BACKROOMS : Tuesday 2nd June 2026

I saw the M Rated 'BACKROOMS' earlier this week, and this American Sci-Fi psychological horror film is Directed and Co-Scored by Kane Parsons. This is his feature film making debut, and is based on his own web series published in January 2022 as the short film 'The Backrooms (Found Footage)' which he posted to his YouTube channel, and which went viral and expanded into twenty-four more short films culminating in a web series that has had 77 million views as of May 2026. The film Premiered in Los Angeles in early May and was released in the US and here in Australia last week, having received positive critical reviews and grossing so far US$140M at the global Box Office from a production budget of US$10M. It has also made the twenty-year-old Kane Parsons the youngest filmmaker to reach number one at the American Box Office. As recently as last month Kane Parsons confirmed that he was not done with 'Backrooms', and already this month he is actively searching for a screenwriting collaborator to work with on the sequel.

It is 1990, and a group of scientists from the Async Research Institute watch recovered video filmed by researcher Naren Warne (Avan Jogia), who, while on an expedition into a vast apparently never ending extradimensional space was separated from his group and chased, attacked and seemingly killed by an unknown entity. 

Furniture store owner and failed architect Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is struggling to cope with his alcoholism and the recent breakdown of his marriage. He regularly meets with therapist Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), who is working through her own childhood trauma related to her agoraphobic, paranoid mother following the demolition of the home she grew up in, to make way for a fifty storey high condo tower. Clark is preoccupied with the store's escalating finances, and in particular his electricity bill. He hires an electrician to investigate the cause of this, including regular occurrences of flickering lights. The electrician finds three coloured breaker switches installed at an odd angle at the base of the distribution board that, as far as he can tell do not connect to anything inside the store.

Clark, who bemoans to Mary that his ex-wife kicked him out of the home he paid for, and whose tuition he is paying for in order that she can become a lawyer, takes to living in his store. Clark experiences continued electrical irregularities including flickering lights and his TV cutting out unexpectedly. This leads him down to the basement level, where out of frustration his flicks all the electrical switches on the distribution board to off. Upon turning to leave and go back upstairs, he notices a glowing narrow slit in a wall, that would have been invisible with the lights on. He tentatively touches the wall adjacent to the sighted split and falls through the wall into the Backrooms - a labrynthine and chaotic expanse of dull yellow rooms, long corridors and misplaced and malformed furniture - some of it standing alone, and some of it stacked high randomly. The rooms are eerily silent apart from the constant low hum of the overhead fluorescent lights. Clark decides to investigate and this leads him to finding Naren's belongings. He narrowly escapes back to the store when an unseen creature chases him. Async scientist Phil (Mark Duplass) watches these events as they occur via a surveillance camera. 

Clark, in his next session with Mary, tells her about the Backrooms but is met with a high degree skepticism, even though he is decidedly nervous to the point of physically shaking. He further says that he has visited them many times since his last meeting with her and has drawn a map of the layout of what he had seen up to that point. 

He recruits his assistant manager, Kat (Lukita Maxwell), and her boyfriend, Bobby (Finn Bennett), to help him film the Backrooms as proof of his claims. The trio enter and record their discoveries, even though Kat is very reluctant while Bobby is gung-ho about the prospect. While exploring a steeply sloped corridor, Bobby is ambushed and apparently killed by an unseen entity, which drags him along with Clark and Kat into an unexplored area where they are separated. Clark runs through various bizarre and disordered spaces, eventually coming across humanoid entities in a red lit room with a glowing Christmas tree in the centre. He is chased to a dead end. He hears Kat call out to him from behind a wall, and places the camera down to look for a concealed door to reach her. Something unknown then picks up the camera, as Kat screams for Clark to look behind him. 

Later, Mary receives a message on her answering machine from Clark, who tells her that he will not be returning for more sessions. Meanwhile, while watching TV with his family, Phil recognises Clark in an ad for his furniture store - where Clark is dressed up as a one legged pirate Cap'n Clark (the mascot of his store). Mary visits the store, finds it deserted but the front door open. She ventures down to the basement level where she notices the outline of the door etched on to the wall previously by Clark, and his map drawn out on a whiteboard. She passes through the doorway into the Backrooms. Fairly soon, she comes across Clark, who chokes her into unconsciousness.

