You only get one wish — choose wisely.
It’s painfully obvious who you are as a person if you’re granted a single wish that can come true. Lifetime wealth, immortality, the chance for the girl you have a crush on to love you forever.
We’ve all had a crush before, whether it ended in our favor or in heartbreak. The desire for someone else to reciprocate those feelings is universal, and “Obsession” twists that fantasy into pure horror.
“Obsession,” the latest horror movie that has the internet salivating over a new take on modern thriller and horror, follows the idea of an innocent “One Wish Willow” that grants a single wish upon being snapped. The creativity in this movie is through the roof; the fear? Undeniable.
The movie dives into the horrific lengths of obsession while forcing the audience to decide who the real villain is. Could it be Nikki, who becomes dangerously obsessed with the protagonist, Bear? Or could it be Bear himself, the seemingly innocent main character who wishes for Nikki, a girl who clearly sees him as just a friend, to love him, and only him, forever?
Spoilers for Obsession Ahead:
Background of the movie
Director Curry Barker’s rise wasn’t out of nowhere. Alongside friend Cooper Tomlinson, who plays Ian in the film, built the TikTok account “That’s a Bad Idea” into a platform with over 1.3 million followers through short-form horror storytelling and twist-filled videos. Some of the best horror movies take a simple premise and twist it into something completely sickening. “Obsession” does exactly that.
The film delivers a stunning score alongside a hyper-realistic performance from up-and-coming actress Inde Navarrette. Navarrette flawlessly flips Nikki between sobbing, screaming and eerie calmness at a moment’s notice. The cinematography also delivers some of the best abrupt jump scares in recent horror.
The utter horror explained
There are several jaw-dropping moments throughout the movie. One of the first comes when Bear realizes Nikki’s obsession has spiraled completely out of control. Earlier in the film, Bear’s cat tragically dies. Later, Nikki surprises him with lunch before he discovers a note reading: “What’s the verdict: Cat?” Bear slowly realizes the sandwich he’s eating is his dead pet.
Another horrifying moment comes during a party drinking game, when Nikki’s obsession spirals after Bear is forced to kiss another girl. Navarrette’s range is on full display as Nikki smashes a wine glass into her own face screaming, “It’s not me,” desperately trying to break free from the entity controlling her.
The final act of the movie is sickening. After regretting the wish entirely, Bear drugs Nikki with sleeping pills so he can escape. Sarah later visits him, and as the two sit in the driveway bonding, Nikki suddenly smashes through the car window and brutally kills Sarah. What began as a slow-burning psychological thriller instantly transforms into pure, unrelenting horror.
Desperate to reverse everything, Bear returns to the store where he bought the Willow, only for Ian to waste a new wish on becoming a billionaire in one of the movie’s funniest moments. The two later return to Bear’s house, where the entity controlling Nikki has completely spiraled, mimicking Sarah in a disturbing attempt to become Bear’s “perfect” woman.
Bear eventually locks himself in the bathroom, grabbing the same pills that killed his cat earlier in the film. The symbolism is impossible to ignore, curiosity killed the cat, and Bear’s own selfish curiosity destroyed everyone around him.
As Bear overdoses, the curse seemingly ends, until Nikki makes the exact same wish for Bear to love her forever. The two share one final kiss before the pills fully kick in. Nikki grabs the gun, ready to kill herself, before suddenly snapping back to reality and realizing the horror around her as “Forever” by the Little Dippers plays over the ending.
So… who is to blame?
To put it simply — Nikki is the true victim of the film. The beginning desperately wants the audience to root for Bear and believe he deserves her because of the “nice guy act,” but it’s exactly why the movie works so well. Deep down, Bear is the truly obsessive one.
The second Nikki falls under the spell, she loses every piece of individuality she once had, but that never seems to matter to Bear. He doesn’t actually love Nikki, he loves the idea of Nikki loving him.
The film repeatedly shows Nikki trapped beneath the entity’s control, including one terrifying scene where her real voice begs Bear to kill her because she’s trapped inside herself. Bear’s response completely changes the audience’s perception of him: “What’s so bad about liking me?”
That single line exposes the entire point of the movie. Bear strips Nikki of her autonomy and traps her inside his fantasy, refusing to acknowledge the horrifying reality because, in his mind, he finally got the affection he always wanted.
Even Bear’s “nice guy” persona begins to collapse by the end of the film. He sneaks off to meet Sarah despite fully understanding how dangerous Nikki has become, ultimately putting an innocent person directly in harm’s way.
“Obsession” works because it weaponizes a fantasy almost everyone has had before. The idea of being loved unconditionally sounds romantic, until the movie forces the audience to confront how terrifying that fantasy actually becomes when somebody’s free will is taken away.
Ultimately, the film punishes Bear with a poetic, cosmic irony. The cycle of obsession comes full circle when Nikki uses the toy to force Bear into a trance of unconditional love right as he dies. The movie argues that toxic obsession is a virus; by stripping Nikki of her free will, Bear ensures his own eventual destruction, leaving Nikki to wake up to a horrific reality she had no hand in creating.
