Michael Johnston has moved from MTV’s “Teen Wolf” into Curry Barker’s horror movie “Obsession,” playing Bear, the beloved of Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette. The 108-minute film, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, played at the Boston Underground Film Festival a few weeks before this article was published.

That festival path matters because “Obsession” has been building momentum since its TIFF debut, drawing critical raves and a new audience on the horror circuit. Johnston’s casting gives the film a familiar face for viewers who know him from “Teen Wolf,” but here he is inside a story that is described as a darkly comic take on “The Monkey’s Paw,” a premise that turns affection into something far more dangerous.

Barker’s film does not ask for much setup before it gets under the skin. Bear is not a bystander or a throwaway supporting role; he is the person Nikki loves, and that relationship sits at the center of the film’s unsettling pull. Johnston’s presence helps anchor that emotional thread, even as the story around him leans into the strange and the macabre.

The tension comes from the contrast the film seems built on: a recognizable actor from “Teen Wolf” placed in a twisted horror story that has already traveled from TIFF to Boston Underground and picked up praise along the way. That reception suggests “Obsession” has found the audience it was after, and Johnston’s role as Bear gives it a human center that makes the darker material land harder.

For Johnston, the move marks a sharp turn from a familiar TV label into a horror film that has already made its case on the festival circuit. For viewers, the question is not whether “Obsession” has arrived. It already has.