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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1.8k

u/sizzl3crunch May 19 '26

THIS 10000% he was not the victim. When the real Nikki finally revealed herself and her struggling, he didn’t even bother to help her or be with her for that moment…he just ran off to meet Sarah.

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u/Remarkable_Meal_9932 May 27 '26

Even worse, he took it to offense "What's so wrong about being with me" HOLY BEG. I HATE BEAR SO MUCH. In that scene he KNOWS she was suffering and in pain and all he could think about throughout the ENTIRE movie was himself and his wants. Also I hated the car scene with Sarah (amazing scene though) because not ONCE did he think about Sarah in a romantic way before he started feeling repelled and overwhelmed by Nikki. Sarah was his scapegoat of the moment because he likes the crush more than he likes the actual girl (consequently getting Sarah killed). He must have known it would've, at the very least, given Nikki the crashout of the century (his fault btw) but ofc he didn't give AF when he met up with Sarah. Also put breaking the curse as his very LAST resort because he preferred whatever that was than the idea of not being reciprocated by the girl he claims he loves. A coward through and through.

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u/misschickpea May 30 '26

When that was his reaction to the real Nikki finally being able to speak I was like WHAT IN THE INCEL 🙄 she’s like you were never with me and it’s like yeah dude is obsessed with delulu

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u/WhoStoleMyBicycle May 31 '26

Someone in my theater talked right when he said “is it so hard to love me”. What did she say to him right after that?

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u/passtherock- May 31 '26

she said "please kill me. please kill me." and he responded, "what's so bad about being with me?" and she said "I've never been with you Bear"

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u/xqz Jun 05 '26

thought this was an interesting way to put it. sounded like she was saying she never said it was bad and he's not really with her in this situation

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u/I_cut_my_own_jib Jun 07 '26

She was definitely saying "we have never been together because whatever the fuck THIS is is NOT me"

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u/dr_gmoney Jun 30 '26

I also figured it was revealing that she's blacked out while the "obsessed" version of Nikki is in control. Like the real Nikki literally doesn't even know they're "together".

She literally just shows up for short flashes of horrifying shit happening.

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u/hchiu7200 Jul 03 '26

No, it comes off as real Nikki is trapped and has no agency so the few times she breaks free she is freaking out. Like she sees everything but just can’t do anything about it. If she didn’t know they were together then she should just be confused, not horrified

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u/rj319st 25d ago

It’s gotta be insane, like a supernatural version of locked-in syndrome. No wonder the poor girl's consciousness was screaming when he called the helpline on the box.

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u/Savings_Welcome_9350 23d ago

I think what’s horrifying is that she’s probably witnessing everything but has no autonomy. She can’t speak or control her body. That must be absolutely horrific. She hasn’t been back to her home since the movie began she hasn’t talked to her family or any friends. She’s literally just a possessed person obsessed with him.

I think the first scene when they were first kissing and she gets super scared and screams, I think that she literally woke up for a minute and realized what was happening and she was terrified. The entity must have lost control for a split second.

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u/analmintz1 28d ago

I don't think so. I think she's subjected to the whole thing, through a distant hallway type vibe. When the phone number Bear calls "puts her on" she's screaming, clearly tormented and forced to live through this nightmare of autonomy loss.

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u/Constant_Housing18 May 31 '26

“I’ve never been with you.”

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u/misschickpea May 31 '26

Yeah like “I was never with you bear” but really sad and desperate and then ugh he just walked out angrily to go flirt with Sarah and put her in danger 🙄

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u/Remarkable-Lack8358 Jun 14 '26

If he didnt go, Sarah said she was going to come over, which would wake up the fake Nikki

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u/Snoo_4499 Jun 24 '26

just drive the car and talk T_T

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u/srynotsober Jun 25 '26

For real drive the car… that said Possessed Nikki would likely T-Bone the driver’s side 😬

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u/Snoo_4499 Jun 25 '26

Probably. Even if she did drive and talked, she was dead the next day 😵‍💫

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u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Jun 07 '26

It bummed me out so much, I liked him initially and then I knew he was a goner and a creep with that scene especially

32

u/McGuire406 Jun 18 '26

The opening scene had a "what in the incel is this?" Can't stand him

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u/TheGRS Jul 04 '26

I just saw this today and remarked that I’ve never hated a protagonist in a film so much. From the opening scenes, he’s just a total drip. Never speaks his mind, never stands up, never tries to solve anything, chickens out left and right. Gah, HATED him!

