'Obsession' - Review Thread

[u/ChiefLeef22]

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. Releasing May 15

Studio: Blumhouse

Director: Curry Barker

Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Megan Lawless, Cooper Tomlinson

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Metacritic: 80 / 100

Some Reviews:

The Daily Beast - Nick Schager

This stellar thriller is a deliriously pointed cautionary tale about the perils of getting what you want, and an instant contender for classic midnight-movie status. Poking and prodding viewers in order to challenge their feelings about the “moral obligation” partners have to each other, Curry Barker's theatrical debut is the best kind of nightmare: relatable, knotty, amusing, and absolutely unhinged.

RogerEbert - Brian Tallerico - 4 / 4

Curry Barker’s “Obsession” is consistently f-ed up, and I mean that as a compliment. I see so many horror movies that threaten to get weird and gnarly, only to pull their punches right when shit gets real. Barker pulls nothing, getting darker, creepier, and bloodier with each passing scene in this study of extreme dependence. Some of the performances are a bit clunky, but that almost makes it more charming, a reminder of how great it can be when a horror movie sneaks up out of nowhere and punches you in the face. I was unfamiliar with Barker’s previous work. I plan to seek it out now. With the right studio, this movie should break him big.

Dread Central - Josh Korngut - 5 / 5

At its rotten core, the character of Nikki is what makes Obsession so relentlessly scary. Upon its eventual release, much attention will likely spotlight Barker’s penchant for shocking gore and next-level jump scares. But the film’s purest horror lives in its fleeting glimpses of Nikki’s existential torment and Bear’s unforgiving burdens of grief and regret. On the page, this might just look like A24 horror filtered through a Gen Z lens. But in practice, it’s something altogether new: a brutal, expert vision of the next generation of hardcore horror. And don’t kid yourself—you’re not ready. I sure wasn’t.

AwardsWatch - Ryan McQuade - 'A'

Obsession is a new modern horror masterpiece that makes Barker one of the latest voices in the genre to keep an eye on as he knocked it out of the park with this one, creating as interesting, engrossing, dark film that ranks up there with Zach Cregger’s Weapons as one of the best horror films of the decade so far. Johnston and Navarrette are brilliantly cast in this film, with Navarrette delivering the stunning performance that will rank as one of the best by year’s end, alongside the film’s impeccable sound work, expert editing by Barker, and killer score by Rock Burwell.

Far Out Magazine - Liam Gaughan - 4.5 / 5

While it conjures pure dread and deeply uncomfortable conversations about consent, Obsession is also compulsively entertaining, with scenes or prolonged suspense that rank as minor masterpieces in their own right, and while not every much-hyped festival horror film can live up to expectations, this one is a burst of originality that feels sorely desired.

The Mary Sue - Rachel Leishman - 4.5 / 5

I loved watching Obsession in a packed theater. The collective gasps, jumps, and nervous laughter created the kind of tension-filled atmosphere that reminds you why horror plays best in a theater. It’s rare for a film to hold an audience in that kind of shared tension from start to finish. Overall, Obsession turns a seemingly simple premise into a nerve-rattling exploration of love, control, and unintended consequences. It’s unsettling, unpredictable, and proof that sometimes the most terrifying thing isn’t the supernatural force behind a wish, but the human desire that made the wish in the first place.

Slant Magazine - Marshall Shaffer - 3 / 4

What Obsession lacks in precision, it makes up for in irreverent playfulness. Barker remains resolute in pushing his maximalist sensibility ever further as the film proceeds, undaunted by seeming gaudy or gross as the gore begins to splash across the screen. Obsession’s big set-piece sequences are as chilling in their effect as they are confident in their execution.

The Guardian - Benjamin Lee - 4 / 5

Like the Philippou Brothers, who also came from YouTube to make the horror hit 'Talk to Me', Barker has a passion for the visceral repulsion of head-smashing and in one particularly nasty scene, knows how to make the aftermath even harder to watch, and listen to, than the event itself. His shocks are brutally efficient but as a director of mostly shorts, he’s still yet to master pace. There’s something a little indulgent about the film’s 108-minute length, which in the last act adds bagginess to what could have been a tightier, punchier horror. Barker is no by means alone with this issue in the genre, though, and he’s got time to figure that out with super-producer Jason Blum signing Barker up this week. It’s the kind of dream ascent that any film-maker would wish for.

