This’ll be a great way to end a most perfect weekend, I thought.
This’ll just be another middle of the road horror film to last us all until October; hopefully not based on YouTube crap. Are the rooms green? I’m color blind to shades. Yes, I’m talking about Backrooms. It just didn’t move me. At this point, any horror film could boast a better rating than that. Did I mention I thought Backrooms was an overrated, “popular because YouTube said so”, snore-fest? – Signed, Gen X
Spoiler alert: I owe the YouTube gods an apology.
Let’s see what the fine folks at Wikipedia have to say about this film:
Barker, a YouTube sketch comedian, uploaded his short horror film The Chair to his channel in 2023, which led to an offer from producer James Harris to adapt it into a feature film. Barker took the opportunity to pitch Obsession, a different film idea partly inspired by The Simpsons episode “Treehouse of Horror II“. The film was shot in Los Angeles in October 2024 for $750,000. It is Barker’s second feature-length film, after Milk & Serial (2024), and his first to be released in theaters.
Obsession premiered on September 5, 2025, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where Focus Features acquired the distribution rights for $14–$15 million, the highest price commanded by a genre film in TIFF history, and Jason Blum came on board as an executive producer under Blumhouse Productions. Obsession was theatrically released in the United States on May 15, 2026. A critical and commercial success, it has grossed $403 million worldwide, becoming Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time and the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2026.
The Rev-iew…
I need to air a bit of laundry (dirty is a point of view), and not to hurt anyone’s feelings in the process. Luckily, I don’t believe anyone from my past lives reads my bullsh*t, and coincidence is surely implied. I just need the reader to comprehend my expertise within the subject matter.
You see, from 2016 – 2019, I invented my own, private speed-dating era. I’d only been in lengthy relationships before, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I was an indie horror author in a town famous for its churches, and traveling the country for the fine art industry. If you had zero scruples, then neither did I. There were times it was as though an entire second shift at Hot Topic had gone missing; single-file and taking turns on the steps of my metaphorical murder barn. There were a couple who I’ll forever miss their friendship (they truly helped me through some difficult times), but most were sex-crazed psychopaths with a subscription’s worth of daddy issues and longing for the glam-metal days of MTV. Kind of like me, but with breasts.
Man, what a ride.
By “ride”, I mean mind-job. Terrifying in unspeakable ways between sexual escapades and beer-soaked karaoke clothes. The most memorable one of them all has passed-on now via her own devices, and I fear she’ll haunt me at some point. Being with her in reality was bad enough. I don’t believe there’s a such thing as haunted places; just haunted people.
To be fair, there could be more than a handful of these women who could accuse me of likewise shenanigans, and to that I say, “I’m going on five years sober.”
This is professional advice, folks; free of charge. Don’t follow my pathways of ignorance, but I digress. Sometimes it’s the only way we truly learn.
Obsession is the first horror film in a long while to truly get under my skin. I don’t think you need to be a man-whore who’s a perpetual bad judge of character to be truly frightened by this film. If you’ve ever been hopelessly infatuated with someone outside your reach, or intertwined inside a relationship and unable to separate due to some zany complications, then this film is going to awaken those old butterflies. Those ghosts are real, my friends. They don’t disappear when the credits roll.
I’ve not seen this director’s previous work, nor did I recognize anyone other than Andy Richter, but this guy’s in the running for this year’s newcomer master class. His skill was most relevant in the darkly lit scenes inside the main characters house, using shadows and visual matrixing to reveal the danger to the audience a moment too late. By then, he had you. To boot, there’s some masterful traditional special effects work at play here, giving off Sam Raimi vibes with its intensity and level of gore.
Other than the act of the wish itself, there’s not much going on in this film that’s considered paranormal. There are those in this world who legitimately act this way without the help of such a plot MacGuffin. Obsession in real life is something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, and I hate some of those bastards; whoever I choose them to be this week. The film “Obsession” damn near knocks Project Hail Mary off my 2026 pedestal, taking a near-perfect score. Unfortunately, I can only allow one 5 star movie per year, or this entire schtick doesn’t work if I bend the rules on a whim. Be careful what you wish for.
Deserving of 5, but I can’t. 4.9 maybe? Can we break them up into “ones” like that?
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To most, 1865 was an eye-opening year. The American Civil War was officially over and the soldiers fortunate enough to survive the bloody conflict returned home to collect the pieces of their former lives. To young Arizonan, Robert Jack, the fateful desert homecoming marked the end to all he once knew. Forgiveness is overrated. Death is final. Revenge, however, dances between the fine lines of mortality and eternity. Love always finds a way.
“Reading Jim Walker and the Redemption Hymn is equal parts quirky fun and riveting action. Cloud’s confident, entertaining voice draws the reader in like an old radio western: the perfect bite-sized story with a main character you’re ready to follow through every adventure he finds himself on. So, tune in next time…”
– Megan Stockton, author of Lovely, Dark & Deep
The history books would read that Jim Walker was brutally executed after the Battle of Goliad, but a few promises in the right ear blurred the contrast between blood and ink. Now an aging bounty hunter on the verge of retirement, his services are requested in the Northern Arizona Territory to solve the terrifying mystery of the Verde River Massacre. With guns from a local Deputy, courage from a saloon proprietor, and a deathbed confession from an all-too-familiar Medicine Woman, Jim sets off on what could be his final adventure. Will he lay the ghosts of his past to rest once and for all, or is he simply whistling his Redemption Hymn?
