Writer and director Curry Barker's follow-up to his micro-budget breakout Milk & Serial arrives with a premise as unsettling as it is psychologically sharp: what happens when a man gets exactly what he wants, on his own terms, regardless of the cost to the person he claims to love. Obsession opened in theaters on May 15, 2026, and has already drawn attention not just for its horror imagery but for the moral weight Barker has built into its premise. For viewers who cannot access it in cinemas - or who simply want to watch from home - the streaming picture is coming into focus, and a VPN may be part of that equation.
What Obsession Is Actually About
Obsession centers on Bear, a quietly desperate music store employee who uses a magical novelty item - a toy called a "One Wish Willow" - to make his longtime co-worker and friend Nikki fall in love with him. The wish succeeds, technically. Nikki becomes devoted to him. She also becomes something terrifying: a being stripped of free will, driven to violent extremes simply to remain close to him.
Barker has been deliberate in interviews about where the real horror lies. Speaking to DiscussingFilm, he described wanting the film to "feel grounded" and to lean into the realism of a relationship built on coercion rather than connection. To TIME, he was more direct: "Any time you wish for something, it's probably going to be selfish," adding that the film's core message is that "love should be earned. Anything that's not that probably isn't going to work out."
What distinguishes Obsession from standard supernatural horror is that the monster is not Nikki - it is the dynamic Bear created. The possession is a consequence, not the cause. That framing gives the film a more durable unease than most genre entries achieve.
Where and When You Can Stream Obsession
Given that Obsession is a Focus Features and Universal Pictures release, the natural streaming destination is Peacock. Both studios share the same corporate parent in NBCUniversal, and that relationship consistently routes their theatrical releases to the platform once the cinema window closes. Standard theatrical windows run roughly two months, which places a likely Peacock debut sometime in August 2026.
For viewers who want access before that window opens, pre-orders are already live on PVOD platforms in the United Kingdom, priced at £17.99. No equivalent pre-order has been confirmed for other regions as of this writing.
Peacock offers three subscription tiers for those planning ahead:
- Select ($7.99/month or $79.99/year): Ad-supported entry tier covering new seasons of NBC and Bravo content, with partial access to Peacock Originals.
- Premium ($10.99/month or $109.99/year): Ad-supported access to Peacock's full library, including originals, films, next-day broadcast episodes, and live sports programming.
- Premium Plus ($16.99/month or $169.99/year): Ad-free tier with offline downloads and a live local NBC feed, though some live events may carry minor ads due to rights restrictions.
Using a VPN to Watch From Outside the US
Streaming rights are distributed by territory. A title available on Peacock in the United States may be entirely inaccessible from the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, or dozens of other countries - not because of any decision by the viewer, but because of how distribution agreements are structured. A VPN addresses that gap by routing your connection through a server in a supported country, allowing the streaming platform to see a compliant location rather than your actual one.
A VPN - Virtual Private Network - works by creating an encrypted tunnel between your device and a server elsewhere. Your traffic exits from that server's location, masking both your origin and the contents of your connection from your internet service provider. Beyond unlocking geo-restricted libraries, this also protects browsing data from ISP-level monitoring, which has practical value beyond streaming alone.
Two providers stand out for streaming use specifically:
- ExpressVPN: A network of over 3,000 servers globally, with consistently fast, stable connections suited for HD and 4K playback. Generally regarded as the premium option for users who prioritize performance above all else.
- VeePN: More than 2,600 servers with solid streaming optimization at a lower price point - a reasonable alternative for viewers who want reliability without the premium cost.
Other well-regarded options include NordVPN, known for strong security and consistent speeds; Surfshark, which allows unlimited simultaneous device connections; CyberGhost, which is built around streaming performance; and Private Internet Access, which emphasizes privacy features and configuration flexibility.
One practical note: streaming platforms actively work to detect and block VPN traffic, so no service guarantees uninterrupted access at all times. Paid services generally maintain more robust workarounds than free alternatives, which often carry data limits, slower speeds, and questionable logging practices. Choosing a provider with a clearly stated no-logs policy and a jurisdiction outside heavy surveillance frameworks adds a meaningful layer of assurance.
Why Obsession Arrives at the Right Cultural Moment
Horror has always functioned as a mirror held up to social anxieties, and Barker's specific choice of threat - a man who treats love as something to be obtained rather than reciprocated - lands with particular resonance. The possession narrative is familiar; the direction in which Barker points its moral weight is less so. Bear is not absolved by his loneliness. The film refuses to frame his wish as understandable desperation and instead follows through on what control, extracted through magical shortcut, actually produces.
That the film is arriving through a major distributor like Focus Features and Universal, rather than through the independent circuit that launched Milk & Serial, suggests Barker's vision found a wider audience willing to back it. Whether Obsession reaches viewers in a theater or through a streaming platform accessed via VPN from the other side of the world, the story it tells is one that does not require a regional license to understand.