Writer-Director Curry Barker won many horror fans over with his previous film, Milk & Serial. So, it makes sense that the lines were ridiculously long for each showing of his new movie, Obsession, at TIFF this year. Luckily, the movie was worth the wait. The filmmaker’s twisted sense of humor and examination of young men who take things too far made for a near-perfect Midnight Madness experience. 

Make a Wish…

Obsession sees Barker return with a bigger budget, larger cast, and even bloodier kills. The film introduces us to Bear (Michael Johnston) and his small group of friends, who also happen to work together. Bear has an unrequited crush on one of his pals, Nikki (Inde Navarrette). So, when he gets his hands on an item that grants wishes, he wishes for her to love him more than anything in the world. As horror fans, we all know that’s going to backfire because this premise is possibly older than the genre itself. However, Barker puts it through a bloody piss-soaked nightmare filter that makes it more fun than it should be.

As Nikki becomes obsessed with Bear and their friends begin to grow concerned, he realizes some things are too good to be true. Interestingly enough, as Nikki’s affection escalates, she becomes a terrifying version of herself. A version that Bear realizes he is frightened of, as she might accidentally kill him, or any of their women friends who get too close to him. This leads to some interesting moments like when the real Nikki occasionally breaks through and asks Bear to kill her. He refuses and instead takes it as a slight that she would rather be dead than be with him. Even when she points out that she is not actually with him. This definitely taps into the conversation about bodily autonomy that most of these types of wishful stories skate by. Bear’s wish gets him access to her body, but it is clearly not enthusiastic consent.

It’s Not Love, Actually

This deflates the hopeless romantic idea that most movies paint for male characters who cross various points of no return. How many 80s comedies were spun as romantic when the characters were actually harassing and, in some cases, stalking the object of their supposed affection? It also taps into this idealized version of the “perfect” girlfriend. Social media is littered with men who have clearly never spoken to a woman but have these weird ideas of how their future partners should dress, speak, etc. I take solace in these trolls dying alone. However, these conversations highlight one of the many ways the patriarchy leads to brain rot. Much like Milk & Serial, Obsession on the surface feels aimed at college dudebros, but it is actually a lowkey investigation of the scariest types of guys who hide in plain sight.

Barker’s script allows Navarrette to have a lot of fun playing a person compelled to do things she would not normally do. She gets some laughs and gasps while also reminding us she is a prisoner in her own body. Which again feels very of today if you are a person with ovaries watching Republicans who don’t understand science snatch away rights. However, I digress. The supporting characters also help find extra laughs in this situation while escalating matters in surprising ways. Both Sarah (Megan Lawless) and Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) shed light on why Nikki and Bear are a weird pairing, and both serve as fun complications. They also know Nikki better than Bear, which pokes holes in his idealized version of her, preventing him from seeing the real her.

Am I Obsessed?

Obsession is a fun and bloody film that is hard to forget. On the way out of the TIFF press and industry screening, a guy said, “That was better than Together,” and his friends gave him shit for it. I thought it was bold, but I kept my mouth shut. However, after sleeping on it, I agree with that rando. Both movies are good, and both have two people who should not be together at the forefront embarking on chaotic journeys. Yet, Obsession is more fun and offers more to chew on.

A couple of assumptions can be made when a movie has a title like Fuck My Son! The most obvious one is that the title also serves as the film’s entire premise. The second is that it’s probably going to be a raunchy, tasteless, and chaotic affair. Writer-director Todd Rohal’s (The Catechism Cataclysm, Uncle Kent 2) adaptation of Johnny Ryan’s comic of the same name meets both of those expectations. However, it starts out with an unexpected amount of promise before hitting the slippery slope that leads to an unforgettable but underwhelming experience for the audience. 

WTF?!

Fuck My Son! starts off with a scuzzy charm that makes you think it might just surprise you. It gives the audience a cute intro (although it looks like AI was heavily utilized) and explains how to use the Perv-O-Vision and Nude Blok glasses that the audience was given on the way in. This is obviously a ploy to throw some naked people on screen and rip the X-rated band-aid off early. While this bit lasted too long, I appreciated having peen on a big screen. As someone who yells into a podcast microphone a few times a year, “I want to see a pair of testies for every pair of breasties,” I appreciated a filmmaker having the balls to have balls on screen. 

We soon meet Sandi (Tipper Newton) and her kid, Bernice (Kynzie Colmery), as they are shopping. They have a run-in with a nameless pervert that feels like Rohal might be going for a John Waters kind of sleaze. While having a heart-to-heart about good people versus bad people, they notice an older woman, Vermina (Robert Longstreet), needing assistance. They do not know that this old lady dressed like Mama from Mama’s Family has set a trap for the woman. This soon leads them to a home where Vermina explains that Sandi will have to fuck her son if she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her or her daughter. To make this situation more twisted, her son, Fabian (Steve Little), is a mutant with a mutant dick (once it’s finally found).

We Also Feel A Little Trapped

What comes next is a lot of gross-out humor, repetitive jokes, and the fairly predictable escape to only be brought right back to their tormentors. Fuck My Son! loses all of the goodwill (and steam) we had as it stretches this premise well past the breaking point. There are a few more jokes that land as Sandi and Vermina square off, but not enough to stop the movie from overstaying its welcome. That being said, Tipper Newton understood the assignment and had a standout performance worth noting. She is still compelling enough around the forty-minute stretch when it becomes clear this movie didn’t need to be a feature film.

Fuck My Son! Tries to stitch a lot of things together that never really add up. For example, Bernice’s meat friends (the animated meat also gives AI), who visit her in times of distress. The movie also never addresses whether Vermina is being played by a male actor for an actual reason. No one is going to see Fuck My Son! for social commentary, and Longstreet does earn a couple of chuckles. However, it feels like another attempt at what passed for humor decades ago rather than putting drag on the big screen with a purpose. This could also be something that I just overthought once the movie lost its way. Much like I wondered why this old lady would have pads on hand when she is well past the point of having a period.

We Used to Be A Society

Some of these gripes could be partly explained by Fuck My Son! wanting to stay closer to the source material than it should for modern audiences. However, the issue of running a joke into the ground is pervasive throughout the movie. Even before it starts reaching for anything that could be even slightly offensive and makes its way to rape jokes and multiple endings. It makes for an overall frustrating experience because we want filmmakers to do something unique and take chances. Just not like this.

Many of us also have a soft spot for sleazy movies from the 1970s and 1980s. I was one of the last people to discover the charming chaos of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case and Frankenhooker. So, I know scuzzy cinema can work, and it can be fun. However, Fuck My Son! is a one-and-done instead of a title that will stand the test of time. It’s a movie you can toss on to laugh at with friends before it becomes background noise. It’s not one that most of us are going to demand a physical release of. Or want to revisit again.