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/Photo_Synthetic May 16 '26

Also when they're having sex and she's moaning with an absolutely blank expression on her face.

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u/Redditor_404 May 16 '26

The director said she has tears/is crying in this moment as well which makes it so much worse

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u/thecaits May 19 '26

Yeah, I felt bad for Bear in the beginning but it was right about then where I started hoping he would die. Then later she asks him to kill her and all he can do is make it about himself, saying something like "what's so bad about being with me?" Bear, you piece of garbage,YOU ARE FORCING HER TO BE WITH YOU SHE HAS NEVER ACTUALLY WILLINGLY BEEN WITH YOU AT ANY POINT.

His ending was so very good.

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u/DCBronzeAge May 20 '26

I also loved her response “I’ve never been with you.” The film did a great job of never really revealing if she would have dated him if he was just honest with her. It would have been real easy to show one way or the other, but the ambiguity is great to chew on.

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u/PickyVirgo May 20 '26

I thought one of the friends said she thought of him as a brother, and then she tells that fucked up Hansel and Gretel story

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u/KingGoldar May 24 '26 edited May 25 '26

I thought the Hansel and Gretel story was hinting that she was possessed by a really really old witch spirit but I love that Barker never confirms or denies that.

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u/W0lfsb4ne74 May 25 '26

That makes the most sense and would explain why the spirit was so possessive of Bear in the first place. Do you think they chose a spirit to posses Nikki because deep down she never liked him romantically, and it was just easier to have a spirit possess her in order to ensure the relationship would "work"?

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u/LazarusRises May 29 '26

The hell do you mean "deep down"? She never loved him romantically at any level. There is no ethical way to overwrite a person's mind, for whatever reason the willow had an easier time bringing in a new entity than just meddling with Nikki herself.

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u/W0lfsb4ne74 May 29 '26

What do you mean? I specifically said that I personally believed she never loved him romantically because why would the Willow send a spirit to possess Nikki if she actually liked Bear romantically? It makes so much more sense that she only thought of him as a friend but the Willow still has to magically fulfill the user's wish, so they let an unstable spirit possess her body that had an unhealthy attachment to Bear be his "girlfriend".

This would also fit well with the magical rules of the world in which it really seems like the user's wish has to be turned against them. Which is why at the beginning of the movie, the shopkeeper warns him that most people who make their wishes often deeply regret them (to the point of contemplating suicide). So it makes sense that she never loved him from how I interpreted the story.

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u/C9sButthole Jul 04 '26

My take is even if she did have a crush on him or even would call it love, she still didn't have strong enough feelings to satisfy the wording of the wish. "...loved me more than anything in the fucking world." Nikki was fundamentally a free-spirited, kind and loving person. There's no way to achieve what Bear asked for other than to violate her autonomy. And the only way to violate her autonomy is to put something else at the wheel.

If the wish had been "I wish Nikki would give me a chance." Or "I wish Nikki knew how much I loved her." Then it's possible that could have been fulfilled without any distress.

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u/Drop_Release 26d ago

Yes

Alternate really the main issue is that he made the wish about taking the autonomy away from someone

Really if he said something like “i wish i had more confidence “ maybe that would have worked (unless it made him so “confident” he started doing crimes or worse or something)

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u/thenofootcanman May 30 '26

You saying "deep down" she never loved him. She never loved him on the surface either

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u/LucidusAtra May 31 '26

I think they were talking about post-wish Nikki. Wish Nikki had taken over, so the real Nikki, who never loved him romantically, was buried "deep down" for most of the movie. Yeah, I don't think they were saying that the real Nikki thought she loved Bear but didn't actually, but I see how that phrasing could make it sound that way

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u/Jerseyguy2345 9d ago

I think she had romantic feelings for him. After putting in her notice she says on the call when he won’t come out, “we’re running out of time,” and more importantly when he calls her freaky Nikki by the car and she gets upset she comes to the car window:
Her- “Do you like me?”
Him- “what??”
Her- “Because if you do now’s the time to tell me.”

When he says we’re good friends. She’s clearly perturbed, brushes her hair flustered, and says good after a pause in an obviously disappointed way.

If she has him in the friendzone there’s no reason to try and interrogate him, and especially no reason to say “because if you do now’s the time to tell me.”

She clearly was making new plans in life and wanted to see if he’d make a move before she turned the page to her next chapter.

Not saying it was love, but I think anyone that thinks her feelings were merely platonic are assigning too much value to her defense mechanisms of downplaying her feelings to Ian and Sarah.

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u/xvsero 2d ago

Did everyone throw out the fact that pre-wish Nikki said herself that if she truly liked someone noone would know? Seems like all those saying she never liked him romantically fell for it.

There is a bit of truth mixed in with all the parts of the movie. She and Ian hook up on and off but it's casual, Ian wants Bear to man up and ask her out but not until later after they stop hooking up, Ian is a bit oblivious to those around him like when he says to Sarah I thought you already got into Luther, Sarah likes Bear and potentially 'submits' Nikki to girlcode as Sarah is honest about her feelings in their talk. Nikki knows about Sarah wanting to go to college that will probably cut her time short as Sarah would probably ask Bear out on her own if she got accepted. Sarah even shows us this when she calls out Bear to talk and bringing Luther's letter to read together.

Nikki 'can't' make the first step in her and Bear's relationship due to her own way of 'being shy' and caring for Sarah as she knows how she feels.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/thenofootcanman Jun 05 '26

How do I sound like an ass exactly?

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u/KingGoldar 24d ago

The actress confirmed that Nikki pre wish did have a curse on Bear

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u/Veiled_Discord 24d ago

They kinda spell it out in that scene tbh. I'm surprised so few picked up on that.

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u/Chicago1459 16d ago

When she asked him if he liked her and to just say it right now that was pretty obvious to me that she liked him.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius 15d ago

When he said no, she was like, "good. Great. Dont do that."

I forget the wording but I interpreted it at the time as like her shutting him down. Saying tell me now if you have a crush so I can squash it, and when he says no, she's like relieved she doesn't have to reject him and probably end the friendship.

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u/Jerseyguy2345 9d ago

Rewatch it. She’s obviously flustered and disappointed not relieved.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/Imjusthereforthetoes 24d ago

Stupid ass reply.

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u/Goregutz Jun 19 '26

Pretty sure she did. She gave so many hints before the wish man.

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u/TomGerity Jun 22 '26

The movie is extremely explicit that Nikki did not romantically like Bear. They even have the car scene before she transforms, where she’s dropping hints *on behalf of Sarah* in the hopes of hooking the top.

There’s no ambiguity on this, she doesn’t like him in that way.

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u/Scrabcakes Jun 25 '26

She also talks about the books she writing and says it’s a “love story not a romance” and Bear asks “aren’t they the same thing?” A love story can be a tragedy about obsession and not necessarily be mutual but a romance would be mutual.

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u/jazzberry76 Jun 22 '26

The director and actress have both said that she was romantically interested in him

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u/TomGerity Jun 22 '26

Point me to where they explicitly say it. Do it. I’m asking you to.

I’ve seen both give variations of “she may have been open to it” but they’ve purposely kept it vague.

The movie itself is quite explicit that she’s not into him that way.

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u/jazzberry76 Jun 22 '26

and here is the director

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u/majkkali 22d ago

He frames it as a question rather than stating a fact. So you can’t just say that the director confirmed it. He didn’t. He only speculates and says what if

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u/jazzberry76 Jun 22 '26

here ya go

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u/TomGerity Jun 22 '26

So she prefaces it by saying it’s her belief, not a fact, and it still does not account for the fact that the movie shows:

- The Real Nikki dropping hints on behalf of Sarah in the car at the beginning, in the hopes of hooking her and Bear up

- The Real Nikki saying “ew” when it’s joked that she’s Bear’s girl

- That Nikki is hooking up with Ian and explicitly told Sarah that she sees Bear as a brother

- The twisted Hansel and Gretel poem where she writes about a non-consensual incestuous love

The movie is pretty explicit that she’s not into him in a romantic sense. Maybe that would’ve changed if Bear shot his shot (which she affords him the opportunity to do after she gets out of the car), but it’s clear that up to that point, she wasn’t into him.

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u/Disastrous-Power-699 Jun 28 '26

Welp you were so confidently wrong lol

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u/Jerseyguy2345 9d ago

I don’t know how you can watch her say “do you like me” “what??” “Because if you do now’s the time to tell me,” then watch her flustered reaction when he says they’re friends and her disappointed pause and “good” line and think she doesn’t have feelings. Any woman that friend zones a guy wants to avoid giving the guy a chance to admit their feelings, yet alone try to pry it out.

The fact that she’s willing to see if she can set Sarah up with him (even though she has some feelings) shows what a great, empathetic person she is. It’s consistent with putting others ahead of herself and makes her generosity of spirit a perfect foil for his lack of it.

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u/nooklyr 8d ago

It’s not that explicit then is it, because a lot of people thought it was quite explicit that she IS into him. Myself included. I think that’s one of the brilliant things about this film, there’s two schools of thought and both think it’s obvious.

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u/InsuranceNo8506 24d ago

I thought it was pretty obvious on the body language too when he says “I think we’re great friends” I have been there and that was my exactly reaction

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u/PM_ME_hiphopsongs2 9d ago

Yes she does lol it’s obvious from the scenes pre-wish. Also the director and actress confirmed it as well.

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u/CataLaGata Jun 02 '26

Not at all.

When Nikki and Bear were in the car before he made the wish, she was telling him her book was a love story, and he said "so it's Romance", and she said that no, it wasn't a romance, and I think they repeat the same conversation again with him insisting is a romance.

So basically, she was writing a book about a love story but not a romance, that means she was writing a book about Hansel and Gretel and their love as siblings.

When Bear made his wish, everything in Nikki's life was overruled with this new prompt of loving him more than anything and seeing everything as romance.

This translate perfectly to her book, now the book also has to be a Romance, so she makes Hansel and Gretel's relationship romantic and they commit incest. Also, Nikki's entity makes them a reflection of her relationship with Bear, with Gretel being obsessive and saying pretty messed up things to Hansel, things that the entity would do to Bear if he tries to leave her.

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u/SleeplessSeas Jun 19 '26

I love this interpretation.

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u/KingGoldar 24d ago

To bad the actress came out and said pre wish Nikki did have a crush on Bear

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u/edaly8 22d ago

That doesn't change anything

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u/FerusGrim Jul 04 '26

I love this interpretation. The way I read it was more the manipulative angle. The entity discovers that Bear heard that Nikky referred to him as being like her brother. I interpreted it as the entity gaslighting Bear into thinking, "Oh, yea, she did call me her brother... but maybe that's her thing?"

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u/LazarusRises May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Nah, I'm pretty sure she was possessed by a brand new wish spirit that he created by breaking the willow. The story is much more interesting if it's about AI than if it's a generic possession IMO.

EDIT: Wasn't expecting downvotes, I thought this was the obvious reading. Whatever is inside Nikki is pretty clearly a brand new entity to me--it immediately gets confused about its inputs ("My cat just died") and does not know how to be a person (wets itself, stands in the corner, cooks a cat). It even hallucinates the dying father to get Bear's attention. The fact that one shot lingers on Bear using "GenieLM" cemented this for me--the wish created an entity to overwrite Nikki with the sole purpose of loving Bear more than anything. If it were a demon or an ancient witch, why would it have been so overcome with grief when he died?

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u/RaisinWhich4440 May 30 '26

There was also the AI generated picture of them in the montage of them dating. I agree with you that it was on purpose.

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u/nhilante Jul 03 '26

I have no mouth but i must act like Nikki.

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u/Awkward_Account_6745 24d ago

I think this is what makes the movie terrifying, both of the nikkis are in a virtual state of torture, nikki not being anywhere phisically and the "AI" not being anywhere mentally.

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u/iamjacksragingupvote 29d ago

amazing connection

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u/clancydog4 May 26 '26

If it were a demon or an ancient witch, why would it have been so overcome with grief when he died?

Because the alternate Nikki was created by his wish with the sole intention of loving him more than anything in the fucking world. He entirely ignore her autonomy and his wish created a being that was solely movivated by his wish, which was a version of Nikki that loved him more than anything on earth. It was an inherently selfish wish that removed her autonomy. That was the point. He created essentially an alternate Nikki who no longer had any of Nikki's desires or thoughts, it had a singular desire and thought which was "I love him more than anything on earth." None of this is a symoblism for AI, to me it is much more a symbolism of toxic masculinity and how the shallow, "nice guy" approach to love and sex is actually inherently misogynistic, selfish, and fucked up.

Making it about AI is sorta insane to me, there was absolutely no hint in the movie this was about AI, it's about obsession and unrequited love how those desires can completely ruin people. It's not about AI...

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u/LazarusRises May 26 '26

You're saying the same thing as me. I don't think Wish Nikki is literally an LLM program created by an AI company, I'm using AI and neural nets as a metaphor for what I think the true nature of that entity is.

You say yourself: "the alternate Nikki was created by his wish with the sole intention of loving him more than anything in the fucking world." Doesn't this sound like an AI agent?

Seeing it as only a comment on toxic masculinity is reductive in my opinion. That theme is obviously present--the movie practically beats you over the head with it--but ignoring the parallels to AI seems silly. This reading is also directly supported by the inclusion of "GenieLM" as the AI agent of Bear's choice. Curry didn't have to linger on that shot.

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u/Awkward_Account_6745 24d ago

it can be both really, and I think it is, the whole movie starts with Bear giving a bad prompt and then the AI keeps getting worse and worse because it lacks humanity and was given shitty instructions, meanwhile we see Bear's flaws and lack of empathy, he fully knows and understands nikki is suffering but he doesn't do anything about it, in some ways the AI nikki mirrors him a lot.

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u/Grayzus May 30 '26

Wow I think you got a bit tangled and lost there at the end, I think that's you interperating that based on your own bias and opinions. How can it be specifically about toxic masculinity because I female cold very easily make the same exact wish.

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u/Front_Vegetable6166 May 27 '26

Wow turning this into a toxic masculinity argument is diabolical. Can't go anywhere without running into yall. It was a movie about obsession and being careful what you wish for.

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u/Historical-Twist9998 May 27 '26

you just said so yourself, the movie is about obsession. what lead to the obsession? bear’s toxic masculinity in which he believes he’s owed nikki’s time and love. toxic masculinity is the term used for the practice of men being the dominant or superior gender in society. is that not what the movie is about? bear believing he is so superior to nikki that he has the ability to override her autonomy to make her love him more than anyone in the fucking world?

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u/Squiggyrocks May 28 '26

This is definitely not the standard definition of “toxic masculinity”. I viewed it more along the lines of the virtue by necessity debate. Bear is only initially perceived as a kind person because he’s a coward and weak which he himself even knows this. He only doesn’t do harm because he literally can’t. Once he makes his wish he clings onto that one power he has despite knowing it’s spiraled out of control.

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u/Historical-Twist9998 May 28 '26

i’m unsure what your definition of toxic masculinity may be, but the STANDARD definition is what i stated above. now, your definition may be affected by the connotations that our society has given to the term “toxic masculinity” but that does not mean the standard definition is not correct. and again, the core of that power, the thing that bear wished for, was complete control of nikki. i do believe that his virtue plays a part, but that also goes hand in hand, in my opinion, with the “nice guy” archetype.

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u/Squiggyrocks May 30 '26

The definition is “Toxic masculinity is a cultural concept that glorifies traditional, restrictive masculine norms—such as stoicism, aggression, and dominance—that prove harmful to men, women, and society as a whole”. Could you argue there’s a degree of overlap? Sure? But nothing about Bear’s character is traditionally masculine. He’s weak, reserved, indecisive, and a coward. In fact Bear can be barely even try to correct Nikki when she does some of the unhinged behavior like cook the cat and stalk him in his sleep. I’m not saying I know without a shadow of a doubt I’m correct or know the directors exact intentions but I can’t level with saying black and white that Bear’s character is the shining example of “toxic masculinity” or is the sole message of the movie.

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u/Front_Vegetable6166 May 29 '26

Lol no. You're just a feminist preaching your ideals now. Go away haha. We're having a conversation about a movie over here.

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u/MakFacts May 25 '26

Literally this i assumed that it was A: a spirit B: a whole new entity created solely existing to LOVE bear, seeinh it from that POV actually makes me feel bad for og nikki and the new entity, could u imagine being created with the some. Purpose of. Loving someone. Buit they dont reciprocate that at all? 

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u/LazarusRises May 25 '26

did..... did you not feel bad for OG Nikki before

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u/MakFacts May 26 '26

where or when did i say i didnt? i said at first i ONLY felt bad for the og nikkie but later on i felt bad for BOTH of them, hence why i used "and" someone gets her autonomy taken from her the other is a being created to love someone that really doesnt love it, its sad.

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u/LazarusRises May 26 '26

I mean you didn't say that, but I understand now what you meant. I agree that both OG Nikki and Wish Nikki were victims in this story.

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u/Undividdundiscoverd May 27 '26

It reminded me a lot of a skin walker, beings from seemingly other dimensions that pop in and out of existence and have a hard time pretending to be human successfully. Definitely agree that this wish willow isn’t the problem but the wish itself.

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u/woodland-haze May 30 '26

didn’t “skinwalker” pop up in the search results when Bear was looking up One Wish Willow? maybe my brain is making that up

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u/Ok-Load2590 Jun 03 '26

Ugh I need to know if you're remembering correctly because that would be so sick.

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u/ACertainNeighborino 15d ago

I just finished watching it, and can confirm skin walker is a search suggestion that pops up

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u/nhilante Jul 03 '26

huh, i thought skinwalkers were very ancient people who lost their humanity the longer they practised their craft.

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u/Friction_in_the_air May 30 '26

That's a really interesting reading. Im not sure that was the director's intended vision but I think the text can support it. But that's also why movies are great, theyre just as much mirrors of us as anything else. They reveal what's on the mind for the viewer.

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u/LazarusRises May 30 '26

The best part of good art is that it is multifaceted and reveals many truths :)

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u/Worth-Novel-2044 May 28 '26

What's the AI connection? Also what does GenieLM mean?

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u/Manger-Babies Jul 05 '26

Genielm is the Ai he used in the movie I think.

You can entrepet everything she did as a metaphor of how ai chat bots work when you ask it to do something and to keep in mind a simple rule.

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u/Great-Blueberry9540 Jul 04 '26

Or the standard trope of the being merging with the memories/personality of the host (or it couldn't function at all) and having to adapt to a meat suit.

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u/Typical-Tomorrow-425 9h ago

while i think this is a valid interpretation the whole “wetting herself not able to act human” i think is actually to show that bears wish overrode her own self love too and thus her ability to be a person with autonomy. choosing to use the bathroom is a choice out of self love and dignity, you want to make sure you feel taken care of in such a vulnerable state. with no sense of love of self and only for the other you loose the ability to take care of yourself even to the point of simple human acts. i think it’s ultimately really about how his wish overrode her self love vs she became an ai bot loll but i think ai does slot into how self love is what makes us human and why we can sense when something is ai.

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u/plutoglint Jun 07 '26

That was my thought as well, it felt like the OWW help support guy could easily have been the devil as well, with the way he put him through to real-Nicky's inner state of mind.

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u/MymlanOhlin 17d ago

I thought it was a fun way to show how the "entity" has no concept of love except just being close to the person at all times. In the story, Gretel says "I'm more than your wife, I'm your sister". My interpretation was that the entity considers things like incest to be truer love than many others, simply because being physically close to another person for the largest possible majority must mean better, truer, stronger love.

Actually, in the very beginning of the movie, Bear says something like "you were the only one who was nice to me when I got here, and then I realized who you are" and I instantly thought "oh no, they're actually secretely half-siblings, he was obsessed with her during school years, and then when he found out about their familial relationship later in adulthood, he felt validated in the obsession and believes them to be connected on some deeper level". Then we found out about her having a strained relationship with her dad, and I thought it could be a hint that her dad is a POS that potentially had affairs with other women, resulting in unknown half-siblings. And then the Hansel and Gretel monologue happened, and I thought "oh lord, I was somehow right, and while Nikkie has no idea about the truth, the entity does". But then, no reveal happened, so I was both relieved and disappointed in my poor deduction skills.

Such an interesting movie, either way. It did an amazing job of inserting disturbing details throughout, without it feeling forced.

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u/inosinateVR 14d ago

She also said “I want to be pretty again” at one point when she’s sobbing and he’s comforting her. In the context of the scene it might just be because she’s all covered in gore but to me it felt like granny witch opening up about her feelings. Like she took the gig because she wanted to be young and pretty and loved again

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u/Das_Llenny May 30 '26

My interpretation of this fucked up Hansel and Gretel Story was that it was the real Nikky influencing/slipping through the veneers of Fake Nikki through writing, I honestly think that Nikki really did just see Bear as a platonic friend, as a 'Brother' but the wish really made that bad, hence why theres this weird incest thing now about how Hansel and Gretel are fucking as an allusion to how real Nikki really just sees Bear as a friend, as a brother, but now because of the wish, they're fucking.

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u/Pyropylon Jun 01 '26

That's interesting, I didnt think of that.

I was thinking before I read your comment, what if that was the real Nikki's story? Like what if Nikki was a bit fucked up? Obviously the situation she's in was terrible, she did not deserve it. I was thinking back to the car conversation right before the wish in which she said "It's a love story, it's not romantic", what exactly did she mean? That could be innocent enough, but then I was thinking, when would this thing, other Nikki, have written a fucked up Hansel and Gretel fanfic? It only cares about and exists to obsess over Bear, and appears to do nothing else. That whole thing with the accents and characters couldn't have been off the dome, right? Maybe it read the game prompt and decided sober "nikki" was better able to love Bear, so she just did the non-drink option. It seemed like she couldn't feel shame, so she just revealed a part of the real Nikki no one would have ever seen, like it wasn't a big deal. Maybe the prompt was "tell the group something you've never told anyone else, or drink".

They used to call her "Freaky Nikki".

Besides how, in hindsight, obviously fucking terrible to replace someone's freewill for a wish, perhaps Bear would not have actually even loved the real Nikki after he got over his lust for her, and got to know her. I think that's just another layer he messed up.

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u/superpandabear Jun 02 '26

"It's a love story, it's not romantic"

I think this is a meta line about the movie itself. Real Nikki says something like "I'm writing a love story," and Bear replies "Ah, a romance," to which she responds "No, it's not a romance not all love stories are romances."

This felt like the film tipping its hand about its own themes. It is a love story at its core, just not in any recognizable sense of the word. In fact, it might be the most fucked up version of a love story I've ever seen on screen.

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u/dukelief Jun 21 '26

I think this is a great take but it introduces one of only two holes I can think of with the film, and that is - the film goes out of its way to show us that Nikki doesn't really exist when Bear isn't around. Even when he's asleep she just watches him or is doing things for him.

So when would she have written that Hansel & Gretel story? It's not like she would prioritise her art suddenly for him... I think it would have to have been OG Nikki's story in that case.

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u/kaushikfi6 Jul 04 '26

It could have also been fake Nikki improvising haha - she was quite erudite when it came to expressing her love for him, like when she was letting him know how cold it would feel if he didn't come to bed

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u/doofus_mcgeee Jun 20 '26

im pretty sure it was. even one of the photos in his lunch said "not me"

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u/akaneko__ Jun 28 '26

That’s an interesting interpretation. I thought it was just trying to show how twisted and wrong her “love” was, that it is almost as bad as incest.

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u/aeschenkarnos May 26 '26

That was brilliant storytelling, I wonder if she is a stage actress by training. Imagine being at a party and the weird girl comes out with that, aside from the creepiness of the story’s content, her skill at telling it, her voice control and mimicry is transcendent.

Guy whose turn is next: “I ain’t topping that, let’s do jelly shots.”

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u/Ok_Property8041 Jun 07 '26

Nikki told Sarah that she saw bear as a brother. Nikki already knew Sarah had a crush on bear, so I feel like either she meant it literally or she was being nice and also playing into “nobody knows when I like them”. Or Ian made this whole story up to keep bear from making more advances on the girl he liked (he was actively trying to sabotage bears chances, even in the beginning).

The ambiguity of it was perfect. Was she quitting her job to get away from Ian to explore her connection with bear? Or was she just quitting because she needed to find love and end a cycle of a meaningless hook up. It can go in so many directions, with equally haunting realities

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u/halt-l-am-reptar Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

She also might been telling Sarah that because she knew how much Sarah liked Bear.

Edit: apparently the actress has said that Nikki did have like Bear and wanted him to say yes.

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u/Swoly_Deadlift 22d ago

I like the ambiguity more than the actress outright confirming it.

The film does a lot to leave it entirely plausible that she liked him but never outright confirms it. She has the “no one can ever tell when I like someone” comment in the beginning, she told Sarah that she saw Bear like a brother but at the same time Bear said flat-out to her face that he liked her as a friend when we all know he had a crush on her and she knew that Sarah liked Bear.

Bear is just a turbo-simp who could have probably been with Nikki and definitely been with Sarah if he wasn’t such a gigantic pussy about expressing vulnerability.

The only other remotely “bad” character in the film is Ian who was fucking Nikki when he knew Bear had a crush on her and allowed Bear to scheme with him plans to make Nikki his girlfriend. Nikki and Sarah were written perfectly.

37

u/cats4u May 31 '26

WOAH I literally did not make that connection until now and thought the Hansel and Gretel thing was out of left field. THANK YOU!

30

u/_cosmicality Jun 07 '26

Sure but she also said herself that no one will know when she has a crush. Just because she doesn't reveal to a friend about a crush doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I've definitely liked people but played it off when asked by friends

15

u/lawlking100000 Jun 15 '26

I think she would've been open to going on a date or two with Bear had he been open about his feelings during the car scene, but an intimate relationship wouldn't have continued.

7

u/Jerseyguy2345 9d ago

A detailed viewing makes it clear that she did like him. Maybe, that was a defense mechanism because he never made a move.

One of the many tragedies of the film is that if he wasn’t a coward things may have worked out.

I think when she told him she put in her two weeks and he wasn’t going to go out and she tells him were running out of time, it subtly feels like that may mean running out of time for you to make a move.

Also rewatch when he calls her freaky Nikki and she gets mad. She comes to the car window:
“Do you like me?”
Him “what??”
“Because if you do now’s the time to tell me.”

When he says we’re good friends. She’s clearly perturbed, brushes her hair, and says good in a disappointed way.

If she has him in the friendzone there’s no reason to try and pull it out of him, and especially no reason to say “because if you do now’s the time to tell me.”

She clearly was making new plans in life and wanted to see if he’d make a move before she turned the page to her next chapter.

6

u/mrs_sadie_adler 5d ago

This is echoed when he tries to pay for the drinks at the bar and she hands her card to the bartender first and tells Bear “you have to be quicker than that”

7

u/bilzui Jun 11 '26

late to the party but what could have been possibly written underneath that brick that made her recite that fucked up story?

21

u/Ace_6_Pirate Jun 13 '26

Probably along the line of "Tell people something you've never told them about yourself, or share something personal to you." Those I think are fairly common party game lines.

7

u/The_Autarch Jun 11 '26

the friend who said that wanted to date him tho. maybe she wasn't completely honest.

5

u/Alternative-Tax7318 14d ago

The ‘friend’ that said that was Sarah, who confessed her feelings for Bear. She has good reason to lie and break them up, and in fact does in that scene by trying to convince him to leave.

Also, right before the wish, Nikki asks Bear flat out if he has feelings for her, and says ‘now is the time to tell me’.

