9 July 30 - August 5, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents 7. “Obsession” by Curry Barker The box-office phenomenon of the year was every bit worth the hype. Former YouTube and TikTok creator Curry Barker (of the ex- cellent horror short “Milk & Serial”) spins a monkey’s-paw nightmare: a lovestruck young man (Michael Johnston) buys a cursed, wish- granting novelty item and wishes the girl he adores would love only him. It works cata- strophically. Inde Navarrette’s terrifying, shape-shifting and award-worthy perfor- mance anchors a film that uses horror to in- terrogate consent and control with unnerving freshness. Barker hides menace all within the frame, and it lingers. 6. “Leviticus” by Adrian Chiarella Working in the aching lineage of “It Fol- lows,” director Adrian Chiarella crafts a queer horror triumph where the monster wears the face of whoever you love most. Set in a religious, repressive town, it follows two teens whose forbidden bond summons an entity that stalks them in the shape of desire itself. Joe Bird is remarkable as the central character, translating unseen terror into something we feel in our chests. 5. “The Drama” by Kristoffer Borgli Kristoffer Borgli’s European-flavored anti-ro- mance begins as the perfect meet-cute and swerves into something far harder to shake. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play newly- weds-to-be whose drinking game — “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” — deto- nates their future with a single, unexpected answer. What follows is a disorienting, deeply felt study of confusion. Every department, from production design to editing, conspires to capture that vertigo. Unforgettable. 4. “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” by Baz Luhrmann Baz Luhrmann returns to the King, this time with archival Vegas footage restored to gleaming life. There are no talking heads here, only Elvis — electric, sweat-drenched, singular. Luhrmann remixes the material to bridge past and present, honoring the artist while making him feel gloriously alive in the present. You’ll leave nostalgic for a time you may have never lived through, but desperate to have been in that room. 3. “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” by Nia DaCosta Nia DaCosta lights the franchise’s baton on fire and uses it to illuminate the darkest corners of the human soul. Ralph Fiennes gives a should-be-nominated performance as Dr. Ian Kelson, whose tender, almost theological relationship with an Alpha zombie named Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) supplies the biggest heart of any film this year. Jack O’Connell’s charismatic cult- leader villain provides the screaming. It de- served far better at the box office and belongs in any conversation about the dec- ade’s best films. 2. “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” by Matt Johnson Canadian mischief-makers Matt Johnson and Jay McCarroll resurrect over a decade of guerrilla footage into a “Back to the Fu- ture” flavored time-travel comedy about two friends chasing an impossible dream. Im- provised, audacious and stitched together with real-world reactions, it’s a joyous ode to friendship — the thread that binds so many of this year’s best films. Seek it out and prepare to laugh until you ache. 1. “The Odyssey” by Christopher Nolan At this point, putting the next Christopher Nolan film at No. 1 makes you look like a cliché film bro, but we’re not going to be shy about it. “The Odyssey” is instantly signifi- cant. It feels like a monumental and magical event, unafraid to get weird, scary and downright sinister (keep your eyes open for the Circe scene). Usually, this much star power (Zendaya, Matt Damon, Tom Hol- land, Anne Hathaway and Travis Scott are scratching the surface) steals attention from the story, yet Nolan keeps everything cen- tered on the journey. You feel the weight, the time, the sheer exhaustion of every mile, and you’re absolutely riveted throughout. Not to sound ahead of our time by placing Nolan in the same pool as Kubrick, but really, we’re already there. And what a gift. Provided by A24 David Lowery (left) directs Anne Hathaway in “Mother Mary”.
