OBSESSION Test Audiences Had a Big Problem With Bear, and Curry Barker Turned Their Complaint Into Something Better

Test audiences can help filmmakers figure out where a movie isn’t connecting, but sometimes their complaints are proof that the movie is doing exactly what it should.

That was apparently the case withObsession, Curry Barker, who wrote and directed the film, recently opened up about the feedback he received during test screenings, and I’m glad he didn’t give audiences the change they were asking for.

Barker returned to the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday night withInde Navarrette, who plays Nikki, roughly a year after Obsession first premiered there.

During a screening and conversation with fans, Barker explained that test audiences had a major problem with Bear and his refusal to seriously confront what was happening.

Barker said: “They were frustrated with Bear, and they didn’t understand why he doesn’t just try to do more to fix it. And they were like, ‘Why isn’t he going back to the crystal shop?

“Why isn’t he doing more research to try and fix it?’ And so we got an overwhelming amount of people wanting us to do that. I was like, ‘No, that’s not what I want to do. I don’t want him to try and fix it.’”

Bear’s frustrating behavior is a huge part of why Obsession works. Turning him into a guy desperately researching the supernatural problem and running around trying to reverse everything would fundamentally change the character.

Sure, it might make him easier to root for, but Bear isn’t supposed to handle this situation like a traditional horror movie hero.

That doesn’t mean Barker ignored the test screening feedback. Instead, he figured out why audiences were having that reaction and used reshoots to clarify Bear’s motivation without changing who he was.

As Barker explained: “So it became clear to me that the way to fix the movie was not to make Bear try to fix it sooner but to actually make it more clear to the audience that Bear wants to make it work. That’s the thing that he becomes active on is trying to make this work.”

That’s a much more interesting solution. Rather than making Bear more sympathetic, Barker made his intentions clearer. The character’s passivity becomes part of the problem.

As the moderator at the TIFF screening described him, Bear functions as a “passive antagonist.” His refusal to act isn’t something the story needs to correct. It’s one of the reasons the situation becomes so awful.

Barker has previously talked about what’s going through Bear’s head during all of this. In the Obsession DVD commentary, the filmmaker described Bear as being “in denial” throughout much of the movie. Early on, it’s easier for him to convince himself that Nikki “really does like him” than face what he has actually done to his friend.

That makes the test audience reaction even more fascinating. Viewers were begging Bear to wake up, recognize the nightmare he helped create, and actually do something about it. Barker understood their frustration, but instead of giving them the version of Bear they wanted, he made the existing version easier to understand.

Obsession is better for it. Bear might drive you absolutely nuts, but he’s supposed to. Making him smarter, more proactive, or more traditionally heroic would have given audiences some relief. Barker decided that relief wasn’t the movie he wanted to make.

Sometimes the audience can be completely right about how a character makes them feel and completely wrong about how to fix him.