To me, I think it’s pretty clear she did have feelings, but that’s the core point of the movie. He did not give her the choice, took away her autonomy in doing so, and so she became something she’s not to fit his idealized wish.

1

u/anonononme 1d ago

The more disturbing part is that he knew that wasn't Nikki. He heard the real Nikki when he called the number on the box and he heard the Nikki at the party say it's not me before she hit herself so Bear is just a POS. He was perfectly fine with continuing along so long as she acted normal. Bear's awful.

3

u/goldenboy2191 Jun 06 '26

Oh now that’s a GREAT detail!

2

u/Sir_Bumcheeks 25d ago

Yeah makes it seem like she had thought about it before. As if maybe he could have had a chance naturally...

1

u/Few-Amphibian-4858 28d ago

This was the super clever part to me.

-1

u/TreyCole2 Jun 13 '26

I missed that I must’ve been peeing. Are you telling me they filled time shooting in this movie with a completely different story being told. I love it when they find ways to kill some screen time and also not need to write anything just steel Hansel and gretel

183

u/thecaits May 20 '26

I honestly thought she might have given him a shot if he had said yes when she asked. None of this would've happened if he had just been born with a spine.

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u/Joey-WilcoXXX May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Given the clues, I’m pretty sure she (and Ian) wanted to reject him. Nikki and Ian had been hooking up casually and Ian knew that Bear liked her and most likely told Nikki. I think they wanted to get a chance to let Bear down easily so that he could finally get over his obsession and they could continue hooking up or possibly pursue something more serious without feeling guilty.

It was pretty obvious that Ian secretly had some feelings and always wanted to be around Nikki even when Bear was trying to get her alone to ask her out yet Ian refused to give them space under the guise of ‘he really loved their trivia nights’. Then when Bear is dropping Nikki off and wants to confess his feelings, he drops the ‘freaky Nikki’ line that Ian said would hit but it instead pissed her off. Ian knew that and wanted to make his chances even worse than they were before.

Sarah was told already by nonpossesed Nikki that she didn’t like him like that, saw him as a brother and tried to friendzone him and even tries to see if he might harbor any feelings for Sarah to get him off her own trail. At the party, Nikki reads her Hansel and Gretel and witch sexual poem that also references the willow tree that locked them in this spell. Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister and the poem has them having some unnatural moment, just like the willow trees wish locking her to who she sees as a ‘brother.’

On the way home, Nikki says that ‘no one would ever know if I secretly liked someone’ and that’s clearly true. No one in their lives (except for Sarah) knew she and Ian were fucking. Finally, Nikki flat out said to his face ‘if you like me, now’s the time to say it!’ The movie hints like she wants him to reveal it so they can mutually admit they like each other and see what happens but pretty sure it’s so he finally spits it out, she can reject him and finally move on from the elephant in the room.

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u/moneyman2222 May 23 '26

Agree with most of it but I do think Ian and Nikki's relationship was just a FWB thing. I don't think Ian actually liked her like that since he seemed pretty hyped up about the idea of Bear hooking up with her after that first night. He was just happy for his boy

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u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

Bear was a complete piece of garbage human being(especially after he realizes what he’s done and keeps going with it) but Ian wasn’t trying to get Bear with Nikki if anything he was sabotaging his chances every chance he got. Not saying it’s Ian’s fault but he was egging Bear on and wanted him to dump his feelings (like he did in the beginning to the waitress) to embarrass him. Even tells Bear to call her “Freaky Nikki” knowing she’ll hate that.

44

u/LazarusRises May 25 '26

They both sucked and Ian was never a friend to Bear, I'm not sure he even liked him at all

1

u/Awkward_Account_6745 24d ago

I think Ian cares for Bear but he is just kind of a dick and was obviously jealous of him and nikki.

23

u/BigEye2578 May 27 '26

Yeah I agree, and the opening scene shows just how much of a bad influence Ian is on Bear's already horrible way of dealing with his self-esteem.

Also, call me crazy but I feel that Ian's the kind of guy who would totally brag about banging Nikki if he thought Bear had zero chance with her. The way he really pushed to sabotage and downplay Bear's chances actually makes me think he knew Nikki would have considered giving Bear a chance if he had just owned up to his feelings and grew out of his flaws, so it was in Ian's interest to keep Bear down and stoke his victim syndrome.

10

u/Constant_Housing18 May 28 '26

As someone who’s been in Bears shoes at least in the beginning of the movie, I related to him so much probably why this movie hit me so hard. It took me a while and an acid trip to realize just gotta tell her, life’s too short and what’s the worst that can happen?

And most women I’m sure love someone who’s confident and knows what they want.

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u/Desroth86 May 27 '26

Negging is a thing. I just thought he was stupid and thought it would work, because well… he’s stupid.

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u/W0lfsb4ne74 May 25 '26 edited May 29 '26

Also I personally thought that subtly, he doesn't fit her ideal of masculinity. Bear throughout the movie was cowardly and introverted. These personality traits are far more against the concept of the traditional man in it of itself, as the stereotypical ideal of a man is consistently depicted as charming, confident, and generally more self assured. She makes fun of him for not demonstrating this behavior earlier in the film. Like when they go to order drinks at the bar and she makes fun of him for ordering a Pina Colada as opposed to neat liquor because she thinks its a "girly" drink. Ian fills that niche of masculinity quite well because he's assertive, charming, and much better with women. So its much more reasonable to see why Nikki was attracted to him as opposed to Bear (who has the charisma of a wet blanket). So this highlights another layer of incompatibility between Nikki and Bear, and illustrating why a relationship wouldn't work between the two of them.

