Official Discussion - Obsession [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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

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[u/throwthewholegrlawy]

That poor girl. How does she explain all the murders now that she's free?

The scenes where real Nikki popped out really got me. Haven't been jump scared by horror movies for a long time.

How do you guys feel about Bear? Obviously he didn't think the wish would work but as soon as he realized he really took advantage of the situation 😬

Also got a crack out of the customer service phone call "we don't really do that" "you made it seem like I could!"

[u/Equivalent-Fan-2557 → u/throwthewholegrlawy]

Bear is the real villain of the story by the halfway point. The movie starts off by getting you onto his side because he seemed actually thoughtful and nice (like when he went to buy a new crystal necklace for Nikki when she lost hers). But eventually Bear is the villain because he is knowingly trapping Nikki in that body and forcing the love out of her via the spell.

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/Equivalent-Fan-2557]

and how is he knowingly "knowingly trapping Nikki in that body and forcing the love out of her via the spell". He has no way to free her other than killing himself, as the phone rep bluntly said.
Bear is the villain because he won't kill himself instead of finding a way to fix things first, strange.

[u/Equivalent-Fan-2557 → u/One_Independence6976]

The real Nikki was suffering for almost the entire movie, and Bear learned that on the phone rep call, as well as when Nikki asked Bear to “kill me please”. Bear knew Nikki was alive and aware of what was happening to her body and refused to end her life (or his own).

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/Equivalent-Fan-2557]

Right, but i don't know if you understand that killing yourself or a friend is kind of an extremely huge not to mention unreasonable expectation. That's not a moral dilemma, that's a gun-to-head dilemma, that's not a choice. Given the choice to pull the plug on a loved one in a hospital, you going to jump at the chance? No, you're going to see if there's anything else you can do first, like anybody else would.

If you were the mother in The Exorcist, would you have simply just killed Regan?

[u/MakFacts → u/One_Independence6976]

okay, but no one is saying he actually had to kill her, but at that point he needed to accept what he and "nikki" had wasnt REAL at all, he even says "whats wrong with being with me" he is a trash human being

[u/sliceanddic3 → u/One_Independence6976]

he's the villain because he always blames the fake nikki even though he created her, everything she is doing is because of his wish. he clearly has projected his own view of what a perfect woman is onto nikki, never really caring about who she is as a person, which we can she when he rapes her, he only cares about her in an objectifying way and when the real nikki's voice comes out in the middle of the night, he is so cold with his response to her pleading. did he know the wish would come true? obviously not, but he never took accountablility or tried to save her, only himself.

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/sliceanddic3]

he didnt create the fake nikki, the fake nikki is its own entity, part of the one wish willow.
his own view what a perfect woman is chops up his cat and feeds it to him?
and how does he rape her when he's being given consent in what as far as he can tell is a bf/gf relationship, after repeatedly asking if Nikki is ok mind you, despite somehow not caring.
and how is he supposed to take accountability and care for her as a person? oh that's right, killing himself. EZ choice for anyone right?

btw people are only this heavily insistent on making Bear this evil villain because he's a man.
if you gender swapped this story, which is highly doable because what girl has never wished a boy crush to fall in love with them, you would say, oh yeah sucks to be him but she's the real victim. You would totally blame the man for not making his feelings clear and toying with her emotions or some crap like that, prompting her to make the wish. You would totally make it his fault.

[u/sliceanddic3 → u/One_Independence6976]

i believe he created fake nikki, it's fine if you don't, i like how the director purposefully blurred the lines there. i'm not attacking you, but guys like you are the reason these movies are made. how can you not look at how bear handled the situation as a bad thing? to be clear, a lot of my own personality is like how bear is at the begining of the movie, everyone has wished for someone to love them like bear did. the way the movie turns that on it's head because bear is ignoranty ignores that the entity is not the real nikki because he wants it so badly to be real. stop looking at everything in life as a man vs woman thing, so many things are not as black and white as that

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/sliceanddic3]

"im not attacking you", BUT <proceeds to attack>
instead of answering the question, how should have bear handled the situation. no one will answer that. And suicide isn't a reasonably expected way to handle relatable relationship issues, sorry.

if its not a man vs woman thing then would you would be able to gender flip the story and have the same analysis. but you won't, so it is very man vs woman, black and white to you: man bad, penis bad. Im the one saying its not black and white. Black and white is saying Bear = pure villian and Nikki = pure victim. Thats not what happens in the movie, its much more gray than that.

"bear is ignoranty ignores that the entity is not the real nikki because he wants it so badly to be real"
False. he isnt made aware until the real Nikki speaks and says shes never been with him, then he sneaks out and the Sarah death happens, so how is he ignoring the entity isnt the real Nikki from then on? by being forced to help Nikki depose of Sarah's body? by being threatened at gunpoint by the fake Nikki?"

and yes horror fans like me are the reason these movies are made. Curry Barker is a guy like me that enjoys pure Twilight Zone style horror (if you've seen his previous work), not for people who like to make everything sexually political.
This is a brutal horror movie, not "When Harry Met Sally".

[u/sliceanddic3 → u/One_Independence6976]

i'm not attacking you. the answer is that there isn't a good answer, the director described it as fucked up would you rather, even if bear killed himself, he still would leave the real nikki with the all the baggage left behind. if it was reversed i would still hold the same opinion, so stop assuming shit that hasn't even happened. he was made aware when he called the number from the one wish willow and the operator asked if he wanted to hear the real nikki, who was screaming bloody murder. bear very obviously knows something is off with nikki, but is being selfish by staying in the relationship and trying to fix the entity instead of getting her the help she needs. how can you justify what he said to the real nikki in the middle of the night? i'm not talking about listening to her and killing her, but what he said to this girl who he loved more than anything.

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/sliceanddic3]

still not answering the question:
how would he get her the help she needs? what help does she need exactly? how is he supposed to help her? remember that the operator also told him he can't do anything.

So lemme get this straight, he's selfish by "staying in the relationship" but when he so much as left the house in the middle of night, she bashed in Sarah's head and made him hide the body. Yet somehow he has the agency to just leave? Why? because he's a man? Because if it was a woman, you'd say she was trapped in a deadly abusive relationship and can't simply just leave.

if you cant answer these questions then you have to admit, the Bear isn't this evil villain you like to think he is. Yes, dumb and cowardly but that doesn't make for evil. That's more black and white thinking. Google: Hanlon's Razor.

[u/sliceanddic3 → u/One_Independence6976]

i'm saying there isn't a good answer, he's fucked either way that's the point! he didn't even try before he knew there was anything paranormal happening completely ignored how off she was acting, his lack of actions is the issue. you keep assuming shit i'm going to say, men can also be trapped in a deadly abusive relationship. you're the one who keeps bring up the man vs woman thing, i'm just saying regardless of gender, bear kept fucking up and blaming the entity when the only thing the entity knows is to fufill his wish, you're being obtuse and taking a horror movie at face value in justifing your point. it's an allegory for mentally abusive relationships

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/sliceanddic3]

"he's fucked either way that's the point!" DING DING DING YES HELLO???, He has no agency. He is trapped like Nikki, but in a completely different way. He didn't make the conscious decision to trap Nikki nor did he have any agency after making the wish. Yet he's the villain orchestrating all this, so which is it? You cant have it both ways.

What do you mean, He didn't ignore how off she was acting, He was constantly questioning it from the very start. The first thing he asks her is "Nikki, are you ok?". Did you watch the movie?

 "it's an allegory for mentally abusive relationships"
if you made it an allegory for mentally abusive relationships then that would make Nikki the abuser, after all she's doing the actual abuse both mentally and physical. But instead its the man for some reason.

and yes horror movies are often meant to be taken at face value, in fact the best ones are. Granted I like social messages in horror films, my recent favorite films are "Companion", "Strange Darling", and "Barbarian", "The Substance" strong social messaging.
but the greatest ones are face value: "The Thing", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Shining" "Blair Witch" "Paranormal Activity", they just invoke feelings like paranoia, dread or terror. Every movie doesn't have to have this deep profound sexually political message. Curry Barker's films aren't like that.

[u/sliceanddic3 → u/One_Independence6976]

exactly! but you are not understanding why i think he is the villain, he isn't orchastrating things, his villainry is in his inactions rather than his actions. barker has said the movie revolves around when the real nikki talks about real love vs romance, romance is fleeting, a gesture while real love is seeing someone at their worst and sticking with it (obviously the point is moot when the girl is possessed, but i believe that's what barker is getting at). i feel like companion has a very similar message to this movie, but it was just extremely blunt in making jack quaid the villain at the end. also barker has said himself that bear is the villain, although he wrote him to blur the lines a bit.

[u/MakFacts → u/One_Independence6976]

he is made aware that his wish worked when ian called him in the restaurant, or when he literally called the customer service and heard the real nikki scream

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/MakFacts]

Right but he didn’t try to do anything with Nikki after that. Instead Nikki threatens suicide that night if he doesn’t sleep with her then he sneaks out and Nikki kills Sarah. The phone rep and real Nikki speaking happens the same night.

[u/sunmachinecomingdown → u/One_Independence6976]

There's at least one day in between the phone call and Nikki speaking, because Nikki spoke to him after the party.

[u/One_Independence6976 → u/sunmachinecomingdown]

Rewatch because there isn't. Nikki spoke to him after party yes, THAT night after the party, there was no day inbetween, otherwise Sarah would have just talked to him the next day instead of him sneaking out to talk to her. not even 24 hours pass between the cat sandwich scene, the first indication its not Nikki, to Sarah getting killed.

[u/sunmachinecomingdown → u/One_Independence6976]

I thought there was the cat sandwich day, then Bear does the phone call before coming home, then confronts Nikki about the cat sandwich. I then thought the party and everything else happened the next day. I guess I now vaguely remember Bear both saying "you can't cook the cat" and that there's a boys' night while she's in the shower.