The Analysis: A Movie and TV Podcast
Jun 3, 2026 · 42 min · 11 segments
Bob welcomes back our old friend Spenser Davis to discuss Obsession, the breakout indie horror sensation that turned a $750,000 budget into one of the year's biggest success stories, while exploring…
Spencer DavisGuestBobHostWhat were things that you really liked about the film?
We'll start by saying I'm going to get into the business side of things and I'll get into the narrative.
And I actually love that we're talking about this on its third weekend because this is around the time it has just hit.
Based on the numbers from Box Office Mojo, it has just hit $114 million globally off of a $750,000 budget.
These are the producers over at T-Shot Productions invested in a YouTuber who had done a few horror shorts and was clearly showing filmmaker chops.
The fact that horror, original horror, you add this, you add back rooms, you add weapons from last year, send help earlier this year.
It's not just this YouTuber to filmmaker pipeline that everybody's talking about.
And I think what's great about that, and this is where I get into the narrative of it all, is whether it's something like Backrooms, which is wholly from your own head canon, or it's something like Obsession, which is an original idea, and yet it is based on the trope of the monkey paw and the be careful what you wish for.
I think what I really appreciated about this film, first and foremost, was how smartly small it stayed.
I think it examines some really, really big ideas about agency, obviously, and about honestly putting us in the head's codependence 100%.
Starting us off with the main character being somebody who is longing, we immediately meet the main character and we understand exactly what he wants.
And it naturally actually puts us in the head of the person who turns out to be the villain of the film.
What were things that you really liked about the film?
We'll start by saying I'm going to get into the business side of things and I'll get into the narrative.
And I actually love that we're talking about this on its third weekend because this is around the time it has just hit.
Based on the numbers from Box Office Mojo, it has just hit $114 million globally off of a $750,000 budget.
These are the producers over at T-Shot Productions invested in a YouTuber who had done a few horror shorts and was clearly showing filmmaker chops.
The fact that horror, original horror, you add this, you add back rooms, you add weapons from last year, send help earlier this year.
It's not just this YouTuber to filmmaker pipeline that everybody's talking about.
And I think what's great about that, and this is where I get into the narrative of it all, is whether it's something like Backrooms, which is wholly from your own head canon, or it's something like Obsession, which is an original idea, and yet it is based on the trope of the monkey paw and the be careful what you wish for.
I think what I really appreciated about this film, first and foremost, was how smartly small it stayed.
I think it examines some really, really big ideas about agency, obviously, and about honestly putting us in the head's codependence 100%.
Starting us off with the main character being somebody who is longing, we immediately meet the main character and we understand exactly what he wants.
And it naturally actually puts us in the head of the person who turns out to be the villain of the film.
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