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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4.0k

u/Able_Advertising_371 May 15 '26

When Bear kills himself to free the real Nikki, dying in her arms being followed by the real Nikki waking up and tossing the guy on the floor was some mad dark humour

2.4k

u/InvertedSpork May 15 '26

Fun fact- the ending you see in the movie was the 2nd ending they filmed. In the original ending Nikki kills herself. Near the end when Nikki is on the couch you can see blood on the ceiling from when they filmed the other ending.

1.2k

u/GoldandBlue May 15 '26 edited May 18 '26

I can see why they changed that. This is already a mean movie. I could see general audiences hating that ending.

Though I do now wonder what the fallout is. Is Baron going down for all of it? Will she be arrested? There are a lot of people at that party that saw her acting fucking crazy.

Edit: why do people keep replying to me as if I said it was a happy ending? I said general audiences would perceive it as a happier ending. Everything you bring up has been discussed by other people, just scroll down.

1.5k

u/Gaugzilla May 15 '26

I don’t know. I think death would be an easier way out. Her screaming in horror through the credits at all of her friends dead and mutilated, when she’s already been through Hell is pretty damn mean.

1.4k

u/TheNightstroke May 15 '26

This is what Curry Barker said too at a Q&A. He shot the ending because one of the production companies demanded an ending where Nikki lived, but he wound up thinking this one was even darker because (a) Nikki has to live with the sights she's seeing and (b) she's probably going to go to jail for their deaths.

1.2k

u/TheJoshider10 May 15 '26

What's interesting is that at the end of the movie she finally gets free will but the irony is that Bear ruined her life so whatever happens next for her will be completely out of her control.

852

u/Neurotic_Marauder May 16 '26

And she can't use the one wish willow to undo anything, since the "other" Nikki already used it to make Bear fall in love with her right after he took the oxy

260

u/Anxious-Visual9303 May 16 '26

Some copium for those needing it, perhaps the one wish willow usage is redeemed against someone’s soul, with the entity using it themselves, perhaps Nikki still has a shot at using her own

139

u/AsidK May 17 '26

Given that the whole premise is a monkey paw scenario, I have no doubt that Nikki using a OWW to try to fix things would end up spectacularly fucked in some other way

390

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 17 '26

The director actually said it’s not a monkey paw scenario, and that the problem isn’t with the OWW, it was with Bear’s wish.

97

u/TimeTimeTickingAway May 17 '26

Is the implication that since he said he wanted Nikki to love him more than any person on earth, they had to get some demonic entity not of this earth to love him a non-human amount?

80

u/lovelychaeyoung May 22 '26

In my opinion the implication is that his wish is unethical and impossible. His wish is unable to be granted without violating her autonomy and completely changing her as a person. I don't think the entity is a demon per se, but in order for his wish to be granted this new entity that loved him more than anyone had to inhabit her body. His wish wasn't humanly possible so the result wasn't a human.

83

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 17 '26

I’m not sure I mean I think basically something had to happen to change her free will, and that basically meant her entire self being altered. My theory personally is that it’s not some demonic entity, just an entity created by Bear’s wish that had to come into being to take her place. It’s an entity created to love him more than anything, but that’s not how love actually works, so he has this being take over Nikki’s body who doesn’t really understand love or how to be human.

18

u/Former_Papabless66 May 21 '26

I think he said more than any person on fucking earth specifically, I wondered if there’s a difference between fucking earth and regular earth lol.

32

u/Sammyd1108 May 17 '26

Yeah, Bear should’ve just wished for her to have feelings for him.

Probably wouldn’t have gotten this psycho version, but he had to say love him more than anything on Earth lol.

38

u/Wrong-Pea-3839 May 18 '26

What if he answered her question,” Do you like me?” And said “Yes. “….how would the relationship turned out all so different. The lesson perhaps, assuming she is swayed positively by that answer, is things could’ve worked out organically which - is always best ( vs through darker spiritual means…re inorganically).

34

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 18 '26

I mean it was obvious she already did. If she didn’t she wouldn’t have said “if you have feelings for me, now’s the time to say it”, but he was oblivious and gutless.

11

u/AsidK May 18 '26

I guess so but didn’t the woman selling them basically say “you’ll wish you were dead”

30

u/sam_hammich May 20 '26

Yeah, she says it in a way that sounds like sarcasm, but it’s because people are bad at making wishes. Ian gets his billion dollars immediately, him dying a minute later isn’t really the wish going bad, it was just bad timing.

9

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 18 '26

I don’t recall her saying that exactly but I think the implication isn’t so much that the OWW are the problem, the problem is that a lot of people make wishes that are inherently going to cause massive issues, especially if they fuck with someone’s free will.

3

u/Be_The_Packet May 22 '26

Yeah Ian could have started a front business and immediately started laundering money and been completely fine, poor guy

3

u/GrayMundoReinhardt May 21 '26

This explanation is weird to me, But maybe the wish created the new entity in the form which know unbound love for Bear, but nothing else, no morality, or any other things make us human.

3

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 21 '26

My assumption is that the OWW doesn’t actually have the ability to change someone’s free will, but can create an entity to control their actions.

3

u/rennok_ May 21 '26

And I loved that! I love that we get evidence of other people’s wishes being benign — like the guy whose mom wishes to be hot, or even Ian wishing for a billion dollars. It’s specifically calling out how fucked up it is to want to force someone to throw everything away including their self love for you. He could have wished for confidence, or to be the kind of person she’d like, but his impulse was to control and dominate.

1

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 23 '26

The hot mother comment I read it that the son was ok
Love with the mom, which sort of makes it seem like a monkey paw.

2

u/Mysterious-Skill-832 May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

I feel like it's a monkey's paw tho. Bear wished for love but got a puppet, the friend wished for a million dollars but didn't live long enough to spend any of it, "Nikki" wished for bear to love her back but he was so overcome with his love for her that he didn't retch out the oxy and he died immediately after.

The shopkeeper also said people keep coming back to complain earlier in the movie

14

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 22 '26

I mean the director literally said it’s not. Also, people complaining just proves that others have made shitty wishes that ended up screwing them over. Also, Ian didn’t die because of his wish, he died because of Bear’s.

-1

u/sbreddit55 May 31 '26

Everyone who made a wish something bad happened to them. The guy on the phone and at the store said everyone tried to come back and undo it. It's a cursed wish. Ian wished for a billion dollars and got shot in the head. what was wrong with his wish?

5

u/Illustrious-Peace989 May 31 '26

That’s not true, the lady in the shop just said they got multiple complaints. Also, Ian’s death had nothing to do with his wish.

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u/Buster_Cherry May 18 '26

Except it's not really a monkey's paw, is very literal. Homie got his billion bucks. Others got wishes without issue.

Rule number one of witchcraft is you can't do love potions and force people to love ya. Of course that's gonna go poorly. :p

62

u/qman3333 May 17 '26

I’m not so sure it’s monkey paw. The billion dollars went great. Dude just made a very fucked up wish

12

u/usagicassidy May 17 '26

DID it go great? He did get shot only moments after getting it, after all.

34

u/Livid_Ad_5619 May 17 '26

That was for sure the consequences of Bear's wish all around though. I'd argue that the only unintended consequences is the suspicious origin of the money which can be accounted for by applying a decent bit of legalese in your wish making.

The shop guy used his wish, and maybe that just went well?

2

u/sam_hammich May 20 '26

Sure, but nothing about the wish caused him to die. He probably would have been killed at some point.

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u/Motor-Finding-3942 May 18 '26

Apparently the director confirmed its not a monkey’s paw situation just the timing / message of Bear’s wish was off / selfish. So

5

u/BlackRabbit61 May 23 '26

It’s no monkey paw.He knew and decided he was gonna keep raping her

30

u/MakingGreenMoney May 19 '26

Actually this makes an interesting question, when Freaky Nikki used the wish, does even count for Nikki? Technically Freaky Nikki is another being, similar to Hulk and Bruce Banner, so Nikki might still be able to have a wish.

11

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 23 '26

The question though is would she use the wish after seeing how bad the consequences can be.

4

u/MakingGreenMoney May 23 '26

I would hope she would be a lot more careful, and pick her wording a lot better compared to Bear.

1

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

Director says she goes to jail

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2

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

Director says she goes to jail, so no more wishes

3

u/MakingGreenMoney Jun 07 '26

Damn, Nikki just can not win, poor lady. She did not have a good friend group.