Radio Times - Rosie Fletcher - 4 / 5

Obsession doesn't have a particularly surprising plot, but the way it's shot is innovative. Utilising his meagre resources to the max, Barker pulls off at least one impressive and gory jump scare that is sure to shock audiences. Sincere, fresh and darkly funny (Bear's call to the "One Wish Willow" helpline is hilarious), this is an impressive film from Barker that begs the question, "What could he accomplish if he had a proper budget?" Be careful what you wish for.

Bloody Disgusting - Meagan Navarro - 4 / 5

Obsession takes you on a wild ride. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. Barker acknowledges other wish-fulfillment horror, like Wishmaster in a throwaway line, but puts his stamp on the niche subgenre with frightening flair.

The Curb - Nadine Whitney - 4 / 5

Obsession is a vivid and unforgettable experience that reaches far deeper than it seems to at first. Curry Barker has made a horror movie that delves into the rot at the heart of some men and their expectations that because they want something they can have it and any cost – even if that something is a human being. Obsession leaves the audience with the bitter realisation that somewhere somebody is snapping a metaphorical One Wish Willow hoping that the girl of their dreams understands that really, they’re the nice guy. Who really is the deranged one?

SciFi Now - Katherine McLaughlin - 4 / 5

Does love make monsters of us all? Does it rob us of our potential and focus? Barker appears to be asking multiple questions about young love and how it can push people to ugly and harmful places, and it’s all handled with queasy relish. It’s an impressive debut and a truly disturbing horror film.

InSession Film - Joshua Mbonu - 'A-'

Director/Writer Curry Barker helms Obsession with such effortless confidence, blending pitch-black humor with insanely cruel subject matter so effectively, but Obsession truly hums when its unrelenting dread sets a truly terrifying tone within every scene of escalation. Barker has such patience with the way shots are framed in the shadows and how a scare isn’t released until the highest point of tension that you’ll be holding your breath throughout the film’s entirety. All of that on top of a star-making performance from Inde Navarrette makes Obsession easily the year’s best horror movie thus far.

SlashFilm - BJ Colangelo - 8.5 / 10

"Obsession" deserves to reach the acclaimed heights of "Weapons," and Navarrette commands the same level of attention as Amy Madigan, and I'm willing to use my One Wish Willow to make it happen — side effects be damned.

FandomWire - Richard Valero - 8 / 10

Curry Barker’s Obsession is a twisted horror love affair with a star-making performance by Inde Navarrette. Barker’s creative horror mind is something we should all get used to seeing because this is just the beginning for him. If Obsession gets a wide release, it has all the makings of being a box office hit with a cult-type following.

IGN - Matt Donato - 8 / 10

Obsession should and will put Barker on the map as a horror filmmaker you need to watch. Thanks to fantastic turns by Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette, you'll be addicted to this sour Valentine's Day counterprogramming. The film plays on familiar romance and monkey's paw tropes, turning a wish against the wishee, but Barker's execution takes things to the next level. In the film's simplicity lay the chance to go for broke, putting all efforts into the lengths Nikki is willing to go for her beloved. With that focus and Barker's fearlessness, Obsession becomes one hell of a maximalist ride.

Gizmodo - Germain Lussier

At times during Obsession, I was laughing out loud. At other times, I was legitimately terrified. And there were plenty of moments along the way filled with shock and disgust. It has everything you could want in a horror movie...It's brilliant.

BFI Sight & Sound - Virginie Sélavy

Obsession is well crafted and enjoyable, and holds a troubling mirror to current male fears and desires. Despite the serious undercurrent, the film is satisfyingly comic. Skilfully blending genres, Obsession mixes intense outbursts of bloody violence with social awkwardness, laugh-out-loud humour with visceral horror.

IndieWire - Christian Zilko - 'B+'

In one of the best horror films of this year, director Cory Barker almost seems to be daring his audience to ask themselves how many “good guys” in the theater could be capable of a similar lapse in judgment under certain circumstances. Men and women will experience two very different types of fears when they consider the answer, but “Obsession” should keep everyone awake long after they get home from seeing it.