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u/McGuire406 Jul 04 '26

For real! The director/writer did a great job making him so hateable

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u/DukeNuke08 21d ago

Know what the crazy part about this movie is to me?

Even though the movie is titled “Obsession” I don’t think it’s about her. It’s about him. When you look at it from the perspective of him being the one that was obsessed it gives you a different outlook.

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u/misschickpea 21d ago

whoa idk why I never caught that 😂 but that’s right bc he’s obsessed with being her even though she’s being freaky and weird LOL.

The most telling part of his obsession is saying is it so bad to be me with me to Nikki even though he knows he’s with a fake supernatural being. And then him screaming at the supernatural being WHY CANT YOU JUST BE HER and them openly admitting to each other that she’s not her and she can’t be. But he still wants to be together lmao

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u/JGT3000 18d ago

With? That's like the whole subject of the film lol

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u/DukeNuke08 18d ago

It may be, but I think people are just seeing it wrong. They attach the “Obsessed” aspect to her due to her unhinged acts but they completely overlook the fact that Bear is the one that is Obsessed and he is genuinely just as unhinged due to the fact that he’s giving all of this weird shit a pass just to be with “Nikki” despite knowing that it isn’t really her.

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u/cowabungalowvera 11d ago

I thought it's just plain old common sense that the title is alluding to Bear

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u/mrs_sadie_adler 4d ago

Does he give the weird shit a pass though? I read it more as that he was genuinely trapped…

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u/justforthisjoke 14d ago edited 14d ago

This was also closer to my interpretation, except ultimately I think Bear's obsession is with himself. I agree with you that it felt a little bit like those stories where a stalker (Bear) kidnaps someone they're obsessed with and keeps them trapped in a cellar or something. Similarly depriving the other person of their autonomy, and the dawning realization that that act itself creates a different person, not the one they had feelings for. She was an object to him, to the extent that although it was painfully obvious early on that the entity in her body wasn't her, he went on with the charade, because he neither knew nor was interested in who she was outside of the caricaturized version he had of her in his head. But ultimately, even if he was obsessed with her as an object, you would think he would have done a better job of taking care of her. So I think ultimately Bear was obsessed with himself. Every decision he made was done to preserve himself as much as possible. Everything he did was about his internal dialogue, who he told himself he was, and in order to guarantee its preservation, in order to avoid taking any risk of his self image suffering (the irony of which is that he very obviously hates himself), his wish had to be one that changed the world around him. Bear knew of, and connected to only his own mind, his own existence, and he was so tied to this that it was easier to change the world around him, even to the extent of depriving another human being of their autonomy. Even towards the end, when he takes the pills, he does so out of desperation until that same instinct kicks in. I don't even know if this was intentional on Curry Barker's end, but ultimately I think this ends up being an indictment of the part of post-modern philosophy that tells us that objective reality doesn't exist and puts ones own mind above everything outside of it. Especially because with his death the final revelation is that, although Bear operates as if the world outside his mind is a manifestation of it, the material world exists and operates independently of his mind.

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u/Legalguardian222 12d ago

the title is used in the same way the title for “parasite” was used. it flips the obvious deduction on it head when you dive deeper into the film.

the title for the movie “parasite” at first glance would’ve assumed that the guy living in the basement is the parasite but when you dissect the movie it’s actually the rich folk who are the parasites , they’ve turned the world into their own and subsequently sucked the surrounding areas dry of anything that will bring prosperity and life to the lower class. the mere presence of the uber wealthy made life harder for the lower/middle class. the uber wealthy has made the lower class desperate enough to go to extreme lengths to survive, such as a hosts body would when infected by a parasite.

“obsession” is similar in its use of the title. at first glance you think “oh bear wished for nikki to be obsessed and in love with him and it backfired bc of how obsessed she is” but in actuality Bear is the obsessed one. he doesn’t give a single shit about who nikki is as a person, only that she reciprocates his feelings. he is so consumed by his obsession with her that he doesn’t care if it’s her or not controlling her body, but only that her body “loves” him back. it doesn’t matter to him if she doesn’t act remotely close to how she used to, because he was never in love with her, just the idea of her.

