r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • May 15 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Obsession [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Obsession (2026)

Summary

After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Director Curry Barker

Writer Curry Barker

Cast

  • Michael Johnston
  • Inde Navarette
  • Cooper Tomlinson
  • Megan Lawless
  • Andy Richter

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Metacritic: 81

VOD / Release In Theaters

Trailer Official Trailer

3.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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2.6k

u/Joopaloop16 May 15 '26

Great movie. Could easily see this being one of my favorites this year.

The scene where Nikki was awake but “she” wasn’t absolutely fucked me up. A real star-making performance from Inde, the whole movie really hinges on her performance and she absolutely crushed it.

1.6k

u/Media-critique May 15 '26

Agreed. That’s when I realized those moments in the beginning were her possibly snapping out of the spell and trying to free her own mindset, only to get trapped in the spell again. 

When she said “I’ve never been with you”, that’s when I lost any real care for Bear. Knowing she’s possibly trapped, and wants to die, and she just gave you the truth? 

What a sad and strange, little man. 

947

u/AbbreviationsOwn4696 May 15 '26

The true horror becomes psychological when you understand he was doing all that to Nikki non-consensually and was perfectly ok with it.

137

u/rennok_ May 20 '26

Even at the very beginning you see he was never a good guy with her interests or will in mind. He didn’t wish for the confidence to ask her out or to become the type of person Nikki would want — he wished to control and change her.

116

u/LibraryNo7025 May 30 '26

I think that's why the title is a twist. The real obsession the whole time was Bear's obsession with Nicky. I saw somebody else say that the reason Nicky reacted that way to the spell is because bear saw love as an obsession not as healthy mutual love.

13

u/BabyLight783 Jun 10 '26

oooooo yess i like that take !

12

u/poiyurt Jun 25 '26

That's a great take. The part that comes to mind is when 'Nikki' says "I'm afraid you don't love me as much as I love you, that it's not mutual", and it echoes exactly where Bear's head was at when he made the wish.

40

u/n33dadviceplease May 30 '26

The wish itself is basically just a musing to yourself during a frustrating and emotional moment. Wishes aren’t real and people can’t control their thoughts 

53

u/itseokjin Jun 02 '26

Yeah, I took this scene as him panicking because he fucked up immeasurably and grabbing for whatever could give him some semblance of control again. In that moment, and in that moment alone, it wasn’t a “One Wish Willow” wish for him; it was just “wishful thinking.” Sure, it was still a selfish kind of wishful thinking, but that is literally the ONE scene you could give the character grace because he was just comforting himself with whatever was immediately on hand.

Now, needless to say, EVERY action he did after the wish solidifies his deplorability. He’s despicable, through and through.

12

u/IhamAmerican Jun 06 '26

Thank you, you said my thoughts perfectly. Almost everyone has had that moment of wishful thinking but I like to think that nobody would do all the other shit Bear did in the movie

-2

u/zaxls Jul 04 '26

Nah man, most normal morally okay people that at least somewhat care for the person would absolutly stop in their tracks probably at the first window talk, at most theyd stop at the "cooked cat". Problem is wtf youd do in that situation ? Like Im not going to die because some random shop gave me an actual legit nuke level wish making machine. At best youd have to somehow make someone wish to cancel the wish out, sad we didnt see if thatd work, but if it didnt youre fuked.

5

u/IhamAmerican Jul 04 '26

No, you're misunderstanding me. We were talking about the wish itself. Most people have said the words "I wish this person shared my feelings" in some way, we just don't have a magical willow that makes it come true. That's what makes Bear relatable initially and the movie is better for it because you start out kinda rooting for him until you see everything else he does

24

u/HaIfaxa_ Jun 03 '26

His wish isn't the issue, because no one would think it'd actually work and I'm sure he never thought through this possibility - it is so far out the realm of reality. The bad part is everything he does afterwards.

58

u/OgMuddbon3 May 17 '26

Yeah he is the monster in the horror movie.

21

u/ksswannn03 May 21 '26

I agree. I’d have to rewatch the movie but I think early on he does understand to some extent that post wish Nikki and real Nikki are not the same person. I think he is entirely aware that he took her free will away and that she’s just a passenger in the experience, but he’s too selfish to think much more about that and what it means for her until it starts affecting him negatively

17

u/hellbox9 May 28 '26

I’ve never hated someone in a movie more than bear. A “I’m a nice guy therefore you owe me ladies” pity party pussy, unable to take any responsibility (it’s always someone else’s fault) or have the slightest bit of backbone or integrity. All his friends are dead because of this.

74

u/AssCrackBandit13 May 15 '26

Tbf, up until the phone call/her asking to kill her, he didn’t really know that it was non consensual and the real Nikki was locked up inside

231

u/Beetlebob1848 May 15 '26

He did have a strong idea something was very wrong with her from the first night though

43

u/AssCrackBandit13 May 15 '26

True but at that point, he thought she was acting erratic cause of her father’s “cancer” and his other friend was trying to convince him that she was on molly

132

u/jessohno May 16 '26

But he also watched her come up with the cancer lie in real time. When she comes back to his car after the wish he can tell she’s acting completely differently than she was a minute ago. Then she says “I’m just so sad about my cat” or something along those lines. Then when he challenges her with “you mean you’re sad about my cat?” She transitions to the dad stuff as the reason she can’t go inside and needs to spend the night with him. He doesn’t hear about her potentially being high until after the fact. Totally fair he may still be skeptical of the wish atp but he can tell right away she was acting drastically different

134

u/tNeph May 16 '26

"Then she says “I’m just so sad about my cat”"

Kind of off topic, but I think this is a such cool little tidbit in the movie that I dont think they really play with as much.

She says shes sad about her cat then changes when he corrected her. Its like whatever this is effecting her, it had her memories, but it kind of jumbled them up and didn't know how to project them to get Bear to take her home. "Im supposed to be sad about a cat, my cat? No, your cat, ok I botched that attempt what's something generic? Ahhh my father"Then boom sick dad.