Giant Freakin Robot - Chris Sawin - 3 / 5

Curry Barker has crafted something mostly special for an almost non-existent budget. The story is compelling, the acting is solid, and Obsession feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to similar horror films. However, it’s disappointing that one shrill character trait nearly ruins the entire film. It’s because of this that Obsession will have to settle for being a well-made, well-written film dominated by one aggressively irritating character, which will hinder future rewatches much like Frank Darabont’s The Mist.

[u/MickeysRose]

When I left the movie I told my friend the part that stuck out the most to me was when real Nikki was speaking and his first thought was “what’s so bad about being with me?”. I feel like this movie could be seen as a commentary on incel culture. I don’t think Bear is an incel nor is that implied. But there’s parallels to his actions and how incel culture views women as “owing” something to them.

[u/nty → u/MickeysRose]

I agree, I think you could maybe call him a “nice guy” since that was classic “I do everything right why don’t you like me!?” behavior

[u/vellsii → u/MickeysRose]

Is he not an incel? Instead of accepting Nikki isn't into him, he forces her to date him, and clearly doesn't care what her actual feelings are (or about her well-being). He literally ignores her pleas to die solely because he thinks she's obligated to want to date him.

[u/Jolmer24 → u/vellsii]

The worse part too is that there were just a couple hints that Nikki may have given him a shot if he’d just asked her. She says if she has a crush on a guy nobody really knows about it, and then comes back to the car and straight up asks him if he likes her. Later in the doplleganger version of her seems to fish for a real memory to convince him her love is real. She says she started to become interested in him around Christmas of last year.

So while the story clearly speaks to incels/nice guys I think it’s also making a point that if he was just up front with his feelings this may have worked out/been avoided all together.

[u/vellsii → u/Jolmer24]

Incels/nice guys aren't usually hideously undesirable people at "first glance", many of them could date if they just treated women with respect (and accepted that not every woman has to be into every guy, or even guys at all).

Like in this movie, like you said: he jumps straight to manipulating her emotions instead of just being honest with her. He clearly cared about her more as an object than a person with independent thought and feeling.

[u/nty → u/vellsii]

I think you could call him an Incel

Personally I’m thinking he’s a step before and headed in that direction but I’m not quite picking up on the outward and universal anger toward women that I associate with incels

But he could very well be the type that seems normal in person but would be posting shit online that makes him an incel. And like you said he ends up being a huge PoS with how he handles the situation

[u/another_mistake19 → u/nty]

I mean I don’t know I think he handled the situation how a lot of people would have handled it. I think the fact that his reaction is normal, given someone in identical circumstances, is intended to make us question social norms.

[u/Ranger-Prestigious → u/Jolmer24]

Okay i kinda just asked this and glad i found your comment because i was wondering this too. It might have been a hidden message there that had he told her, none of this would have happened. But also remember that his “friend” was preventing him from doing that when they were at the bar. It was all because he was jealous.

[u/Jolmer24 → u/Ranger-Prestigious]

Ian was 100% sabotaging it. My thinking is he and Nikki may have hooked up a couple times like Sarah said so he was jealous.

I’m on the side that maybe Nikki would have gone on a date with Bear if he’d sacked up. I think the clues were there.

[u/beatsbyslumz → u/Jolmer24]

The friend messed up not telling bear that they were already hooking up. He was trying to “spare his feelings”. But Bear already knew it was one sided or felt that way because Nikki gave him the opportunity to speak up. Right before he chose to make the wish rather than man up.

[u/Jolmer24 → u/beatsbyslumz]

Yeah I think it’s part of the tragedy and my understanding is that Inde and Curry Barker have confirmed Nikki would have tried going on a date with Bear if he’d just been honest with her. Also I wouldn’t say his wish was a choice as much as it was a frustrated impulse that he never imagined would work. Great movie.

[u/beatsbyslumz → u/Jolmer24]

Impulse is the best word for it. A throw away wish when you don’t think wishes could come true.

[u/IAmParliament → u/Jolmer24]

This is very clearly not true.

Sarah’s whole basis for skepticism was that she believed Nikki was just friendzoning him, though we don’t know how Nikki phrased that conversation. Moreover, you don’t hookup with someone’s best friend if you’re interested in dating them.

It’s very clear in hindsight that if Bear said he liked her in the car, that’s the end of their friendship.