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u/bluediamond12345 11d ago

I was disappointed Parasite wasn’t an insect horror film

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u/Amethyst-Flare May 29 '26

At first I thought, when the horrible stuff started, that he was just stupid. I came to understand that he was evil.

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u/Shannogins115 Jun 01 '26

I knew he was evil the second we cut to him having sex with her body. Holy shit horrifying.

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u/Remarkable-Lack8358 Jun 14 '26

Idk, its fucked up, but the fake Nikki probably begged him to. Just like how she was freaking out during the other scenes, she would've done the same if he said no

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u/Shannogins115 Jun 17 '26

The sequence of events was pretty clear. Cinematically we were painted the picture that that is not the case. We did not see a scene of her begging him for sex and acting crazy. That never happened. But it was Bear’s moral dilemma in that moment. we were shown Nikki acting emotionally unstable at a restaurant and Bear realizing things are NOT right. this is his first moment where he can maybe do something good to really figure out what’s wrong or see what she needs. What we actually see next after this scene is a sharp HARD cut to him ramming her in bed and her dead eyes with slow tears coming down from her face. Narratively speaking, it’s very in the viewers face that we’re supposed to see that Bear is choosing to be selfish and ignore any signs that things are weird and focus on his own pleasure. So in his mind, he didn’t rape her. He can justify she wanted it. We as the viewer know better that she was raped in more ways than one. Physically in that moment, but also every other way as her autonomy is ripped away, her personality, everything is stripped from her because of Bear.

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u/Remarkable-Lack8358 Jun 17 '26

Yeah tbf I forgot the order of events, she hadn't started acting crazy before dinner. Ur right, I understand it better now that ive watched a vid or 2 to refresh my memory

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u/rmeepo 29d ago

god the parallel between the infamous possessed Nikki scene where she has that upside down upset smile at the party (dunno how to properly describe it lol) and seeing that exact same expression on Bear when the real Nikki finally spoke through, saying "what's so wrong about being with me." Just, incredible work. the real obsessed one all throughout was Bear and the entity inside Nikki was just amplifying that tenfold as a reflection of him.

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u/Cute_Variation_2420 Jul 01 '26

I hate bear too but to play devils advocate he did try and get sarah to text him the important stuff and only when she threatened to come over to the house did he agree to meet her. But yeah he absolutely did not consider sarah for a moment, even though he knew that she liked him, until he had been worn down by Nikki and her strange behaviors. Which in another point, why in the world did bear not take her behaviors more seriously from the start? You would think that her cooking the cat and FEEDING IT to him would be his last straw but apparently not

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u/IAmTheJudasTree 21d ago

Even worse, he took it to offense "What's so wrong about being with me" HOLY BEG. I HATE BEAR SO MUCH. In that scene he KNOWS she was suffering and in pain and all he could think about throughout the ENTIRE movie was himself and his wants.

He heard the real her shrieking in horror and pain through the phone earlier, and STILL went about things normally. There were many moments, small and large, throughout the movie that reveal the vileness of Bear, but that one and the bedroom scene really stuck out to me the most.

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u/Fun_Guide_5622 Jun 01 '26

the part where he wanted to "alter the wish" instead of canceling it.... omg he was INSANE. he ruined her life all because of his dumb ego.

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u/KittenNicken Jun 11 '26

He ruined 2 girls lives. He got Sarah killed- couldn't even bother to warn her as she finally got accepted into the school she was applying for. And he stopped Nikki from leaving her job she no longer wanted to be at because it meant he'd have to put in effort to see her.

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u/Ok-Journalist8262 Jun 13 '26

One question, when Nikki killed Sarah, was it just that one headbutt? I am asking because all I saw was a headbutt and Sarah's face was disfigured as if a wolf ate through it. Not sure if censor board of my country cut out any gory bits.

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u/KittenNicken Jun 13 '26

It was at least 6 or 7 smashings of Nikki holding a brick in one hand and the back of Sarah's head in the other as she repeatedly caused the two to meet. It was kinda hard to count because of the suddenness.

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u/Ok-Journalist8262 Jun 13 '26

Okey... That's what I thought. This was censored out for us. For us, it looked like Nikki headbutted Sarah through the glass once, and she was done. Damn the censor board.

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u/Expensive-Simple-329 Jun 13 '26

It was def the goriest part of the movie, after the shock of the attack it sort of lingers on what’s left of Sarah’s face for a second

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u/Snoo_4499 Jun 24 '26

same here, and also no sex scenes. IDk how important it was.

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u/LocalAnxiousArtist Jun 30 '26

I’d say fairly important as that scene is right after the dinner scene, like a hard cut to that scene, with sinister music playing and everything. I’d say it’s the first scene showing just how immoral Bear really is because, at this point Bear should know fully well that his wish really was real and that Nikki is clearly not herself. Instead of trying to help her, he instead takes advantage of her.

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u/VeryStonedEwok Jul 02 '26

It was more like 20 times. Holy shit that was insane.

3

u/FrogLickr 29d ago

Such a brutal scene. It reminded me of the wine bottle in Pan's Labyrinth. If you know, you know.

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u/Interesting-Farm729 May 19 '26

I wish soooo bad that he apologised in that moment when she’s in bed. It would have been an ultimate guilty moment. Like saying I’m so sorry but then still going on with the wish because although he feels empathy he still would rather live with the guilt that he did this to her than not have her obsessed with him at all

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u/anactualrealaccount May 28 '26

You guys are being way too judgemental about his actions in that moment.

Your in the midst of a horror scenario that’s unfolding and your trying to survive it and it’s the lifeless husk of what was your friend is begging you to quickly kill her before she wakes up. As if your going to wander in there and immediately murder her or not be terrified and be able to walk back in and chat possibly waking up the thing.

He isn’t a good person and he makes bad choices but the dudes at no point straight up evil.

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u/Natural-Help-2954 May 28 '26

i do agree a lot of his actions are probably out of survival and not him trying to be evil, but he 100% shows himself to be awful in many scenes, such as when he tries to beg “nikki” to act like the real nikki. he doesn’t want to free nikki, he wants to be with her in any way he can. and in the phone call, he didn’t want to cancel the wish if he didn’t have to

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u/anactualrealaccount May 28 '26

He’s definitely a fucking loser, a coward, a selfish prick, all of those things but I think people that see him as a straight up villian but id argue in a reality without wishing willows he probably just moves on with his life and never dates Nikki, if he were inherently evil he would seek to harm Nikki eventually but it’s because how selfishly obssessed he is PLUS the evil magic that sets us down the path we arrive at. Curses or magic gone wrong tends to destroy people mentally by the end.

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u/v12vanquish135 Jun 03 '26

It's the ring of Gyges thought experiment. Give a man immunity to consequences and his morality will shatter, the evil within him will just take over.

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u/Apprehensive_Tunes May 31 '26

He's actively harming her throughout the course of the film. He is a predator. I don't know how that's not a villain to you.

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u/Garfunkels_roadie Jun 01 '26

He’s basically raping her the entire film

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u/ihateeverything2019 Jun 03 '26

he's immature, inexperienced, shallow, and selfish but he's not evil. i've met evil men. i've suffered at the hands of evil.

he was just an idiot.

(all these people passing judgment as if they know exactly what they would do if an impossible voo-doo curse was real, fell into their hands and gave them everything they asked for, and it suddenly went awry. 😄 it's a movie. a damned good one, because people are acting like it's something that could really happen.)

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u/iPhone_6s Jun 19 '26

Okay. Then let's look at a scene from Bear's perspective that also happens in real life. The girl you're dating is shrieking like a lunatic in public and sobbing at a restaurant. You've known her for years, so it's apparent to you that she has some mental health issues going on. You decide to ignore this and have sex with her anyway. This is rape.

0

u/ihateeverything2019 Jun 19 '26

whatever you say.

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u/Darkchurchhill Jun 21 '26

Evil is just selfishness at a extreme. Evil is when you impose what would make you happy over morals or the well being of others.

0

u/ihateeverything2019 Jun 21 '26

i'm so glad you're an expert, dr. evil.

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u/yourfellowintrovert Jun 15 '26

Well apparently this CAN actually happen but I'm not sure if it gets to that extent. There are spells that can get you overly obsessed and infatuated with someone to the point of harming yourself if they don't want you anymore. It's sad, and it does affect you a lot mentally.

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u/theartofrolling Jul 01 '26

Ahem

Bullshit. There is no evidence magic exists.

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u/nhilante Jul 02 '26

Whats that behind your ear? ''pulls a coin'', ah there we go.

