This movie is horrific | OBSESSION Explained

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]Obsession, the latest horror movie making waves and for very good reason.

[00:00:04]I've been talking about this movie since I caught it back at the Toronto International Film Festival in September because it's just the type of horror I love. It's fun, it's mean, it's fantastic, it commits, and it's been making way for a lot of interesting and at times concerning conversations. After making a wish on what he believes to be a novelty item, Bear gets exactly what he thinks he wants with horrifying consequences. That is what I would say the log line of this movie is. I've always kind of described it as a flip on a monkey paw curse, but it's less interested in the mechanism of the wish itself and how it was achieved and more so the behaviors and mindset it leads to within the characters. How the obvious source of the title seems to be coming from who's presented as the crazy girlfriend when in reality it all goes back to Bear himself. A bit more ambiguous in areas unless you want to walk away thinking Bear is a complete victim. Then we'll have to have a chat.

[00:00:51]This is another movie that fits into my current theory that the most interesting and best horrors are coming from people with a history of online comedy and and sketch comedy. The Rockaraka Boys with Talk to Me and Brer Back. Kger with Weapons and Barbarian. And now Curry Barker with this gem. Keep it up people.

[00:01:06]I need to continue being fed. Now the base premise, without going into too many individualized details, which is the stuff that's very obvious from the trailer, is that Bear is obsessed with his friend Nikki desperately wants to be with her. And in a moment of desperation, after failing to share those feelings, he makes a wish on a one-wish willow for her to love him more than anyone. And that's exactly what happens. Exactly. And while it does just work as this very unsettling pseudo cursed item we'll get into, it's not really a cursed item type movie, it also ends up being this very interesting look at relationship dynamics, obsession, obviously, the way people perceive love and the ways it can be very toxic and possessive. definitely exploring the concept of the self-defeating nice guy that aren't really always that nice at all and how common it is for people that have those mindsets just fall into an ideal of what they've created in their head for what they want that object of their desire to be and just a big old horrifying look at the loss of agency in certain relationships to they're using things to explore some some themes to their extreme. I think while watching this it's very clear who the real bigger victim is in this. There is definitely a a point of no return moment, but it has been very interesting to see how different people have been engaging with that. Again, I know I've kind of said it's a cursed item movie in the past, but it is theoretically a completely neutral item. It can only end up as cursed or as horrific as the wish you make. Bear makes a cursed and horrible wish, so that's what he gets. I just think the movie is super cool. It's super mean, but it's also again very fun, very funny. It really does that whole vibe of like laughing because you're so uncomfortable so well.

[00:02:36]Genuinely, one of my best theater experiences ever when I saw it at TIFF.

[00:02:39]It doesn't go for easy jump scares. It just lingers on things to be unsettling and scary. All the performances are really great in this, but as everybody's been saying, Indie Navaretti is really the incredible standout here as Nikki, the cursed individual, I suppose we'll say. She hits every level that this character needs from the pre-wish during the wish, the more horrific moments, the highs, the lows. Just truly fantastic.

[00:03:01]Like there's a scene where she just screams something in bed and I was just like, "Holy shit." And I love that it gets mean in a way that forces you to be horrified by what's actually happening to her character. I think as unsettling as she is as a character, Nikki does just become this very tragic person, very much like a a Jennifer Czech in Jennifer's body. And and any other of those like horror movies where like horrible things happen to women just completely against uh their their will and then they become this perceived horrifying thing because of what happened to them against their will.

[00:03:31]Great little subgenre of horror there.

[00:03:33]And while there were a lot of changes, mostly just in like how certain scenes played out or what happened in what order, the script did land online and a lot of those notes are like right in there, especially when it comes to Bear.

[00:03:43]You get a very good idea of what his motivations are in that script. So, I I love that he like Curry clearly had a very clear view of what he wanted with this movie. And I will be going through the script while we go through this as well. And it was all made for $750,000, which is a lot obviously, but in terms of making movies, that is nothing at all. And they made magic with that. I know Wiki has it worded like Blumbhouse was actively involved in the production and making of this movie, but they only came on board after Focus Features picked it up and the movie was like well done and already premiered at TIFF. They got the funding for this from Capstone, who also did that movie fall after their $800 feature, Milk and Cereal, went viral. They just did the damn thing. But then this movie continued to make bank, making even more in its second week, which is unheard of with a lot of movies, but especially horror movies.