“Someone call DC and tell them this is how you write a female hero character!” – Lisa Lee Tone, Bibliophelia Templum
Angel Burns is a young firefighter with a shrouded history. During a routine night at work, she stumbles upon a demonic ceremony that brings her memories out of hiding – as well as her repressed supernatural powers. Angel soon learns her life was intended for things greater than extinguishing fires for mortals. Now on the payroll of the Vatican, Angel embarks upon an epic quest to protect the Gutenberg Bibles from evil. If successful, she will secure peace for generations. If she fails, the power of the ancient books will bestow an eternity of darkness upon all humanity!
Toby Liberman is nearing the end of his rope. After a fateful confrontation with his wife’s lover, he is chased into the woods only to be discovered by an unidentifiable creature. He is attacked and rendered unconscious. Upon waking at the scene of a gruesome triple homicide, Toby is arrested as the sole suspect and thrown into a jail cell with a strange man that knows way too much about his predicament. The stranger reveals to Toby that he now possesses the curse of the werewolf. Using his new-found strength to flee his captors, Toby begins to discover that things are not what they seem in the sleepy town of Twin Oaks, TX. Now hunted by law enforcement, as well as the town’s gun toting civilians, Toby seeks vengeance against his false accusers and embarks upon a quest to clear his name once and for all.
A Curse Beyond Comprehension. A Power Beyond Belief. A Girl Far From Home. Katie Liberman is your typical eighteen-year-old college student…or at least that’s what her family thinks. Picking up five years after the events of A Taste of Home, Katie has dropped out of school and embarked upon a dangerous quest to find Kurt Jimmerson, the New York City attorney responsible for her family’s werewolf curse. Unknown to her, the attorney’s grip on the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is tighter than imagined and she’ll need any and all help available to be victorious. But… where do you find friends when you’re Far From Home?
Twin Oaks, Texas is at war! Taking place immediately after the Far From Home events in New York City, Katie Liberman has returned to rescue her birthplace from the clutches of her nemesis. As the paranormal battle of North vs. South rages in the shadows, the tiny town must decide to fight against the odds or become one with the darkness. Blood will be shed and only one will survive as the final battle of the Home Series concludes.
I know this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about the book, but I feel as though the synopsis needs its own preface to truly understand. 2023 was quite an eye-opening year! I began it by living my dream as a vintage steam locomotive fireman, but that dream was soon squashed thanks to my writing career. It won’t matter that you wrote your extreme horror offerings years ago and under a pen name. Also, it won’t matter that your publisher and author friends from days gone by express pleasantries and kind, nurturing words to your face, because they’ll clique-up and talk trash the minute you turn your back. F**k the biz, create. Create for art, not clicks. Click for love, not hate. Those are words true artists should have no issues living by, yet most seem to hide behind their keyboard shields, flinging ill-thought words of destruction toward once-trusted ears. Don’t pour something into everything; pour everything into something. Do it all by yourself if necessary. With any luck, 2024 will be the year of The Reverend. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but we’ll find out together. Anyway, here are a few short stories and poems I wrote as C. Derick Miller in 2023. I stole them from myself. Fair and square. Enjoy.
Poetry has always come naturally to me. Whether it is an expression of emotion toward someone I care about, or a display of humor pointed in the direction of those I loathe, it is my true outlet. Several of these works were written in a passenger seat while exploring the highways of the United States and somehow managed to survive “The Great Ex-Wife/Ex-Girlfriend Poetry Purge” of 2019. Others were penned during COVID-19 quarantine. Although it may not be the most epic poetry collection you’ve ever read, it all contains bits of blood and soul. You will feel something. Guaranteed.
“This profound collection of horror brings classic monsters into new light in the modern day” – B.L. Blankenship, God Walks The Dark Hills series.
The modern world is a crazy place. Worrying about childish politicians, empty grocery store shelves, and our pending membership to the “global disease of the week” club, it leaves very little time for the average reader to finish an entire novel. This is where Six from Five Seven: Short Stories from a Short Man comes in clutch! A story per day to keep the impending apocalypse away, with a single day left over to contemplate why you purchased this book in the first place. That sounds like an entertaining week when compared to the one you were destined to have regardless. What do a cursed husband, a privileged brat, a curious prostitute, a repressed savior, a vengeful son, and two hell-bound soldiers have in common? Their stories lie within the pages of this collection and invite you to tag along on their journeys of fate, redemption, and demise. When finished, you, dear reader, can hide this book inside your basement with the rest of those important documents you wished you’d never taken home. The FBI won’t be happy, but at least they’ll know you’re a cool person for owning a copy while conducting the raid. That must count for something, right? Let’s hope the judge thinks so!
Also, there’s a few other things not listed here that are floating around out there. Best of luck with the hunt.
Current Projects
Rev. Dare Cloud
Reverend · adjective. worthy of adoration or reverence. synonyms: sublime · sacred.
is a Dallas author, musician, and gonzo journalist. Some of his works include the controversial splatter-western Starving Zoe (written as C. Derick Miller), the Taste of Home trilogy, and the ongoing Jim Walker series. His literary crushes are (of course) Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger, and Kevin Smith. Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.
“You’ve got to press it on you You’ve just been thinking That’s what you do, baby Hold it down, Dare!” – Gorillaz
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