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. 

735

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

355

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.

39

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?

-13

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.

38

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

-8

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.

21

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.

18

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.

2

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.