Mary comes round with her arms tied to a chair, with Clark looking on in a space resembling a dining room. They are joined by three monstrous imitations of humans that the Backrooms creates, who look on impassively as he reveals Kat's severed head in a refrigerator. Clark demands that Mary continue their therapy sessions via role-play, but Mary declines, instead revealing that Clark's refusal to take responsibility for his failures was the real reason his wife left him. Clark seems to comes to his senses and releases Mary from her binds, but they are interrupted by the arrival of a towering, distorted replica of Cap'n Clark (Robert Bobroczkyi). Clark is killed while trying to calm the pirate being, which then chases Mary through a seemingly endless maze of chaotic and surreal spaces. 

Cornered by the towering Cap'n Clark in an imperfect copy of the store's showroom, she fights it off using a chunk of concrete with her childhood handprint embedded into it, which she retrieved as a keepsake from the home she was raised in. She uses this to repeatedly bash into Cap'n Clarks face, until it breaks into several pieces. Their struggle triggers an Async gas trap, alerting a group of researchers in hazmat suits, who subdue the entity and take Mary back to their research facility.

Following her recovery, Mary is brought to an interrogation room where she meets Phil. He explains that Async use to manufacture MRI machines until they discovered the Backrooms, which has since become the primary focus of their ongoing research, which is perhaps the most important development in the history of mankind. When asked how she came across the Backrooms and what she found there, she repeats Clark's description of it as a faulty, misremembered copy of reality. Mary asks if Async plans to let her go, but Phil replies evasively. Inside the Backrooms, a series of spaces are depicted by Mary's memories of trauma, ending in a loosely copied interrogation room in which a fractured, deformed Mary sits still, silent and glaring aimlessly into space.

At just twenty-years-of-age, Director Kane Parsons has already stamped his name on the horror genre as a future film maker to be reckoned with. With 'Backrooms' he has here crafted a film induced with fear, dread and anxiety as he ramps up the tension and the atmospheric unease to an unexpected conclusion in which our two protagonists buy the farm. The production values, the score, and the casting are all top notch, and its pleasing to see Ejiofor and Reinsve largely playing against type here and giving it their all in the process. I wouldn't necessarily describe 'Backrooms' as a horror film per se, but more of a dramatic thriller, as it is light on jump scares and blood and gore, but what it does ably deliver is a sense of claustrophobia, disturbing visuals, and unsettling themes that will leave you pondering the film you have just seen long after the end credits have rolled. It is certainly worthy of the price of your cinema ticket, and you should really see it on the big screen to gain an appreciation of the world that Kane Parsons has created for us. 

'Backrooms' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 4th June 2026.

The 73rd edition of the Sydney Film Festival this year runs from Wednesday 3rd June through until Sunday 14th June, in the Australian city of Sydney, in New South Wales. This years festival has a line-up of 248 films from 81 countries, with nineteen titles arriving directly from the Cannes Film Festival held at the State Theatre, the Sydney Opera House and cinemas across the city. The competitive film festival, founded in 1954, draws international and local attention, with films including features, documentaries, short films, retrospectives, films for families and animations. Patrons of the festival include Gillian Armstrong, Cate Blanchett, Jane Campion, Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, George Miller, and Sam Neill. 

This years Opening Night film presentation is 'Silenced', and this biographical documentary is Co-Written and Directed by Selina Miles and based on the book 'How Many More Women?' by Jennifer Robinson and Keio Yoshida. The film tells the story of how after the #MeToo movement broke the cultural silence on gender violence, international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson fights against the weaponisation of defamation laws to silence survivors and journalists, and tracing the cases of Amber Heard, Brittany Higgins, and Catalina Ruiz-Navarro amongst others. The Closing Night film is 'Paper Tiger' Written and Directed by James Gray. This crime drama film centres around two brothers (Adam Driver and Miles Teller) who pursue the American Dream but get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme that terrorises their family, testing their bond as betrayal becomes possible. Also starring Scarlett Johansson as the wife of Miles Teller's character.

A small number of prizes existed from the mid-1980's, and prior to 2007, the Sydney Film Festival was classified by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as a Non-Competitive Feature Film Festival. In late 2007, the Festival announced it had received funding from the New South Wales Government to host an official international competition, which rewarded 'new directions in film'. The FIAFP has since classified the Sydney Film Festival as a Competitive Specialised Feature Film Festival, with the total prize pool this year worth in the region of AU$200K. 

