r/spoilers

NO ONE IS THE REAL VILLAIN.

Bear is just an anti social weirdo that doesn’t know how to properly socialize with the opposite gender. We’ve all seen these types. They are sad but also harmless.

He gets a wish toy not thinking much of it and didn’t do the wish out of malice. And he tries to find ways to break the curse without needing to either kill Nikki or himself many times.

People have an issue with bear saying “what’s so wrong with being with me?” He’s just venting his frustration. But he also doesn’t want to kill Nikki, he just wants her to be her regular self again.

HE EVEN WENT BACK TO THE STORE AND BOUGH MORE WISH BONES AND LITERALLY WISHED FOR NIKKI TO LOVE HIM AS A FRIEND AGAIN. LMAO

How anyone can pick a “villain” in this film is beyond me. This is a tragic love story bear was just as much a victim as Nikki, or Sarah, or Ian was.

edit: to the ones who say “he sexually assaulted her“ “he’s a rapist“ despite the fact that bear was in the mindset that Nikki took molly during the first incident. And after finding out that the wish bone is actually legit and none of the relationship is real. He starts to regret everything. but let’s just ignore that part for a minute

did y’all call out when Wonder Woman sexually assaulted a random man in the Wonder Woman 84’ film? Because in the film it is played and shot as if it’s romantic and cute. But she sexually assaulted that man. And no one makes an uproar for that one?

did yall call out the film “pretty things”? For essentially putting a new born childs brain into a fully grown women body and then proceed to have sexual relations with other grown men despite the fact the “woman” has a brain of a literal child inside her? Is that not weird?

I love when people pick and choose what to be outraged about.

Please read what I have to say before you come at me.

I saw Obsession opening night last Thursday with a friend of mine. I remember turning to him like 45 min in and saying something like, “This is bad” to which he agreed. By the end of it we both had a bitter taste in our mouth.

Before I get into the more in depth thoughts I have I really just want to get the point across that I don’t like “magic” or that sort of thing without explanation. It definitely works, like Smile and Talk to Me are two of my fav horror movies of all time but they take the time to give at least a little context on the why. It seems like the movie takes place in a world where people can just go and buy these wishes. I feel like it would definitely be a bigger deal than it is made out to be. I barely saw any trailers for this movie btw, I am a horror fanatic so I just go to whatever horror movies are playing lol. I thought it was gonna be like some crazy girl he met on a dating app was stalking him and obsessing over him but no, no it wasn’t.

Okay time for in-depth shit. Spoilers ahead.

I didn’t hate the movie, I think all of the actors did incredible jobs especially the girl who played Nikki. I preface this because the more you hate a character the better the actor is. I absolutely hated Bear. He was so infuriating because of how selfish he is. The quickest way to define his character is the scene where he calls the number on the back and finds out that the “real” Nikki is in pain and he is given the option to cancel the wish (Later it’s revealed this was never an option but at this point Bear doesn’t know that) instead of saving his friend from suffering he tries to alter it rather than canceling it.

I relate to Bear a lot. I yearned over a girl for years without doing anything but I’d never want her to suffer because of me. That’s not real love.

The scene where Nikki’s body is asleep but the real her is awake and begging Bear to kill her is probably the best scene in the whole film. It again shows how selfish Bear is because the whole time she’s begging he’s trying to minimize and justify his actions. That’s psychotic and to top it off he then leaves her to go see Sarah (I think that’s what the other friends name is) and when she asks him if he knows what’s wrong or anything he continues the lie. He does this not to convince Sarah everything’s okay, but to convince himself that everything’s okay. This also then leads to Sarah being killed by Nikki.

There is never a lesson learned for Bear as he just kills himself (easy way out) like 20 min later. That’s why I don’t like the movie. It’s not necessarily a bad movie after watching it to its completion. It has a lot of great, emotional scenes. But in the end the curse is gone and Nikki has to live with the fact that she not only killed two people, her best friends, but also that she had no control over her own body and actions. There is no amount of therapy that could even make a dent on the trauma that this left in her. Also she probably will go to jail since how is she gonna explain any of it.

In conclusion the movie has some highs, but the lows are too much for me. My friend has been texting me reviews of the movie since we saw it because he doesn’t understand why everyone loves it so much, and either do I. People are allowed to have their own opinions which is why I want genuine answers here. I truly want to understand why people like it so much.

No one’s gonna believe you killed your friend to free her from a demon possessing her.

Let’s pretend the only chance to do was when she pleaded for death. You’d have to stab her or shoot her in your bed.