[00:04:30]Quick update on that. The movie has continued to make dollars hand over fist is actually currently making more than the Mandalorian and Grou, which is completely wild, but to be fair, I took time out of my day at the Khan Film Festival to go see Obsession again while in France, and I still haven't seen the Grou movie. Because you might say, I'm a little obsessed with this movie. I pretty well cleared out I cleared out the Focus Features store that they had at South by Southwest, including getting this hat that is too big for my head, but I still needed it. I've got some One Wish Willows and of course my my little my little food critic pin uh that my friend Art secured for me. So yeah, you might say I'm a little obsessed, but something else I'm obsessed with is today's sponsor, Incogn. Back to the channel to help protect your personal data. Every time you put your information online, you run the risk of having it bought and sold by data brokers. Whether it's something as basic as your email or as serious as your address, it's just bouncing around for people to exploit. It might just lead to an influx of really bad spam calls and emails, but it can also be used in more targeted scams against you and your loved ones, which is even easier in the US where people searching sites are popping up constantly with detailed personal profiles. They take advantage of grandparents who aren't super techsavvy, prey on people in debt, desperate to make a little bit more money. And some scammers have even started using AI to make things that much more convincing. And that's where incogn for places that have that information and send requests on your behalf to have it removed. And you can even send custom requests if you happen to notice your data somewhere before they can get to it. But usually once I notice an uptick in spam and Cognney is already working on the removal requests. And it can be that easy for you too. Just make an account giving Cognney the okay to work on your behalf and they'll keep you updated as they handle the back and forth stressfree. So check out incogn.com/amanda or use code amanda at checkout to get 60% off an annual plan and let Incogn take care of the headaches of data removal. Back to the video. Okay, so let's hop into the movie which means spoilers. Many spoilers. full spoilers.

[00:06:22]In fact, we're just going to go we're going start to finish. Before that, though, I will give a mild content warning. There are some gross scenes involving a dead cat. You do not see anything bad happen to the cat. It is dead the entire time, but I already had somebody yell at me for not warning people. So, uh there's your warning. But as a cat lover, I made it through. It was just disturbing, but it was manageable. But it starts with our protagonist, Bear, confessing his love to Nikki before it pulls back to reveal that he's just practicing on a waitress.

[00:06:49]But it has some very detailed notes from Barker about his mental state, specifically stating that he yearns for romance but enjoys wallowing in his disappointments, which I definitely think comes across in the movie. But it's nice to see it written out here because there have been people arguing about Bear's actions and how deep they go. I also know a lot of people wondered whether or not his name was like uh alluding to the whole man or bear debate that was going around the internet of as to whether what what women would rather pick if they ran across one in the woods. But it has been confirmed that that's just a coincidence. His name is Baron and it's just a memorable nickname. When it comes to the movie though, I really do like that we get this verbal setup instead instead of just immediately seeing him just in his dark neglected home because this instantly lets us hear how focused on Nikki he is. So when he swings back to his house later and we see the doomstalking over social media, we have a baseline for his mental state because it's set up as this massive I've actually been obsessed with you for years. like literally since we were in school. The type of confession that can be beautiful in a romcom or in real life if everything just lines up perfectly but is normally kind of more of a disaster. Even his buddy Ian's like, "No, absolutely not. You need to be chill. Just ask her to go for a drink.

[00:07:57]My god, and not on trivia night because trivia night is my night. That's our night. You can't ruin trivia night." And Ian, of course, is played by Barker's long-term collaborator, Cooper Tomlinson. But I think that's a really great way to set up what the title is.

[00:08:09]It's easy to think again that the title of this movie is going to be completely related to Nikki's escalating behavior, but it is way more to do with Bear's obsession and how that leads to the conflicts within this movie, but after having these plans essentially shut down by Ian, leaving him super confused as to what he should do. And I I kind of get where he's coming from, or I do get where he's coming from. If you've had these really strong feelings for someone, eventually it might hit a point where you're like, I can't just be friends with this person anymore, so I have to like tell them what I'm thinking or kind of separate myself from them a little bit. But he comes home to find his cat dead after getting into what seems to be his grandmother's leftover medication. And it does very much look like a stuffed animals. You guys know me. I don't handle bad things happening to cats well at all. If they had introduced us to this cat and then shown us the cat, I would have been way more upset. But the movie really managed to dodge a lot of that rage for me by not introducing us to the cat while it was alive. It's really just doing a good job showing us how little this guy is taking care of other aspects of his life. He moved into this house after his grandmother died and hasn't really done much to make the space his own or even cleared out her medication. It's definitely implied that he keeps these around to self-medicate. But still though, I will admit when I first saw it, when I saw the name Barbara on the pill bottle, I I thought that bear was short for Barbara because of course he would have a nickname if his name was Barbara. But alas, it's Bar and also prime for a nickname. But while he's stalking Nikki's pages, she calls him, asks him what time he's going to show up at trivia, which he kind of wasn't vibing with, dead cat and all. But of course, her enthusiasm for wanting and needing him there is enough to make him go, especially after she says quite excitedly that she's going to be quitting the job that they all work at together. I guess she's just hit the point where she wants to pursue more in her life, which totally fair. So before trivia, he decides to get her a gift, a new crystal necklace. But while he's trying to pick the perfect one, he catches something on the wall. The One Wish Willow, a vintage novelty toy that, as expected, promises the user one wish.

