Obsession
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 1, 1976 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sometimes overwrought excess can be its own reward. If Obsession had been even a little more subtle, had made even a little more sense on some boring logical plane, it wouldn't have worked at all. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
There's nothing in the aesthetic and neo-Freudian delirium within hailing distance of Vertigo, and the plot's often more complicated than complex, but Herrmann's overpowering score and De Palma's endlessly circling camera movements do manage to cast a spell. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
Bujold’s enthusiasm as a performer redeems the entire picture, especially when she’s asked to perform flashback scenes that shouldn’t work, but, thanks to her, represent another of De Palma’s fearlessly experimental whims. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The heightened luridness of Obsession does succeed in making Vertigo’s twisty plot seem all the more inessential to that film’s power. What both movies do is cut a tale of murder and madness down to its essence, exploring characters who’ve been damaged by social expectations and their own desires. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Robertson’s low-key performance is as crucial to the manifold surprise impact as Bujold’s versatile, sensual and effervescent charisma. Read full review
50
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Schrader and De Palma's tribute to Hitchcock's Vertigo may lack the misogyny and bloodbath sensationalism of De Palma's later work, but it's still dressed up in a mortifyingly vacuous imitation of the Master's stylistic touches. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited
For a De Palma film, Obsession has much more suspense than violence, even if much of the premise and motivations are shamelessly culled from Hitchcock's Vertigo, as is composer Bernard Herrmann. The lack of originality, however, doesn't make Obsession any less effective, and the film has been generally overlooked in the spotty De Palma canon. Read full review
50
The New York TimesVincent Canby
The Schrader screenplay, based on an original story by Mr. Schrader and Mr. De Palma, is most effective when it's most romantic, and transparent when it attempts to be mysterious. Read full review
40
EmpireJustin Bowyer
The only obsession on display here is De Palma's - with Hitchcock. It's an unhealthy one too which results in an out of focus rip-off. Read full review
40
The New York TimesWalter Goodman
Whatever shred of credibility the movie retains is dispersed by the final, dead serious directorial hocus‐pocus. Read full review
More From This Movie

59 Critic Reviews

5.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL