Obsession: Man or Bear?

By Suryansh Das · 31 July 2026 · KFS Blog

Made on a budget of $750,000, the movie made a global box office collection of $442.9 million. It became one of the most highly acclaimed movies of recent times, but why? What makes it stand out? Where does the actual horror element of the movie come from?

The sound design and editing work seamlessly to flesh out the horror. There are cliched tropes deployed to amplify the fear and they work efficiently. However, the true genius lies in the nuanced writing. The characters, their personalities, their dynamics and their actions, everything feels terrifyingly human. It works because the movie expands on a very personal and integral aspect of our lives: relationships. It establishes a potential romance but instead of a typical love story, it develops into a dark twisted tale of fixation. It integrates supernatural elements as a plot device to explore the consequences when love isn’t love but a projection of one’s insecurity and low self-esteem for validation.

The movie starts with a mock proposal and this is where we’re introduced to Baron Bailey, aka Bear. In his first impression, Bear comes off as a nice guy. We learn that he’s looking forward to ask Nikki out on whom he has a crush for around seven years. Bear’s mock proposal also sounds genuine and sincere. This instantly makes Bear relatable because we’ll have experienced having a crush and wanting to be with someone. However, in the very next scene we learn that he’s also careless. We see his cat “Sandy” lying dead on the carpet, as he enters his house. She ingested his late grandma’s oxycodone pills that Bear left lying around somewhere accessible to Sandy. In the next scene, we see Bear conversing with Nikki over a phone call. She reveals that she’s putting in her two weeks. She also accidentally drops her crystal necklace into the drain. Bear seeks this opportunity to gift her a present. He goes to a mystic shop and this is where he discovers the “One Wish Willow”, a magical artifact that grants your one wish. He buys it. In a later scene, he drives her home and just when she’s about to go to her house, he stops her to confess his feelings yet fumbles. Despite Nikki asking her if he likes her, he chickens out. He gets frustrated and regrets his action. As a final act of desperation, Bear grabs his bag and pulls out the “one wish willow”. He unboxes it, says “I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone in the fucking world” and breaks the willow stick. Just as he was about to leave, he notices a silhouette on Nikki’s porch. It’s her. She rushes back to Bear and initiates conversation. She seeks his attention and tries to invite him over her house to make him stay. This is when the realization kicks in that something’s wrong. Nikki was mimicking words, repeating them and throwing tantrums. It becomes more evident when she suddenly snaps out of it but gets pulled back right into it again. It’s like she was on a spell. The willow stick worked.

This is followed by a series of unsettling and awkward encounters between the two. Nikki started to grow a sudden and dramatic obsession over Bear. She refuses to leave sight of him, sneaks up on him and shows up to his house unannounced. Bear was struggling to believe that the magic of the willow stick is real, that it actually worked. He was pleased nonetheless that the girl he fancied is now reciprocating his feelings. It is not until he discovers that she lied about her father being sick, he starts getting concerned about her problematic traits. Even when he confronts her about this, she puts up a scene in front of everyone. She just keeps repeating “No” in a eerily loud pitch. Bear panics and eventually pacifies her by giving in. The scene jumps to them having sex. A horrifying realization creeps in that something’s wrong. The implication becomes evident as the high pitched score kicks in and camera zooms on to her face. It was as if Bear was having his way with a lifeless shell. The scene stays for a while allowing the unsettling feeling to sink. This is followed by an equally frightening scene where Nikki was standing in a corner of the bedroom watching Bear sleep. She starts to wail saying “I don’t like my dreams. I feel like you don’t love me as much as I do, like it’s not mutual”, her make-up adds a layer of uncanny valley that makes it visually more disturbing. Bear is frozen. He’s confused and panic-stricken. He’s trying to make sense out of the whole thing. He somehow sleeps through the night. The next morning he wakes up to Nikki reading a book upside-down. He confronts her about the entire thing. She continues making weird gestures but apologizes for last night. She also promises to make amends. Bear is relieved. However, just as he was about to leave, he discovers the entire door duct-taped. He leaves for work. We see Bear and Sarah at “Cassell’s Music”. Sarah brings up Bear and Nikki suddenly dating each other. She expressed her suspicions about it but Bear affirms that everything’s fine. The conversation shifts to a different topic as we see Sarah receiving a rejection letter from one of the universities she applied for. We see her being vulnerable and opening up to Bear. They have a banter and Sarah snatches his tiffin box’s lid. She reads the back of the sticky note on the lid “What’s the verdict: Cat ?”. It was a sandwich that Nikki prepared for Bear. He also took a few bites of it earlier. He realizes what was in the sandwich and starts getting nauseous. He grabs the bin to his right and pukes it all out. Later, Ian also inquires about Nikki’s weird behaviour and the nature of their relationship. Bear tries to brush it off by denying his accusations. He stands his ground and affirms that there’s nothing wrong. Despite everything he has witnessed, he refuses to come clean. This dishonest attitude reflects his unhealthy attachment with his relationship. The character who was somewhat sympathetic starts being problematic.

