Horror Film ‘Obsession’ Turns TikTok Makeup Trend Into Uncanny Valley Nightmare
A practical makeup technique popularized on TikTok has become one of the most talked-about elements of the 2025 horror film Obsession, helping create the unsettling presence of its central character Nikki.
Rather than relying on heavy computer-generated effects, director Curry Barker and his team pushed actress Inde Navarrette’s appearance into the “uncanny valley” — the psychological response first described by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. The term describes the discomfort people feel when something looks almost human but not quite, causing a sharp drop in emotional comfort.
In Obsession, this effect is achieved largely through practical makeup. Key makeup artist Kate Oja and the production drew inspiration from a 2023 TikTok beauty trend known as “uncanny valley makeup,” which gained widespread attention after videos by creator Emilia Blarth went viral. The method involves enlarging features such as the mouth and pupils while covering or softening others, including lips and eyebrows, and painting false eyes onto the eyelids. The result is a face that still reads as human but can appear lifeless or mannequin-like, especially in low light.
Behind-the-scenes images released after the film’s premiere show how these subtle alterations transformed Navarrette’s features. Many viewers initially assumed the look involved extensive CGI, but the work remained largely practical and cost-effective.
Subtle digital enhancements from Queen Studio, supervised by visual effects artist Peter Timberlake, added another layer. Instead of amplifying expressions, the team often reversed them — slightly closing wide eyes or tilting a smile into a frown — so the face’s surface emotions conflicted with what seemed to be happening underneath. In one restaurant scene, an original mischievous smile was adjusted so the lips angled downward, leaving viewers with the uneasy sense of a frown that still carried a trace of a smile.
The combination has proven effective. Nikki remains recognizably human, yet her appearance and microexpressions never fully settle into natural behavior. The mismatch has been widely cited by audiences as one of the reasons certain moments from the film continue to linger.
By adapting a social media makeup trend and pairing it with restrained visual effects, Obsession turns a well-documented psychological phenomenon into a precise tool for building dread.
Sources
- BriefLedger: “Freaky Nikki’s Uncanny Valley Makeup in Obsession Was Inspired by TikTok” – https://briefledger.co.uk/freaky-nikkis-uncanny-valley-makeup-in-obsession-was-inspired-by-tiktok/
- Blue Screen Reveals: “Peter Timberlake: The Invisible VFX of Obsession” – https://bluescreenreveals.com/peter-timberlake-the-invisible-vfx-of-obsession/
- Film Stories: “Love from the uncanny valley: Obsession and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence are the same movie” – https://filmstories.co.uk/news/love-from-the-uncanny-valley-obsession-and-a-i-artificial-intelligence-are-the-same-movie/
- CG Garage podcast discussion with VFX supervisor Peter Timberlake
- Historical background on Masahiro Mori’s 1970 essay on the uncanny valley
Alex Rivera is a content writer with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and over two years of experience. He writes for Why Influencers Gone Wild, covering influencer culture, social media trends, viral stories, and the creator economy.