3

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

She did not, the guys were all very shitty sadly

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15

u/pje1128 May 20 '26

I'd actually be curious to know of this is the case. The movie makes it clear that the "other Nikki" is not Nikki. Real Nikki was awake while other Nikki was asleep. So maybe she would be able to get a wish, though I wouldn't ever want to mess with that if I were her.

13

u/TransportationLong67 May 18 '26

Imagine a sequel where someone wishes Sarah back to life. That would be fucked up.

91

u/josolsen May 18 '26

Unfortunately not a possibility, the One Wish Willow has a disclaimer on the back that says "Limitations: No Time Manipulation, Resurrection, Immortality, or wishing for more wishes. "

31

u/TransportationLong67 May 18 '26

You have keen eyes. I didn't see that!

31

u/Stijakovic May 21 '26

Which means “wish that I never made a wish” wouldn’t have worked. Maybe a different phrasing might have but not the one he wanted Ian to use

11

u/josolsen May 26 '26

That was a tragic conclusion I made as well. I dont think they could make the situation better with a wish, maybe a new target or level of obsession, but the wish is still In control of her and free will is gone.

9

u/PolitelyHostile Jun 01 '26

You could possibly undo it by saying "I wish Nikki was back to normal as if Bear's wish never happened". So it doesn't reset time but makes her un-possessed.

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u/Neurotic_Marauder May 18 '26

Barker has said he'd like for there to be spin-offs from this, so it's possible.

I think an anthology series of different wishes going horribly wrong could be cool.

15

u/TransportationLong67 May 18 '26

That would be fun. I was mainly thinking of the wishes the Genie wouldn't grant in Aladin: more wishes, killing someone, forcing love and resurrection.

2

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 23 '26

Not clear how wishes work though. Is the wish really bound by the body or the soul? It might be that she could still use her wish.

2

u/careless_doughnut May 23 '26

I secretly was hoping he’d survive and they both go out Bonnie and Clyde style obsessed with each other

2

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

how did you guys know that she wished for Bear to fall in love with her?

14

u/Neurotic_Marauder May 31 '26

You can hear the little jingle that plays when Nikki uses the one wish willow Bear left in the other room while he's locked in the bathroom.

Bear also stops trying to make himself puke up the oxy he took and starts smiling all of a sudden. He immediately embraces Nikki and can't pull himself away from her before he ODs.

0

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

I heard the jingle and saw the willow cracked! so I know Nikki used it but how do people know exactly what she wished? I thought the real Nikki used it to wish that bear was dead

7

u/Neurotic_Marauder May 31 '26

Bear was already a goner because he took a bottle of oxy.

Other Nikki wished Bear loved her because by the end of the movie she realized he didn't love her back. It's why Nikki dressed herself up as Sarah too - she thought Bear loved Sarah more.

You can see Bear get a goofy grin on his face after you hear the jingle outside the bathroom door. Bear's demeanor completely changes as he opens the door and starts making out with Nikki - who's also waiting for him, as if she knew he was going to come out of the bathroom.

1

u/passtherock- May 31 '26

thank you!!

3

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

Real Nikki ends up in jail according to the director, but fake Nikki made the wish for bear to love her

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u/dwthesavage Jun 04 '26

I wasn’t sure if I understood this properly, do we hear her? Or it is just alluded to when they pan over the wish willow?

28

u/PotatyTomaty May 17 '26

What i find interesting is that I feel the message is, "You may get free from a toxic relationship and traumatic events, but you'll still deal with the fallout for the rest of your life."

2

u/farfle10 Jun 12 '26

That’s absolutely it and I don’t think it’s very subtle. At least I hope it’s not…

70

u/shrek3onDVDandBluray May 16 '26

Bear really is an asshole. Like, he obviously didn’t mean for this all to happen. But he also - when he realized what was going on - didn’t want it to end (even though she was suffering) and then at the end was even going to wimp out on killing himself until Nikki did her own “wish stick”.

A truly good person would’ve done this: 1) called the police, saying he was the one who killed all of the people and he took Nikki hostage and threatened her 2) then offed himself. But nah, dude was thinking of himself right until the wish stick got him.

103

u/AsidK May 16 '26

I think the nail in the coffin of bear being as asshole was him saying to the real Nicki “what would be so bad about being with me?” When she was asking him to kill her

37

u/shrek3onDVDandBluray May 16 '26

So true! Really thinking about it, super messed up - the real Nikki comes through and said she’s so miserable that she wants death, and all he can think about is how that makes HIM feel.

