Obsession wraps you in the quiet terror of a wish gone horribly wrong. The film breathes in ordinary California spaces that could be anywhere. A music shop on a strip mall corner. A suburban home where loneliness eats at you from inside. The sprawling indifference of Los Angeles around it all. Director Curry Barker found horror not in gothic mansions or isolated cabins, but in the places where we actually live.
The film was shot entirely in and around Los Angeles, California. This guide covers every confirmed filming location so you know exactly where Bear, Nikki, and that cursed One Wish Willow came to life.
Directed by Curry Barker and starring Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette, Obsession premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival before its May 15, 2026 theatrical release. The film tells a deceptively simple story. A music store employee buys a magical toy to make his childhood crush love him. His wish comes true. Then everything falls apart in ways he never imagined.
Cassell’s Music, San Fernando, California
You’ve spent the entire runtime of Obsession inside one real music store without quite realizing it. Cassell’s Music, located at 901 North Maclay Avenue in San Fernando, became the entire world where Bear works and slowly loses his mind.
The shop operated for nearly 80 years before closing its doors in 2025, making it one of the final productions to film within its walls. This wasn’t a set built to look like a music store. It was an actual music store with real inventory, real customers, and the kind of accumulated sadness that only decades of business can build.
Director of Photography Taylor Clemons discussed his visual approach with Variety. He wanted to shoot center-composed with extra head space in every frame. The reasoning was specific. He wanted it to feel uncomfortable in its loneliness. That compositional choice forces viewers directly into Bear’s isolation. The frame becomes a cage.
Authentic musical instruments line the shelves. The cramped aisles that feel too narrow. The counter where Bear and Nikki work together, tension building with every shift they share. Nothing here was constructed. Everything here was real, which is exactly why it works.
📍 How to visit: San Fernando sits about 25 minutes north of downtown Los Angeles via the Golden State Freeway. Cassell’s Music is permanently closed as of 2025, but the storefront still stands. The neighborhood features other vintage shops and music stores worth exploring. Street parking is available throughout the area.
Bear’s House, Burbank, California
The interiors where Bear spirals are filmed in a redesigned private residence in Burbank. This home becomes Bear’s prison, the place where his obsession grows teeth.
According to Variety, the production team chose this specific property for its intimate architectural qualities. They needed spaces that feel suffocating yet maintain a visual elegance. Modern furnishings sit in rooms while Bear descends into psychological chaos. The normalcy of the setting makes his unraveling more disturbing. Your living room could become a nightmare. His does.
The production team worked with the space as it was rather than building sets. Real homes ground psychological horror better than constructed soundstages. Audiences see their own bedrooms, their own kitchens, their own mistakes reflected back at them.
📍 How to visit: This is a private residential property. Please do not attempt to visit. Burbank is easily accessible from central Los Angeles, about 12 miles north. The city has numerous coffee shops and parks worth visiting while you explore the area. Respect the privacy of the residents.
Also check:
Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley
Obsession scattered its filming across the broader Los Angeles metropolitan area. The production chose real suburban spaces over constructed horror environments. The city itself becomes a character. Vast. Indifferent. Full of people yet achingly lonely.
Fans online noted something striking about this choice. The familiar Southern California landscape makes the psychological horror more unsettling, not less. You recognize your own neighborhood. You’ve driven streets that look like this. You’ve felt loneliness in places that look exactly like this.
Cinematographer Taylor Clemons’ philosophy shaped every frame. Center the actor. Leave extra space around them. Make the frame feel lonely. Make the frame feel wrong. The empty space in the composition becomes as important as what’s actually there.
📍 How to visit: Los Angeles is accessible from all major highways. International flights arrive at LAX, Burbank, Long Beach, and Ontario airports. Metro buses and light rail serve most areas. Hotels and accommodations suit every budget throughout the region.
The One Wish Willow
The mysterious toy that starts everything deserves its own note. This small supernatural object becomes the entire premise. A hopeless romantic breaks it to change his destiny. He succeeds. Then he learns that some wishes carry impossible prices.
Curry Barker co-designed the One Wish Willow with his mother, a graphic designer. The collaboration created something visually distinctive. It looks harmless. Charming even. Then the camera studies it and you understand something is deeply wrong.
The practical prop appears during the acquisition and destruction scenes. Visual effects teams created digital versions for shots requiring specific movements. The toy suggests supernatural properties without relying on obvious effects. Its power comes from what it represents, not what it shows.
The Film Behind the Wish
Principal photography took place from October through December 2024. The production moved at the pace required by a 1 million dollar budget. Curry Barker came from internet comedy, from quick-thinking and efficiency. That background shaped how the film came together.
Rock Burwell composed his feature film debut score. The music received praise for amplifying the psychological horror without falling back on jump scares. The soundtrack was released May 15, 2026, the same day as the film.
Scenes depicting graphic violence had to be trimmed to avoid an NC-17 rating. The production team cut approximately six or seven head smash sequences. The violence still lands hard in the final cut. It just doesn’t linger longer than necessary.
The inspiration came from a Simpsons episode. Homer Simpson encountering a monkey’s paw. That classic wish-gone-wrong story got rewritten through Curry Barker’s specific vision. The concept became something entirely its own.
What Critics Said about Obsession?
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025 as part of the Midnight Madness block. It earned a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and widespread critical praise. Reviewers called it technically accomplished. Psychologically devastating. Impossible to forget.
Many compared it to Tim Robinson’s sketch show I Think You Should Leave. Both find horror in social situations spiraling beyond repair. Both use discomfort as their primary tool. Barker’s version simply removes the safety net of being a sketch. The consequences become real.
The performances from Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette received universal acclaim. Johnston carries the film with his face becoming a map of deterioration. Navarrette plays Nikki as something increasingly otherworldly. Their scenes together become unbearable to watch.
Where to Stream Obsession?
Obsession is currently playing in theaters nationwide. The film will eventually stream exclusively on Peacock, the streaming service owned by Universal Pictures, which distributes the film through Focus Features.
The timeline works like this. Theaters now through late June 2026. Premium Video on Demand (rental and purchase) arriving June or July. Streaming subscription on Peacock likely by late July or August 2026.
Is Obsession set in a real place?
No. The story takes place in unnamed California communities. But the locations are real. These are actual Southern California neighborhoods. Strip malls. Suburban houses. Music stores on corner lots.
That’s the entire point. Obsession doesn’t give you gothic castles or isolated cabins. It gives you places you recognize. Spaces you’ve inhabited. The horror comes from understanding that emotional collapse can happen anywhere. In your music store. Your home. Your ordinary Tuesday.
Principal Photography: October to December 2024
Festival Premiere: September 5, 2025 (Toronto International Film Festival)
Theatrical Release: May 15, 2026
Streaming: Peacock (Late July to August 2026)
Film Status: Currently in wide theatrical release
