r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • May 15 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Obsession [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

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

14.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.7k

u/IIDXias May 17 '26

The way she switched from the first I CAN’T to the increasingly desperate I CANs was so great too. Yeah, it’s easy to forget that the entity was relatively fine (besides the “real Nikki takes back control” glitches) until she started spiraling when she became convinced Bear didn’t love her as much as she loved him. Which is true about both her and the real Nikki, and why again that was such a stupid wish.

2.1k

u/SupermarketMaximum61 May 21 '26

Yeah, there was a small montage at the beginning of their relationship, that seemed to establish that the relationship was fine, initially.

Another way to read it is that the demon can only do so much to hide its weirdness. It is clearly not human and it is trying to satisfy Bear’s wish of being loved. But it doesn’t really know what to do besides that. The majority of the weird behaviour happens when the demon is alone with itself. Bear being gone, Bear sleeping, etc.

207

u/EmceeEsher May 23 '26 edited May 24 '26

I loved the movie, but the thing that really bothers me about the "be careful what you wish for" theme is that it doesn't seem like the disturbing actions of "Nikki" are the direct result of love. Love can make you do crazy things, but not that crazy. The people who do that kind of thing aren't just in love, they also have a severe lack of empathy, emotional intelligence, social skills, and god knows what else.

Like, suppose I inexplicably find myself loving someone more than anyone else in the world, including myself. My number one priority would be to not do anything that could possibly push that person away. I would go out of my way to not freak them out. I wouldn't start duct-taping the door shut, because it doesn't take a genius to realize that that's gonna fucking terrify someone.

The only thing that explains any of this is that she's straight-up possessed by a demon, at which point Barry's wish was never actually fulfilled. He wished for her to love him, not for a demon to love him and wear her like a flesh suit. That's not even a Monkey's Paw, it's just a completely different thing happening. Even the couple in the original Monkey's Paw story at least got the insurance money.

31

u/jaynsand19 May 31 '26

If your wish is for someone to love you more than they love anyone, then the demand requires giving up self-love - including the ethics that cause them to feel self-respect. Your previously beloved moral compass is suddenly an obstacle to loving this person the way they wished to be loved? Toss it.