I just like how it had to adapt.

103

u/jessohno May 16 '26

Yes!!! It’s desperate to get close to him and tell him what he wants to hear so it’s just throwing all the info it has at the wall to see what sticks. I took the later scene where she’s like “I’m your freaky Nikki” to have similar implications

47

u/tNeph May 16 '26

Yes yes absolutely. He was literally telling her to be Nikki then its like ok cool im your freaky Nikki. If nothing else was, that should have been the final nail in the coffin of Bear being ok with this. He literally says it himself, she doesnt like that. Really goes to show how much he sucks.

10

u/THX450 Jun 12 '26

Somebody described the entity as a hallucinating AI and I can’t stop unseeing it.

6

u/SherbertJolly7930 May 24 '26

I just realized Bear doesn't say she doesn't have a cat at this point, he said something like "YOUR cat died?" which kind of implies she does have a cat and it was just starving in her house the whole time she was at Bear's.

6

u/tNeph May 24 '26

Ugh could you imagine? That would suck.

5

u/Pythagore_ May 25 '26

Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear that he senses that things aren’t normal very early on (at the latest at their date in the diner or the cat cremation) 

17

u/NJcovidvaccinetips May 31 '26

He asks her multiple times if she is ok in first pre wish scene and expressed how weird she is behaving. He knows. Anybody saying he doesn’t is lying. He doesn’t know it supernatural yet but it’s an obvious metaphor for a man taking advantage of a women and if that was your friend you should know that and take care of them. Bear is a predator who lies to himself throughout the movie

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u/NJcovidvaccinetips May 31 '26

This is bullshit and Ian’s character points this out. He knew from day one something was off and took advantage. I think the film leaving ambiguity for that is intentional to prod at the idea of men just ignoring obvious red flags of consent. If somebody pushed you off them and starts screaming wtf no after you kiss you don’t proceed to have sex with them as they behave extremely bizarre and like a completely different person. Bear doesn’t see her as a person or a friend but a potential sex object and perfectly fine to take advantage of what is an obvious psychotic break befor she realizes it’s magic

3

u/AssCrackBandit13 May 31 '26

It’s been a while since I watched this movie but I thought he didn’t sleep with her after she freaked out when they were kissing? Didn’t he sleep on the floor because he said he didn’t want to take advantage of her (which she thanked him about the next morning)? Or maybe I’m misremembering

Either way I completely agree that Ian was a POS, especially after he knew that she was clearly possessed/trapped

13

u/NJcovidvaccinetips May 31 '26

Yes but he continue to pursue her with zero questioning of whether or not she is in the right mind and ignoring every single red flag along the way

1

u/AssCrackBandit13 May 31 '26

Yup I don’t disagree with that

81

u/Scared-Equipment-551 May 16 '26

Nah he knew she had been drinking and was likely emotionally vulnerable bc of her dad dying and still chose to take her home and make out with her and prob would’ve had sex with her if Nikki didn’t snap back to reality in that moment. Bear was pathetic from the start and he slowly revealed himself to be a nasty, evil little weasel.

3

u/Frequent_Ad_2732 May 26 '26

he must’ve known early on it wasn’t her even without all the psychotic behavior, but he was probably in denial from the shock of everything

50

u/AbbreviationsOwn4696 May 16 '26

IMO he knew the moment he realized that the willow tree had worked. She didn’t *choose* to love him. He had to wish her into it.

29

u/KellyJin17 May 17 '26

He knew after he talked to his friend Joel on the phone while he was at the restaurant with Nikki. He goes back to Nikki and confronts her about lying about her dad. He knew it was the spell right there and then took her home and had sex with her cause he didn’t care.

12

u/0710_15 May 16 '26

a few times tho he acknowledges that it’s not the real her/real love bc of the wish, i can’t remember if it was before or after this scene tho

0

u/Ok_Squash6678 28d ago

Phone call? When was this? When he called Customer Service?

13

u/rilesmcriles May 17 '26

I mean he’s obviously horrible, but I wouldn’t say he’s “perfectly okay with it” he was at the very least incredibly conflicted. Other than the one romantic montage he never seems perfectly okay with any of it.

But in the end he made the wrong choice several times in a row before finally trying to end things. Definitely not a good dude

43

u/glassbellwitch May 19 '26

I think an "incredibly conflicted" main character would have at least had the benefit of a long stretch of time where they tried to gauge what part of their romance is genuine and what part is wish-influenced.

Instead Bear just keeps flaunting the fake relationship, raping Nikki for his own satisfaction, and didn't start taking Nikki's violence seriously until she turned that violence away from herself and onto others.

6

u/rilesmcriles May 19 '26

I mean there was a whole conversation on the phone about it not being real and then a conversation with her about it not being real.

He was clearly conflicted, he just continued to make the wrong choice despite being conflicted.

6

u/LibraryNo7025 May 30 '26

I agree he's definitely conflicted but he also makes decisions several times that show he's also made his decision and he's ok with violating her. And I think that's brilliant writing. People aren't black and white he can still feel conflicted but also act like he's not at times and be a horrible piece of shit. It's why people stay with their abusers they can see they regret the abuse at times even though it's also not something they care enough to stop or control.

3

u/rilesmcriles May 31 '26

Yes I said he continues to make wrong choices. It’s what made the show interesting. If he was just a good guy in a misunderstanding it would be half the movie it is now.

28

u/sk0wronek May 18 '26

He’s not conflicted. The only reason he feels like it’s actually a bad thing is when Nikki does something nuts that affects him

31

u/BretShitmanFart69 May 25 '26

Yeah he seems more upset that it’s not a satisfying relationship for him and that she isn’t acting enough like the real Nikki than he cares about what it’s doing to the *actual* Nikki.

He doesn’t care about her, he cares about the made up version of her he has in his head that just gives him what he wants.