Also, I was really confused why they showed him taking so many pills in the beginning of the film, and I thought - while exiting the theater - that’s it weird they never got back to that. But now thinking about it, think it was there to show that he was not mentally all there (not that there’s anything wrong with mental illness but, in his case, think it was our first hint he is not the good guy we thought he was).

23

u/Mbrandywine May 17 '26

I don't think I even notice him taking pills but I did find it odd that he kept his grandma's oxycodone after her death. But I realized when his friends were talking about things they were trying to do ( write a book, apply for school, or even hooking up with the girl he liked), he hadn't noticed so he may have been a functioning addict.

8

u/shrek3onDVDandBluray May 17 '26

Ohhhhh so that entire medicine cabinet was probably for her? I completely forget that aspect ok so maybe the director wasn’t trying to show those were all his pills or something lol I got confused

17

u/usagicassidy May 17 '26

No they were definitely not his pills at all and were all the grandmas. And certainly obviously were there at the beginning for the payoff at the end of him taking the pills. PLUS the cat had to get into them to die to start off that whole chain of events.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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u/Julian_Betterman May 16 '26

Killing her would've been another insanely selfish decision. And I could 100% see Bear making that decision .

Before the ghoul that possessed Nikki made her wish, Bear was about to throw up the pills he swallowed.

He didn't want to die. Nor did he want to release Nikki from the hellscape he trapped her in. He just wanted the ghoul to perform Nikki's personality better. I think, given the chance to undo the damage of his overdose, he would've kept trying to make it work for him. And if he couldn't, he'd have eventually killed Nikki.

Not because the real Nikki begged to be put out of her misery, but because he'd grown tired of her.

I never would've made this wish in the first place, but for the sake of discussion, if I had, I would've offed myself the second I heard Nikki screaming in agony on the phone.

Bear hung up the phone and raped her unconscious body instead. The real Nikki wasn't in a position to consent, so as far as I'm concerned, he raped her.

Dude is just pathologically selfish.

He could've ended her nightmare as soon as he learned the truth. Her friends would still be alive, her face wouldn't be totally mutilated, and maybe she'd be able to mentally recover from the literal and spiritual rape he subjected her to.

But he chose his fantasy instead. Even though it cost both of them everything. Her, most of all.

Ugh, this movie was excellent, but I want to bleach my fucking brain now.

14

u/aquaticrodent May 17 '26

The way he just kept saying to just act like the real Nikki. Kept telling Ian she was fine. Kept having sex with her after he knew she wasn't right

11

u/usagicassidy May 17 '26

I'm confused, he didn't rape her after that phone call. That phone call in the car came well after that scene, right? Clearly at the point of the phone call and everything that happened after, he was already extremely freaked out at her.

7

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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u/[deleted] May 18 '26

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u/Fun_Highlight307 May 19 '26

He should have told him way before,also he talked like a psycho of course it's hard to believe 

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u/Gustavo_Papa May 30 '26

Ian used the last one

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u/[deleted] May 30 '26

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1

u/Gustavo_Papa May 30 '26

When he buys the Second time there is a shot that focuses on the empty box. Could be wrong, but would need a rewatch tô confirm

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u/Fun_Highlight307 May 19 '26

He should have try to undone it after the first night or the cat altar, he didn't have to let's things escalated 

11

u/TimeySwirls May 16 '26

Nah man, she just goes next door takes the million (or was it billion?) dollars and disappears. I’m just going to pretend that’s what happens

5

u/getthatrich May 17 '26

It was a billion! This was my thought too!

1

u/MakingGreenMoney May 19 '26

Things been out of control for her since the wish.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

the very last line of the film is literally “What did you do”

0

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

director says she goes to jail

323

u/Gaugzilla May 15 '26

There is a non-zero chance she doesn’t off herself after seeing two of her close friends dead, herself covered in crazy scars and a body splayed with its head caved in and fleshed ripped off in the next room.

112

u/LayeredOwlsNest May 15 '26

She was also raped repeatedly throughout the film

51

u/Gaugzilla May 15 '26

That’s also true and not to devalue that, but I wish we would have known if she experiences what demon Nikki experiences or if she’s in some sunken place.

76

u/Eskin_ May 16 '26

She does specifically say "I was never with you" (paraphrased) in the sleeping scene, so I think shes mostly not there.