Sydney Film Prize (awarded to the most 'audacious, cutting-edge, and courageous' film in the Official Competition, endorsed by FIAPF) carries an AU$60K cash prize to the winning filmmaker. Those thirteen titles competing for this years Sydney Film Prize are as given in brief below :-

* Parallel Tales' - from France, USA, Italy and Belgium, this drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi. The film follows Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), a famous author seeking inspiration on the neighbours across the street, who hires the mysterious Adam (Adam Bessa) as assistant, but he quickly turns her life upside down. Also starring Vincent Cassel, Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney and Catherine Deneuve.

* 'Minotaur' - from France, Latvia and Germany and this political thriller drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and is based on the 1969 French film 'The Unfaithful Wife' by Claude Chabrol. Set in 2022 in the backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian war, broken business executive Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov) discovers his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) has been unfaithful.

* 'Sheep in the Box' - from Japan and Written, Directed and Edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It stars Haruka Ayase and Daigo Yamamoto as a couple who welcomes an infant humanoid robot (Kuwaki Rimu), following the passing of their son.

* 'Gentle Monster' - from Austria, Germany and France and Written and Directed by Marie Kreutzer. A renowned pianist relocates with her family from Munich to the countryside, where she uncovers a life-shattering truth that forces her to confront the complexities of love, trust, and deception. Starring Lea Seydoux, Jella Haase, Laurence Rupp, and Catherine Deneuve.

* 'Fatherland' - from Poland, Italy, Germany and France, this biographical film is Co-Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Pawel Pawlikowski. Starring Sandra Huller and Hanns Zischler as Erika Mann and exiled German novelist Thomas Mann, respectively, as they embark on a road trip from Frankfurt, West Germany, to Weimar, East Germany, during the Cold War in 1949. 

* 'The Dreamed Adventure' - from Germany, France, Bulgaria and Austria this drama film is Written and Directed by Valeska Griesbach. On the border between Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, a woman agrees to help an old acquaintance with an illegal mission.

* 'Ben'Imana' - from Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway and the Ivory Coast, this drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Marie Clementine Dusabejambo. Set in Rwanda in 2012, the film follows Veneranda, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, who is involved in community-led justice and reconciliation. As she faces mounting pressures in her work, a personal crisis within her family forces her to confront the limits of her beliefs.
* 'Fjord' - from Romania, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France and Sweden, this drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Cristian Mungiu. The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a Romanian-Norwegian couple who face scrutiny after moving to the wife's remote Norwegian hometown.

* 'Shame and Money' - from Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia and Belgium and Co-Written and Directed by Visar Morina. A proud family man struggles to provide as financial pressures mount. Though his mother and brother-in-law offer help, accepting support wounds his dignity. As stability slips away, he faces tough choices about pride versus survival.

* 'Dao' - from France, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, this drama film is Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Alain Gomis. Structured between two ceremonies - a wedding in France and a commemorative ritual in Guinea-Bissau - the film traces a cyclical movement through everyday gestures, encounters, and transitions, blending lived reality with ritual and memory.

* 'No Good Men' - from Germany, France, Norway, Denmark and Afghanistan, this autobiographical drama film is Written, Directed and stars Shahrbanoo Sadat as Naru, the thirty year old and only female camerawoman at a Kabul TV station, who is convinced there are no good men in Afghanistan, until she meets a fifty year old married reporter. 

* 'The Invite' - from the USA and this comedy film is Directed and stars Olivia Wilde, and is an English language remake of the Spanish film 'The People Upstairs' by Cesc Gay. A married couple experiencing a rough patch in their relationship finds themselves invited by their neighbours to engage in their weekly orgies. Also starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. 

* 'Leviticus' - from Australia, this romantic supernatural horror film is Written and Directed by Adrian Chiarella. Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. Starring Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mai Wasikowska, Ewen Leslie and Nicholas Hope. 

