"OBEX" - AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION DRAMA FILM REVIEW

 

OBEX is a 2025 American science fiction film written and directed by Albert Birney. It stars Albert Birney, Callie Hernandez and Frank Mosley. It was released on January 9, 2026 by Oscilloscope.

Conor Marsh lives a secluded life in Baltimore in 1987, with his dog, Sandy. One day, while reading through a computer magazine, he discovers an advertisement for a video game called OBEX, featuring a demon villain named Ixaroth who devours human souls. Interested, he buys the game, and begins to play it, only to be disappointed with the simple game play of it. That night, he is awaken by the sounds of his printer, and he retrieves a note that reads something is inside his VHS tape collection. He is unable to find the unknown figure in his tape collection. As Conor goes back to sleep, Ixaroth emerges from his television set, and abducts Sandy.

The next morning, Conor learns that Sandy is gone missing, and he goes outside where he finds a Macintosh computer, and is soon sucked into the video game world of OBEX. He enters a store where he meets a woman who runs the shop, and she provides him materials for his journey. As Conor sets off to rescue Sandy, he rescues a television head named Victor from cicada-like figures. Victor then decides to accompany him on his journey. During their journey, they find a car during their journey and, while driving through the night at the Valley of Bones, Conor is attacked by two naked humans who turn into skeletons.

Victor takes a wounded Conor to the store, and they revive him, before proceeding to resume their journey. They finally arrive at Ixaroth's castle, when they find it locked. Unable to infiltrate the castle, they sleep in for the night. The next morning, Conor finds the skeletal remains of Victor, who sacrificed himself to unlock the castle's gates. Conor then proceeds to enter the castle, where he finds himself in a church filled with cicada-like figures. He finds Sandy, imprisoned inside a television set, but Sandy is soon dead just as he was about to rescue him. Conor meets his mother, who shows him a memory book filled with memories of his past when she suddenly disappears.

Ixaroth, who abducted Sandy, confronts Conor at the church, and Conor angrily defeats Ixaroth by killing him with his sword, and soon reconciles with Sandy. It is then revealed that the entire journey was all played in the game, played by Conor, back to his normal life with Sandy now. Conor and Sandy then relax on a beach.