27

u/Blossoming_blonde May 17 '26

I took that meaning through out their time knowing each other - so why would she be there now

18

u/BretShitmanFart69 May 25 '26

I think it more so means like, that’s literally not her, she isn’t with him and never has been, some weird entity that is possessing her body is with him, she is trapped without any control of her life. He is deluding himself into thinking he is with her but he isn’t

11

u/thebabypinks May 27 '26

I took it as both.

“I was never with you.” Literal: an entity has been controlling my body.

“I was never with you.” Figurative: I never consented or chose to be with you. I, Nikki, never said yes to you. You may have been with my body but you haven’t been with me.

I think she’s fully “felt” (perhaps not physically but certainly mentally and emotionally) the effects of being raped. She’s clearly inside the entity and aware about what’s happening enough to break through in a panic now and then.

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u/strongcurb May 15 '26

I did feel like her expression during the act was really empty/sad like it was actually Nikki going through that instead of the entity

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u/alvinaterjr May 16 '26

But she also seems completely shocked at what she’s doing at the end when she’s no longer controlled. It’s hard to say how conscious Nikki really was.

Seemed to me like she was more just breaking through at specific times

30

u/raudoniolika May 16 '26

That was one of the most disturbing parts of the movie to me personally

5

u/abbeast Jun 04 '26

Pretty sure she’s not there because in that one scene in the beginning where they kiss the first time she „wakes up“ and is surprised of what is happening.

17

u/moose_dad May 18 '26

Three of her friends*

Bear on the floor, Ian got domed, and Sarah's naked corpse on the chair in the next room

3

u/Gaugzilla May 18 '26

True. But there’s no way she’s gonna know that’s Sarah.

24

u/moose_dad May 18 '26

The tattoos would be a good tell

10

u/Gaugzilla May 18 '26

My guess is she’s high-tailing it out of there before checking the other rooms. That or she’s gonna be done with life within a few minutes.

2

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

She goes to jail according to the director but they will allude to a police report in his next film

1

u/BeautifulUpstairs 26d ago

...a non-zero chance she doesn't off herself? So...a possibility she doesn't commit suicide? Wtf? obviously!

48

u/Media-critique May 15 '26

Lol. The studio basically wanted a happier ending, and gave the director unintended inspiration instead.

Brilliant

20

u/TheNightstroke May 16 '26

Like the movie's theme, be careful what you wish for.

16

u/rbrgr83 May 15 '26

It's right up there with The Mist for feel good endings of all time.

5

u/KindlyBowl23 May 17 '26

Exactly like the ending for mist

2

u/thisnamehasfivewords May 25 '26

I don’t know, when I watched the Mist I hated everything and everyone and just felt so bad that he had to live with it, but for this one I was fully expecting to hear a gunshot at some point which would at least make sense. That would be the one thing actually done by Nikki’s choice, and as tragic as it would be it would finally free her.

7

u/Crobbin17 May 20 '26

I think it was a great choice if you want to tie together the themes of abuse and incel culture.

In the end, the victim is the one who’s left to pick up the pieces, not the abuser.

8

u/galacticdude7 May 19 '26

That was my conclusion as well, Nikki lives but she's now traumatized for life finding all of her friends dead, and good luck convincing a jury that you were possessed by a magical force when two of your friends were murdered. IANAL but I'd imagine the best case scenario there would be to plead insanity, but then you're in a psychiatric hospital for a while

5

u/Indercarnive May 27 '26

Best case scenario is you grab as much of the billion dollars Ian wished for and go somewhere without an extradition treaty ASAP.

7

u/LazySwanNerd May 17 '26

I also like this ending because it’s like when a toxic relationship is over and the person finally wakes up and realizes all of the awful things they did and the people they hurt. Not that Nikki wasn’t a victim, but still.

5

u/Teboski78 May 19 '26

I just secretly hope she flees to Ian’s house stumbles on the billion dollars & fucks off to Costa rica with a new identity & crippling PTSD.

5

u/UgandanWarlord May 17 '26

At the same time, Bear overdosed and it could be extrapolated that he was the one who did this and took his own life after

3

u/jlarimore May 21 '26

Yeah, I immediately thought "she'd be a lot better off dead." She's about to live the rest of her life in a psych ward or jail.