[00:10:00]At this day, Bear obviously doesn't think it's real, just thinks it's something that Nikki would get a kick out of, so decides to get that for her instead. But it's while checking out that the store clerk starts making some comments that suggests that things might actually be real, making sure to tell him not to come back complaining. So, he obviously starts joking about it being because it it actually ends up working and ruins their life. and she just answers, "Yeah, or they die or wish they were dead again because we know we're watching a horror movie and it's probably going to be real." That makes that very entertaining. But Bear is like, "Damn, amazing sales work here."

[00:10:31]So, he heads up to trivia at Barker's Pub, which is of course named after the director, and he tries to get Nikki alone to ask her out sometime, but the gang just keeps flooding the bar. Ian specifically bakes his way up there knowing what Bear might be trying to do because he wants him to wait until after trivia. He really he really doesn't want trivia ruined, but there might be a little something else going on there, too, that we'll get to. But it's in these moments that the movie has to do a lot in a short period of time to just set up and show us who Nikki is as a person. She shows empathy to the homeless. She has goals and aspirations.

[00:11:00]She wants to be a writer. Sees Bear as one of the only people she can genuinely confide in that won't make fun of her for some of these dreams and goals.

[00:11:07]There's an intimacy to their friendship.

[00:11:08]>> You're the only person I get to really talk to. And while I still maintain that the movie itself leaves it a little ambiguous and at times even steers in in her not being interested, Indie Navarretti and I'm pretty sure Curry Barker have confirmed that Padbear expressed interest because of that intimacy. She probably would have considered it. Again, even though a lot of the moments in this movie seem to directly counter that, which was fully intentional whenever we did certain takes, we played one where like she is super interested. We did another where he she wasn't. And so in the editing process, kind of marrying those together to also see it from Bear's perspective of like how does she feel? Cuz even moments in the script will have her being like, "Oh, ew, don't say that." at certain points when it's related to Bear. But then specifies things like hugging Bear in a way that lingers beyond friendly. At the end of the day, they're just a bunch of young 20somes trying to figure out life and joy and fulfillment. It's not always going to be clean. And in a lot of ways, what goes on to happen after this almost becomes more horrific if there was the chance that she could have organically started liking him or they could have organically gotten into a relationship.

[00:12:07]Both are horrific, but it's just a different angle to it. The important part is that he took that choice away.

[00:12:12]At one point in the car, though, when she's talking about her writing, she specifically says she's writing a love story, not a romance story. She wants something real, and Bear doesn't really seem to understand the difference between a love story and a romance, which I think is pretty telling about where some of this is going to end up going. and the way he's going to end up perceiving his own feelings towards her.

[00:12:29]Some of the reasons why you could make the argument either way as to like what her feelings might have been is just how you end up interpreting certain interactions. Like Nikki brings up that Sarah has a crush on Bear and asks if he's into it and I kind you kind of get the vibe that she's into him at trivia because she gives him this big hug. That could either be Nikki trying to set them up or gauging how Bear might feel for her own personal interests. But on the other hand, when he's about to drive her home, Ian says, "Okay, get your girl home safe." and she responds, "Ew, don't say it like that." So, after failing to just try to express how he feels, he takes Ian's negging advice and tries calling her Freaky Nikki, which was a horrible high school nickname again, instead of just asking her for a drink.

[00:13:10]But it makes her ask if he's into her, saying that now would be the time to tell her. And he just says, "No, we're just good friends." And she says, "Good," which could be taken as good because I don't feel that way. Or, "Okay, cool. Now I know." and we can just kind of continue as friends. So Bear immediately knows how much he's messed up here. Goes into a little minor spiral. Immediately pulls out the one wish Willow and starts making that horrible wish.

[00:13:34]>> I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone in the entire world.

[00:13:38]>> I will say in the script he's doing it half seriously. The tone's a lot lighter in the movie. He's very upset. It's desperation. I like that angle more. And just before he's about to drive off, she is suddenly back on her porch just staring at his car, saying weird things like she doesn't want to be alone because she lost her cat, but then being like, "Oh, no, wait, no, you're the one who lost your cat. I'm sorry." before snapping out of it and realizing she's acting weird before sliding right back into acting weird. Not letting Bear leave without her, saying she doesn't want to be alone because her dad's dying. The dad that lives in another state that she doesn't care about, crying until Bear brings her with him.

