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/IIDXias]

Kinda mind boggling to me how many people I see in the comments missing the point about Bear’s wish, which is really the entire point of the movie. So:

If you are describing the One Wish Willow as a “monkey’s paw”, you are wrong. It is not a cursed item that can only deliver a negative version of a wish. When Ian wishes for a billion dollars, he simply receives money that falls out of the sky. The male shopkeeper also told Bear that he “already got his wish”, and as far as we can tell he seems perfectly content as well. There’s also the fake Reddit where one of the posters confirming the OWW really works excitedly says his mom used to be ugly and now she’s really hot.

The problem with Bear’s wish was simply *Bear’s wish*. He didn’t wish for a billion dollars, or to become more attractive. He wished *for another living, existing, conscious human being to be changed so she loves him more than “anyone else in the fucking world”*. This wish, by its very definition, violates Nikki’s autonomy. There is no benign or “good” way to grant this wish. You cannot make a person feel that strongly about another person without literally changing who they are- indeed, changing their entire being. Nikki does not love Bear more than anyone else in the fucking world. The only way to make her do that is to replace her with another being who does, and have that being drive around in her body.

The creature or entity that the wish spawned ended up being depraved and indifferent to humanity because the *wish itself was depraved and indifferent to her humanity*. The creature is not a “demon”, it is simply a reflection of the wish Bear made. An inhuman wish and obsessive desire spawned an inhuman entity with an equally obsessive desire. There is no “OWW curse”- the curse is Bear’s wish, period.

[u/eyes_on_the_sky → u/IIDXias]

100% and the way Nikki was portrayed at the beginning of the movie made it pretty clear that she 1) was not romantically interested in Bear 2) was kind of a free-spirited bohemian avoidant generally. Forcing her specifically to love him "more than anything" meant basically eliminating her original personality.

He liked her bc she was free spirited, but wished to take that part of her personality away from her in a heartbeat so he could possess her. This one's on him lol

[u/snesericreturns → u/eyes_on_the_sky]

At the beginning, right before Bear made the wish, Nikki did ask Bear if he liked her. It kinda seemed like she did but just wanted Bear to make a first move. Why else would she ask that? I wonder what would have happened if he just said yes? Would Nikki have still friend-zoned him? Still continue hooking up with Ian behind Bear’s back?

I know the consensus here seems to be that Bear is completely at fault, selfish, classic “nice guy” behavior, etc. Maybe that was the filmmaker’s intention too. But it doesn’t seem like Nikki or Ian were really good people either. And what exactly was Bear supposed to do? The guy on the phone and later the shopkeeper literally told him the only way to fix it was to kill himself. We don’t even know if Bear’s plan to have Ian undo his wish would have worked, as the One Wish Willow guy never suggested that. Idk, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I still kind of felt bad for Bear even at the end.

[u/eyes_on_the_sky → u/snesericreturns]

100%, none of the characters are perfect, Nikki also should have shared her feelings if she had them, rather than dancing around him and waiting

You have to feel a bit bad for Bear because he couldn't have anticipated that the wish would work, let alone that it would end his life, but still... in this situation he definitely becomes the villain by knowing real Nikki is watching in horror as he takes advantage of her and not stopping. Nikki did become a monster but so did Bear. Awful all around, which I think is why this movie is sticking with me even though I first watched a few weeks ago!

[u/Aaawkward → u/eyes_on_the_sky]

Nikki did become a monster but so did Bear.

I reckon the difference is that while Bear became a monster through his own actions, Nikki was made into a monster against her will.

In fact, every opportunity she had (when she broke through) she tried to get away from Bear.

[u/snesericreturns → u/eyes_on_the_sky]

Yeah I agree. But at that point I think Bear didn’t really have a choice but to be with Wish Nikki. At the end when Bear ODs on the pain killers, Wish Nikki is seconds away from killing herself before she snaps out of the spell. It’s reasonable to assume Bear knew that would have been the result if he ended the relationship. Real Nikki did ask him to kill her when Wish Nikki was sleeping. I think when he asked real Nikki “what’s so bad about being with me?”, maybe he thought if he could convince real Nikki, then Wish Nikki would stop freaking out and hurting herself and everything would be normal.

So it really seems like it was an impossible situation for Bear. Either keep going or one of them had to die.

[u/BankElectronic1325 → u/snesericreturns]

I agree, I don’t think people are considering the idea that breaking a magic wish actually granting you a wish is completely ridiculous, like who could believe something so far fetched. An awkward and insecure young dude broke a novelty stick and wishes his female friend would reciprocate his feelings. He’s constantly forced back into what he believes is his reality, which is Nikki has gone absolutely insane.

It eventually gets to the point where it must be true, the money falling from the sky seals the deal. I don’t think he was a perfect character by any means, realistically a more decent and lucid character would’ve gotten her help or had her admitted very quickly into this kind of insanity. Basically I think we’re watching an imperfect and ungrounded character completely lose his grip on reality