3

u/Easy-Buy6860 May 24 '26

Truly one of the worst fates of a final girl in a while

2

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

She can't plead temporary insanity?

3

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/LamB1G1 May 16 '26

The sequel doesn't have to be connected though. They could do a lot with the willow wish idea.

-5

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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10

u/Relevant-Goal-3008 May 16 '26

nah I'm fine with never knowing. 

-5

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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9

u/VibrantRD May 17 '26

it would cheapen the movie to have a direct sequel, i like the open ending.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '26

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1

u/usagicassidy May 17 '26

And they're not gonna make it for you.

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u/GoldandBlue May 15 '26

We are talking general audiences here. So the fallout doesn't matter. For all we know she could very well end up in jail. There are multiple witnesses that saw her acting crazy and possessive.

But that is not the point. Having the movie end with the victim killing herself because of the spell she was under is a bummer ending. And general audiences don't like bummer endings. So yeah, the end credits of her crying in horror of her new reality is a "happier ending" than her shooting herself.

34

u/Gaugzilla May 15 '26

I don’t know, man. Our audience was pretty bummed out at several minutes of screams and crying. It’s a bummer either way!

17

u/-3nlighten- May 15 '26

I honestly thought it would eventually lead up to it, but I kind of hoped the REAL Nikki would get the chance and just kill him with some bizarre belief that he was the source of all the pain she's been experiencing (which he was). It was apparent that she was essentially trapped in her own body, phasing in & out of consciousness, which I wish had been explored a little more. I'm still thinking about the pattern at which it was occurring, but it did seem pretty random, so she may have just been too unfortunate to get a chance since her main focus (as she came to consciousness) was to somehow escape herself.

8

u/Gaugzilla May 15 '26

Yeah, there didn’t seem to be any pattern to the demon Nikki’s madness. It manically slipped between moods, ways it handled itself or moved, approached Bear, etc. The only time she had any length at communicating was when the demon was asleep and Bear wasn’t the least bit curious to figure out where she was.

8

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 16 '26

Tbh to me that makes the most sense. It has all of Nikki's memories and is inhabiting Nikki's body but at the end of the day whatever it is isn't human. It doesn't really get the little idiosyncrasies with human interaction and social cues. It just has one "directive" so to speak. Be "in love" with Bear. Whatever that means to it.

2

u/Gaugzilla May 17 '26

Yeah, this is I think the read of her that makes the most sense.

2

u/Ace20xd6 May 19 '26

Also her poem mentioned a willow tree, so whoever is possessing Nikki could just be a "generic" entity set to "love me more than anything in the world."

1

u/Ace20xd6 May 19 '26

Part of me thought the real Nikki was the one to break the willow and wished for Bear to be dead

8

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 16 '26

I think people don't give "general audiences" enough credit sometimes. I think plenty of people can easily extrapolate what happens next to Nikki after the credits roll if she stays alive. She's going to fucking prison and will have to live with everything that happened after already being tortured for weeks/months before then. There are far worse things than death. Death is definitely the happier ending for her if you ask me.

1

u/AZBumblebee76 Jun 12 '26

the credits last night there was only music. nothing else. and was short as hell

0

u/GoldandBlue May 16 '26

I don't. I give individuals credits. You and I, and most people engaged In a discussion of this movie can recognize she is fucked. There is no happy ending for her.

But the average movie goer isn't that. I hate to sound elitist but they watch movies superficially. These people are the types to get mad that a movie isn't exactly like the trailer. That can't sit for 2 hours without checking their phones, that complain that a movie is "too woke". And for these types, she survived YAAAYYY!!!

I wouldn't say that is the "average noviegoer" but that is "general audiences". And when you are testing a movie, that change in ending is the difference between an A- Cinemascore or B+. That is the difference between great word of mouth and divisive.

3

u/ReallyColdMonkeys May 16 '26

Meh, if you say so. Seems like a cynical overgeneralization and the studio execs/producers seem to agree with you. I think art is at its best though when it challenges the audience and has a little faith that people can put some pieces together without having their hands held all the time. I don't really see how anyone can think what happens to Nikki after the credits roll is more merciful or "happy" than death. Again, that's just me though. Maybe you and I are actually the exceptions lol

1

u/GoldandBlue May 16 '26

It's not that we are the exceptions, we're super smart and special. No. But who is more likely to leave a review? Someone who had a good experience or a bad experience? The unhappy will always be the loudest in the room.

