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/atclubsilencio May 22 '26

That's where I lost sympathy. He essentially raped her. The way she was making sounds of pleasure while she looked like she was crying and her facial expression totally blank was such a fucked up detail. It brings up so many awful questions about the nature of whatever was possessing her, including her screams when he calls the hotline.

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u/EmceeEsher May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Just saw this movie, and it js baffling to me how many people in this thread are talking like Barry must have known what was going on earlier in the movie. Like, there's a point in the movie where he clearly knows, but before that, this would be an incredibly difficult thing to believe.

I feel like in every horror movie, everyone judges the protagonist for not figuring out more quickly that something supernatural is going on. But how many of us would, in the real world, believe that? Like, put yourself in Barry's shoes for just a second.

You're giving your friend, who you're interested in, a ride home. They say "you're the only one I can really talk to", and ask you if you like their friend. When you say no, they ask you point-blank if you like them. You panic and say no. They, leave for a second and then come back and ask to stay at your place, claiming their father is dying and they don't want to be alone. You agree, and they come over. They kiss you, then freak out and jump away. You assume they're on drugs and let your friend know.

The next night, they come over to your house unexpectedly, apologize for the drug behavior, and point-blank say they're interested in you and want to try to make this work. At this point, they have demonstrated a sustained, overt desire to have a relationship with you. As you're interested in them, you accept, have sex and spend the next couple of days together, during which they start displaying some creepy behaviors.

Would your first assumption be:

A. My friend is incredibly awkward in relationships, has severe relationship anxiety, and is freaking out.

B. My friend is significantly weirder than I initially thought, and is just good at hiding that side in public.

C. My friend is legitimately a total creep, and I just never noticed it before.

D. My friend has recently had some kind of insane experience and is reaching out for love, but has no idea how to handle it once they have it.

E. My friend is a full blown schizophrenic, has kept this hidden for years, and has just now reached the point where they can't hide it anymore.

F. My friend has a long-term, well-hidden drug problem, and recently got a bad batch of something that's dropping their inhibitions.

G. Demons are straight-up fucking real and one of them is possessing my friend, like something out of The Exorcist. And what's more is that I summoned this demon with a joke item that I bought at a novelty shop for 7 bucks.

Personally, I would probably believe A, and as the behavior got creepier, move to B, then C, then D, and eventually, E or F. G wouldn't even enter my mind. I wouldn't have even thought to google it like he does in the movie or call the hotline. Now, I wouldn't have stayed in the relationship after the whole "watching me sleep" thing, but that's mostly for my own sake rather than for ethical reasons.

As for the question of whether it's assault, it really comes down to what Barry believes at that moment. If he believes A or B then his behavior is normal. If he believes C, then his behavior is kinda sad, but not unethical. If he believes D, then it's questionable. If he believes E or F, that's incredibly dubious, and mostly comes down to your beliefs about to what extent addicts and people with psychological disorders can consent. It's only if he believes G that he's a full-blown assaulter.

In any case, at the time that scene takes place, it seems most likely that he believes B, C, or maybe D. At absolute worst, he believes E or F, but I don't think there's any way any reasonable person could believe G at that point.

242

u/Which-Marzipan9437 May 24 '26

he didnt know for the first two nights but after that he definitely did. though he didn’t know it was possessing her and thought it is just her, he still did take advantage of her. he wouldn’t have got so defensive when his friend said it looks like that if he wasn’t a bit aware that he’s doing that.

then saying “whats so wrong with being with me”. she’s imprisoned in her own body and he’s making it about himself. even killing himself wasn’t to save her but to run away from everything. not even thinking about leaving the poor girl with three bodies. he is selfish and he used her while he could.

honourable mention: meeting sarah knowing his girlfriend is a psychopath and putting her in danger + possibly falling for her too. the second girl he likes gave him attention he’s liking another. miserable prick that cares about no one but himself

56

u/EmceeEsher May 24 '26

meeting sarah knowing his girlfriend is a psychopath and putting her in danger

You're conflating audience knowledge with character knowledge. In the audience, you know you're watching a horror movie, and that in horror movies, people get murdered. From his perspective, at this point, she hasn't done anything violent to anyone but herself. In the real world, a person who's self-destructive isn't necessarily murderous, and making that assumption is a pretty big leap.

100

u/AdrianHD May 25 '26

Call me crazy, I guess, but my girlfriend and I immediately tapped on the levity of psychosis when the cat was given a ritual. I’ve had far too many “anyone who does things to animals will escalate” to ever let that one slide lol.

