Obsession Director Curry Barker Has The Perfect Cameo In The Hit Horror Movie

Spoilers for "Obsession" to follow.

Curry Barker's horror film "Obsession" is currently breaking records at the box office. The movie's sharp editing, combined with Barker's knack for creating effective, shadowy jump-scare scenes, have audiences enthralled, and many might be able to (perhaps bleakly) recognize the trappings of a co-dependent relationship in the film.

The movie's premise, to catch you up, is a classic "Twilight Zone"-style Monkey's Paw story wherein the 20-something Bear (Michael Johnston) makes a wish on a magical, store-bought stick — a One Wish Willow — to force his close friend Nikki ("Superman and Lois" veteran Inde Navarrette) to fall in love with him. Nikki does fall in love with him, but the One Wish Willow seems to have swapped out her soul for a demonic entity. Nikki becomes controlling, obsessed, and weird. She tapes his front door shut and serves him meat made from ... well, you'll have to see the film to find out. Bear tries to tolerate Nikki's demonic behavior, as he fears confrontation, but he eventually has to call the manufacturers of the One Wish Willow to figure out what the rules are, or if he can undo his wish.

As audiences learned earlier in the film, though, the One Wish Willow cannot be undone. You only get one wish, even if you buy a second Willow. Bear tries calling the customer service number printed on the Willow's box to see what can be done about Nikki, but he is only connected to a shiftless, bored-sounding dude in a call center. Like in the real world, customer service cannot really help Bear on this matter. They can only register his complaint.

As it just so happens, that shiftless guy was played by Barker himself, as the filmmaker discussed with Polygon.

The customer service phone call scene is pretty hilarious. Bear is at the end of his rope, convinced that Nikki has been warped in a way he can't explain, and he's eager to extricate himself from his wish. Curry Barker plays the rep as if he came to work a little stoned, and explains, very bluntly, that the only way to undo a wish is for Bear to ... well, he does have a few options, but none of them are good. The rep also reveals that Nikki was indeed supplanted by a tertiary, outside presence and that the real Nikki's soul has been removed and placed ... somewhere else. 

When asked about the scene in question, Barker admitted: 

"It was me. I recorded that dialogue in my room, way after we shot the movie. I was editing in my room so I was able to just do whatever I wanted with it. I just got my phone out and I was just like, 'Hey, what's up?' It was written dialogue, but I just changed it up because I was the writer, editor, director."

Which is, of course, his right. Barker's editing, it should be noted, is exemplary, lingering on scare scenes and frightening moments for slightly longer than in traditional horror movies, leaving a glorious, unnerving sense of awkwardness. Indeed, Barker revels in the uncomfortable, giving "Obsession" its most human qualities. The film doesn't quite nail the ins-and-outs of real-life abusive relationships, but we can cut Barker some slack; he's only 26, and he clearly hasn't been in an abusive relationship (thank goodness).

Barker currently has a couple of horror projects in the works. Time will tell if he can keep audiences under his spell.