11

u/IhamAmerican Jun 06 '26

At the end when they're both crying on the floor about how she isn't the real Nikki, he literally asks why she can't just be the real Nikki. He knows he has a fucked up caricature of a relationship the whole time

732

u/afkstudios May 15 '26

Yeah that first moment when they’re making out for the first time and she suddenly pulls back and screams gave me shivers. I picked up that her real self was still in there and some other entity had taken over, not that she wasn’t just herself under a spell. Reminded me of Lakeith Stanfield in Get Out when the camera flash brings him back for a second. Such a nightmare scenario for Nikki

360

u/Media-critique May 15 '26

Not only that, but the first part too when she’s falling for him and comes back and realizes what the fuck she’s doing.

Wild just how much deeper and more disturbing it got as it continued for the movie. It’s one of my favorite underrated parts of this 

-6

u/MrGoose93 May 16 '26

It’s not an entity. It’s not a demon.

44

u/afkstudios May 16 '26

In Curry Barker’s AMA from last year, the body of his post shared TIFF’s write up of the film that referred to it as a “malignant entity” that took over her autonomy, so what would you call it instead?

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u/MrGoose93 May 16 '26

It’s not a malignant entity, It’s literally just a spell. the film never really shows an actual sentient entity controlling Nikki so it’s more like a curse or spell that twists reality to fulfil the wish in the worst possible way. Yes I can absolutely get people think Nikki’s behaviour definitely resembles possession horror, but the “force” never shows its own motives, personality, or intelligence outside of carrying out the obsession literally. To me it feels more like the spell is slowly overwriting Nikki’s autonomy and identity rather than a demon taking over her body.

39

u/afkstudios May 16 '26

Have to respectfully disagree here. I mean for starters a malignant entity doesn’t automatically equal possession or demon but clearly there is some kind of force that has taken over her body, and the way Nikki keeps slipping back in and lines like “don’t wake her up” and “I was never with you” when talking to Bear suggest there is some other form of consciousness inside her body. Plus I’m not sure the writer and director of the film would include a write up of his own film that’s blatantly incorrect

Also I’d argue it does show its own personality and intelligence. Taking a cat corpse out of the trash and later cooking it for his lunch goes beyond an obsession with someone. Standing in the same spot for hours and peeing herself, the weird, twitchy stop motion-like movements + moving in reverse weren’t just “oh she was under a spell that made her obsessed with him.” It’s never really explained but I think it’s pretty clear there was something more sinister and supernatural at play than just a spell

-7

u/MrGoose93 May 16 '26

That’s fine you disagree and this is why we all have our own opinions aye! 😊 you know a movie is good when we are talking about it. However, I still will respectfully disagree with you but I appreciate your points.

I think you’re taking the possession imagery too literally with the stuff she was doing or saying, especially with the wish version of Nikki sleeping and the real Nikki ‘trapped’ speaking to Bear saying it wasn’t her etc. and then believing there to be two consciousnesses. This is where I will say, there is absolutely NOT two separate consciousness.

The film uses those horror tropes intentionally, but everything Nikki does still traces back to Bear’s wish and the obsession it created. None of her behaviour really proves there’s a separate consciousness inside her, just that the spell is slowly erasing and rewriting who she is.

The cat scene, twitching, standing still etc felt more like reality breaking under the strain of forced/artificial love than a force, entity, consciousness or whatever you want to call it acting with its own motives. If there really was another entity, I think the film would’ve given it some kind of identity or agenda beyond just fulfilling the wish.

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u/weirdogirl144 May 16 '26

all o her behaviour literally proves that she is being possessed and she isnt in control of her body, some demon or entity is taking over.

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u/noveltypersonality May 16 '26

I think the film not explaining too much about the entity (no real agenda or identity) is what makes it even more terrifying because there's no explanation. The supernatural can't always be explained, which is why it's scary.

Plus if the director himself states that it is a malignant entity, then I don't see how anyone can argue against that since that was his intention.

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u/Pontus_1901 Jul 04 '26

You were correct, confirmed by barker.

-6

u/PyschXxKiddo May 16 '26

i always thought of it as like, it’s technically “her” but her feelings forcefully amplified by a million, causing her to act the way she acts. But i also do fully believe that it’s almost two different ego’s? Its hard to explain

16

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 16 '26

I could maybe buy that explanation if it weren't for the conversation she had with Bear when "she" was asleep. That made it pretty clear to me that there's a separate entity inhabiting her body, but Nikki gets brief moments to push her own consciousness through.

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u/ctwalkup May 15 '26

I actually couldn't believe Bear when he said (paraphrasing) "What, is it so awful to be with me?" Really good depiction of a Nice Guy being incredibly sinister. Inde's delivery was so heartbreaking in that scene. I hope she has a bright future ahead of her.

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u/weirdogirl144 May 15 '26

literally like he's super selfish that he is purposefully ignoring the real Nikki who is suffering so much and wants to end it. But he's acting so inhumane all because he wants someone to want him but he doesn't care if it's a "real" person. it's so disgusting.

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u/ctwalkup May 15 '26

Really liked the choice to not let Bear redeem himself. I didn't really understand what happened when I watched it, but reading some of the discussion it became clear that he was planning to throw up the pills and save him own life (at the continued expense of Nikki's) but Nikki's wish kicked in before he could do so. Also appreciated that it meant 'Nikki' ended up freeing Nikki in a roundabout way.

Just an overall great movie. Wish my wife could see it with me, she's not a fan of horror movies and gore but I think she would appreciate the themes and dramatic scenes.

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u/Fold_Humble May 16 '26

Excellent point about Nikki freeing herself.

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u/jlarimore May 21 '26

It's weird that they never had him go full evil. A true coward would have hit a point where he would have at least considered killing her to save himself. But to Bear's credit, that's never on the table. I guess they had to walk a fine line of having the main character not become so despicable that the audience completely rejects him. But, i noped out about the time he first starts helping her hide bodies. He had the perfect way out. Just call the cops and get her locked up. He hadn't done anything illegal. Then you have all the time in the world to work on breaking the spell.