For the other competitive sections being showcased - The Documentary Australia Award, the First Nations Award, and the Sustainable Future Award, together with the other sections screened including Special Presentations, International Documentaries, Features, The Tropical Trail and Freak Me Out, plus a whole bunch of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : http://www.sff.org.au

Turning the attention then back to this weeks five new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we begin with a sword and sorcery offering that is a remake of a dud from 1987, that here sees a young man on Earth who discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the Prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom. Then we have a black comedy about a once-celebrated artist's now adult children who enlist a forger to access his unfinished canvases in a deceptive bid to secure an inheritance. This is followed by an adventure drama film centring on two old friends who are walking 600 kilometres through the Scottish highlands, to reconnect with each other, nature and parts of themselves they lost. Next up is a German drama that sees four girls from different time periods who experience their youth on a German farm, as their lives become intertwined until time seems to dissolve. And closing out the week we have an American parody film that is the sixth entry in this franchise in which, some twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, the Core Four find themselves targeted by another mad slasher.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE' (Rated M) - is an American Sci-Fi sword and sorcery film Directed by Travis Knight who made his Directorial debut with the stop-motion animated fantasy film 'Kubo and the Two Strings' in 2016, and he would follow this up with his live action debut with 'Bumblebee' in 2018. After this film he has another stop-motion animated dark fantasy offering in 'Wildwood' due for release later this year. This film is based on the 'Masters of the Universe' media franchise by Mattel, and had its World Premiere screening in Hollywood in mid-May and is released in the USA and here in Australia this week, having cost in the region of US$185M to produce. This is the second live-action film adaptation after the 1987 film which was hailed a critical and commercial failure grossing just US$17M worldwide from a production budget of US$22M, but has since become regarded as a cult film. 

After being separated for fifteen years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam Glenn (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia where he discovers his home has been destroyed and is now under the rule of powerful warlord and sorcerer, Skeletor (Jared Leto). In order to reclaim his family legacy and save the world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace who he is truly meant to be - He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. Also starring Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Kristen Wiig, Charlotte Riley and Johannes Haukur Johannesson.

'THE CHRISTOPHERS' (Rated MA15+) - this US and UK Co-Produced black comedy film is photographed, Directed and Edited by Steven Soderbergh (with the former under his pseudonym Peter Andrews and the latter under Mary Ann Bernard). Steven Soderbergh's prior feature film credits take in his debut with 'Sex, Lies and Videotape' in 1989 which he would follow up with the likes of 'Out of Sight' in 1998, 'Erin Brockovich' and 'Traffic' both in 2000, 'Ocean's Eleven', 'Ocean's Twelve' and 'Ocean's Thirteen' in 2001, 2004 and 2007 respectively, 'Contagion' in 2011, 'Magic Mike' in 2012, 'Logan Lucky' in 2017, 'Unsane' in 2018, 'No Sudden Move' in 2021, 'Magic Mike's Last Dance' in 2023 and 'Black Bag' in 2025. Here then, Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a star of London’s 1960’s and 70’s pop art explosion, but he hasn’t painted in decades and has been broke for years. His two estranged children Barnaby Sklar (James Corden) and Sallie Sklar (Jessica Gunning), desperate for an inheritance, hire Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), an art restorer and former forger, to pose as a prospective assistant in order to access eight unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in storage. Her plan is to complete them, then return them to storage, where they are to be 'discovered' upon Julian’s death, in order for Barnaby and Sallie to claim a small fortune from their sale. The film saw its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September last year, was released in the US in mid-April, and the UK in mid-May having generated largely positive critical press, and so far grossing US$2M.

'THE NORTH' (Rated M) - is a Dutch film that is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Bart Schrijver who made his feature film debut Directing a segment of 'In Cube' in 2015 and would follow this up in his own right in 2022 with 'Human Nature'. Here, some ten years after they were best friends and roommates, Chris (Bart Harder) aged 35 and Lluis (Carles Pulido) aged 34 set out on a 600km hike through the Scottish Highlands. Following the West Highland way and The Cape Wrath Trail, they spend thirty days together in nature - hoping to rekindle their once-powerful friendship. But while Chris remains preoccupied with work and life back at home, Lluis is determined to finish the trail to prove he can do it. The solitude and silence of the highlands forces them to confront harsh truths about themselves, their friendship, and what it truly means to stand still and listen. The film was released in its native Holland at the end of July last year and more recently in the UK and Ireland at the end of April, having generated largely positive critical acclaim.