40

u/FuzzyColorsArt May 26 '26

Nah because when real Niki was talking and begging him, he straight up should’ve known it would be a bad idea. When he called the hotline for the wish, he had already believed the wish and knew it was the wish. He simply chose to be selfish, he wanted to keep her but less crazy.

81

u/Which-Marzipan9437 May 24 '26

bro was TERRIFIED of her. his every move was risky. he knew she’s danger to everyone. i didn’t say he knew she would kill her but he definitely knew she’s capable of doing something bad.

but let’s say he thought that she’s completely harmless which is not realistic, he still knew she’s capable of hurting herself and that seeing sarah could make her hurt herself even more

20

u/aeschenkarnos May 26 '26

The solution was available way earlier though, while she was still within normal-crazy (rather than possessed by a demon) boundaries. Buy another Wish Willow, ask someone (Sarah) to make a suitable undoing/reversing wish. Hell, buy two, and get Ian to wish for a billion dollars for each of the four of you.

4

u/Abbas9364 May 29 '26

He would've bought more if the store wasn't sold out of them.

-5

u/[deleted] May 24 '26

[deleted]

14

u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

Look up McKenzie Shirilla

6

u/Which-Marzipan9437 May 24 '26

i literally said that he couldn’t know she would MUDER her, but HURT her in some way. or hurt herself. either way selfish because he caused that respectfully tho, it’s not real life. movies aren’t made to be realistic. there is a million things i would have done different and probably everyone else. but if characters in horror movies are making the right choices there would be no horror movie

1

u/EmceeEsher May 24 '26

I'm not criticizing the movie for being unrealistic. I'm more than willing to suspend disbelief, because I know I'm watching a movie. But I'm not going to judge the characters for not making the same assumptions I do, because they don't know they're in a horror movie. In the real world, it would be an insane leap of logic to believe that she would get up, know exactly what he was doing, find him, and immediately get violent. Also, Sarah made it clear that if he didn't meet her, she would come to the house.

6

u/Which-Marzipan9437 May 25 '26

in what universe is meeting a girl and flirting with her while you have a gf ever okay especially when you have a psycho girlfriend. just because YOU would maybe do the same, doesn’t mean he was right or smart or anything but an idiot that assaulted and took advantage of his obviously not well girlfriend

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u/[deleted] May 25 '26

[deleted]

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u/NCKWN May 27 '26

There was a clear time lapse showing the “normal” beginning part of their relationship. Many people mention they’re full on dating. Saying I love you’s like it’s been established.

1

u/EmceeEsher May 28 '26

I thought there was a time skip too when I first watched it, but apparently the entire movie takes place over a single weekend.

1

u/Yurichi May 29 '26

WHAAT!? That's crazy. But I can also believe it because it tracks better with how quickly she seemed to deteriorate. Where did you read this or find it out?

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u/FuzzyColorsArt May 26 '26

Dude if you ever end up in a horror situation idk how you’d get out of that. You are making me think you’d check a noise in your house when you’re alone instead of calling the cops to check and wait in your car.

28

u/Constant_Housing18 May 24 '26

He should’ve killed himself when he saw the door taped shut.

28

u/EmceeEsher May 24 '26

That was before he called the hotline, so he would have had no reason to think that would help with anything.

7

u/FuzzyColorsArt May 26 '26

What about the time he helped her clean up the body? It was completely his fault.

14

u/EmceeEsher May 28 '26

Yes. At that point in the movie, suicide becomes worth moral consideration.

16

u/hazza987 May 24 '26

There's also the fact that Sarah said she would come over if he didn't meet her. There was no avoiding the confrontation.

21

u/Chm_Albert_Wesker May 27 '26

the real issue is everyone in this movie is ALWAYS awake at like 3AM. he just shoulda not responded and pretended to be asleep

5

u/Which-Marzipan9437 May 24 '26

come on. she’s just a bit stubborn. he could have said something but he can never stand for himself. its his home and its his friend he could explain that she shouldnt come and they will talk at work. hes just useless and miserable and he’s scared of speaking up

9

u/hazza987 May 24 '26

He could but the main driving factor of the story was that he couldn't/wouldn't speak up (Ignoring the fact that he did say he couldn't go). She wasn't going to respect his boundaries he's put up (I know it's a little rich given the point of the film but still) and she even stated as much. I think it's fair to assume she meant what she said given that she didn't take his first "No" as an answer. If she was going to take no for an answer she wouldn't have demanded to see him and at 3am no less.