The Behind-the-Scenes Photos From ‘Obsession’ That Remind You Just How Extraordinary This Film’s Success Really Is

Long before the box office records, the social media fervor, and the awards campaign talk, ‘Obsession’ was just a low-budget horror film shot in 20 days by a 26-year-old who first made his name posting videos on YouTube.

That origin story is exactly why the behind-the-scenes photos shared this week by star Inde Navarrette feel so resonant, offering a quiet, personal counterpoint to one of the most improbable success stories cinema has seen in years.

Written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker in his feature film debut, ‘Obsession’ follows Bear, a music store employee who buys a supernatural toy that grants him his wish for his friend Nikki to fall in love with him, resulting in horrifying consequences. The cast assembled around that premise is led by Michael Johnston as Bear and Navarrette as Nikki, with Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter in supporting roles.

The photos Navarrette shared on social media, capturing both herself and Johnston in states of visible, bloody distress, offer fans their first real look at what it was like behind the camera on a set that would go on to make history. The clapperboard visible in one of the images, bearing director Curry Barker’s name and a take number deep into the shoot, is a small but striking reminder of just how much went into a film made for a fraction of what a typical Hollywood production spends on catering.

Navarrette, who was primarily known for her work in ‘Superman and Lois’ and ’13 Reasons Why’ before taking on the role, delivers a performance that critics have compared to some of the most unhinged and committed work the horror genre has produced, drawing comparisons to the raw intensity of ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Talk to Me’. That praise has been echoed widely since the film’s theatrical release in May, with audiences and critics alike singling her out as one of the year’s standout performers.

Navarrette has spoken openly about the personal stakes she brought to the role, telling Gold Derby that she felt like “a boiling pot” who “really wanted to blow off some steam” and was motivated by the desire to test herself with something she had never done before. That commitment is visible in every frame of the finished film, and seeing it reflected in the raw, blood-soaked look of the set photos makes the transformation all the more striking.

The performance has already earned Navarrette a Best Performance win at the Seattle International Film Festival, and a fan-driven campaign is building momentum around her name for awards recognition in the coming season.

The BTS images land at a moment when the cultural conversation around ‘Obsession’ shows no sign of slowing. Barker made the film in just 20 days on a budget of under one million dollars, and after its second weekend in theaters, it was on track to earn more than 100 times that amount in global ticket sales.

Producer Jason Blum noted at the time that ‘Obsession’ was the only wide-release horror film on record to grow in its second weekend at that scale, gaining 30 percent over its opening performance. The film went on to earn 148 million dollars at the worldwide box office, a staggering return on its microscopic production budget.

The film originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it triggered a studio bidding war, with Focus Features ultimately acquiring it for 14 million dollars. That figure now looks like one of the better deals made in recent Hollywood memory, and the behind-the-scenes images from the production make the full arc of the story land with even more force.

Both Navarrette and Johnston have emerged from ‘Obsession’ with significantly raised profiles, and the industry is watching closely to see where they go next. Barker has already shot his follow-up film, the horror-comedy ‘Anything But Ghosts’, which Focus Features will also release in partnership with Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. The fact that his lead actors made the time to revisit and share their set memories speaks to the kind of bond that tends to form when a small group of people make something special under intense circumstances.

For a film that started as a passion project with no guarantee of ever reaching a wide audience, the ongoing wave of affection from cast and crew is a fitting reflection of just how far ‘Obsession’ has traveled from that 20-day shoot to its place in box office history.

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