[00:14:12]And I'll stress that this is not a possession. And this is literally the wish altering something within her. So they get to his place. She makes him get in bed with her, goes to kiss him before freaking out and pulling back. We're literally seeing that internal battle in real time of her trying to fight whatever this power has done with the wish. Now, obviously at this point, Bear doesn't really think it could be the Willow because that would be crazy. But he does still go look into it because, you know, nothing she's doing is particularly normal. And there's a bunch of different responses. There's some people talking about it being a Mandela effect and then other people being like, "Well, never actually existed." Others saying it works, a lot more saying it doesn't. But when he gets back to the bedroom, she's just sat up in bed and we're getting another usage of that shrouded face in the darkness, which again is just so effective. Begging him to sleep in bed with her and not on the floor. Now, if things weren't already concerning, what happens next is what would have had me immediately driving her for for a brain scan at the hospital. She's pulled the cat out of the garbage and shrined it up on the floor as a memorial. Literally time to go to the hospital, girl. Weewoo. But also, Bear, why wasn't that garbage then thrown outside? Why wasn't that in the outside garbage? But no, they just go to work. Where he is at least concerned telling Ian about how weird it all was, how she'd snap in and out of certain behaviors. So Ian's just like, "Oh, maybe she's back on Molly." Which, you know, fair assumption, little MDMA, little psychosis. So we decides to talk to her, and when he's talking to Bear on the phone later, he's like, "Yeah, seems like that's that's what happened. all the symptoms match and everything, but she says she's fine now. Maybe just kind of like give her some space, which she can't really do because she is staring at him through his window. She's around to apologize for her behavior and being on drugs, but that's definitely just an excuse because she's worried about upsetting him cuz Ian was all like, "Yo, he said you were being weird." And while she's talking, Bear's taking a lot of what she's saying as like, "Okay, I get it. Like, it was drugs. You don't actually care for me." But she reveals that she doesn't in fact have feelings for him. And they immediately play it up for the romance here. It's instantly intimate. It's super cute. They're making out at work while Ian's like, "What the fuck?" Seemingly a picture perfect romance here between them, but not really to anyone around them. She is obsessed and he's wanted this for so long that he's just going to go along with it. Weirdness from before just seemingly gone until they're out to dinner and Ian calls to tell him that Nikki lied about her dad having cancer and that the day she started acting weird, she'd specifically been telling Sarah that she just saw Bear as a little brother. So Bear again starts to wonder, is this all because of the One Wish Willow? Especially when she starts saying that she doesn't think she can live without him. She just loves him so so so so much. So he decides to slide in a you love me more than anyone in the world, which is exactly what he wished for. And she of course says yes. So he just pushes on to ask if her dad really has cancer, leading to this gem.

[00:16:56]>> Oh no, no, no.

[00:17:00]Don't say that. I thought we were having a nice day. And this is where we really have to start seeing Bear as a bad guy.

[00:17:06]Even if this was all natural and not related to the wish, she is not doing well. She is she's freaking out. She's lying about major aspects of her life.

[00:17:14]So, when it immediately cuts to them having sex and it just doesn't even look like she's into it based on her face, we are moving into monster behavior territory. The script actually specifies that it wasn't just him going along with what she was saying to keep her calm.

[00:17:27]His yearning for her overshadowed the concern over the lies and her behavior.

[00:17:31]He is willing to ignore that there might be something seriously wrong with her for affection. Going even further that when they do get back and start being intimate, she completely freaks out and he just doesn't react because he's waiting for her to snap back into character, knowing exactly what he was doing by the end of those acts because he's specifying that he's he's being a man he never thought he was. His own prioritized desires overpowered the concern he should have had. And now it seems like the highlights of their relationship are over. He wakes up to her just hiding in a shadowed corner at night, watching him sleep, talking about not liking her dreams, freaking out about him not loving her as much as she loves him, which of course would be an extension of that kind of wish.

[00:18:10]Escalating behavior, doing these weird jutting movements before just sliding into bed with him real quick to sleep and then yelling at him to stay when he might bail.

[00:18:20]>> Then waking up to find that she had cut his hair in his sleep. But he thinks it's all fine after having a basic little conversation about asking her to stop doing weird things before he turns around and sees that she's tried to duct tape the entire door shut so he can't leave. Leaving us with that iconic creepy smile on her face as she just stands there waiting for him to come back. Literally pisses herself because without Bear she's got nothing to do, nothing to care about. And here's where it starts getting even more [ __ ] up.

[00:18:45]She packed him a lunch, put some polaroids in them. One of them is him and it says you and then it pulls to another one where it's two of them together and under her it just says not me. An indication that the part of Nikki that's like underneath whatever the willow wish did momentarily got a little bit of control and is trying to get that message to bear. Pretty concerning. So he keeps going until he gets down to the post-it note of my little food critic because that's what they were having a lovely time joking about last night at dinner. But she made him a sandwich that was made with his dead cat. They were doing some screenings where they were giving out a stuffed cat. If anybody has one of those stuffed cats that they would let me have, please get in contact with me. If anybody Touchstone focus features, if any of you cat cat anyway, before that reveal, he was having a conversation with Sarah that got pretty deep. She says she's worried that Nikki's messing with him. They rest heads. But it's then that she playfully grabs his food lid and asks, "Well, what's the verdict on Cat?" Because that's what the other side of the post-it note says. realizing that that's what he just ate. Now, there are two going theories here. One is that this wish Nikki is just so [ __ ] that she doesn't even think what she just did is a problem or it's real Nikki punishing there. Now, considering at this point she still seems to be trying to get him to understand that there's something very wrong. I don't know if she'd be doing it as as revenge or as a punishment at this point, but she could have done it just to simply get him to stop doing things with her body because he'd be so disgusted at being cooked.

