The Obsession

I did not like this movie! The lead actress the young girl was very poor and I felt if she had been stronger the movie could have been better. The lead actor and the girl's mother were great. Overall,this movie is a 5 out of 10 because of the acting. The storyline is perfect in a way to keep you watching but if the acting is poor there's nothing you can do. Come on, Lifetime. I've seen other obsession movies that have been way better. The ballet dancing was OK it doesn't bother me because I don't know much about it anyway. There was another movie where they had the father get close to the mother to get to the daughter and the acting was great. I don't know how she got the role and it's very odd how this young girl can't see this guy has a crush on her. Am i the only one? Weak!

I've seen a lot of Lifetime movies in the past and have a pretty good idea of what's good and what's not. This one does not even live up to the most basic Lifetime movie, which is disappointing because the story could have been good.

Deborah Matthews is recently divorced mother of 16-year old daughter, Erika. Erika is an aspiring ballet dancer who is eligible to audition for a prestigious dance company and tries to spend every spare moment rehearsing for the big day. The ballet instructor, Mr. Kappas, leaves town without warning, forcing the dance school to hire Reed Halton. Of course, as in all Lifetime movies, he is not who he says he is, but before any of the other characters can figure it out, he's already insinuated himself into their lives.

I figured out every upcoming plot twist within 20 minutes of watching this movie. I was looking forward to it being a fan of Daphne Zuniga, but I was quickly bored with the story, with the acting, and with the direction of the film. We were subjected to dozens of slow montages of Erika dancing in various outfits in the ballet studio. I grew tired of the accompanying music very quickly. I won't pretend to know much about ballet, but I do know ballerinas are supposed to be graceful and light on their feet. In this film, Erika didn't appear to be the magnificent ballerina everyone around her said she was. The transitions from one step to another seemed clumsy and her entire routine seemed simplistic and unimpressive. I believe the filmmakers were trying to drive home that she's so beautiful a dancer, who wouldn't be mesmerized and become obsessed with her? They overdid it and failed.

Reed's character was not well-written. At first, he seems fairly normal and gets along with everybody well. Halfway through the movie he turns into a creep. His motives are weak and undeveloped. We're given one explanation about why he's so crazy, but it doesn't hold up well. There are many unrealistic things in this movie, like a website you can just click around and find someone's criminal record from another state. The way the cops act throughout the movie are very unrealistic as well.

Overall, this movie is just poorly executed. The subplots are predictable and the acting is sub-par. I can think of plenty of other Lifetime movies which are better than this one in every way. Avoid it if you can. 4/10

First of all, I would like to start off with the positive, which sadly for me is only one thing, & that is Sebastian Spence is a really handsome actor. Sorry people, I tried to dig deep to come up with more positive things to say but this is all I could find. For Daphne Zuniga, she's a good actress. I've seen her other work; however, this movie was such a waste of her talent.

In a nutshell, "The Obsession" had potential. Unfortunately, it was never reached because of the really bad acting & bad directing. I cringed most of the time during the movie because of this. I was embarrassed for the entire cast. I wanted to grow with the characters & lose myself in the storyline but sadly it never happened. The chemistry in the cast was non-existent & most of the characters just weren't believable or organic, especially the girl who played Erika Matthews. She needs way more experience in her career before taking on ANY kind of movie. She has a very long way to go, which leaves me wondering like one other reviewer as in WHY she was casted in this role. And her dancing! Oh my gosh, her ballet performance totally killed me & seeing her routine once was TOO MUCH for me to stomach. Why did they have to show her routine over & over & over...??? Ugh!

Unfortunlatey everyone, I give "The Obsession" a big time THUMBS DOWN...WAY DOWN!

I saw this about two years later for Canadian Thanksgiving, probably because our 'W' television network needed to serve up a turkey. Those who saw it when it was released got it right. This is borderline awful. The evidence is that the production company hasn't done a movie since putting out this turkey.

I would also like to add my voice to those who saw Elise Gatien as miscast as an aspiring ballerina. I'm not an aficionado of classical ballet by any means but Elise Gatien doesn't have the body of a ballet dancer. She's far too busty and heavy - look at her fanny for example.

The other thing is that the cops in this town must be the dumbest on earth, staking out one home but not another. Aren't there more than two cops to do all the police work? If it shows up again on your cable late at night, give it a pass.

To be brutally honest, this movie was extremely hard to sit through because the acting was just completely horrible. Elise Gatien, who played Erika Matthews (the teenage girl who was being stalked by her ballet teacher), was one of the characters that I kept asking myself, "How ON EARTH did she get this role?!?" I apologize for sounding so harsh but w/ all due respect, she can't act nor can she dance. As a big movie fan (be it TV or the silver screen), I have high expectations from Hollywood & most of the time, if I'm disappointed w/ a movie, it's usually because of the storyline & not because of the acting. So not the case w/ this movie. Of course, you can't blame everything on the actors because directors are just as responsible & the directing in this movie was very poor. I mean how many times do you need to see Erika's audition performance? This part of the movie was over kill for me & it didn't help that she wasn't a great ballet dancer to begin w/. Overall, a disappointing Lifetime movie!