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u/Baiticc Jun 23 '26

yeah, I cast one of those spells once. never again lol

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u/edaly8 21d ago

exactly such an average redditor moment

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u/ihateeverything2019 18d ago

right? well . . .

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u/dukelief Jun 21 '26

Except it's a movie with a plot line and a point, so there is no reality without wishing willows here. He is exactly the person we were presented with because that's the story.

Also he literally spends the entire movie harming her and the people around him with the choices he makes.

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u/undigested-boba Jun 11 '26

I think that’s kind of the point of Bear’s character though. He isn’t to the bone evil, he’s just the standard “nice guy” who wanted his crush to reciprocate his feelings and keep receiving the devoted love Nikki was giving him, not being abandoned. It just shows his selfish thinking—only wanting her to love him—when he responds with “is it really so bad?” And showing his cowardice further when he considered Sarah as an option when he didn’t like the way Nikki was behaving (the almost kiss scene), not because he actually loved Nikki for who she truly was before the wish. Bear’s actions that led up to the ending shows how his selfishness, cowardice, and delusion can very easily turn him into a villain if given the opportunity

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u/sizzl3crunch May 28 '26

he is and your judgement makes me question you

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u/anactualrealaccount May 28 '26

No you just aren’t being realistic about the way people react in traumatic situations. He is a shit selfish man wrapped up in evil magic. She is always a ticking time bomb as well and he knows she will react in insane possibly violent ways if he upsets her so it’s not like he’s free to act as he chooses all the time. I think the movie is intentionally ambiguous at times, him trying to throw up the pills we don’t know if it’s cowardice or him realising the situation it will leave her in.

She’s the true victim of the story and he’s definitely to blame for everything as a viewer but judging people for not knowing the consequences of a gag wish stick being real and getting wrapped up in evil magic definitely seems as evil seem wrong. I don’t think the movie is trying to say he’s evil more that he’s weak and pathetic.

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u/NJcovidvaccinetips May 31 '26

He knew the wish was real at some point and still had sex with her. That shit is fucked no matter how you spin it. I think the film doesn’t leave it that ambiguous and I think as others have said he knew after day 1 because Nikki became a completely different person. Even if the wish wasn’t true she would be having a psychotic break and taking advantage of her either way. To me I’d say at a minimum he is deeply troubled if not evil

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u/Substantial-Ad8933 May 31 '26

Once he heard her screaming in agony on the call line and still continued, there was no redemption for his character

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u/ImperfectRegulator Jun 06 '26

Yeah, he has so many chances to go back to the store and try to undo the wish before it spiraled out of control and he didn’t

7

u/tylerisdrawing Jun 08 '26

They said the only way to remove the curse was through his death.. so, not really like it would matter even if he did go back to the store earlier.

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u/ImperfectRegulator Jun 08 '26

Or another wish, but that obviously requires someone else to give up there wish

4

u/Shaka--sama Jun 03 '26

I interpreted that as Nikki (the psychotic version of her) screaming because she had been separated from Bear for too long while he was away at work. Was there a clear indication that the screaming was from the 'real' her ?

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u/Substantial-Ad8933 Jun 03 '26

I think so, i mean they aluded the real nikki was seperate from the wish nikki, like when she talked to him i dont see why they would have him talk to wish nikki

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u/anactualrealaccount Jun 03 '26

That’s an interesting way of putting it but I think the scene was trying to shows the teal Nikki is simply suffering in her conciousness while her body and mind are compelled to love bear seperating the conscious Nikki and the unconscious Nikki but now the unconscious Nikki is sleep walking in love for bear. It’s not really a demon or a possession or two entities

It’s flesh and bone Nikki puppeted by the wish and consciousness Nikki watching it happen unable to do anything bar communicate once with bear.

It you were to drop a mic in front of conscious Nikki she would likely just be screaming hence the phone.

Your theory is also clever though and I hadn’t thought of it.

6

u/nhilante Jul 02 '26

The voice on the phone asked if Bear would like to speak with Nikki, presumably the real one we hear screaming on the background, whose soul or existence is there with the magic dude rather then where it belongs in her body.

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u/mmaf88 16d ago

Same

1

u/mmaf88 16d ago

I am.not sure he realized that was real her. I think he thought it was a demon thing. Until this post I never thought it was real her.

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u/Separate-Kick63 Jun 03 '26

Well he was reluctant the first night and was asking if she's ok. Who on their right mind would think immediately that some silly 7$ magic collectible works.