[00:20:12]Cat Day is dead. cat at that. Let me know where you guys fall on that one.

[00:20:16]I'm not sure Curry specifically talked about that one yet. I will point out that the cat eating is not in the original script, so I don't know when that got added in, but y'all are some sickos. Either way, he is super horrified. Sarah's just wondering what it could mean. He starts viciously puking and just says it's an inside joke. Then later on, he's giving Ian a drive home who clearly wants to talk about Nikki and really concerned about how she's doing. Rightfully pointing out that one minute Bear was super concerned about her mental state and then suddenly he's fine with it all because they're together that it kind of looks like he's taking advantage of her. The script even mentioned that people outside their group have started noticing her behavior. I think it's really funny that his two closest friends are both concerned for completely different reasons. Sarah obviously has her selferving desires because she wants Bear and and probably just kind of resents the attention that Nikki gets. And Ian does seem genuinely concerned about Nikki.

[00:21:04]But Sarah kind of almost revealed something earlier that might kind of have maybe a little added layer to what's going on there. But even with that concern, Ian doesn't seem to actually be talking to Nikki about any of this. Just putting it on Bear, putting their codependency thing to a test, saying that Bear can come to his get together tonight as long as he doesn't bring Nikki. So he heads home and starts practicing what he's going to say. Both like, "Hey, I've got boys night tonight." And also, "You can't cook the cat." Like he's scolding a toddler for eating Play-Doh. Before he can get in the house though, the One Wish Will willow box makes another noise. A very specific different trill from the one he got when he first opened it. This one more sinister and notices that there's a customer service number on the back and decides to give it a call because again, at this point, he does think the wish is real. So, he's talking to the support guy voiced by Barker himself and asks if he can alter his wish. Buddy on the other end even asks, "Oh, you want to cancel it?" And Bear's like, "No, no, no, not cancel. I just I just want her to love me in a nor more normal way. I just want to make a little bit of a modification. Fully knowing and accepting that the wish he made came true and just going along with everything despite the the horrifying implications of that for Nikki. He even has the audacity to ask this guy if the love she has for him is real. If somehow his wish didn't completely alter reality, just intensified something that was already there. To which the support guy gives a perfect response.

[00:22:23]>> Just because you chose this for her doesn't make it less real. move. Oh my god. Again, I must stress not a cursed item. I know I called it that before because it's an easy go-to, but it is only as cursed as the wishes you make.

[00:22:36]And because of that, just like the fine print says, there is nothing you can do to undo anything you've wished for. And the guy makes sure to clarify, as long as Bear is alive, Nikki's stuck this way. So, it's going to be his obligation to be there for her in these times. The only way to undo this wish is to kill himself.

[00:22:54]>> So, she's just stuck like this forever.

[00:22:56]>> Oh, yeah. I mean, as long as you live >> before giving Bear the option to talk to Nikki. You know, the Nikki that isn't in control of her body, but knows something horrible is happening. And it's just her screaming horrifically. That's what's going on inside her head. A horror that only gets worse when he gets inside the house and sees that she literally did not move from that spot all day. She has puked all over herself. She was standing in her own waist. So instead of sticking around to try and help her or clean things up, he just dives right into asking her about the cat and she barely even reacts. So he's like, "Okay, well I'm off the boys night. Bye." Which she handles so chill. Obviously definitely doesn't immediately start screaming.

[00:23:34]Definitely doesn't point out that Sarah mentioned that she was going to be there. So Bear is like, "Well, yeah, if Sarah's there, I must have got it wrong.

[00:23:41]Please come." Leading into a super awkward party game situation where someone asks what kind of spell Bear put on her. So she hysterically starts to laugh. uh which is hard not to read as a combo of the inner Nikki and the obsessed Nikki kind of like blending together so much like if only you knew.

[00:23:58]But it gets weirder when it's her turn to pick a Jenga block and whatever it is, she starts narrating a story she started working on, which is a a Hansel and Gretle type story, making the full character voices for them. But it's a story of them being older, uh, engaging in in incest, which could be calling back to Bear, knowing that Nikki was apparently talking to Sarah about seeing Bear as just a brother. And if that's the case, that relationship has now been perverted and twisted. Whether she 100% saw him as a brother or not, this wish was evil and it's going to taunt Bear with those insecurities and his actions.

[00:24:30]The story even specifically saying it was a love that only the branch of a willow tree could conjure. No denying what's being implied there. Things then get significantly worse when it's Bear's turn to pull the block and it says he has to kiss the person to his left, which is Sarah. Sarah again who has a crush on him, which Nikki would know and obviously isn't going to let happen. I don't know if all the giant Jenga blocks give you the option to like take a drink to skip what it says because I I don't know if it would apply to all of them.

[00:24:56]And I feel like I've seen the the drunk giant Jenga and it's only some of them are like do this or take a shot. But if it if Bear had the option to take the shot, he probably should have just done that and not read the block out loud.