'SOUND OF FALLING' (Rated MA15+) - is a German drama film Co-Written and Directed by Mascha Schilinski. The film saw its World Premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May 2025, where it won the Jury Prize. It follows four generations of girls - Alma (Hanna Heckt), Erika (Lea Drinda), Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky) and Lenka (Laeni Geiseler) connected by a remote farm in the Altmark region of Germany. It is structured non-linearly, shifting between the four different time periods - the 1910's, 1940's, 1980's and 2020's where those four women, separated by decades but united by trauma, uncover the truth behinds its weathered walls where gestures, conversations, and situations recur over time. The film was released in Germany in late August last year, has garnered universal critical acclaim and has so far grossed US$5M.

'SCARY MOVIE' (Rated MA15+) - this American parody film is Directed by Michael Tiddes whose previous feature film making credits take in 'A Haunted House' in 2013, 'A Haunted House 2' in 2014, 'Fifty Shades of Black' in 2016, 'Naked' in 2017 and 'Sextuplets' in 2019. This film is Co-Written and Co-Produced by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez, and is the sixth instalment in the 'Scary Movie' film series, following 2013's 'Scary Movie 5'. The first five films in the series grossed US$897M off the back of combined production budgets of US$172M. Here then, treading on familiar territory, twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) and Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) find themselves targeted by another mad slasher serial killer, monsters and supernatural creatures. Hilarity ensues! The film is released this week too Stateside.

With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

OBSESSION : Tuesday 26th May 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'OBSESSION' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American supernatural horror film is Written, Directed and Edited by Curry Barker who made his feature film debut with 'Milk & Serial' in 2024. He also has 'Anything But Ghosts' currently in post-production for an as yet undisclosed release date. This film saw its Premiere showcasing at TIFF in early September last year, was released Stateside and here in Australia earlier this month, has garnered favourable critical acclaim, cost just US$1M to produce, and has so far taken US$96M at the global Box Office.  

Baron 'Bear' Bailey (Michael Johnston) has romantic feelings for his childhood friend Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette), with whom he works at a music store together with their friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless). Bear returns home after practicing his chat-up lines to a waitress in a diner, as Ian watched on and gives his less than enthusiastic opinion. As Bear walks into his kitchen, he is greeted by the sight of his cat, Sandy, lying dead on the floor having gotten into a container of pills and consumed a reasonable amount. Bear is devastated. Later that evening he receives a call from Nikki asking him if he is intending on joining her, Ian and Sarah at a local trivia night. Bear declines, but he is reluctantly persuaded by Nikki to go. While on the call Nikki looses a crystal necklace and so Bear goes shopping for a replacement for Nikki at a mystic shop, but instead on buying a new crystal he buys a 'One Wish Willow' instead - a novelty toy that claims to grant one wish when broken in two. 

Later that evening after trivia, Bear drops Nikki off at her house and she asks him if he likes her - which he denies out of fear and complete lack of confidence around women. Frustrated with himself, Bear breaks the One Wish Willow, wishing for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world. Nikki reappears and asks to sleep at Bear's house, revealing her father is dying of cancer. In Bear's bed, she kisses him, but abruptly screams and pushes him away, apologising profusely just a moment later.

The next morning, Nikki creates a memorial on the kitchen floor with the remains of Bear's cat by taking its body from the trash. This greatly disturbs Bear. She later explains her erratic behaviour as a result of taking MDMA and admits her feelings for him. In turn, they become a loving couple, to the complete amazement of Ian and Sarah, and their friendship group.

At a restaurant over dinner, Nikki and Bear are sharing each others goals and aspirations in life. Bear, perhaps jokingly says he'd like to be a food critic. Ian calls Bear and tells him that Nikki expressed disinterest in Bear shortly before they got together and that her estranged father is not dying of cancer but is in fact fit and healthy. Upon being confronted with this news, Nikki causes a scene at the restaurant and becomes very upset until Bear de-escalates the situation and promises not to mention it again. That night, Bear wakes up at about 3:00am to find Nikki not in bed next to him. He looks around the darkened room, and Nikki reveals herself from a far corner saying that she was watching him sleep, and accuses him of not loving her as much as she loves him. The next morning, she duct tapes the front door shut. Bear forces the door open and still leaves for work, where he discovers, having taken a couple of bites, that Nikki packed him a sandwich made from Sandy's cooked remains, with a post it note which on one side read for the food critic and on the other, how do you like cat? Needless to say he vomits it up.