Maybe going to jail is better than living with her lol

Something struck me when I saw Obsession a few days ago for the first time. Yesterday, I rewatched it and that reinforced my thoughts on the subject of the cat. Which is that the repeated referencing to the "cat" has a deeper, double meaning. I tried to look at other threads and discussions before posting and don't really see much about my specific thoughts, so hopefully I am not being repetitive. Obviously, I could be way off and/or overthinking the film, but here it goes:

I think Curry Barker was using very effective subliminal messaging from the very beginning to articulate to the viewer that Nikki is no longer truly Nikki when her free will to be with Bear is taken by the wish. That the chosen phrasing used whenever the "cat" is referenced is designed as double entandre.

We know that Bear's cat, Sandy, dies after eating medication, but there are several scenes in the film where the cat gets extra emphasis throughout the plot. When Nikki makes the memorial, when Nikki brings the vase of flowers in the middle of the night after watching Bear sleep, and when Nikki feeds Bear pieces of Sandy in his sandwich. Bear cared for this pet, but I don't think it was meant to just be taken at face value that each moment is referencing the actual animal.

Immediately after Bear makes his wish and Nikki returns to his car, she is clearly different and infatuated with him and trying to have him spend time with her. He is obviously caught off guard with her sudden change of demeanor. Trying to convince him to stay, she says, "Do you want to come inside? I did just lose my cat, Bear." The viewer is also confused and taken off guard by her chosen phrasing. I don't think Curry Barker was just simply writing her words for the sake of making her seem off or weird. I think it was very good writing to illustrate her loss of control in this situation. (What she did just lose moments prior was her personal agency.) Bear is obviously confused because it isn't her animal, and this is where I believe "cat" first emerges as double entandre. We have the literal cat, Sandy, and the figurative cat: Nikki's personal agency.

The name on the back of the One Wish Willow box is called "Tabi Cat Curiosities" and it appears over the hotline that Bear calls later on. Again, I think Curry Barker is using the word "cat" as clever subtext to mean Nikki's presonal agency in this relationship. Another example of this is when they first get the relationship going and they are in bed and she tells Bear she's sorry he lost his cat and he replies, "I think you got me beat there." While on the surface, he was talking about her dad and cancer, I think that was another very subtle line where Curry Barker is telling the viewer that we know and that Bear knows he took her free will away with his wish.

The other main part where this idea struck me was the packed lunch scene where Bear sees the Polaroid of himself that Nikki packed, which says, "You" under Bear's image and the other photo with them together that shows "Not Me" under Nikki. There is a post-it note on his sandwich that says, "My little food critic." Moments later, Sarah reveals that another message is on the back of the post-it: "What's the verdict: Cat?" Taken literally without more thought, the question is obviously about the contents of the sandwich. But perhaps Bear is being asked a more veiled question: what is his verdict on his wish? Is he happy with his control of her? Be careful who you wish for. (At this point in the film it is more and more apparent that he is not happy with how things are going with his wish but he persists anyway with his codependency and desire to control.)

Thinking of it this way makes me think the earlier scene of the cat memorial may also be a symbolic mourning of Nikki's loss of free will and her body. The One Wish Willow box showing the viewer "Tabi Cat Curiosities" above the hotline number was no coincidence in my mind. Borrowing from the old saying "curiosity killed the cat", in Curry Barker's world, curiosity can kill the cat literally and figuratively.

Some of my analysis on the film, Obsession and important details I havent seen people talk about yet

1. Starting with an obvious yet misunderstood take - Bear is the villain, Nikki is the victim.

 

I’ve seen many people also say no one’s a victim, everyone’s a victim, everyone’s the villain, etc. 

Let's start off with the fact that Nikki was being mindlessly controlled while her subconscious was active and aware the entire time! Why would she be a villain when she had no power over her autonomy? And the number of times she tries to escape this spellbind? The number of times she snaps back confused, scared, traumatized. She literally begged Bear to kill her - not even a “help me, bear”, she would just rather die. Imagine going through months of watching yourself being possessed, moving “thoughtlessly” while simultaneously feeling your real thoughts. 