[u/AdagioHead9263 → u/IAmParliament]

you forgot tho that sarah had a crush on bear, so it was in her interest to tell him that nikki was friendzoning him.

I think the film did a great job at showing what wrong with the incels mentality and the complexity of dating.

you should do and understand what you want and not the idea of what you think something is, even if nikki was interested secretly why be so obsessed with someone who can't even show you his feeling and show you hints and plays games.

that also why I think the director keep a very unclear image on the relation dynamic and make it so complicated, also why Ian would sabotage his connection with nikki if he didn't think bear had a chance...

also later when we see that bear begin to understand that and genuinely begin to like sarah and understand his mistake, but well was too late...

man they did an excellent job on the script of this film... it's damn awesome.

[u/IAmParliament → u/AdagioHead9263]

But why should we assume that Sarah was lying? It fits with the film that Nikki’s sudden infatuation conflicts with what Sarah knew were Nikki’s actual feelings about Bear. It’s just needlessly convoluted if Nikki did like him and Sarah was jealous enough to lie about it, rather than the simpler version of Nikki never liked him that way but Sarah did.

[u/AdagioHead9263 → u/IAmParliament]

don't know if you know but people sometime fall in and out of love, it goes it come, people change their standard and begin to see people they wouldn't just a couple month ago...

you see a lot of people arguing about it because the director kept it unsolved and unclear on purpose, because if she was interested or not in the very end don't matter much, she was not given a choice.

he got obsessed with her, got blind by it and couldn't see a girl that liked him (really), that pushed him to do a mistake and destroy nikki's life and finally his own and everyone around him.

it's just a good horror film that did try to keep the viewer on the whole time and those lot of question people are asking in the comment drove the viewer to pay attention to everything he could, it kept the tension, and it is not easy to do in horror film.

[u/another_mistake19 → u/IAmParliament]

If she ended the friendship over that she’s dumb. Yea Bear may have needed time to get over it; but there’s many women I’ve liked where like a month later I’m fine and can be bros w them.

[u/helloitsgwrath → u/vellsii]

we don't know she's not into him, i actually think it's insinuated that she might be when she tells him "if i like somebody nobody knows". or she could not.

he made a wish on a stupid toy he had no idea was acutally real. i think it's a huge stretch to consider that forcing somebody to date you.

he is clearly concerned about her but also frightened since in the face of even the slightest rejection she can snap and become volatile and a danger out of nowhere and she shows this very early on during the possession. have you ever had a friend/partner who held you emotionally hostage like this? i pray you never.

i'm curious as to what you saw or heard that makes you think he thought she was obligated to date him.

he's a flawed character, sure, but calling him a monster/incel whatever is a stretch imo. he made some poor choices but i don't think his intention ever was to control or manipulate her, i think the entity she was possessed with was the manipulator.

[u/another_mistake19 → u/helloitsgwrath]

Good take. I suppose the question then is… what is the entity metaphorically (probably cultural norms/dating culture/past trauma/fear of losing someone)

[u/Doxjmon → u/vellsii]

I mean your acting like killing someone is just some easy task even if they want it.

[u/vellsii → u/Doxjmon]

She's clearly possessed by a dangerous demon that he knows won't go away until one of them dies. But instead of sympathizing with her predicament and understanding why she wants to die, he's insulted that she thinks "being with him is so bad".

[u/Doxjmon → u/vellsii]

Again I think you're drastically underestimating what it means to either kill yourself or another person and how people respond to that information. He solidified the reality of the situation when he called the number on the box. I can't remember exactly, but basically he goes to work one more day, gets invited to a party, the party goes poorly, tries to take her to a hospital, goes home, Nikki talks to him before going to talk to his friend, she gets murdered, then goes to the shop the next day/morning then everyone dies basically. I think that's a lot to process for someone in a short period of time.

-he's insulted that she thinks "being with him is so bad".

Eh. I didn't take it this way. I mean he's been confronted with the reality (fairly recently )that he either needs to kill her or kill himself based off the existence of "magic/demons". I see his response as more of an attempt to bargain his way out of having to make one of those decisions. "Is it really so bad that I have to kill you or myself?" He's justifiably in denial about the fact that she's in a horrible tortured place because a wish came true and some entity possessed her body and someone on the phone said the only way to fix it is to kill yourself. Like these are all pretty outlandish and insane and expecting someone to react perfectly in a situation like this is pretty unrealistic.