Bear calls One Wish Willow's customer support as written on the back of the packaging, hoping to alter his wish. The voice on the other end says the wish cannot be altered or reversed, and will only expire when Bear or Nikki dies, then asks if Bear would like to contact Nikki - when Bear answers yes, he hears Nikki screaming in anguish, and he abruptly hangs up. 

Nikki joins Bear at a party at Ian's house, which was originally intended as a boys night because Ian didn't want Nikki there, because of her increasingly erratic and unpredictable nature. Nikki however, became emotionally unstable again when Bear said he was going to Ian's on a boys only night, and so he relented and let her join. During a game of drunk Jenga, Nikki recites a violent, incestuous retelling of Hansel and Gretel, disturbing and horrifying the guests. Bear draws a block daring him to kiss the person to his left, which is Sarah. Nikki ousts Sarah from her seat and kisses Bear instead, then suddenly begins screaming and stabbing her own face with a broken bottle, before snapping back. Back home that evening, Nikki threatens suicide to make Bear join her in bed. 

Later that night as Bear and Nikki lie in bed, with Bear wide awake and Nikki sleeping, Sarah texts Bear at about 2:00am, asking him to meet her in a nearby park. While Bear gingerly untangles himself from Nikki and attempts to leave, the real Nikki claims her obsessive persona is asleep and pleads with Bear to kill her, but Bear refuses and leaves. In her car, Sarah reveals Ian and Nikki were in a casual sexual relationship for years, before hinting at her own attraction to Bear. Nikki suddenly appears, smashes the window and then repeatedly slams Sarah's head into a brick, mangling her face completely to mush, and killing her outright. Nikki calmly reminds Bear that this is what he wished for and instructs him to go home while she disposes of Sarah's body.

Bear revisits the mystic shop and buys the last two One Wish Willows and tries to use one to reverse his wish, but it fails to break in two as hard as he tries to snap it, as each person is limited to just one wish. He explains everything to Ian and begs him to use another One Wish Willow to undo the wish on his behalf. Ian, in disbelief, instead wishes for a billion dollars and cash immediately begins raining down on them both from his ceiling, much to Bear’s frustration.

Feeling hopeless, Bear returns home with the last One Wish Willow to ask Nikki to reverse his wish. He discovers Sarah's nude, mangled corpse sitting in an arm chair in the lounge and Nikki wearing Sarah's clothing, and has new tattoo's above her breast and on her upper arm, just as Sarah did. Nikki threatens Bear and herself at gunpoint. Ian arrives exclaiming his joy that the One Wish Willow came true, and Nikki shoots him dead with a bullet to the head before he could even finish his sentence. Bear says that they should go take a shower to wash off the blood and gore from their faces and bodies, but Bear locks Nikki out of the bathroom. She frantically bangs on the door demanding to be let in, but Bear has decided to kill himself. After deciding not to shoot himself though the heart or in the head with the gun he extracted from Nikki, he decides to overdose on oxycodone instead to forcibly end the wish. After swallowing a mouthful of pills he has second thoughts and attempts to make himself vomit, but before he can, Nikki uses the final One Wish Willow on Bear. Under the control of Nikki's wish, Bear emerges from the bathroom and kisses Nikki before he collapses from the overdose and dies in her arms, Heartbroken, Nikki prepares to shoot herself, but once Bear dies she becomes her real self again and starts wailing upon seeing the carnage around, and on her.

With 'Obsession' the horror genre has has found its latest auteur in Curry Barker, who here has delivered us a film that is creepy and freaky, gruesome, emotional, at times darkly humorous and one which adds a chilling dimension to the traditional RomCom with an innate sense of atmospheric dread. Inde Navarrette gives an outstanding performance as the obsessive and possessive Nikki, changing from seemingly lovey dovey sweetness and light girlfriend to totally unhinged yet at times relatably believable antagonist. The film will leave you pondering over its meaning and messages long after the end credits have rolled, and hails a new voice in the genre just as it did with Zach Cregger with 'Barbarian', Jordan Peele with 'Get Out' and Ari Aster with 'Hereditary'. The only downside to this movie is that at times its gets a little repetitive, but don't let that stop you from seeing this film on a big screen, and as a timely reminder, be careful what you wish for!

'Obsession' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 28th May 2026.

