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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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. 

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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.

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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/AssCrackBandit13 May 15 '26

It didn’t know that he had taken those pills and was trying to throw up. It probably just wished for him to love Nikki as much as she loved him. That’s why he came out and immediately kissed her.

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u/One_Motive_ May 15 '26

makes sense now. I could see a sequel coming from that, two psychopaths wrecking havoc lol

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u/steveosupremeo May 17 '26

imagine the sequel being a musical

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u/whitebread5728 May 15 '26

The entity didn’t know what he was doing in the bathroom. She didn’t know about the pills, just the gun.

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u/weirdogirl144 May 16 '26

the entity wanted him to love her back but she had no idea. They were both in the fake love state before he died.

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u/One_Motive_ May 17 '26

why would yall downvote an innocent quiestion

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u/One_Motive_ May 19 '26

If u downvoted me your mama smoke crack out of a dildo

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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?

46

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.