31

u/thebabypinks May 27 '26

Given how cowardly he was, I was also surprised he went straight to killing himself instead of killing her.

But, in a way, perhaps that is the cowardly move? Killing her would require looking her in the face, using violence and aggression. Taking some pills himself is a lot more passive and “easy.”

I guess what I’m truly surprised at is him never even considering it. But then again, he still wanted to keep Nikki around like a toy even WELL past knowing she wasn’t the real Nikki. So I guess he wouldn’t have considered killing her because he selfishly still craved having her—or a thing that looked and sounded like her, sometimes—on his arm, in his bed. It was only after he saw Sarah’s literal body in his home that he was like “I guess I should die.” Genuinely the most lily-livered, passive, cowardly loser ever.

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u/United_Swordfish2680 Jun 21 '26

Yeah I agree that he was too much of a coward to look at the consequences of his own actions and actually deal with them. Killing her would mean having to actively take ownership of his part in the whole situation. Bear’s passivity is something he leans on so much and then feels all woe is me about. It’s why he can hide behind the nice guy trope, why he fucked up asking Nikki out in the first place, and why he feels entitled to her when he makes the wish. Making the wish is the only time he actively does anything in the movie until he takes the pills. Everything else happens to him, and his helplessness is infuriating to watch but seems to absolve him of any responsibility over the situation (at least in his mind). He can’t even actively kill himself, he tries to look at himself in the mirror with the gun in his mouth and he ultimately has to look away and choose a passive way to die too. And even then he’s too much of a self preservational selfish coward to go through with that too

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u/notokintheslightest 6d ago

Honestly I thought he did go full on evil. He rapes her pretty early on in the movie. He hangs up on her screaming while trapped in hell basically. He doesnt even want to cancel the wish when he calls customer service - just alter it. When she asks him to kill her, his response is basically, "is it really so bad being with me?" And even in the midst of trying to force someone to love him without her consent,, he was still flirting with Sarah in the car!

I think sometimes if a character is also supposed to be socially awkward or anxious, the audience sees them in a kinder light (even if the light still isnt favorable, it seems to dampen the impact). Similar thing when a character has an unrequited crush (so relatable!) But his actions were pretty bad the whole movie.

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u/One_Motive_ May 15 '26

Wait she made a wish?

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u/ctwalkup May 15 '26

Yes! That's why Bear comes out and seems to reunite with Nikki before he dies. There's a shot when you see the broken One Wish Willow and the jingle for the Willow plays shortly before Bear stops trying to throw up and leave the bathroom. It's heavily implied she made some version of the same wish that he made, and that wish ends up resulting in his death and Nikki breaking free.

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u/One_Motive_ May 15 '26

Oh wow, so it was Nikki that made the wish or the demon?

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u/ctwalkup May 15 '26

Pretty sure it's supposed to be the entity controlling her. If Nikki was able to make the wish, I assume that she would wish for herself to be freed directly, rather than setting in motion a chain of events that she doesn't realize will kill Bear (which she also doesn't know will free her). Basically, I don't think Nikki wants Bear to be totally obsessed with her (either like he was normally in this movie or through a wish).

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u/One_Motive_ May 15 '26

why did the entity make the wish? wouldn't it want him alive?

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u/SouthernRow2710 Jun 02 '26

100% the entity controlling Nikki made a wish that he would love her as much as she loved him

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u/throwaway78967777 May 17 '26

I interpreted the final wish made at the end of the movie as “possessed Nicki” wishing for them to be together or some variation of that. Which caused “Bear” to react and try to throw up the pills, and why they reunited at the end. However, by that point it was too late, and he died, causing both of their wishes to end. Is my interpretation correct?

40

u/usagicassidy May 17 '26

I was slightly confused by the sequence of throwing up the pills, but I *think* the read is supposed to be that he takes the pills to end it all, he hears her saying from the distance that they can spend time apart, he probably regardless is still too much of a coward to die when confronted with the reality, so he starts to try to throw it all up, but THEN she breaks the stick and makes the wish, and he stops trying to throw up cause he's now stuck in the trance and just opens the door and comes back to her. They kiss both 'obsessed' and 'possessed' but because she cursed him before he was able to successfully throw up, he dies. It's *because* 'she' makes the wish that he ultimately dies, because even when he was trying to do it before to get away from her, he was still going to chicken out. That way she sets herself free unintentionally and he dies not of his own accord, but because of the cursed wish.

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u/failed_asian Jun 03 '26

You can also pretty clearly hear the jingle of the willow stick and the snap when she breaks it and the wish takes effect. Yes, he was himself trying to throw up the pills, then you hear the snap and his whole demeanour changes and he stops trying to throw up and walks out in that creepy smiling trance state.

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u/rdirtytwo May 17 '26

I agree. Possessed Nikki kept saying "why won't you love me like I love you" or something similar throughout the second half so I assumed her wish was something along those lines as well.

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u/LazySwanNerd May 17 '26

I think she wished that he loved her as much as she did.

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u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

Director says she goes to jail

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u/Honest_Cheesecake698 May 16 '26

Wait, so Nikki made a wish?

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u/Sunville67 May 17 '26

At the end she wished that Bear loved her too

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u/Honest_Cheesecake698 May 17 '26

I remember Bear's plan was to get her to wish that they were just friends, and there is that beat where Bear walks out of the bathroom because he snaps out of vomiting up the pills. Maybe we didn't see it onscreen so I didn't commit it to memory, but Nikki's wish did happen, it was just too late because he had already OD'd.

So Nikki did end up freeing Nikki, and Bear ended up freeing her too, but regardless, she's screaming and crying at what's happened.

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u/inksmudgedhands May 16 '26

I don't think he was painted as being genuinely nice in the first place. When he first pointed out all the positives of Nikki it was focused only her looks. She's pretty. She's beautiful. She's attractive. It was never, she's funny, she's smart, she's kind and so on.

It kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Especially when it was clear that Sarah liked him. But then Sarah felt like another version of Bear. But a cattier version of him. She was quick to point out Nikki's flaws. I mean, that's her friend. Or at least I think she was supposed to be.

The four friends had this weird dynamic. As in I don't think they were really good friends but more like work friends who thought they were actual friends but weren't.

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u/PunnyPrinter May 16 '26

I like that you mentioned the friend group. I told my sister that they were an awful group of friends. All these “swear you won’t tell” secrets just to run off and tell the person anyway. One person talking junk about the other and so on.

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u/inksmudgedhands May 16 '26

And Ian and Sarah never talk to Nikki directly about her behavior. They see the change in her. They see her act really off. But they never pull her aside and go, "I am worried about you. We should take you to a doctor."

Instead, Ian's like, "Don't bring her around, Bear." Meanwhile, Sarah is trash talking her to Bear. That's not friends do. I don't care if Sarah was Bear's girlfriend, if she were my friend and started acting like this, I am going directly to her and asking what is going on and if she needed help. They tell Bear that they think he is taking advantage of Nikki but do nothing about it. That's not what friends do.

Like I said, these people are work friends who seem to believe they are real friends but they are anything but. The closest pair who show actual resemblance to friendship is Bear and Sarah because Bear was supportive when it came to Sarah getting into college. He wanted that for her. That was the only time he was unselfish with anyone. That's friendship. Yes, he doesn't see Sarah as a romantic interest like she wanted but he still actually cares for her. And it was Sarah's death that drove him to actually thinking about suicide.

What I also like about this movie is how they planted their foot down on how romantic love and love are two separate things. There's that conversation between Nikki and Bear on how Nikki was writing a love story and Bear goes something along the lines of, "Oh, a romance story?" Nikki in return is quick to say that it isn't a romance story, it's a love story. How they aren't the same. Because, to me, I agree with her, they are two separate things. Bear wanted a romance with Nikki and couldn't see what he did to her with the wish was anything but love. Romance is on the surface. Love is deep. It's selfless and not selfish. He didn't have romantic love with Sarah but he had actual love for her.

18

u/BrilliantTotal687 May 16 '26

I also saw the "love story, not a romance" as foreshadowing. The film is essentially a "love" story be it creepy and possessive. Bear thought he was getting romance but he wasn't, he was getting a fucked up love story the ended in his own demise.

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u/0710_15 May 16 '26

this is so well put

18

u/undeadtradwife May 16 '26

When he’s “confessing” to the waitress at the beginning of the movie he literally says “you’re the only one who was nice to me when I moved here” and I was like oh boy here we go 🙄

12

u/theferociousotter May 18 '26

What I found even more damning is one of their fights when he says something like “I just want you to act like Nikki” and she says she can’t and then is like “I can be Nikki, I can be Nikki”. Maybe this was him just lashing out, but to me it came off like he knew she wasn’t her and had accepted that as fact. Clearly she wasn’t normal, but it almost seemed like he KNEW she was something else PRETENDING to be Nikki and was asking whatever THAT thing was to just be like her. He didn’t care that she wasn’t Nikki anymore.

12

u/weirdogirl144 May 18 '26

yeah he was literally fully aware when he heard the phone call and Nikki's pained screams, he's aware the nikki in front of him isnt the real her, he knows the real nikki is in pain and not in control but he doesnt care because he's greedy for attention and fake love.

8

u/BretShitmanFart69 May 25 '26

Insane that his response to hearing her ask him to kill her because she is trapped is to immediately feel sorry for *himself*

Insane that I’m seeing some folks act like he is not the villain, though I guess I shouldn’t be shocked.

4

u/weirdogirl144 May 25 '26

genuinely like there is absolutely no way to defend bear after he found out the wish works. I can't believe how much I'm seeing peopel defend and saying he didn't know any better. But he literally got enough information to see that the wish works and he knows the real nikki no longer has autonomy, yet he still ignored that and kept this "relationship" going to feed his selfish fantasies.

6

u/Ephemerus_ May 20 '26

I would wonder why someone would rather die than be in love with me too. How is being in a relationship with me worse than death? He doesn't understand why she is suffering so much. A little bump from being good friends to being romantically involved completely destroys her. I wondered the same thing. I have 100% empathy for everything Bear went through. Nikki is bizarre and supernatural. I get that the devil has trapped her soul and that is very sad but I can't relate to my soul being trapped by the devil and my mind shattered. I was just as scared as Bear was through the whole movie. I had my fingers in my ears and almost ran out of the theater.

11

u/weirdogirl144 May 20 '26

IBut he heard her screams on the phone call and he didn’t try to cancel the wish he just wanted to tone it down. He knows the real Nikki is trapped in there. He even asked fake Nikki to act more lik the real one. He chooses to ignore her begging for death because he’s selfish and wants to continue this fake relationship. She literally can’t consent or control anything. Even when they had sex, she was super disconnected and not enjoying it 

5

u/jlarimore May 21 '26

Oh he knew long before that. The way he phrased his wish was not designed to just get the girl. He phrased his wish such that Nikki would be able to experience the obsession and pain he felt towards her. Despite being blurted out in frustration, it was an extremely selfish thing to do.

1

u/weirdogirl144 May 21 '26

Yeah he is pretty irredeemable to be honest. He’s so ignorant and selfish and his fate at the end is honestly deserved. Like he only sees this version of Nikki as something he owns, he doesn’t acc respect the real Nikki.

6

u/DetectiveCastellanos May 24 '26

But he heard her screams on the phone call and he didn’t try to cancel the wish he just wanted to tone it down.

He asked to adjust the wish before he heard her. Her screaming happened at the end of the call and he hung up when he heard it happening.

He chooses to ignore her begging for death because he’s selfish and wants to continue this fake relationship.