[00:25:06]Instead, we get this super cartoony frowny face out of Nikki where she walks behind Sarah's chair and then slowly pulls it back so she can be the one on Bear's left. going on to make this huge speech about her love for Bear before she has another snap out freak out about how this isn't her and starts stab bashing at her head with a broken liquor bottle. Well, Bear's just sits there like a comeomaos little [ __ ] He doesn't even look horrified. He's just like done. Like in his head, you know, he's thinking like, damn, I just [ __ ] man, we could have just had a really nice night. Although, everyone in the background is just yelling at him to do something and then, you know, cuts to him bringing her to the hospital, but they can't actually take her or do anything because she's refusing to go and be away from him. She's just like dancing outside the car in the background so they have to go home with bear sitting her down and asking why she was acting that way. Buddy, do you really think this is optional? You have already acknowledged that you know this wish has come true. Everything you've done at this point on is not like consensual. Eventually getting to what he should have asked the entire time. Is Nikki happy? Does she, the actual Nikki, even like him at this point? And of course she says she does.

[00:26:12]>> Yeah, I'm your freaky Nikki. another tot which he knows because the last thing the real Nikki was able to do before this wish happened was express how upsetting it was to have Bear call her that. So he tries to say they just need a little bit of space. She has a total toddler meltdown. He says she just needs to be normal.

[00:26:30]>> Just be no.

[00:26:32]And now after all the [ __ ] even though he knew the wish was real he has to acknowledge that the love itself is not. All while she's giving him every romcom platitude like loving him in every reality. And it really seems like he's more upset about it for himself than what it means for this person that he supposedly loves so much. Like at this point, there has been multiple instances where he should have been like, "Oh my god, I have done something irreparably wrong to this person who I I claim to value so much." But it's like, no. It's like, oh god, like we we could have been so happy because now it doesn't really seem like there's a chance that anything's ever going to go back to normal. She starts doing these weird movements, has this weird rewind contortion into the doorway, just shrouded in dark again. and the weird makeup. It's just so good. She starts messing with him mentally while he's cowering on the floor, saying he's afraid, like, "Oh, don't be afraid of me." So, he tries to say that he's going to go sleep somewhere else. So, she just starts talking about how cold and dead she'll feel without him in the bed. Or he can just stay. Slowly escalating in intensity of what's being said, but kind of maintaining a very syrupy sweet voice the entire time. So, of course, he stays until he gets a text from Sarah in the middle of the night asking to meet up at the park. And the dumb idiot goes. And of course, Nikki wakes up when he leaves the bed. Except it's the inner Nikki that can't control anything happening to her that just has these moments of clarity when she realizes what's been going on, begging Bear to kill her. And instead of trying to listen at all, he's just like, "No, you are Nikki. I I'm sorry. Did you Did you forget the conversations and everything that's just been happening? You think that's You think that's Nikki? Oh, you little [ __ ] You gross loser. Could have just had a conversation with her and got your life in a little bit more order, but no. He has the audacity to be upset with her over this, asking her what would be so bad. What's so bad about being with me?

[00:28:15]While Nikki rightfully points out she's never been with him. The part of this that could choose this or want this has never been able to make that choice. And he's just being a gross little baby [ __ ] about it. This makes that party scene even worse because it changes it from potentially just being this random addition to the freakout she's having to a targeted attempt to end herself. This conversation combined with the customer service screaming, all of her freakouts, and so much more should have had him completely horrified for what he did because he apparently loves her. Like, how he is being so blind to what he's done. Really pulling us back to that conversation in the car where he couldn't really get the difference between love and romance because if he loved her, this isn't what he'd be doing. He just had this ideal in his head of what he wanted them to be as a unit. And now he's upset that it's not going the way he always dreamed. At this point, he's basically making the same frowny face that she did, and it's almost exaggerated as the one she was making at the party. And he just leaves her desperately begging to be killed.

[00:29:14]And I get he's tired. I get he's freaked out, but like this is cruel. Maybe I'm coming across as a little bit harsh, but I if you still see Bear as a victim at this point in the movie, like I just have to fundamentally disagree with you.

[00:29:26]You can go back and say like, okay, he made this wish, not thinking it would work, and now something horrible's happened for it. But it's like when once it became very obvious that that is the reason why she's with him, anything that happens after that is assault. He can't accept that he's allowed his own desires and obsession to create harm. But whatever he gets to Sarah, who's still worried that Nikki's taking advantage of him, and tells him that Nikki and Ian had actually been hooking up on and off for 2 years, but Ian recently shut it all down. Damian, that's really brutal of you, dude. not ending it, but like not telling Bear. Sarah said it wasn't super romantic or anything and it was pretty casual, but Ian thinks that Nikki might be doing all this to get back at him for ending it. God, we love a toxic friend group with this just like constant surface level tension. Ian lying to Bear, Sarah being hostile towards Nikki, Nikki hiding things from Bear, Bear's just out here probably taking too much of Grandma's medication to catch on. That's besides the point, though. Let's get into some new [ __ ] [ __ ] Because while the thought of Sarah being into him did nothing for him before when Nikki was mentioning it, the minor hint at someone genuinely being into him is enough to have him being like, "Shit, I guess I guess I could be into this. You deserve nothing, Bear."