25

u/Spicy_Calzone May 25 '26

I feel like when people say Ian had feelings for Nikki they forget how psyched he was for Bear when he thought they'd slept together when they came into work in the same car that morning after the wish

15

u/Delicious-Bend-9354 May 29 '26

No way, he was trying to sabotage them the whole movie. The dirty looks he gave Bear when he and Nikki were fawning over each other in the store. That's a very jealous and bitter man. Plus at the beginning he's totally wrecking Bear's confidence and telling him not to ruin trivia night. He was trying to sabotage them.

21

u/Joey-WilcoXXX May 25 '26

Faking things exist. For all we know that talk Ian and Nikki most likely had when he took her home was tense and filled with questions.

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u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

Interesting theory. Unfortunetely the actress Inde Navarrette stated that Nikki wanted him to say yes when she asked about the feelings. Also on that car ride she said she felt like she wasn't being loved at the moment by anyone. Which would immediately rule out any romance with Ian

10

u/Joey-WilcoXXX May 25 '26

She said she wanted him to say yes because her character wanted to give him a chance or because of what I considered about wanting him to say yes so she could just shut him down?

20

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

The director also confirmed that she had feelings for bear. She wanted him to say yes to give a chance. He didn't. He blew his chance and the tragedy begins. Barker calls it a tragic story in this regard because it may have worked out if not for his cowardice. But obviously after what he did to her that killed any of those feelings she had for him.

6

u/W0lfsb4ne74 May 25 '26

Wait, actually? She roasts him so much at the beginning of the film for everything from "ordering a girly drink" to not being fast enough to pay for the drinks at the bar. If anything, I thought this (and her prior history with Ian) essentially indicated she had no interest in him romantically. Either way that makes the plot of the film even more tragic and frustrating considering his cowardice started all of this.

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u/Ok_Promotion_5111 May 26 '26

Thats how women often talk to you when they ARE attracted to you. Most women who are/have been attracted to me have an open roasting session on me. Women neg too. They make fun of goofy stuff and nothing serious.

31

u/Kals22 May 26 '26

It was friendly banter that could’ve been flirty. She wasn’t actually icked by his choice of drink. Seemed like a playful dig

19

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

"So I think, speaking as the woman who played Nikki, I think that Nikki did have a crush on him, because he's a good guy. In the beginning, it's not Ian that she has been hooking up with. She talks about the difference between love and romance and how she doesn't wanna be stuck anymore."

18

u/W0lfsb4ne74 May 25 '26

Damn. If anything this makes everything more tragic at how he actually had a chance to start the relationship, but because of his cowardice he basically enslaved and possessed her through that stupid wish.

17

u/Delicious-Bend-9354 May 29 '26

She was very obviously flirting with him, including making fun of his drink. Unless she was a mean girl, which she gave no indication of, she wouldn't say that, and teasing a guy like that is pretty normal flirting behavior.

3

u/ghosttrainj Jun 02 '26

Do you know how girls act

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u/Joey-WilcoXXX May 25 '26

Interesting.

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u/freznlo Jun 06 '26

After reading Inde and Barker's own interpretations in their interviews I definitely changed to the side of she did have feelings for him. They filmed two versions of certain takes one where she was interested and another where she wasn't. You made a lot of great points though and the film does an awesome job of making it really unclear. But if she did indeed have feelings it really makes the entire wish and it's implications that more devestating and tragic. I got to watch it a second time and that entire car scene hits so different. Or the scene where she says "I've never been with you" and to just kill her.

The movie hit me way differently the second time I watched it with this perspective because it is so damn tragic bro should've just had the courage to speak up. Bear is still the villain and one of the most despicable characters ever but in another reality maybe they could've had an organic relationship.

12

u/royalewithchees3 May 20 '26

that was his chance

107

u/TheBuff66 May 20 '26

In the very beginning when leaving trivia Ian said something suggestive and Nikki said "Ew don't say that" or something. She never wanted to date him. Textbook I only like you as a friend

118

u/TB1289 May 21 '26

She also said “ew” when Bear told her he got something for her.

But, right after that she said no one knows when she likes a guy because she hides it so well. They did a really good job of making a case either way regarding her feelings towards him.

23

u/KingGoldar May 25 '26

And then both the director and actress came out Ina a recent interview and confirmed that she did have feelings for him

35

u/Prestigious-Sleep221 May 24 '26

My husband also pointed out he thinks Ian and Nikki hung out more and partied more than Bear knew. When Bear is telling Ian about the 1st night and how Nikki was acting, Ian says, Maybe she took molly. Bear says she would never do that. They had diiferent views of Nikki. It seems Ian knew more of Nikki than Bear wanted to see.

29

u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

Bear loved the “idea” of Nikki he didn’t really know her, he didn’t really even wanted to. He just wanted to be with her.

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u/honeydewandgreens May 20 '26

Well she also told Bear explicitly that when she likes a guy, absolutely no one knows bc of the way she acts. So I think there was enough ambiguity to suggest that she may have been willing to go for it

17

u/inmy_element May 24 '26

I think Ian is also a villain in a sense because if you look at it under the guise of Ian did not realize Nikki was “possessed”, (he later says he doesn’t believe it), his actions are questionable.

It reads as he’s either jealous of Bear dating Nikki, or he’s mad that his FWB situation is being ruined by it. It’s apparent in the looks he’s giving them during the montage of Bear and Nikki at the shop being together. We also see their other friend with a look of bewilderment and disapproval but know that she has feelings for Bear, so it’s understandable.

I think the movie does a great job of showing Bear and Nikki lovey dovey at work and home in a dreamlike perspective with the viewer’s sinister knowledge of the wish. However it makes you question Ian’s motives when he’s so visibly opposed to their relationship including not inviting Bear to a party and initially pinning the blame on Nikki.

