Inde Navarrette says Toni Collette’s performance as Annie Graham in Hereditary helped her commit to how far her role in Obsession could take her. Playing Nikki in the film meant keeping a woman’s humanity visible as a wish took control of her.
“She inspired me a lot,” Navarrette said of Collette, describing the attitude she took into the role: “You gotta send it, you gotta do everything that you possibly can.”
In Curry Barker’s film, Bear’s wish turns Nikki’s affection into something she can’t control. Navarrette has to make room for devotion, terror and moments when the person underneath can still break through. Collette’s grieving mother offered a model for making emotional pain and frightening behavior belong to the same person.
Mia Goth was another direct influence. Barker suggested Navarrette watch Pearl, and Navarrette explained what she took from Goth’s performances: “she’s human first,” with the character’s more extreme behavior following from that humanity.
Horror has a long history of performances that hold those feelings together. Kathy Bates makes Annie Wilkes’s care turn threatening in Misery.
Jeff Goldblum keeps Seth Brundle’s suffering recognizable through his physical transformation in The Fly. Nikki shares that challenge: the audience has to recognize the person being consumed by what’s happening to her.
Calling Navarrette the best at it remains a critical judgment. The release reviews made several different arguments: Dread Central called hers the year’s best performance in May 2026, while Variety placed her alongside Collette in Hereditary and Lupita Nyong’o in Us.
Navarrette described the demands of Nikki this way: “there’s six different characters in one person.”