[00:30:34]Before that conversation can go any further, though, Nikki comes rushing at the car, smashes through the window, and just starts bashing Sarah's face into a brick. Okay, so apparently they had to trim some of this scene down from when I saw it at Tiff Fair. I so distinctly remember when I was watching it the empty space that was in the window when Sarah's talking to Bear. I was just waiting for Nikki to like show up there or something to happen or to kind of get jump scared. But I definitely didn't expect it to be this like very abrupt run. And the whole thing's very abrupt.

[00:31:03]Like her whole face is just gone. All while Nikki is there to remind Bear that this is all his fault. This is what he wanted. He wished for it. So now he needs to calm down and help her dispose of the body. So they get her kind of concealed and Nikki's like, "Don't worry. I can take care of the rest of this. you just go home. Which is where they make sure to dish the final blow.

[00:31:21]Uh, one of the reasons that Sarah had called Bear out there was that she wanted to open her college letter with him, the last one she was going to get to see if she made it into college. And he opens the letter to find out that she actually did make it into school. That just like Nikki, she was about to set off and start this new chapter of her life. And now that's been taken away from her. She didn't even get to die with the happiness of knowing that she actually got in. So, at least Bear is finally screaming now and realizing that he's trapped himself just as much in this situation as what he's caused to happen to Nikki with the wish. So, he goes back to the store to try to buy another Willow covered in blood while the clerk's just like, "Hey man, the box is full of warnings. This isn't on us."

[00:31:58]And is once again reminded that he can't make a wish to undo this. You only get one. So, really, the only thing he can try is to get someone else to make a wish to undo the one that he made, or he could just die. As we've mentioned, he of course still tries to make that opposite wish himself. You'll notice that the musical trill is different than the first time he opened the box to make the wish. It'll only make the one you get the first time you open the box the first time you use it. It just glad I won't even let him snap it. He goes to Ian who says Sarah's been texting him for hours to go to Bear's place because Nikki is trying to lure him over there presumably to set him up for Sarah's death. So, he's trying to explain to Ian what the wish is and convince him to undo it. But because he doesn't believe any of it, he just wishes for a billion dollars. And instantly, money is just raining from the ceiling. I got to at least try it, right?

[00:32:44]I wish that Mike Flanigan would cast me as an actor in one of his next movies or television series.

[00:32:50]Oh, I probably should have wished for a billion dollars. Mike Flanigan, you could do something so funny right now.

[00:32:56]So, now a new plan kind of courtesy of the clerk. He's like, "Hey, if she's that obsessed with you, you could probably just ask her to make the wish to undo it." But I think things might be a little bit too far gone. She's just twitching up a storm in the background, screaming about him not loving her. has Sarah's naked body propped up in a chair. That part I thought was a bit much, but it's because Nikki is now wearing Sarah's dress. Even copied her tattoos. And something that some people haven't noticed is that uh Sarah's been scalped and it's because Nikki is wearing her hair. Just the entire top of her head is on Nikki's right now because it seemed like Bear might have been into Sarah so she can just be more like her.

[00:33:30]It is a bit hard to notice because they have similar hair color, but once you notice it, it's very hard to miss. So again, she starts freaking out at Bear for not loving her just in time for Ian to show up and just instantly get shot in the head by Nikki. I've seen some people say that's the curse part of his wish, but I he actually would have been completely fine if he had stayed away from the house. That this is all just still an extension of Bear's wish.

[00:33:50]What's happening to him? Also, if you're wondering where the gun came from in the script, it mentions that early on they realize that Sarah's dad has a gun in the safe at their work. So that's what she was getting when Bear was kind of like freaked out in the store before they disposed of the body. literally only stops her freak out when she can get Bear to just scream in horror about how much he loves her.

[00:34:10]>> I LOVE YOU.

[00:34:10]>> I LOVE YOU.

[00:34:12]>> SO, he snags the gun and locks himself in the bathroom and she's just pounding away on the door.

[00:34:19]>> Okay, thank you.

[00:34:20]>> He pulls the tiger's eye gem that she had gifted to him at that dinner. And she said that that stood for courage and confidence. And this is kind of like a reminder for him to have courage to free Nikki from this evil and take himself out of the equation. All while Nikki's on the other side of the door trying to find different ways to barter with him that they could take a break and that can like make them stronger in the long run if that's what he wants. But as Michael Johnson pointed out, which actually led to the script changing, bears too much of a coward to go through with anything. That cowardice is steeped into every aspect of his life and brought him to this moment. It's why he couldn't have the conversation with Nikki. It's why he hasn't aspired to do anything more with his life. It's why he's just been in the position he's been in. So he can't make himself pull the trigger of this gun and have it over with instantly and decides to go a more passive way, swallowing down a bunch of his grandmother's sleeping pills, the same ones that killed his cat. And honestly, even if we take Nikki out of the equation, that's some poetic justice for not respectfully locking up your medication to protect your cat. But unlike Michael pointed out, Bear can't even commit to that and almost instantly tries to make himself puke them back up, which was not in the script originally.