The 66th Krakow Film Festival (KFF) this year is held from Sunday 31st May through until Sunday 7th June in the Polish city of Krakow. Founded in 1961 when it was called the Polish Short Film Festival, the Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentary films, short animations and short feature films. The core of the festival consists of four equal competitions - documentary, DocFilmMusic, short film and Polish one. During the eight days of the festival, viewers have the opportunity to watch about two hundred films from around the world. They are presented in competitions and numerous special sections. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, outdoor screenings and meetings with filmmakers, as well as KFF Industry – an event aimed at the film industry . . . . . so reads the official website. 

In this years International Documentary Film Competition, there are thirteen titles from across the globe - works that refuse to look away from the burning questions of our time whilst boldly pushing beyond the boundaries of classical documentary filmmaking. The Krakow Film Festival invites its audiences to reflect on the future of cinema, encounter extraordinary personalities, and to journey to the furthest corners of the world. Competing for this year’s top honours are films of formal daring and emotional intensity - unafraid of intimacy, and wholly capable of casting a critical eye over reality. 

Those thirteen films are as given in brief, below :-

* 'Around Paradise' - from Germany and Written and Directed by Yulia Lokshina. A group of well-off Europeans are trying to flee as far as possible from vaccines, taxes, Islam, the spectre of a third world war and a climatic catastrophe. They are searching for freedom in poor regions of southern Paraguay, where they set up a self-sufficient enclave.

* 'Holofiction' - from Germany and Austria and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Edited by Michal Kosakowski. Few historical events have been portrayed on screen as often as the Holocaust. And few have become so entrenched in cliches, stereotypes and conventions. We are treated to a daring video essay compiled from clips of over 3,000 feature films made in the period from the late 1930's right up to the present day. The images, edited thematically, come together to form a single coherent work, engaging (without words!) with fictional representations of the Holocaust.

* 'If Pigeons Turned to Gold' - from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Written, Directed, Co-Photographed and Edited by Pepa Lubojacki. Filmed over a seven year period, the film follows the lives of four family members, whose shared past has grown into a fragmented, contrasting present.

* 'Magic Hour' - from Poland and Written and Directed by Marcin Borchardt. The film tells a story of a brilliant clan of Polish cinematographers focusing on Piotr Sobocinski, whose Hollywood career and untimely death reveal the dark side of success in the film industry.
* 'Redlight to Limelight' - from India, Finland and Latvia and Written and Directed by Bipuljit Basu. CAM-ON is an amateur film group made of sexual workers from Calcutta and their children. In the real setting of slums, they are working on their first feature film based on their own, often painful, experiences.

* 'Silent Flood' - from Ukraine and Germany and Directed, Co-Photographed and Co-Edited by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. On the banks of the Dniester in Western Ukraine lives an isolated community that ignores socioeconomic development. The Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupts their idyllic daily life and becomes a challenge to their pacifist views.

* 'Synthetic Sincerity' - from the UK and Co-Written, Produced, Directed, Photographed and Edited by Marc Isaacs. How to make a face generated by artificial intelligence to be more human? For example, you can train AI on the characters of documentary films. The Director agreed that his work be used. The result is a witty hybrid of documentary and fiction exposing the blurring of many boundaries in the AI era.

* 'The Arctic Circle of Lust' - from Finland, Germany and Sweden and Written and Directed by Markku Heikkinen. In the Far North, emotions and passions can reach fever pitch. A middle-age farming couple find out about it for themselves when the man discovers he is not attracted only to women, and she gives him the go-ahead.

* 'The Fabulous Time Machine' - from Brazil and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Eliza Capai. Although they live in one of the poorest regions of Brazil, they almost burst the screen with girlish energy. The protagonists invite us to a very colourful world on the cusp of carefree fun and coming of age, which usually brings a definitive end to innocence.

* 'The Tale of Silyan' - from North Macedonia and the USA and Co-Produced and Directed by Tamara Kotevska. What could an old Macedonian legend about a boy turned into a stork possibly have in common with farmers’ protests on the fringes of modern-day Europe?

* 'The Winning Generation' - from the Netherlands and Co-Written and Directed by Marco de Stefanis. For twelve years the camera had followed a young Armenian activist who, over time, became a politician and is fighting for the sovereignty of his country, which remains under constant threat from Moscow.

* 'Tickling the Devil' - from Poland and Co-Written, Produced, Directed and Co-Photographed by Piotr Malecki. Christopher Morris took part in twenty-eight wars. Armed with a photographic camera, he documented bloody conflicts across the world. Today, he tries to lead a peaceful family life, but the demons of war continue to haunt him, and turbulent American reality calls out to him at every turn.