Bear is 1000% the villain. Even before all the crazy stuff happened, I didn’t even consider  Bear making that wish in an innocent, unknowing way. From a surface level, a boy wishes a girl would love him more than anyone else. On a deeper level, a boy wishes for a girl to be spellbound and forced to give up her freedom in order to live just for him (and that’s quite literally what she does: one example is when Bear is going to work and she says she’ll wait for him - she does indeed wait for him in that same standing position, peeing and pooping on herself for hours, fighting with herself for hours. Another scene where she pretends to read a book but the book was upside down the whole time. There’s nothing more important to her than “loving” Bear, so if she’s not doing that - then she does absolutely nothing while waiting for him). It’s also obvious he does not regret it. When he calls the one wish willow company, instead of asking to cancel the wish that would save real Nikki, he wants to “alter it.”, when he hears the real Nikk’s (her soul /subconscious) through the phone and her blood-curdling screaming, he just hangs up and goes about his night. Bringing up that same scene, when the real nikki asks him to kill her, Bear asks, “what’s so bad about being with me?” (how selfless!). When he tries to kill himself, he regrets it at the last minute, proving that his character never changed. He was a greedy, egomaniacal coward from beginning to end. Additionally, his guilty consciousness shows up a few times. When the real nikki pops out the first time they kissed, Bear immediately screams, “you kissed me first!” and “you made me feel like i did something you didn’t like” as if nikki was blaming him for being some assaulter. When Nikki comes back to apologize, Bear gets nervous when Nikki reassures him that she doesn’t think he took advantage of her. Deep down, he knows what he's doing is wrong. The rape scene (which was 1000% a rape scene) was horrific to watch, as it felt like i was watching Bear fuck a dead body. Throughout the film, Bear watches Nikki go through emotional, psychotic and distressing spells. He KNOWS he’s the reason why she’s acting this way, but continues to follow his craving of being “loved” by nikki, neglecting the real nikki (who never loved him and who he never loved, leading to my next point). 

1. There wasn’t necessarily a demon possessing her, Bear was possessing her.

I’ve seen people talk about what entity/ demonic spirit was controlling Nikki's body. That “entity” is simply Bear’s concept of the “love” he had for Nikki. The way Nikki was acting mirrors how Bear felt and perceived her. Bear never loved her; he was obsessed with her, and Nikki was projecting his obsessiveness the entire time. Bear doesn’t even know what love is. When Nikki is talking about her writing and about wanting a romance, not a love story, Bear goes, “What’s the difference?”. Nikki’s trance was Bear’s twisted love story.

Because Bear’s love for Nikki was actually an obsession, the wish is granted by showcasing Bear's “understanding” of love through Nikki. Nikki repeatedly talks about how much she loves Bear, but her actions never show it. That’s because Bear doesn’t know how to love her, so she doesn't know how to love him either, even though she’s restrained to. Bear was obsessed with a version of Nikki and forcefully projected that onto her. 

After the trance, they seemed like a perfect couple. But the moment bear started getting tired of her, that's when things got chaotic. Again, because nikki is a manifestation of his desires, once she detects that he isn’t satisfied with her “love”, she gets more and more deranged to prove to him exactly what he wished for, and she of course will do whatever it takes to prove that. Because Bear's depiction of love is distorted, the ways Nikki tries to prove it to him are also very distorted. 

Other scenes that emphasize that Nikki’s trance is actually Bear’s cognition. 

As soon as the trance starts and she walks back to Bear’s car, Nikki talks about losing HER cat. Bear gets confused, Nikki realizes what she said and goes, “I mean, your cat”. I think that was the first hint that shows Nikki is casting what Bear thinks. She wasn’t confused, it was just the commencement of living in Bear's thoughts and living FOR Bear’s thoughts. 

When Nikki packs him lunch along with those two Polaroids, one of the photos was of Bear with the caption “you” and the other of her and Bear with the caption “not me”. A direct way of Nikki telling Bear that she is mirroring him and it isn’t the real her. 

3. Her passion for writing is reflected in her Hansel and Gretel story as well as her elucidative rant on how she would feel being all alone in bed when Bear suggested they take a break. Those two scenes were examples of other ways the real nikki pops out other than her waking up from the bound throughout the film. The Hansel and Gretel storyline was essentially the movie's overall story. The real Nikki is indirectly telling Bear that she sees him as a brother and he still forces himself upon her. She expresses her genuine emotions through peotry.

4. “Freaky Nikki” - real Nikki hated that name but constantly calls herself that throughout her possession for Bears validation. Another thing is in the beginning, when Bear calls her that and Nikki says  “you know I don’t like that name” and Bear admits that he did know that, but he still continued to call her it. It’s also a reflection of his inability to accept boundaries. He recognizes boundaries; again, he admits he knew Nikki hated that name and the trauma it caused, but said it anyway. This was the first subtle way in the film where Bear oversteps and violates, making both Bear and Nikki uncomfortable in that interaction. Bear making that one willow wish is an overall illustration of him overstepping and violating (controlling Nikki's autonomy), leading to both Bear and (real) Nikki being uncomfortable and hurting throughout the rest of the film.

