Curry Barker's horror stunner Obsession has infested our theaters, shocking audiences with its haunting use of shadow and its clever, frightening scene construction, but mostly Inde Navarrette's incredible, shocking, and multifaceted performance.
The film tells the tale of Baron "Bear" Bailey, who cracks a supposedly magical One Wish Willow stick to wish that his crush Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) would love him more than anyone else in the world. As it turns out, One Wish Willows are real, very powerful, and it's a very, very bad idea to use them irresponsibly.
It's easily one of the year's best horror outings. For fans who want to dig into some of the film's finer points, twists, and shocking scenes, here are some of Obsession's most frequently discussed moments and questions.
Obsession is in theaters.
Every Major Spoiler for Obsession
Bear Uses The One Wish Willow Because He's A Grieving Coward
Obsession begins with a nervous Bear practicing how he'll confess his true feelings for his longtime friend Nikki, immediately making clear two things. He's hopelessly enamored with her, and he has no idea how to pursue relationship potential in a healthy manner.
He soon discovers that, thanks to his own irresponsibility with his grandmother's medicine, his beloved cat died. In an emotionally vulnerable state a short time later, Bear picks up a novelty "One Wish Willow" to give to Nikki, which supposedly works in three steps. Open the package to hear a magical jingle, snap the willow in half, and make a clear wish.
After driving her home with the novelty willow in tow, he chickens out before giving it to her and she goes inside. In an act of frustration, Bear cracks it himself and wishes Nikki loved him "more than anyone in the entire world." She leaves her house and returns to his car, and its effect on her is both immediately visible and messy.
It's clear from moment one that Nikki's warmer and more open to Bear's amorous intentions, before her personality shifts back suddenly. She finds herself shocked to be once again in Bear's car and again returns home, disturbed. The Willow did something to Nikki that changed her persona and evident feelings, but there's also an element of her that's aware of and disturbed by these changes.
Bear's Cat Receives an Even Worse Fate than Death
After that night, Nikki's subsequent obsession with Bear strikes their friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless) as odd and unprecedented. She clearly exhibits a sudden and unexplained romantic shift in behavior towards Bear, which he's happy to take advantage of.
Bear wakes one night to discover that, at night, Nikki has arranged the corpse of his deceased cat in a makeshift, candlelit display. This upsets Bear, which upsets Nikki in turn, but he writes it off as a misguided attempt to make him feel better.
At a subsequent early date with the now-possessed Nikki, Bear confesses his desire to become a food critic. A short time later, Nikki sends him off to work with a lovingly prepared sandwich in Tupperware, complete with a note referencing their food critic conversation. She asks for the verdict to the odd-tasting meat, until he notices it isn't typical meat at all... he's been eating a sandwich Nikki made from the corpse of his cat.
This is a lot of cat desecration for one film. It's especially odd in consideration of the fact that, at face value, the One Wish Willow was supposed to make Nikki love him, and the desecration of a beloved cat isn't exactly reasonable loving behavior. Something is very, very wrong.
The Willow Doesn't Change Nikki's Will; Something Takes Her Actions Over
Two things are clear pretty soon after the One Wish Willow snap, much to Bear's surprise. First, the magic of the One Wish Willow is very real. Bear's wish overrides Nikki's autonomy, making her dangerously obsessed with him to the point of ignoring her own physical needs, or capable of genuine threats of violence. The most shocking element is how it does so.
There are clear hints in Nikki's behavior that the Willow takes over Nikki's actions by possessing her with something else, rather than changing reality or her mind and emotions themselves. At a party, Nikki, Ian, Sarah, and their friends take turns sharing stories, and Nikki tells an explicitly incestuous story she'd been writing that's odd and inappropriate. When a simple party game would have Bear playfully kiss Sarah, Nikki reacts possessively and with inappropriate aggression.
The real shocker comes when Nikki suddenly appears to 'come to,' with the obsessive personality moving aside as a real, and shocked, Nikki comes to the fore. Nikki's suddenly terrified, and violently tries to end her own life at the party before returning to her new possessed 'normal'. This obsessed Nikki isn't the real Nikki, and the real Nikki's trapped somewhere inside.
This becomes clearer in the middle of the night, later in the film. Nikki's voice comes from her sleeping self as she sleeps next to Bear, whispering that the other version of her is asleep and pleading for death. On a call with One Wish Willow customer support, the company owner asks of Bear would like to speak with the 'real' Nikki, and he can simply hear her screaming violently. Nikki's body has been taken over by an imposter, but she's painfully aware of everything that's happening, and it terrifies her.
Possessed-Nikki's Actions Are Amplified By Complicated Love Triangles
One of the factors that causes such escalation in Possessed Nikki's actions over the course of the film stems from the realities of their friend group, of which Bear is woefully ignorant. First, it's entirely possible Nikki did have some level of potential romantic interest in Bear... she even gives him an opportunity to tell her how he truly feels early in the film, and he blows it from cowardice.
Nikki's actress Inde Navarrette was asked about this scene during the press tour for Obsession, where she reveals that the real Nikki does have real romantic feelings for Bear.
As Nikki's behavior escalates, Sarah pulls Bear into a warm sidebar conversation. She knows Bear has feelings for Nikki (everyone does), and is concerned that Nikki may somehow be manipulating him. She reveals that Nikki had been hooking up with Ian, unbeknownst to Bear. This undoubtedly hurts Bear, given that he'd been turning to Ian about his feelings for Nikki.
One further wrinkle: Sarah told Bear because she has unrequited feelings for him, a fact that Nikki knew. When Sarah later asks Bear to meet her late at night, the pair drives to an isolated place they often go to. Sarah received a letter from the last art school she'd applied to, and wanted to open it with Bear there to support.
She opens it: she was accepted! Before she has a real chance to celebrate, Nikki surprises the pair and violently murders Sarah out of jealousy for Bear's attention. It's a shocking fate, and one fueled no doubt by Nikki's knowledge of Sarah's affections, filtered through the entity possessing Nikki's body.
Everyone's Final Fate Clarifies the Powers of One Wish Willows
When Bear finally realizes how out of control his wish on Nikki has become, he discovers he isn't able to break another One Wish Willow: every person really gets one wish to use the magical technology on. Bear attempts to use Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) to make a wish that negates his own, but Ian doesn't take it seriously and wishes for a billion dollars. The money starts to rain down, but the still-obsessed Nikki kills Ian.
The film ends with a desperate Bear running to the bathroom, ingesting copious pills in an effort to kill himself, finally freeing Nikki of the wish's magic (the only useful instruction he received from the One Wish Willow's customer service line). He hears the jingle and snap of another Willow from the room Nikki's in, and he emerges obsessed with her in turn. The possessed Nikki, frustrated with Bear not sharing her obsession, wished he'd be obsessed with her too.
The wish works, at least until the pills kick in and kill Bear. His death brings the real Nikki back. As explained in his aforementioned customer service call, the main way to undo a wish is the death of the person who wished it. Seeing the carnage and chaos around her, and no doubt traumatized by all the events that had befallen her, Nikki screams.
One of the year's best horror films, Obsession is in theaters.