* 'Tristan Forever' - from Switzerland and Co-Written, Directed, Photographed and Co-Edited by Tobias Nolle. The eponymous Island is considered the most isolated of all inhabited places on Earth. It is here where a Parisian physician returns after thirty years with a plan to stay forever this time.

For the full details of the other competitive strands - the Short Film Competition (36 films), the National Competition (41 films) and the DocFilmMusic Competition (eight films), and the other sections being showcased, plus a whole lot of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : http://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/66th-kff/

Turning the focus back to this weeks four hot new release movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with a musical comedy drama offering about a past-his-prime wedding singer, who meets a fading boy-band star during a gig, and the two bond over music and a late-night jam session, in this feel-good story about music, self-respect, friendship, and the price of ambition. Next up we have a biographical drama film in which, after the sudden death of her father, a woman turns to the ancient art of falconry, training a wild goshawk named Mabel to navigate her profound loss. Then we turn to a Sci-Fi horror story where, after a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him. And closing out the week we have a Hong Kong film telling the story of how after being raped, a Pastor's daughter committed suicide, and years later, when the rapist is released from prison, he joins the Pastor's church!

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'POWER BALLAD' (Rated M) - is an American and Irish musical comedy drama film Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by John Carney, whose Directorial debut in his own right, 'On the Edge' was released in 2001, and he would follow this up with other movies taking in 'Once' in 2007, 'Begin Again' in 2013, 'Sing Street' in 2016 and 'Flora and Son' in 2023. This film saw its World Premiere screening at the Dublin International Film Festival in early March this year, is released in the US, the UK, Ireland and here is Australia this week, and has garnered generally favourable critical reviews.

Rick Power (Paul Rudd), wedding singer, meets washed up former boy band singer, Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), at a wedding one night and bonds with him over a jam session. After the jam session, Danny steals one of Rick's songs, and it becomes a number one hit that brings Danny back into popularity, leading to Rick seeking out revenge and the recognition he believes he is owed - even if it means risking everything he cares about. Also starring Havana Rose Liu, Jack Reynor, Peter McDonald (who also Co-Wrote the screenplay with John Carney) and Sophie Vavasseur.

'H IS FOR HAWK' (Rated M) - this UK and US Co-Produced biographical drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe in her third feature film outing following 'Swallows and Amazons' in 2016 and 'Misbehaviour' in 2020. This film is based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by naturalist Helen MacDonald. The film chronicles Helen Macdonald’s (Claire Foy) experience of grief following the sudden death of their father Alisdair Macdonald (Brendan Gleeson) and their decision to train a goshawk named Mabel, as a means of coping with that loss. The narrative interweaves two strands - Macdonald’s personal bereavement and the practical and psychological challenges of falconry. Also starring Denise Gough, Sam Spruell, and Lindsay Duncan. It saw its Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August last year and was released in the UK and the USA towards the end of January this year, has garnered generally positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$3M.

'BACKROOMS' (Rated M) - is an American Sci-Fi horror film Directed by Kane Parsons, in his feature film making debut, and is based on his own web series published in January 2022 as the short film 'The Backrooms (Found Footage)' which he posted to his YouTube channel, and which went viral and expanded into twenty-four more short films culminating in a web series that has had 77 million views as of May 2026. Here then, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a depressed and misanthropic furniture store owner feeling stuck in the simplicity of his life, seeking help from his therapist Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), one night discovers a doorway in his store that transports him into the haunting and seemingly never ending backrooms. Also starring Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell. The film cost less than US$10M to produce and is released in the US this week too. 

'VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH' (Rated MA15+) - this Hong Kong crime drama film is Co-Directed by Sen Lam and Antonio Tam and Written by Antonio Lam. Here, Pastor Leung (Anthony Wong) who preaches God's forgiveness, finds himself in a dire situation when Chi Lok (George Au), a young man who raped and caused the death of his daughter years ago, is released from prison and unexpectedly joins his church. Can the pastor forgive him despite his instinct for vengeance? The film was released in early June 2025 in its native Hong Kong, having seen its Premiere screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival in late October 2024, and only now does it get a limited showing in Australia, having so far grossed US$645K and garnering mixed or average reviews.

With four new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-