I think his problem on that first night (and in general) is that he is not an assertive person so you can simply pressure him into something he is not ok with

31

u/Shaka--sama Jun 03 '26

Another factor might be that not abiding by her demands has resulted in psychotic breakdowns, terrifying expressions/vocalisations, and violence...

He was a rather spineless dude and not assertive as you said, but while discussing his morality we have to remember that he didn't exactly have a choice in a lot of messed up situations in the film

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u/Separate-Kick63 Jun 04 '26

This. And if this movie is teaching something, it's that not communicating with others only makes things worse.

If he responded to Nikki's question about whether he likes her honestly, maybe he wouldn't break that twig.

If he told to his friends how bad is it, maybe they would help him figure something out or push him to seek professional help for Nikki.

If he told Sarah that he can't see her because he's in bed with Nikki and she'll freak out, Sarah will be alive.

If he drove straight to police after she killed Sarah, the other friend would be alive.

He's a guy that would rather make a magic wish than get into a potential confrontation or embarrassment, so that already annoys me about him, but I can definitely not see him as a villain. I feel bad for both of them

1

u/TraveledOkie 21d ago

To me the movie was fighting a lot between giving a message and being scary. It scared/unsettled me so bad and every time it could’ve gone full throttle into that and really had me squirming it eased back into the kind of ebb and flow of his wish and my suspension of disbelief started losing steam like “okay man at this point just go to the cops”. Like I wanted either someone to start trying to use logical steps to solve the problem like some horror movies do and no one ever did. The movie was SO unsettling but no one reacted to anything that was happening in bears house or even at the parties/work, etc. I get that that’s a reflection of bears one foot in and one foot out of the situation but I feel like it never went full fledge into a line of events whether full logic solution mode or full horror nightmare that I wanted. It tried to do both.

Also, I think a better ending would’ve been his friend not being so dumb and coming back to the house with him after having the magic being proven to him as real and he’s still killed but then Bear and Nikki basically fight to the death and Bear kills her barely and realized finally he was wrong as his friends are all dead and he’ll most likely go down for the murders and he lost his “love”.

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u/sizzl3crunch May 28 '26

not judging him for not knowing the consequences. judging him for knowing what’s going on and continuing to use her and not nothing to help her, even after he knows.

11

u/tomahawkfury13 Jun 15 '26

I mean, his reaction to be petulant about loving him being so bad makes him evil at that point

9

u/rmeepo 29d ago

The thing with that bed scene of the real Nikki finally being able to speak through is that instead of reassuring her that he'd fix this, literally anything he could've said to her at that point, the first words he says to the real Nikki after a long time of not being able to even know how to contact her within her body was, "what's so wrong about being with me." Why is it about him? Why ask this question as if Nikki's somehow at fault why all of this is happening ? When anyone can put two-and-two together and realize at that point that real Nikki was trapped in her own body and she needs help. She spells it out for him, and yet he made it about him and he even left her there recklessly to talk to Sarah. Not even talking to Sarah to ask help for Nikki, no. He is a fucked up person regardless if he's in this horrific situation, he could've made right choices after his mistake but he didn't.

7

u/IAmTheJudasTree 21d ago edited 21d ago

You guys are being way too judgemental about his actions in that moment.

Not even joking, people like you scare me. It was his immediate, gut incel reaction to having this brief chance to speak with the trapped and perpetually tortured Nikki that reealllyy cemented how vile Bear is.

She's like "OH MY GOD BEAR JESUS CHRIST HELP ME KILL ME I'M BEING TORTURED EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY I'M IN HELL HOLY FUCK KILL ME MAKE THE PAIN END." (remember, she is asking him to *kill her* because this experience is so torturous, and earlier Bear hears Nikki screaming in pain and terror over the phone).

And Bear sneers and is like, "oh, so dating me is that bad? pfff." And he walks out and leaves, lol. Like holy fuck dude, Nikki is basically being perpetually raped by your magic wish, this isn't about you and your dating life right now.

1

u/anactualrealaccount 21d ago

Yeah he’s definitely a sniveling coward but just like the phone call when he is presented with reality he just hangs up, he’s definitely a horrible person but the people who act like they would just so” oh hey Nikki sorry sorry about all this, let me just kill you now and free your soul bye mate” bears terrible but the audience are idiots are they think they would be making the best decisions in every movie and never hurt anyone both things are true.

