Hollywood has been past its prime for years. Though it has often excused its poor performance by blaming declining theater attendance and shrinking attention spans, a recent indie film has shed light on the industry’s real misstep. Curry Barker’s less-than-a-million-dollar production is more than a future horror-flick classic. While corporate entertainment may be shocked by the overwhelming success of an indie feature, it really isn’t all that surprising.

Why? Because modern-day Hollywood has lacked a necessary feature of art that this low-budget anomaly does not: something substantial to say. Rather than placating DEI standards and “woke” checkmarks, Obsession packages uncensored challenges experienced by young adults into a dramatic, albeit grisly, narrative. The growth of new-age mindsets, the crisis of disempowered men, and the generational conflation of love and erotica are only some of the film’s touchpoints, and ones that deeply resonate with viewers.

Shattering records and upstaging the release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Obsession is more than just an effective blend of aesthetics and twisted romance. It indicates a shift in cultural direction, one turning away from performative medleys and toward authentic reflection. With its waning influence, Hollywood seems to have forgotten the quintessential rule of show business: give the people what they want.