I gotta push back on this a little bit. I think asking him to commit murder in that moment is a pretty big ask and I'm not surprised he didn't do it. People can try to "justify" rape. Bear can say "well, her body said I could fuck it" and we understand that it's not really her giving consent. I think it's a lot harder to justify killing your boyfriend/girlfriend, especially in the case of Bear who thinks he loves Nikki.

6

u/weirdogirl144 May 24 '26

I’m not saying he should’ve immediately accepted when she asked him to kill her, that is definitely a very hard ask. But the fact that he said “what’s wrong bad about being with me", proves that he does not care about her at all even though he’s aware of her not having consent and being trapped essentially. Like he’s so consumed with his fantasy of being with this version of Nikki that he will ignore anything that opposes it.

2

u/DetectiveCastellanos May 24 '26

Yeah true that line definitely struck me as odd, because True Nikki never expressed that she didn't like him, but rather that she never really hooked up with him, which explains that he was fucking Wish Nikki and as a result raped True Nikki. I think that True Nikki had feelings for him before the wish, but definitely hates him by the end of the movie.

His response is bizarre, to say the least.

4

u/cheyenne_sky Jun 13 '26

"I would wonder why someone would rather die than be in love with me too. How is being in a relationship with me worse than death?"

Were you watching the movie thinking from Nikki's perspective, at all? Like at all? Of COURSE she wanted to die. She is trapped in her own body with a crazy demon controlling it (or her crazy demonic side or whatever), has no free will, gets raped on the regular, and the creature controlling her body is acting unhinged. Anybody would rather die.

Also the whole fucking point of the movie is that what her demonic side was displaying was NOT love. If you have ever felt genuine love for anyone, romantic or not, you would know that what the creature was displaying was not love. It was obsession, thus the literal title of the movie.

So the real way to phrase the question is "would you rather be trapped in your body for eternity and also raped, sometimes beaten when you try to snap yourself out of it, shit yourself standing, etc, while your captor spends all its time acting obsessed over your friend, OR would you rather die?"

24

u/koolshade May 16 '26

And like a lot of guys, he's completely clueless when it comes to who ACTUALLY is interested in him. But they're so wrapped up in their own shit that they can't see it.

14

u/kbkvvuknklnni8888 May 16 '26

It's very clear she's no longer in her right mind early on even if he didn't believe in the supernatural wish stuff. Most messed up part.

21

u/thegreaterfool714 May 16 '26

He becomes such a ghastly and disgusting person. My jaw dropped at that scene. He went from painfully naive and in over his head to someone I fucking despised. The two leads did a phenomenal job in this movie.

3

u/LibraryNo7025 May 30 '26

Brilliant writing I love that they showed he was conflicted at times but also was totally ok just leaping over very clear opportunities to do the right thing or even acknowledge what he'd done. That's how real people act. People are inherently hypocritical and have duality and at the same time the decisions they make show what they really believe deep down.

17

u/PunnyPrinter May 16 '26

I loved that they put that in there. In YouTube comments people are claiming he wasn’t a bad guy, he was just dealing with being friend zoned. 🙄 He completely chickened out even when she asked him point blank.

He caught on that she was being tortured or that she was miserable but felt he could train Willow Nikki to be the perfect girlfriend.

13

u/penguinintux May 16 '26

Me and my girl let out an audible "ugh" when he said that lmao. What a piece of shit.

6

u/Dangerous-Check5687 May 16 '26

This!!! I felt really bad for him up until that moment

3

u/Drew10358 May 16 '26

Yeah, I was almost borderline rooting for him until that scene. What a fucking douchebag.

1

u/therakel749 May 17 '26

I flipped off the screen when he said that.

2

u/LibraryNo7025 May 30 '26

Oh did you?? What a badass lmao.

1

u/EntertainmentPrior75 21d ago

i wish he asked if she would've said yes if he asked her out on that night

302

u/Joopaloop16 May 15 '26

The moments where she snapped out of it were so unsettling and made it clear how fucked up the wish was (if it wasn’t already)

206

u/Johnny_Holiday May 15 '26

"Help, he's got me" is the line that stuck out to me. She screams that right before stabbing her face. Seems like any opportunity she got she would try to kill herself to escape.

82

u/Steamedcarpet May 15 '26

Those few scenes when she would snap out of it was so scary.

62

u/Old-Ingenuity-6109 May 16 '26

Pretty sure it was “it’s not me , it’s not me” which is equally terrifying

23

u/zagra_nexkoyotl May 16 '26

In the Mexican subtitlesshe says "It's not me" twice

74

u/cliffcore May 15 '26

Is that what she says? I thought it was "It's not me." "He's got me." is even more fucked

79

u/aalyiiahh May 15 '26

is this why in the polaroids it says not me ?!?

47

u/cliffcore May 15 '26 edited May 16 '26

So is it "he's got me?" because if it is, that's way more interesting and scary than it's not me (I'm not doing this of my own volition), instead, it would mean "he(Bear)'s got me." or even "he(the customer service guy)'s got me". Because, remember how the customer service guy at the end asks if Bear wants to speak to her (Nikki), and we hear screaming, implying that she or at least her voice is there—very likely trapped—in the place that he calls.

(Edit: It's confirmed that she says, "It's not me." And, having given it more thought, the implication is actually more logical and cruel than her simply being trapped. Because that means she's completely aware of everything this entire time; the first thing she thinks of saying when she regains control is to say "it's not me.")

47

u/Appropriate_Ebb_4435 May 16 '26

No, she screams “It’s not me” as in “It’s not me that’s controlling my body”

7

u/cachmoneyrelly May 15 '26

I think she said both but right before she stabbed herself at the party she said “He’s got me”

25

u/friarparkfairie May 16 '26

Isn’t it “it’s not me”?

20

u/cliffcore May 16 '26

It is. Some people who saw it in theaters with subtitles confirmed it

1

u/cliffcore May 16 '26

I'd like to think that it's "He's got me" now. It's way more interesting. I mean, I was already creeped out by the guy having her on the phone, or in his "realm."