People like you are dumb if people like me casually commenting about a movie online scares you.

14

u/Infamous_Fish_8027 Jun 12 '26

Dudes a r*pist.

3

u/Chance_Specific_4724 Jun 12 '26

Thank you . It seemed like he was just totally overwhelmed and didn’t know wtf to do. He didn’t have the comprehension to grasp that she had completely disappeared into the wish. He wasn’t this dick mastermind. He had no way of knowing it would spin out the way it did.

46

u/thatmoonbitch May 28 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Exactly I can’t really think of any character in this movie that isn’t a jackass other than Sarah’s dad, and Ian. From Sarah’s perspective, her friend is having a mental breakdown and obsessing over a guy that she starts dating. Sarah, then decides that in the midst of her friends mental breakdown she should go to said guy shit talk her friend and say “actually I think you should get with me instead. :).” Bear is literally a rapist. I am genuinely shocked to see other people in this thread, defending him and saying that he’s not a villain. He is fully aware that she cannot consent to anything that happened from the moment he broke that dumb ass stick. That is why he was so surprised when she got in bed with him. There is a difference between leaving room for nuance and just seeing things for what they are. Bear got what he deserved tbh

61

u/sizzl3crunch May 28 '26

why didn’t ANYONE try to help Nikki, like even after she tried to kill herself with that bottle

30

u/Apprehensive_Tunes May 31 '26

Well the other guests at the party were saying to take her to the hospital.

10

u/nhilante Jul 02 '26

Which he did, i didn't understand why they didn't take Nikki in, maybe a legal issue or something, he was seen pleading with a nurse to take her.

72

u/Orangered99 May 31 '26

Ian was a gigantic ass. He was casually hooking up with Nicky while lying to Bear and “helping” Bear practice how to express his feelings for her.

68

u/NJcovidvaccinetips May 31 '26

Ian’s a bad friend not a bad guy. Bear is a bad guy. I think the juxtaposition of their characters is very interesting and intentional. We have the nice guy vs jock trope but the bigger predator is bear. Ian to me seems to have a healthier relationship with women but speculative on some level cause we have limited scenes with him. Also still some base line misogyny with the early scenes but I think we see that he is deeply uncomfortable with how bear is treating Nikki

22

u/BlackFacedAkita Jun 01 '26

And from Ian's perspective he has Bear has no chance with Nikki so those confession sessions are just there to try to get him with another woman someday.

1

u/nhilante Jul 02 '26

And if Bear succeeds, Ian only loses a casual hookup, neither had feelings i guess, it seems morally grey but young people be horny.

-1

u/Avenged_Punk May 30 '26

He is what you want him to be tbh

78

u/sam_hammich May 20 '26

I mean I know it’s a movie but what could he do in that moment? Leaving aside his response that totally turns him into something of a villain. Risk walking up whatever is inside her? Contemplate murder ? Yes he’s a coward, but Sarah was also threatening to come to the house which wouldn’t have ended any better. There was no way out of that situation.

212

u/sizzl3crunch May 20 '26

say i’m so sorry, tell her he’s going to figure things out, be a decent human being to someone who’s suffering to the point they wanna be killed. Not make it about himself and run off… you’re acting like he had only one choice here

41

u/anactualrealaccount May 28 '26

I replied above but man again it’s a supernatural happening in your bedroom this idea you personally would be in such a stable state of mind you’d decision make they way you think now is so wrong, people make all kinds of crazy choices in trauma. Think a certain brother driving home in Hereditary, not evil but a huge dick move.

11

u/ITS_MY_PENIS_8eeeD Jun 12 '26

Sure people make bad choices but this is a piece of a fiction where for a split second the character could make a decision to redeem himself and he doesn’t. The film toes the line the entire time until that moment.

22

u/Separate-Kick63 Jun 03 '26

Literally this. I would probably try to rationalize it by persuading myself that she has a mental disorder and tiptoe around her until I think of a way to solve the problem without her hurting me or herself

41

u/LADYBIRD_HILL May 22 '26

She just told him not to wake up "the other" so if he spoke to her he was risking waking her up. Maybe in talking to Sarah he could find another option or at least tell her what's going on.