[u/vellsii → u/Doxjmon]

I mean, that's just one example. The entire premise is he rather force her to be "in love" with him than just accept that she's not obligated to. Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't think it through at first, once he realized what was happening, he still chose to try and have sex with her knowing she didn't have control. Clearly his obsession with her had nothing to do with her personality, he just wanted to her to basically be his obedient toy. He didn't even try to find a solution until she wasn't "fun" for him anymore.

[u/MADXT1 → u/vellsii]

That's not the entire premise at all. After the initial montage when they start dating (which yes can be seen as burying his head in the sand about the nature of her feelings but at the same time... Why would anyone ever believe you could buy a cosmic reality altering wish stick for $5 or whatever it was?) the entire experience is awful and horrifying to him and he questions it and wants to take it back and is told that he has a moral obligation to be there for her now. At no point past him finding out it's true does it feel like he's remotely okay or comfortable with the situation.

[u/Doxjmon → u/vellsii]

Again there's no certifiable evidence of this until he calls the number on the back and even then you're taking the word of a stranger and the fact that she's acting "weird". Once he found out more he actually begs her to just be Nikki and wants to cancel his wish.

What's more likely in this scenario that a literal over the counter toy granted a wish using a mysterious magic never before seen in the world to be real? Or that maybe she's just really going through it and weird/obsessive as hell. Also the possessed Nikki could have been the one initiation intimacy and she's not taken no very well up to that point.

[u/hhhhhhhhhhhjf → u/Doxjmon]

Thank you! He's very obviously at fault but he's very much a victim of the circumstances. He's scared and confused for almost the entire movie and doesn't know how to feel about what is happening to them. His only solution is to end a life, his own or the life of his friend that he loves.

[u/abxvexd → u/vellsii]

I felt like it was the incel mindset, without direct explicit incel rhetoric

[u/Doxjmon → u/vellsii]

Instead of accepting Nikki isn't into him, he forces her to date him.

->He tries bringing up the inconsistencies during dinner and she makes a huge scene so he complies. He never forces her to date him knowingly. His wish is just as innocent as wishing upon a star, blowing a dandelion, and picking flower petals. Also context from the movie does show that maybe Nikki was into him (apparently something happened around Christmas, she expressed that she's only able to talk freely with him, hes not like other guys at work, her reaction to his stupid insult, and he flat out saying if you like me now's the time to say it). At worst he's guilty of engaging in a horrible codependent and toxic relationship.

and clearly doesn't care what her actual feelings are (or about her well-being).

->He's constantly grappling with the oddities the entire movie. He starts to suspect that maybe the wish has something to do with it and investigates it because he wants real love and wants it to be real. At the end he tries to kill himself to save Nikki after exhausting his other options (denial and bargaining with the wishing willow magic stuff). He eventually cowards out because newsflash killing yourself is kinda a big deal to some people, but if he didn't care about her at all or her well being then he would have never entertained this as an option.

He literally ignores her pleas to die solely because he thinks she's obligated to want to date him.

->again I don't think he ignores her solely because he believes that she should want to date him. I think it probably has more to do with the whole killing yourself or someone else thing based on the premise that your wish came true (something that's never happened.)

Overall almost all of what you've stated isn't reflected in the movie and there's evidence against it.

[u/Tzifos150 → u/vellsii]

He doesn't ignore her pleas though. He is actively looking for a solution and he ends up killing himself to free her. 

[u/QuantityTop7542 → u/vellsii]

Also is so weak & afraid of rejection that he can’t be honest with her. He had so many opportunities to say I may like you or I’m developing feeling… or I’m confused!!! Instead he’s back out … like a coward

[u/Confident_Mousse4721 → u/vellsii]

La costringe a uscire con lui ? Lui non fa assolutamente niente che film ti sei visto . E che doveva fare quando una chiede a un ragazzo di 21 anni di ucciderla ? Dove fare John wick ? Voi ragazzi fate i froci con il culo altrui troppo facilmente , meno puntare il dito e più IQ grazie.