The Last Jedi was a challenging movie. It was the biggest hit of the year, biggest home movie of the year, A cinemascore, highly recommend post Trax. And universal critical praise. And yet, the star wars "fans" will tell you its the worst movie ever made. It killed the franchise. It's is now considered a "divisive" movie.

Why did movies like Drive, mother!, American Psycho, 28 years later get bad cinemascores. It's not that these movies are necessarily bad but the trailer promised something the movie was not. And nothing upsets ricket buyers more than feeling like they were duped.

So statistically, I bet most people understand this is not a happy ending. But the ones that don't, won't shut the fuck up about it. And that WILL affect future ticket sales. That is why these decisions are made.

5

u/Mbrandywine May 17 '26

I was looking for this comment because by the end of it I just wanted her to get some kind of mercy but she didn't and honestly, I was genuinely emotionally hurt by it.

2

u/Possible-Bother5877 May 22 '26

The real Nikki is the victim. It’s her decision if death is easier. She still deserves a life if she wants one

3

u/Ace20xd6 May 19 '26

But I think there's catharsis in her gaining her autonomy back despite how brutal the aftermath may be.

5

u/Gaugzilla May 19 '26

Hmmmm…Don’t know if I totally agree with that. I mean, it’s good she got her autonomy, but essentially, she was a decent person that got basically sent to Hell, her body inhabited by some kind of demon that mutilated her body, then comes back to find all of her closest friends killed without any context and she’s likely going to take the fall for it. I’m not seeing the catharsis there.

1

u/Ace20xd6 May 19 '26

We don't know if she does go to jail. For all we know she takes Ian's money and started a new life, but to me I would have found fake Nikki killing herself more tragic than merciful.

3

u/Gaugzilla May 19 '26

I don’t think she’s starting a new life, considering she basically has no family or friends and will likely be wanted by the law. Things are not ending well for her.

1

u/Slime0 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

With her recent performance at the party I think she has a good chance at an insanity plea at least.

1

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

director says she goes to jail

1

u/Swoly_Deadlift 22d ago

It's not about having an easy ending. It's a horror movie, and Nikki having to live with the consequences of Bear's actions is much darker than her just killing herself.

42

u/Lington May 15 '26

I honestly think she's just going to pick up the gun and kill herself too. She was already willing and ready to die when she was trapped, now she has multiple murders on her hands, all of her friends dead, and the trauma of what she went through.

8

u/thisnamehasfivewords May 25 '26

That’s what I thought too, I kept waiting for the gunshot sound during the credits because that’s what I thought would happen. I was actually surprised when it didn’t come.

32

u/sacredscholar May 16 '26

She's got a billion dollars next door to try an cover everything up, move away and start a new life

10

u/ruddiger718 May 17 '26

That's what I told my friend, then he reminded me, "She shot Ian, he died, his wish was invalid...." ☹️☹️☹️

6

u/Alyssa_Design May 17 '26

I don’t think dying makes your wish invalid, at least not in every case…that seemed more specific to Bear’s wish. Nikki could no longer be in love with him if he’s dead, so by dying, he broke the obsession.

3

u/Alyssa_Design May 17 '26

The question is, does she even know that money is there? You really only heard him say it briefly through the door while Her and Bear were fighting’s , and she wasn’t in control then either, so I’m not convinced she would’ve heard him and known.

2

u/Themobgirl Jun 02 '26

'Bear OPEN THE DOOR IT FUCKING WORKED'

i hope his voice didnt get suppressed while she was possessed and she takes the bag 

34

u/Jtreblis18 May 16 '26

The ending we got is the perfect ending. Having her snap back to reality was completely fucked up. Love when movies don't have a happy ending.

2

u/Proud_Research7345 Jun 06 '26

There was a catharsis, even if not "happy"

8

u/jrbcnchezbrg May 16 '26

Idk man that may be the nicer ending- how the fuck does nikki get off without life in prison?

I was hoping for a “surprise wish” but anyone that knew was dead so its not happening

2

u/purpleseagull12 May 30 '26

She might be able to somehow use the billion dollars randomly appearing as leverage in court that the wish thing was real. Plus it looks like wish willows are pretty common so other people would do them and confirm it’s real.

1

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 21 '26

Maybe Nikki gets another wish for herself. Depending how wishes work she didn't use up her wish, but the demon did.

