During the conversation it became impossible to ignore the mutual admiration between the cast and the director. Navarrete described Barker’s directing style as a careful balance between structure and freedom.

He said, “It was his baby. He wrote it, he directed it, it was his vision.” “But they also gave us room to play. It was very collaborative. They found the right balance.”

Johnson echoed this sentiment and described the atmosphere on set as unusually cozy for an independent horror production.

“They created the most fun and comfortable environment I’ve ever worked in,” he said. “Sets can be very stressful, especially on indie films, but everyone got along great. Curry is really good at building a team.”

Obsession will release in India on May 29.