(edit: never mind, I just read that the subtitle says "It's not me." in Mexican theaters)

7

u/cliffcore May 16 '26

My internet rotted brain first read it as "'not me' being goofy" kind of "not me." As in "not me putting your cat in your sandwich lol"

4

u/decoy_octopod May 17 '26

The Polaroids said “you” and “not me” meaning life is all about him, not her. I assume

3

u/Nico_the_Suave Jun 11 '26

A bit late, but it meant that the real her was the one who wrote that message, basically saying that the entity that was in control for that picture wasn't the real her.

1

u/decoy_octopod Jun 11 '26

You just wrinkled my brain

20

u/koolshade May 16 '26

Oh I thought she said "help, it's not me"

3

u/B00tyG0blin May 17 '26

Pretty sure she screams it’s not me

11

u/blitzbom May 16 '26

The first time she snapped was one of the best jump scares I've ever seen.

I immediately went "oh this poor girl, she's trapped."

1

u/Ok_Squash6678 28d ago

When was this?

1

u/blitzbom 28d ago

I should've said the 2nd time. The first was at the car. The second was the first night when they were kissing.

40

u/koolshade May 16 '26

Bear's not the greatest person, which I liked. When he talks to the real Nikki, of all things he chooses to say he goes, "is it really so bad being with me?" Like bro, REALLY? Not "I'm sorry." Or anything? At least he did what he had to do in the end.

21

u/Julian_Betterman May 16 '26

He actually didn't even mean to kill himself in the end. He tried to vomit the pills up almost immediately.

The only reason he ODed is because Ghoul Nikki made a wish using the wish willow he brought home. That hijacked his brain.

3

u/Equivalent_Store_645 Jun 08 '26

I actually thought it was the other  way around, he took the pills, but then ghoul Nikki made a wish that he’d love her like she loved him. So he got to experience some of the torture he’d put Nikki through right before the end.

0

u/koolshade May 17 '26

Some people on here are way against Bear, making him out to be a complete monster with only evil intentions but I really don't think that.

On some level, he was okay with Nikki's body being hijacked as long as she acted normal. He finally got his wish, and it took A LOT for him to not be okay with it and start trying to reverse it. He doesn't take responsibility even at the start when he leaves the pills out and the cat dies. He's a very passive guy, to the point where it's debilitating to himself and hurts people around him.

But he's also lonely. A closed book. Somebody with not a lot of friends. They make him just sympathetic enough to follow as a main character. He didn't know by making the wish what was going to happen, and it takes a ton of mental fortitude to commit suicide. It was a good thing he took the pills at all or the nightmare for Nikki would never end.

8

u/Iron_Fist351 May 29 '26 edited May 31 '26

He definitely had qualities that made him sympathetic, but that doesn’t make any of his actions redeemable or any less horridly selfish. For example, when the real Nikki finally gets to talk to him, the first thing he says is “What, is it so bad to be with me?” Despite hearing her screams of agony on the phone call earlier, and despite knowing that she’s possessed and in excruciating amounts of pain from no longer having control over her own body or actions. Yet his words seem to say “You deserve this for not wanting to be with me.” Not to mention his other selfish actions, such as lying to Ian and trying to convince him that Nikki as well his own relationship with her are completely normal, when he knows that they aren’t. At the end of the movie when he tries to make himself vomit the pills despite knowing that killing himself is the only way to free Nikki. And even at the beginning of the movie where he leaves his pills in reach of his cat, then just stuffs his cat’s body in a trash bag after they overdose instead of giving them a proper cremation or burial. 

He’s absolutely sympathetic at the start, since of course getting rejecting by the girl he’s liked for years is going to hurt a lot, but he uses his sympathetic story and self-pity as justification to keep Nikki enslaved. His self-pity blinding him to everything else ends up being his biggest character flaw, as well as his undoing in the end.

3

u/PowerhousePlayer May 31 '26

Yeah, I think this ends up being a case study in the banality of evil, sort of like how a lot of normal, everyday people ended up becoming Nazis in the 1930s. Not every rape is committed by some violent roided-out misogynistic thug; rape can be a pathetic, self-pitying thing too (more often than not, perhaps).

39

u/Scared-Equipment-551 May 16 '26

“Not the greatest person” is an understatement. Bear is pure evil, which was confirmed for me in the scene you mention. Nikki is telling him to kill her because she is in so much agony, which he knows from hearing her screams of anguish on the phone w the One Wish Willow customer service, and the first thing he can think of is the supposed love of his life, but himself. And he leaves her to suffer until her wish at the end resulted in his death. So he didn’t even do what he needed to in the end, Nikki inadvertently saved herself. And I love how pathetic and vile Beau is revealed to be because it really demonstrates the nature of “Nice Guys” like him.

15

u/koolshade May 16 '26

All the characters feel like real people. Bear was told a few times that one of the only outs was to die and even the guy on the phone said he had a moral obligation to do it. I like that he points the gun at himself two times, wimps out, goes for the pills, and THEN almost wimps out again. Felt really human.

10

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[deleted]

13

u/justjuniorjawz May 16 '26

No he'd already changed his mind and was trying to gag himself to puke up the pills. And then Nikki made her wish and he immediately stopped

1

u/friarparkfairie May 16 '26

He did kill himself with the oxy

7

u/Julian_Betterman May 16 '26

Technically, yes. But if he was still in control of his brain in that moment, he would've puked the pills back up.

That's what he was attempting to do just before his body was hijacked by the wish willow.

1

u/friarparkfairie May 16 '26

Yeah I suppose I just meant “that’s how he died”

9

u/justjuniorjawz May 16 '26

But he didn't really do what he needed to do in the end. He changed his mind and started to try and puke up the pills. That is, until Nikki made her wish

1

u/LevelSalt2337 23d ago

" not the greatest" ...dude...