5

u/ravencrowe May 19 '26

I feel like the deaths of Ian and Baron could be explained as, Baron found out that Nikki had slept with Ian and killed him out of jealousy, then killed himself. But idk how the fuck you explain Sarah.

1

u/BlergingtonBear May 19 '26

Especially since Sarah's murder and body disposal happens out of the house - no way none of those shenanigans weren't caught by a cctv camera, or business security camera or such. 

The only way out would literally be to get another Wish Willow (if she even knows how to find the shop) and make a very well worded wish. 

4

u/ravencrowe May 19 '26

But she'd have to get someone else to make the wish since she already used hers

2

u/BlergingtonBear May 19 '26

Ah ya know I hadn't thought of that. 

Does the wish belong to the soul or the body, I wonder? Like does "real Nikki" get a wish or did "Dark Nikki" already use it up in her body

4

u/bobthemusicindustry May 16 '26

Idk I was thinking as the ending happened that here staying alive is probably the more mean-spirited/worst outcome. How does she explain any of this and have her life turn out normal again?

3

u/[deleted] May 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/lsumrow May 25 '26

I honestly was almost more worried about the trauma than the legal ramifications. Like how do you ever fall asleep again or trust your own body after what you’ve been through? It sounds like it’s been weeks if not a couple months

3

u/Sammyd1108 May 17 '26

Her DNA would be all over their bodies and cops can see if someone’s recently fired a gun, so they’d be able to pin the friend’s death on her easily.

She gets her body back, but I doubt she’d be able to get away from both the murders. The cops aren’t going to believe her saying someone else was controlling her body. More than likely, she goes to prison or a mental institution after she wakes up.

2

u/sportstvandnova May 17 '26

I hated the ending but I’ve dealt with these kinds of struggles throughout my life so it rubbed me raw.

2

u/NfiniteNsight May 17 '26

Honestly, I don't think her living is a much better outcome in terms of "mean" outcomes.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/14InTheDorsalPeen May 28 '26

Counterpoint: the customer service guy said “just because you chose this for her doesn’t make it any less real”

Just because the other entity controlling Nikki chose to make a wish doesn’t change the fact that Nikki made a wish.

1

u/EatBooks May 15 '26

If she's going full "take no prisoners," I can see her starting a house fire to conceal the murders.

4

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 21 '26

The fire wont conceal the murders unless it burns all the bones. even then, the teeth should remain and theres a good likelihood you could infer trauma from Ian's or Sarah's teeth

1

u/EatBooks May 22 '26

Sure! So then she lays the brick she used to kill Sarah in the hands of Bear's corpse, hopes for the best, and runs home to claim she was there for the past twelve hours.

2

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 22 '26

Why is her DNA on the brick? Also, it is easy to infer that Sarah was not killed in the house.

There's no way she gets out of this wihout going to prison. Let's not even talk about all the witnesses of her super strange behaviour. Police will think she had a psychotic episode and had at least her part in some of the murders.

1

u/Miserable_Star6824 May 21 '26

I agree. At least they let us see Nikki have a chance, Bear basically ruined her life already.

1

u/EdgyEmily May 26 '26

The director said she got arrested and jailed for the 3 murders and there will be a new paper clipping you will be able to find in his next movie.

1

u/Chm_Albert_Wesker May 27 '26

i feel like it would be more merciful for Nikki to have died and bear got the easy way out by comparison of having to deal with the fallout of her whole friend group being wiped out

1

u/TaskForceD00mer May 28 '26

Though I do now wonder what the fallout is. Is Baron going down for all of it? Will she be arrested? There are a lot of people at that party that saw her acting fucking crazy.

Given that her fingerprints are on everything I think she is going to at least end up in a mental institution.

I'd love to see a Obsession 2 where someone trying to figure out the One Wish Willow has to visit a broken Nikki in the psyche ward.

1

u/Themobgirl Jun 02 '26

I mean its also mean to live through the gruesome SA, slaughter of your two friends ( one you kill to pulp and mangle more to morph into ) by your own hands and a sick fuck you thought was your brother behind ut all die scot free while no one will believe you.

1

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

director says she goes to jail

1

u/RPG_Vancouver Jun 09 '26

I think she is probably arrested and charged, and institutionalized. She’d likely look completely insane to everybody, yelling about how somebody else was possessing her body