The wait is over. Obsession, the supernatural horror feature written, directed and edited by 26-year-old Curry Barker, is in theaters now from Focus Features — and it lands as one of the most assured debuts the genre has produced in years.

The premise is pure pulp dread: Bear (Michael Johnston), a shy music-store clerk, buys a creepy novelty toy called One Wish Willow and wishes his coworker Nikki would fall for him. The wish comes true. It should not have.

Obsession Is Here — and Curry Barker Just Became Horror's Most Exciting New Director

Barker built the thing for $750,000 and shot it in 26 days, then watched it detonate at TIFF's Midnight Madness before Focus snapped it up. The critics followed: 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, an A-minus CinemaScore, and a wave of reviews calling it the rare horror-comedy that nails both halves.

What makes it sing is control. Barker came up making sketches and the viral micro-budget shocker Milk & Serial on YouTube, and he directs Obsession like someone who already knows exactly where to put the camera. The framing is patient, center-weighted, quietly wrong. The scares build and pay off. Nothing is wasted.

Obsession Is Here — and Curry Barker Just Became Horror's Most Exciting New Director

And then there's Inde Navarrette. As Nikki, she delivers the kind of physical, fearless performance that turns an actor into a scream queen overnight — reportedly done with practical makeup and zero CGI. She is the engine of the film's back half, and she is extraordinary.

The headline is simple: a new filmmaker just announced himself, a new horror star just arrived, and they did it on a shoestring. Obsession is the breath of fresh air the genre needed. See it loud, see it with a crowd.