A phenomenal and timely supernatural horror film that comments on gender taking cinema by surprise may not be new but the approach Obsession (2025) takes to being that phenom-movie invites the entire genre, if not the film industry, to step up to the plate and elevate their own game. With a budget under $1 million dollars, something unheard of today the director and writer, Curry Barker, brings tension, fear, and nuanced social commentary that is particularly applicable today to the big screen. Barker’s ability to do this however has already been established on YouTube in 2024 with his self-starred and self-created Milk & Serial, available to watch now free on the platform.

Curry Barker didn’t create Obsession alone however and the phenomenal cast and crew that brought the modern horror to life that includes producers James Harris, Haley Nicole Johnson, Christian Mercuri, and Roman Viaris. Additionally cinematographer Taylor Clemons coupled with music by Rock Burwell helps bring the Curry Barker created short, The Chair, to the full feature film. For a deeper dive led by a qualified diver into the domestic horror genre and how it directly and indirectly participated in the feminist movement origination of the 1970s I recommend Scream With Me by Eleanor Johnson. In Johnson’s book she describes how 6 films, including The Stepford Wives (1975) and Alien (1979), sparked conversation both broadly and at the metaphorical dinner table while providing examples of nuanced gender issues playing out that had been previously unshared on the big horror screen.

Set in Britain, His House is about 2 refugees, Rial portrayed by Wunmi Mosaku and Bol portrayed by Sope Dirisu, who are South Sudanese and from there travel through the English Channel from France to strive for a better life. On their journey they lose their daughter, Nyagak portrayed by Malakia Abigaba, who drowns before making it. Running from a war that broke out between 2 tribes they then arrive in the UK and spend time in a detention center facing a subpar living situation while they struggle with PTSD symptoms. Both are granted temporary asylum and after a 3 month wait period they’re granted asylum and feel that their woes have ended, going to their new accommodations on the outskirts of London.

When they arrive they find their new home is sparsely furnished and dilapidated, junk and trash from previous residents crowding even their yard. They are placed under strict probation and face deportation back to South Sudan if they don’t comply perfectly including a minuscule £75 stipend they must survive on. From early on Rial views their situation as a sad and mournful circumstance full of grief which is the opposite of Bol. Bol wants to fully embrace their new culture and forget about the past entirely, moving on from the trauma and focusing on having children.

On the surface The Skeleton Key (2005) comes off as an average horror thriller film of the time, taking audiences along to question the main character’s sanity and if supernatural elements could be the root cause. Kate Hudson portraying Caroline Ellis is a 25 year old who recently lost her father unexpectedly while pursuing the roadie tour life which is the reason for her sudden change to working in the hospice industry. At the start of The Skeleton Key Caroline loses a patient that hits particularly close to home when no one arrives to claim his things, a common circumstance of the residents she’s been working with. Disillusioned with the industry but still wanting to pursue nursing school she takes up a position as a live in hospice caregiver in the remote swamps of Louisiana after answering a help wanted ad in the paper. For the pay of $1,000 a week she moves into this mansion to care for Ben Devereaux, the elderly husband of Violet Devereaux, who suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak or move.

Violet, portrayed by Gena Rowlands, comes across as old-fashioned off rip, particularly when she’s introduced to Caroline by the couple’s lawyer Luke Marshall portrayed by Peter Sarsgaard. The couple hired Luke around the same time that Ben, portrayed by John Hurt, had a stroke and he is handling their affairs like hiring hospice care, like Caroline. Caroline learns quickly that she’s the 5th person to come through to help the couple, finding it hard to deal with Violet and leaving the position. She feels a responsibility for Ben that only intensifies as the movie progresses, revealing along the way the strained relationship she had with her father that has upended her life. Her commitment to her deceased father in an attempt to right wrongs she doesn’t commit helps keep her trapped in the boiling pot she’s found herself in, being cooked alive 1 temperature degree at a time until it’s too late. Before this is revealed however the film uses Caroline’s investigation of her weird new employer and their mysterious property coupled with the increasingly bad vibes between her and Violet to make audiences question the plot’s reality similarly to Caroline.

Ultimately Justify and Cecile are 2 Black characters that don’t have real lines and are more used as a prop for the white actors on screen rather than the actual main characters. This movie is a weird one in that it’s about Black people sort of but also definitely made by and for white American audiences. Black people are used as the Magical Negro trope throughout the movie and it leaves an uneasy feeling that not only are Black people erased in real life but also in fictional life also. The flashes of Cecile and Justify looking menacingly in the estate are almost all the viewer gets about them that isn’t shared from a white actor. It feels like a way to take advantage of Black stories without dealing with Black people or any of the caveats that racists don’t want to deal with. The culture is interesting but the real people are not savory enough for their vision.

I don’t hate this movie but it is a hard one for me to enjoy while I watch Kate Hudson be inappropriately dressed for her job as a live-in caregiver and then perfectly done up despite living in the Bayou. Belief cannot be suspended enough to fully enjoy the film but Gena Rowlands provides a performance worthwhile, possibly the main saving grace of the film. The Skeleton Key can be a bit spooky at times but the scares never reach past haunted nightmares unless the travesty of stealing life is enough spook to keep you. Again, don’t hate this movie, but also don’t believe it should be anywhere near any lists about Black horror despite it usually making an appearance.