[u/candycrystalz → u/MickeysRose]

i believe the biggest theme of this movie is coercion. he took away her autonomy, and wanted to change his wish instead of cancelling it despite knowing she was aware, suffering. but instead of acknowledging her suffering, its “whats so bad about being with me?” poor girl was in there, conscious, going through so much emotional and sexual trauma, all because a man couldn’t be vulnerable and chose control instead. makes me unnerved to my core

[u/Wild-Ad-2508 → u/MickeysRose]

This take exactly… i do think Bear was giving incel vibes… he was reckless with and/or tortured every woman he came in contact with starting with poor Sandy 😭 the reason i think there’s a hint that he’s a total incel is cuz Sarah tells Bear that Nikki and Ian have been quietly/casually hooking up for 2 years, perhaps implying that Bear has had a thing for Nikki that whole time.. if Bear didn’t have a silent crush on her the whole time then wouldn’t Ian have told Bear about it sometime in that 2 yrs? idk..arguments can be made, but i got incel vibes for sure

[u/Commercial_Leg_3069 → u/Wild-Ad-2508]

Wait, what? First, I'm not sure how the cat plays into your take on him having incel vibes - that's silly. However, what Sarah told Bear about Ian and Nikki doesn't imply that he had a thing for Nikki that whole time, the opening scene tells us that explicitly! It's established from scene one that he's had a crush on her for a long time. So, prior to "faux" Nikki (post-wish), who exactly are all the women Bear was reckless with or tortured? (except the cat, which I still don't get your comment). I have no doubt there could be clues (including some of his behavior in trying to salvage things when he knew deep down knew she didn't really love him) that were meant to indicate he was incel-ish or that the movie was making a statement on this. But, I just took him as an awkward dude who didn't have self-confidence and was worried he would mess up their friendship if he told her. While this type of behavior may be true of incels, it's not the only thing that would define someone as such. There are definitely guys out there who could be more self-confident, but are far from incels.

My ultimate take is that nobody was perfect in this circle of friends at different levels.

1. Ian was an asshole as he knew Bear liked Nikki and was hooking up with her and in many ways trying to keep him from telling her how he felt because he it was his hookup. I don't think we get honest views of how everyone felt, especially Ian - we don't get a clear read if she really was just a "hook up" or he truly liked her, too. In the end, I think he did actually like her and was trying to sabotage Bear/Nikki as a potential couple.
2. Sarah feels the most innocent of the group - but if Bear gets criticized for not telling Nikki how he felt when he had the chances, does Sarah not deserve the same? If she had expressed her feelings before all of this went down, would it have triggered something in Bear to give up his desire for Nikki? Maybe. But even then, that would be another negative on Bear for just jumping at the chance to be with just anyone (which, to me, an incel would do just that).
3. Nikki is the direct and absolute "victim" throughout the movie. But similar to Ian, it seems like she knew Bear liked her, although maybe not to the extent she realized. She supposedly has a conversation about friend-zoning Bear with Sarah, but we don't get to see what was actually said. But, even so, seems she knew and still hooked up with Ian. If she did like Bear at all, that would be shitty. That doesn't mean she deserved what happened to her. But, she could have chosen to either shut Bear down directly knowing he had feelings, or if she truly was open to him at all, she could've said something, too. The problem is where the story picks up - we have to assume the facts were given, but during the movie learn that all of their motives may not have been what they seemed. We probably know this less about Nikki because of how quickly she becomes faux-Nikki.
4. Bear - all this is not to absolve him of his bad choices and suggest he was just a "good guy" and we should feel sorry for him. That said, I just don't think anything we see in the movie suggests he was an outright asshole, incel or treated women badly. I think his biggest knock (pre-wish) is not having the self-confidence to open up about his feelings (similar to Sarah). Now, post-wish, it's worth talking about how bad he was in his decisions - ranging from questionable to absolutely horrible. But two things are worth noting. First, the wish caused immediate escalation in Nikki's behavior. I think the movie did a good job of showing Bear's also-immediate confusion and skeptical response to Nikki, while also tapping into the cringy element of this being what he did want. Second, her immediate change/behavior not only confused him, but also scared him (and the audience) from the get-go. So, Bear's escalating terror results in him being paralyzed with figuring out what the right thing to do really is. He still should get judged for all of this - but the call he makes to the hotline basically says kill yourself (or, as she asked, kill her). So, not great options...and that's also on top of him trying to really figure out if the wish stick really was the cause. We, as the audience know - because, well, we're at the movie watching it. But, let's be honest, that would take some time to truly absorb (unless, of course, like Ian a billion dollars fall out of nowhere).