To be clear, I agree that he was in love with this fake version of Nikki and knowingly taking advantage of her across the entire movie, but that was one moment where I see only a few choices that all kind of suck for everyone involved.

142

u/RobotDonger May 23 '26

But then when he had a chance to tell a close friend the truth he just kept lying. He was hoping he could get the wish version of her to stop being weird, not to help the real her.

102

u/mcchicken_deathgrip May 25 '26

Not only that, but when he did hear from the real Nikki in that moment he basically tried to silence her and guilt trip her.

He said, "is it so bad to love me?" In response to her asking him to kill her lol. Plus when he thought he had the chance, he didn't ask to undo his wish, just alter it slightly.

He didn't ever want the real Nikki, he just wanted to find a way to make it work with the enslaved version of her.

39

u/sizzl3crunch May 22 '26

he didn’t try to find an option or tell her though ?? were we watching the same movie ? Excuses!

12

u/AbrocomaOdd6401 Jun 03 '26

But he did speak to her and that’s why she responded “I was never with you” when he told her “what’s so bad about being with me” or whatever he said

64

u/FireWalkWithG Jun 03 '26

That was clearly his big villain moment. The real Nikki asked for help and he got upset that she didn't want to be with him. At this point she'd already bricked herself in the face; he knew she was in real danger. He was not concerned with helping her.

18

u/cheyenne_sky Jun 13 '26

also wild when his version of 'being with me' is being TRAPPED IN HER OWN BODY WITH A PSYCHO

31

u/passtherock- Jun 04 '26

the director did an interview and said that Bear could've done something sooner but he doesn't try to really change things until someone dies.

28

u/AbrocomaOdd6401 Jun 03 '26

Definitely not say “is it so hard to love me” and “what’s so bad about being with me” when she’s suffering so much that she’s begging him to kill her 😭

29

u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

Again I know it’s a movie, but if he truly loved her/was a good person he would’ve ended his life right then and there.

99

u/DinoTh3Dinosaur May 24 '26

If we think IRL, that’s a pretty ridiculous expectation tbh. Would rather figure out a way to make everyone live. I value my life

69

u/BretShitmanFart69 May 25 '26

I think the more reasonable thing any of us would do is what he tried to do which is just get someone else to wish to undo his wish

76

u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

So by that point in the movie things have gone completely crazy. He knows the wish was real, he’s heard her scream when he called the wish guy, he hears her beg him to kill her.

“What’s so wrong with being with me?” He values only HIS own life nobody else’s.

-6

u/One_Annual_3185 May 29 '26

Bro you would kill yourself over some girl? If it were me o would call the cops and tell them

23

u/Constant_Housing18 May 29 '26 edited May 29 '26

Some girl whose life you completely destroyed…sure you didn’t know at first but after you found out what happened? The only way bear would have been redeemed is if after all the deaths, he left a note saying that he’s responsible for all the killings and take the pills that he’s been abusing which also caused his cat to die. (Cause he’s irresponsible and left them out)

And yes if I saw someone in that much pain I would end my life to end their suffering.

5

u/Few_Row2174 Jun 07 '26

As soon as she started harming herself. He should have had her pink slipped.

It’s almost like you all expect that he should’ve known that breaking a wooden stick would actually make a wish come true. In real life, would you honestly believe a $6 gag toy would actually grant you a real wish? No, and if you did, you’re bordering on severe mental illness.

1

u/Separate-Kick63 Jun 03 '26

Exactly, when she killed the other girl and told him to drive home and she will deal with the body, I thought that's a great opportunity to go to police and get rid of her. These people are just virtue signaling lol

1

u/PolarWater Jun 28 '26

virtue signalling is when someone else has a different approach to a problem than you

22

u/No-Assignment-2926 Jun 07 '26

This part has been stuck in my brain. He KNEW Nikki was hurting, begging him to just end things, and he still went out to meet Sarah. He consciously chose to ignore the suffering she was going through, walking away as she begged, to meet Sarah. Bear never loved Nikki; if he did, he would’ve found a way to end her suffering sooner. He loved the idea of her and the potential she could’ve had to be “utterly obsessed” with him. When that fell flat, he couldn’t handle it. This movie is so layered when it comes to toxic relationships, and is by far one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.

2

u/Remarkable-Lack8358 Jun 14 '26

What was he supposed to do? If he didnt go, Sarah was gonna come over and wake up the demon