[00:35:24]I love that change that I did and you have this like haunting somber music as he's just kind of accepting what he's done that just like instantly stopped when he shoves his fingers in his mouth.

[00:35:33]He couldn't even sit with that implication for a minute. But because that music cuts, it becomes very clear when we hear the sound of Nikki opening the One Wish Willow box, making her wish, which is clearly very similar to Bears wishing that he would love her more than anyone. And you see the moment it happens, the smile on his face, the uplifting magical music of joy and hope as he wanders out to be with her, this like romcomesque moment with these bashful smiles as they're all bloody.

[00:36:01]And honestly, I would have been interested to see a little bit more about how their combined freak would fly, knowing that there's a piece of each of them inside that has no control over this as the music is warping to reflect the evil that this is. But instead, Bear collapses to his death because the wish stopped him from emptying his stomach. And the second he's gone, Nikki is freed from his wish, snapping out of it just before she can shoot herself. So now she's screaming for a very different reason, trying to come to terms with what's happening because that whole time she's just flowing in and out of what's been happening to her and not being able to control any of it. Ending with the sound of sirens in the background. Now, I wish for a world where she could have found a way to pin this all on bear. But her bodily and mental freedom might come at the expense of her literal freedom.

[00:36:44]Unfortunately, she might get locked up and that is horrifying because who's going to believe I did not mean to kill these people. This guy just made a wish and I could not control myself. Not the Willow defense. Apparently, Barker's next movie will have a reference to these events in the news. So, I'm interested to see how that goes. In the script, much like Bear did not try to make himself puke, she does actually manage to shoot herself and that's how the movie ends. But I think that what we get is significantly better in in a couple different ways. We get that genuine horrified reaction of her fully snapping out of it and realizing that like, okay, this is the most control I've had in ages, but then having that like added horror of like processing everything that's happened that she's done that's happened to her. The layers of trauma that's going to be and then us knowing that, you know, things after this are probably going to be very bad for her. But I'd like to have like a glimmer of hope that maybe something could end up okay for her. or like at least knowing that she has her body and mind back. But overall, it is a very mean ending and mean movie. And I love that. I think the movie does an excellent job showing how much Bear is willing to ignore to have what he wants.

[00:37:46]Truly becoming that horrible person and at times even having to like reckon with that in himself, but still not stopping.

[00:37:51]So yeah, I've had a blast with this movie. I figured it was going to do pretty well once Focus Features picked it up, but I could not have anticipated how well it was going to do. I get that horror movies can be a little bit more of a cheat code when it comes to doing well at the box office, but this has been unheard of, which I I do actually really understand why it's performed so well. It is the exact type of horror that people are into right now. It makes for a great crowd watch as long as you don't have a bunch of [ __ ] in your audience. It is related to a lot of issues in modern dating culture. And overall, I think it's just a really great case study to just make things.

[00:38:22]People are establishing entire careers just by pursuing passions with no budget and building until they manage to get them. As I'm recording this, Back Rooms hasn't officially released yet, but that has a huge bakedin fan base because it all started on YouTube and now it's an A24 movie. Just a really exciting time for horror in my opinion. And you know what? I'm ready. I'm ready for some some girlies, the girl some the girls in the space to make something really [ __ ] up like this. You know, I I love what we've been getting, but ladies, where are where are you? Have I missed someone?

[00:38:51]Please let me know. But that is Obsession. Let me know what you guys are thinking about the movie down below. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Have you hated it? I would love to know why. Do you do you have like a different interpretation of certain aspects because I do think there's some ways that you can read certain things different. And while I believe that the true horror of what's going on here is surrounding what is happening to Nikki, I get that people watch this and see it as intensified behaviors of things they've experienced in their own relationships. It's either because some people are just very mentally unwell or that because they've been the the object of obsession for someone who didn't really see them as a person or you just end up with these people that try to hold on to you so firmly that it it starts pushing you away which is the exact thing they're trying to have not happen which is totally fair. That's just not what this movie really ends up exploring. I think a lot of times people try to put this added layer of importance to unrequited or unrescrocated love. This is really showing how that can translate into damage in a different way. I again, if you walk away thinking the bear is the main victim, I will disagree forever.

[00:39:47]But that's going to do it for today's video. Thank you all so much for watching. Thanks as always to my Patreon supporters and YouTube channel members with a special thanks to Mark at the Jedi Knight level. Subscribe to the channel if you're new. Leave a like on the video if you're into that kind of thing. All my other social medias are listed down below. I hope you're all having a fantastic day. I'm mostly okay and we'll catch you all later.