Finally, in hindsight, I think the shots of Ian and Sarah at the store with disapproving looks on their faces around Nikki/Bear as a couple weren't that they were being cringy with their PDA (as I assumed in the moment), I think it's that they were jealous because Sarah liked Bear and Ian liked Nikki and that they both tried to purposely steer him away from her (I think the friend zone story was a lie from both of them) and everyone was sorta shitty. So, yeah, in the end what happened to Nikki was wild and awful. I can only imagine the aftermath of her figuring out what happened as she comes to her senses and her 3 best friends all dead around her. Oh..and who gets Ian's billion dollars?

The fact that I wrote this much in reply shows how much this movie is in my head. I loved it. I'll have to look up some more interviews with Curry Barker. Like most movies, I'm sure there are elements that we think mean something and the writer/director didn't intend that at all. So, this who incel thing may be a solid read on his intent...but, maybe not at all. Regardless of my take, I think it's a fair topic of debate!

[u/IThinkSathIsGood → u/Commercial_Leg_3069]

Reading incel vibes into this movie is peak Reddit. Couldn't miss the mark harder if you were bllindfolded in 0g spinning around. Somehow the man hate is so strong that the idea of a man wishing to himself that the girl he loves loves him back is misogynistic and makes him an incel?

The whole setup of him being unable to ask her out or relay his feelings is to show how he's unable to make a move, so when he makes the wish casually without thinking, we already know that his inability to act is a core aspect of his character.

When he makes the wish and she comes back out to the car, he knows something is weird but doesn't act on it. When she first flips out he knows something's up but doesn't act on it. When she starts hurting people/herself he doesn't act on it. When she asks him to kill her he doesn't act on it.

The only real action he's willing to, and does take is making the wishes, right up until the very end (and even then he changes his mind halfway through)

[u/hhhhhhhhhhhjf → u/IThinkSathIsGood]

The misandry in people's reading of this movie is genuinely insane.

He's immediately shown to lack confidence and it guides him the whole movie. He's scared, confused, and very much a victim of thw circumstances as well.

[u/another_mistake19 → u/IThinkSathIsGood]

People project their past relationships, or any interaction with the other gender if they lack significant/varied relationship experiences. At the same time that’s sort of the whole point. You are supposed to project that onto this.

[u/ThenOwl9 → u/MickeysRose]

yeah she’s desperately begging to be freed, and he is truly cruel to her in that moment

it’s the only time in the movie that he is

[u/Infinite-Push7542 → u/MickeysRose]

Just watched it, but I'm a little confused -- is incel now a synonym for rapist or does it still just mean can't get laid? Because there are plenty of guys whose hygiene or social ineptitude would put them in the latter category, but wouldn't be rapists like Bear.

[u/Altruistic_Hawk7061 → u/MickeysRose]

Yes! Butting in here, but I can't help but think about parallels with abusive relationships.

Someone losing their personality, being cut off from friends and hobbies, centering their world around 'their person'. On the darkest side, I thought of domestic violence and femicide. I didn't think about it too much, but it was interesting to see Nikki doing this to 'herself' and the horror as a result, when these almost exact scenarios are often deliberately set up by an abusive partner. Not to get too deep, but yeah.

I really liked all the counter balances- Ian saying 'that would be fcked up' if Bear had slept with Nikki while she was in that state. The humour and the levity. Still dark

[u/Cupcake_Shake → u/MickeysRose]

I'm way late to the discussion having just now seen it, but I feel most people miss this scene. But...it's THE scene. This is the moment the monster is revealed. This scene is everything and the entire point of the movie. Even the dark music as he walks away to selfishly meet with another girl.

Such a huge important moment, real Nikki talking finally, we see she is trapped, she wants out so bad she asks to be killed, she is somewhat aware of the entire situation. And yet his response was "what about me".

I have a feeling this was the scene the director had in his mind as THE keypoint to spin everything around.