5. The tiger eye that Nikki gifts Bear- A stone that signifies willpower. Nikki was essentially giving her willpower to Bear. Not that Bear didn’t already have it, but it felt like a cry from real Nikki, as she is unfortunately accepting the fact that she no longer has control over herself.

6. Sleeping - when Bear wakes up to find Nikki in the corner, Nikki tells him that she doesn’t like her dreams, hence why she wasn’t sleeping. I think the reason she doesn’t like her dreams is that she's battling with the real Nikki. When you sleep, your mind is still active. As mentioned before, Nikki's subconscious is active throughout her entire possession, so when “freaky” Nikki is dreaming, her dreams are of real Nikki and they're probably portraying the pain and suffering she's going through. Freaky Nikki doesn't have a mind of her own, she is a script of Bear’s wants. So when she sleeps, the real Nikki is the one in control as the subconscious mind is highly active in that state, which is also why she was able to speak to Bear even though her body was asleep. 

7. Lowk getting tired of typing but last thing I wanna mention is people thinking Nikki is going to jail or she’ll just be traumatized for the rest of her life. Realistically, I think Nikki would've just ended up killing herself. Again, she asked bear to kill her instead of asking him to find ways to save her. Can you imagine being actively aware while having no control over your words and actions? Can you imagine watching yourself kill your friends or cut up a cat to put in a sandwich or harming yourself to escape yourself? Or seeing everyone look at you like you’re some freak when deep down you know this isn’t you talking or moving. The way her subconscious self was screaming through the phone? How can you continue living after all you’ve been through because of a stupid boy’s wish? I think if the film ended with what Nikki did after fully grasping her situation, it would have been her picking back up that gun to shoot herself after.

Please feel free to express your thoughts or other things you’ve noticed, I want to hear different opinions!

I just recently saw the movie obsession. I thought it was good, but one thing that bugged me out in the movie and seemingly no one is talking about is that whole Nikki soliloquy she does about Hansel and greta. Like you know that whole scene at Ian's party? She stands up and says a whole bunch of weird shit, but she mentions something about a Willow. And that really struck me, could the entity that possessed her body be trying to say something? I dont remember the whole story but it was a bunch of weird shit and at the end she says something about a willow and a wish? Does anybody know what sort of symbolism or hidden meaning I'm missing?

1-How in the world did the cat manage to get into the medication bottle?

2-What happened when Bear took Nikki to the ER? It looked like he was arguing with a nurse and she just flew up her hands and walked back to the hospital.

3-There has been some discussion on who is going to get the money that Ian had wished for. But according to the "rules" the wish is canceled once the person who made it dies. So, would the money just disappear then?

Okay guys let’s talk about the obsession movie. First off I wanna say this has got to be the best horror movie we’ve gotten in the last decade. Sure there were amazing movies like smile 1 & 2, the substance, bloodlines, talk to me, alien Romulus, malignant etc…but non compares to obsession. This has got to the be the first horror movie I’ve watched in a long time that genuinely creeped me out to the point where I almost slept with the lights on 😭. But I’m here to discuss something about Bear. Bear was never the villain in the beginning of the story up until he realized that the wish he made backfired. Lemme give you an example someone said. It’s like making a wish on a shooting star. You don’t really think it’ll work, but you make a wish anyways. Bear really liked Nikki but never had the courage to tell her. In that desperate moment, he made a silly wish thinking it wouldn’t even work. But when he realized that she wasn’t herself after that wish, THATS when he becomes the villain. Nikki even begged him to kill her when she regained control of her body at night and he said, “what’s so bad about loving me?” He knew he was wrong.

Curry Baker says that this movie is about codependency and how far it can go. I do not see that at all, codependency typically involves two people volunteering to give into the giver and the taker dynamic. And while that can kind of be true for how that plays out post wish, that is not the real Nikki doing any of that stuff. Her free will is completely absent from the film overall once the wish is granted.

My initial impression is that this film feels like it plays out more like a loss of innocence in the sense that getting what you want, especially at the expense of another person, can turn a shy, unassuming, innocent person into a really awful, despicable person. All of Bear's actions post wish are purely to serve himself, but he consistently acts like the victim (especially in the scene where the real Nikki appears and asks for him to kill her). It takes some really awful stuff happening for him to even begin to think "you know, maybe what I did was wrong and I really shouldn't be doing this." He was completely innocent when he made the wish, there was no way for him to know what was actually going to happen. Once the stuff starts actually happening though, he just stops caring because it benefits him. He gets what he wants, and he seems to be completely fine that it's all fake and none of it is real. It shouldn't even have to get to that point. Together (2025) makes a much stronger point about codependency, this feels more like a study of covert narcissism. That's my read at least.