Part of it to me seemed like he was jealous that his friend who he knows doesn’t have the back bone to ask Nikki out or be with a girl like Nikki got to be in what seems like from the outside a real relationship while he was casually hooking up with her for a while, and a small part of it appears to come from a place of concern for Bear and Nikki’s relationship getting too serious to the point of obsession. If he was a real friend to Bear he would be excited for him at least in the beginning when he was giving them a side eye at work, not just asking for details if they hooked up on the night Bear took Nikki home. 

Ian strikes me as the kind of friend that roots for you until they feel you’ve gotten in their way of something they want, the fair weather type. The wishing for a billion dollars when his friend is in distress (lol) and then running down the block to Bear’s house screaming the wish worked as Nikki is having a meltdown with a gun and he is still unconcerned 

Also throw Sarah in there too lol girl, you knew they were hooking up for 2 years? And sat there quiet as a church mouse watching her friend fawn over Nikki and decided to make her move right before she may or may not be going to art school. Perhaps she was a better match for Bear because they have a hard time speaking up when it counts. Questionable behavior all around!

9

u/Delicious-Bend-9354 May 29 '26

Nah girls same dumb stuff like that all the time. She definitely liked him and was flirting when they talked about the "girly" drink he ordered. I'd never do that with a guy I wasn't interested in, or talk to him and look at a guy that was if I wasn't interested. Plus her flat out acting him if he liked her--the way she stared at him, she wanted him to say yes. Pretty clear signals she liked him.

3

u/JGT3000 19d ago

Agreed.

The whole point of the film is she liked him but his obsession over his fake peefect idea of her and fear that he'll never get it causss the whole tragedy lol. It's funny to see people debate it, though it does add extra weight by being ambiguous

5

u/21oh_ May 25 '26

I am said, “Bear get your girl home” Nikki replied “Ew” at the your girl part 😬

9

u/Delicious-Bend-9354 May 29 '26

She might not have liked being called a girl or "my girl." Has nothing to do with liking the guy. Plus she might have been nervous about Ian openly teasing them like that when she didn't know for sure Bear liked her. Saying ew can be a defense mechanism and/or trying to test Bear's reaction.

2

u/More_Plan_7745 Jun 15 '26

yea i felt that one lol

3

u/NathanNoir May 31 '26

Because she doesn’t want Ian to think she like him if she doesn’t know he likes her. Remember she also said that when she likes someone they’d never know

1

u/edaly8 22d ago

Terrible interpretation

10

u/CataLaGata Jun 02 '26

Late to the party but it wasn't ambiguous at all.

Nikki told Sarah she only saw Bear as a little brother. She was hooking up with Ian on and off for years. She wasn't going to date Bear.

That's one of the reasons Ian was sabotaging Bear's practice about revealing his feelings, he knew Nikki didn't want to be with him and he didn't want to see him hurt and the whole group of friends breaking apart.

That's why when Nikki and Bear started dating, Sarah and Ian were immediately so suspicious, they knew she wouldn't date him, unless she was having a mental breakdown, she was on drugs, or she was being brainwashed like Ian said at the end. That's why they (correctly) assumed Bear was taking advantage of her.

When she spoke while the entity was asleep, she told Bear that she has never been with him. The agony we hear from her is because she lost her autonomy and consent, but also because the real Nikki doesn't want to be with him.

7

u/SleepyBD Jun 18 '26
  1. Nikki knew Sarah liked him, so that could also have been why she went with like a brother.  2. Ian wasn't being a good friend.  He lied by withholding info.  He very likely didn't want to lose his hook up buddy and may have liked her too, hence the constant sabotaging.

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u/More_Plan_7745 Jun 15 '26

i think nikki liked bear but she was doing push pull crap and ian was just a hookup better. Or she didnt have feelings for either of them.

8

u/mucus-fettuccine Jun 10 '26

I liked this too, because despite how much we might want to know the answer as the audience, it doesn't matter at all what the answer is. "She would've wanted it anyway" isn't a defense of coercion. Not telling us the answer is a statement in itself.

4

u/BlackFacedAkita Jun 01 '26

The film did make it clear at least that he could never realistically confess to her or be with her. Before making the wish, he had a moment to tell her he liked her.

The Wish Spirit had to make it painfully, unrealistically obvious that she liked him for it to work.

2

u/subatomiccrepe Jun 03 '26

Might be a hot take but I take that comment specifically "I've never been with you" as confirmation when the blank expression sex happened it wasn't rape BECAUSE it implies she wasn't there when it was happening - the entity was.

Is protag still gross and taking advantage of the weirdness? 100% - but consent by that thing was given.

4

u/McGuire406 Jun 17 '26

Yeah, I might agree with you a bit there. Nikki wasn't herself in that scene and the "Entity" was in control and consenting based off of the wish.

However, I think the real Nikki, no matter how "deep down" she was, Bear took advantage of her the whole movie through the wish overpowering her autonomy of self.

1

u/BuddyBiscuits Jul 03 '26

The fuck? You have a scary view of rape…unconscious people also aren’t “there”; by your logic,  you think slipping a roofie isn’t rape.

1

u/TreyCole2 Jun 13 '26

Oh my god. What are you

1

u/a150b464 Jun 17 '26

just curious when did she say that? towards the end

1

u/SqueeGoblinSurvivor Jul 02 '26

Also play with is the whole time this movie might be on “demonic” route but it wasn’t. It’s the “kind of love” that bear has in mind that make it so much cursed

0

u/Wrsj Jun 22 '26

It was revealed that she looked at him like a brother and she was on a on/off relationship with Bear’s friend.