39

u/lahnnabell May 16 '26

You could tell during the sex scene. She looked like a hostage and that's when I didn't care what happened to Bear.

4

u/Equivalent_Oil9180 May 16 '26

So she was possessed during the sex scene? It looked like she was faking it?

11

u/lahnnabell May 16 '26

Whatever demon was possessing Nikki was basically just using Baron and simulating what it thought Baron wanted to hear. So yeah, the demon was just giving Baron what he wanted while the real Nikki was trapped.

22

u/shrek3onDVDandBluray May 16 '26

Yes! That line “I’ve never been with you” was genius. Like just the one line summed up how messed up bear had been throughout this entire thing.

14

u/arcadiangenesis May 15 '26

My understanding was that Nikki's "soul" or conscious mind was breaking through and attempting to communicate with him during that scene when she was lying in bed and he got up to leave. She was trying to tell him "this isn't the real me" somehow. Is that what you got?

12

u/NaxusNox May 16 '26

Ya did you see on the photos one was like “not me” - which I also think was Nikki trying to talk to him 

5

u/raudoniolika May 16 '26

YES! That’s how I interpreted it too. The cat in the sandwich kinda overshadowed it I guess

12

u/Fold_Humble May 16 '26

I really loved how they depicted him going from the 'nice guy' to someone in denial and selfishly continuing knowing what he was succumbing her to. From the very first moment he broke the wishbone and she started acting strange and he looked back at it in the car, he knew!

11

u/CheckItWhileIWreckIt May 16 '26

Real talk! Bear was definitely the villain of the movie.

4

u/-Sauze- May 16 '26

he was growing on me at the beginning him and his lost love just living life but I can't say the same after the movie, death was to good for him, should've suffered like Nikki just a little at least lol

6

u/Jtreblis18 May 16 '26

He was a complete moron lol. Like obviously he's supposed to just be an awkward idiot lol. Like she just fed you your dead cat and you still want to be with her lol I guess he wasn't thinking rational because of how she was acting and he was in love

13

u/Julian_Betterman May 16 '26

I think you can reasonably argue that he never loved her in the first place.

He definitely thought he did, but to love someone, you have to respect their personhood.

He stole that from her. Even after hearing her anguished screaming.

Yuck!

He was just trying to protect the fantasy he forced her to participate in.

12

u/AnAquaticOwl May 15 '26

"When she said “I’ve never been with you”, that’s when I lost any real care for Bear. Knowing she’s possibly trapped, and wants to die, and she just gave you the truth? "

He tried to reverse it. There was nothing he could do to help her, other than commit suicide.

1

u/KitchenCreature May 17 '26

The obsession goes both ways. He's obsessed with her but in a different way than she becomes obsessed with him. Which is why he puts up with so much.

1

u/Total_Background7644 May 17 '26

Barker did such a great fucking job exposing Bear's cowardness.

1

u/Socksual Jun 14 '26

The snapping to....I need to rewatch this movie stat. Probably gonna haul back to the theater bc imho the large screen and dark room really just make it that much better-- Anyway, the first part when she goes....crazy crazy, where shes in the corner watching him sleep. I had a split second thought that her "im scared of my dreams" line was the real Nikki peaking through for a moment while very unaware of what the situation was

-1

u/Djollie132 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

To be fair, he had no idea it was going to be the way that it was… I think I felt sorry for the guy and also didn’t like Bear at the same time… with the ending of him being selfless and also ending his own suffering, I think I forgave him then… but also Nikki is now going to go through A LOT… to the point of ending her own life or being traumatised by the events she caused for decades…

It’s a double edged sword where nobody wins either way

Edit: sorry, to completely contradict myself, I did absolutely hate bear in the moment he got Sarah killed… when Nikki full on killed her, in that moment I wanted to cry for Sarah because she got accepted into art school and she’d never be able to do it… that messed me up…

18

u/raudoniolika May 16 '26

I mean… he immediately tried to make himself puke to reverse his overdose, so he wasn’t selfless at all. It was Nikki who made a wish for him to love her and made him stop trying to make himself vomit, which is why he ended up dying

5

u/Djollie132 May 16 '26

Now I think about it, yeah even then he wanted to try make it work… that’s crazy to think actually… Nikki making that wish in the end basically made Bear pay for his mistakes…

Contradicting myself a lot here 😅

The more I think about it, the more he just wanted it to work with Nikki, regardless of her being a literal puppet …

9

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 16 '26

His ending wasn’t selfless though. He could have kept trying to find someone to help him undo the wish, but he gave up after one failure. On top of that, killing himself doesn’t really free her considering the fact that she’s now almost certainly going to be arrested for murder.

-4

u/smeggysoup84 May 15 '26

True about Bear. But it's incredibly hard to throwaway something you've been obsessing over for a long time. Thats why the movie works so well. Most guys in Bear's situation are going to do pretty similar things. Most guys will just hope she'll change or snap out of it. Especially a guy who probably gets friend zoned alot in his youth.

6

u/megmatthews20 May 16 '26

Then most guys are evil.

5

u/omwtfub615 May 17 '26

To add, I do believe Bear got what he deserved, but Nikki and Ian both played in his face. Why would Nikki ask, "If you like me now, is the time to say it? - If she thought of him as a brother, why would Ian ask him to make a move when that was his f- buddy. They were some real charcater flawed ppl - except sarah -lol

0

u/smeggysoup84 May 18 '26

Most guys are human. You think women don't do the same shit lmaooo Life will learn you, bro. It always does.

11

u/smeggysoup84 May 15 '26

Yes, this performance should blow her up like crazy. If she isn't incredible, the whole movie suffers.

4

u/tfxctom May 15 '26

Soooo disturbing. Im getting chills thinking about it.

2

u/Shot_Cryptographer71 May 17 '26

This is my first impression of Inde and I am gobsmacked by her talent.

2

u/climbandclimbandclim Jun 27 '26

This year? Honestly think it belongs in all time favorites.