What are everyone else's thoughts? Am I off base? Do I have my psychological terms right? I am no expert in emotions and psychology but I am interested to learn more because the subject is extremely interesting to me.

So I just watched the movie and this whole movie really creeped me out and I really loved it.

I'm re-watching it and in the scene where he wakes up at 3 am and Nikki is in the corner of the room watching him sleep and then does that weird ass walk forward she whispers some things.

I think she first says "watching you sleep" but my question is when Bear mentions that she is wearing his sweater and then she whispers something else. I think she says " I don't like you" can anyone confirm if they hear that as well? Is that the real Nikki coming out saying that or am I hearing it wrong?

Overall I really liked this movie and I don't think I've watched a movie in recent memory where I got goosebumps all over my body from how creeped out and stressed I was watching it.

Just watched the movie and enjoyed the intensity!! I do have some questions or possible plot holes as someone trying to get into horror slowly:

1. I don’t get the cat symbolism. Was the death of the cat a foreshadow of something? And why did Nikki keep bringing it up, cooking it, etc.

2. The clock in the bedroom. The first time they’re in the bed, Nikki wants comfort around 12:00am. When there’s a cut scene, to Bear and back to her, it’s at 16:00. Is that just a continuity error? In another scene, when Nikki was watching Bear sleep, why was it at 3:49?

3. When Bear was searching up about One Wish Willow on reddit, there was mention about the Mandela effect, is there anything more to this, or possible theories? Or is it just a random search?

4. Why was Nikki the peeing/pooping on the floor? What made her sweat so much?

Overall, i love movies where you don’t know where it’s heading and I was pleasantly surprised. I think it’s hard to make a movie both funny and scary in some ways. I would love to hear any of your thoughts!

What was up with that whole mimicking thing Nikki did right after Bear made the wish? She says “I just lost my cat” and then “Are you okay?” after Bear says it. She’s also repeating “Come inside” during that scene, which doesn’t seem like mimicking, unless she’s mimicking herself maybe? It’s just weird, and I get her behavior is supposed to be weird, but it’s usually weird in accordance with the wish which this isn’t. What do y’all think?

That movie was actually crazy I feel cursed after watching it did anyone else notice that Niki’s necklace kept changing and Im also confused who killed the cat how would a cat obtain pills was it Ian whatever his name was or was it Niki dude my favorite animal is a cat and i knew from there it was gonna be crazy

I just saw Obsession like 2 days ago, absolutely amazing, shook me to my core. But I have 2 questions:

1. Was Nikki conscious through everything? Was she just watching it all unfold or did she only see some parts when she broke through because at the end when the wish wears off. Nikki looks around at everyone ( And she looks like she's trying to figure out what happened?) But on the other hand it like she's trying to process everything she experienced.

2. After Ian's wish, Bear goes back to the apartment and finds Sarah in the wheelchair, Is Nikki wearing Sarah's hair? Also Nikki suddenly has tattoo's, are those Sarah's? If so how did she get Sarah's tattoo's to stay on her body?

I get that Nikki going deadpan and crying while Bear is essentially taking advantage of her and forcibly banging her was to show that she does not consent to the sex. But what confuses me is that does that mean that the real Nikki broke through just enough to do that facial expression and cry? Or perhaps sex is just such an intense act that the evil Nikki and real Nikki blend together more and so real Nikki comes through a bit and evil Nikki can't control it as much.

Because I'm assuming that evil Nikki isn't opposed to sex, I mean she tries to draw him in the first night, implying that the evil Nikki that took over likely tries to use sex to keep him anyway. But does that mean the evil Nikki cannot feel enjoyment either or any pleasure and so she just takes it?

I know like it's an analogy here of like, yes, just like Nikki is fake and the love is fake, so her moaning like he's really good is fake. But I don't understand the mechanics of Nikki, why she would make that face and cry unless the real Nikki was showing up a little?

And my second question is: What on earth did she say when she walked backwards in that weird rewind movement into the dining room?

Does anyone else remember the scene where Nikki is off camera (in the bedroom) after Bear tells her to go to bed and that he will stay at Ian’s for the night? Remember how she doesn’t accept this and delivers a monologue to Bear about how if he leaves her to sleep alone, she will essentially die and turn to darkness and sand or he could just stay with her and she will be fine? I don’t remember all of the details about this monologue but it stood out to me and I’ve been searching the internet for it ever since watching the movie. I’ve even read through the script pdf and I still can’t find it. Does anyone else remember this scene? I really would like to read or hear that monologue again.