Bear reaches home. In an attempt to learn more about the “One Wish Willow”, he looks for clues on the packet. He spots a customer service number and dials it. It connects to a hotline help. Bear inquires if he can alter his wish. Even when the help asks if he wants to cancel it, he sticks his appeal. The help reveals that he can neither alter nor cancel his wish. He was testing his intentions. It can only be reversed if he dies. Bear realises he’s doomed. He has to live with his actions. He then asks about the episodes of Nikki snapping and getting freaked out. The hotline help asks if he wants to talk to her. He puts someone on the line. We hear them screaming continuously, screams of terror and anguish. It keeps getting louder with every second. Bear inquires only to learn it was none other than Nikki. His eyes grow wider as he realizes the true nature of the spell. Fear takes over and he cuts the line immediately. This is one of the most significant plot points. It not only acts as an exposition but also leads to Bear’s eventual character arc. The wish never made Nikki fall for him. It turned her into an enchanted vessel by overriding her free will. Nikki was trapped in her own body with her autonomy stripped away from her. This implies that everything that Wish-Nikki did with Bear was non-consensual. Every act of intimacy that took place was essentially an act of abuse. Despite learning this, Bear never reconsiders his actions. He doesn’t reflect back on the things he has done to her. He doesn’t even try to reach out to the real Nikki to apologize or acknowledge her misery. He simply chooses to bat a blind eye. This immediately makes him a self-centred coward and his “nice guy” act starts falling apart.

In a later scene, we see all our characters at a house party over Ian’s place. Some of the friends including our four main character are playing a modified version of “Jenga” where every character has to carry out dares mentioned on the wooden blocks. Nikki picks a block which seemingly reads “Share something you are working on or have a drink”. She pulls out her phone and starts reading a fan fiction. It was Hansel and Gretel except it was a dark, adult version of the fairy tale that eroticised their bond. In a previous scene, Ian mentioned how Nikki considers Bear a brother. The story Wish-Nikki read was a direct hint at that. Everybody was taken aback. They were visibly uncomfortable by the imagery of the story. The tale also feels unsettling not only because of how the real Nikki viewed Bear but also because the nature of Wish-Nikki. There’s something so infant about her existence that makes her relationship with Bear even more disgusting. Wish-Nikki acts weird, always tries to impress Bear, constantly attempts to act humanly by learning, all the traits of a child. She’s essentially a manifestation of Bear’s fantasy. In the same house party scene, Wish-Nikki snaps back to real Nikki. She takes over for a brief moment. As soon as she gains control, she gets startled. She trips and falls down and starts screaming “It’s not me”. She grabs a bottle and smashes it on the table. She stabs herself on the face twice with the broken glass bottle in a desperate attempt to set herself free. Wish-Nikki takes over eventually. Everybody is horrified by what they are witnessing. Ian shouts at Bear to intervene and do something about it. Bear doesn’t move from his seat. A deep sense of terror and realization has taken over him. After this incident, Bear knows the relationship he has is a facade. Neither Nikki nor her feelings for him were ever truly real. He still tries to control her and actively persuades her to be normal. He simply refuses to accept that the real Nikki never loved him the way he wanted. There are moments when Bear and Wish-Nikki are seemingly having an intimate encounter. The background score is designed purposefully to engage us in a false sense of romanticism. They show us Bear at his vulnerable, struggling with the idea of accepting the reality. This is when you realize how devastated he is by his attachment to the idea of a perfect relationship. We understand that clearly Bear is at the wrong but somewhere we also want redemption for him. We want him to do the right thing. We want him to be accountable and responsible for his actions. The reason we feel this way is because of the sense of connection the movie established in the beginning. We see a problematic version of ourselves in Bear that we want to change. However, Bear keeps making the wrong decisions and inevitably becomes a horrible version of himself.

Later that night, Bear and Nikki are lying on his bed. Nikki has fallen asleep while Bear is wide awake. He gets a message from Sarah asking him to meet her outside. Bear refuses but eventually agrees when Sarah forces her. Bear carefully gets out of his bed, tip-toes to reach the door. Just as he was about to leave the room, we hear “Bear”. He gets startled and turns around. He says “I’m just getting water”. She says “Kill me, please”. It’s the real Nikki speaking. Bear exclaims “What ?”. “She’s sleeping. It’s me.” says the real Nikki. She begs him to kill her and end this nightmare, end her suffering. She knows there’s no other way out. She has been through so much hence she pleads him to end her life. “What would be so bad? What’s so bad about being with me?” says Bear in response and starts to walk away as the real Nikki continues to beg “Please. Please”. This is when Bear strips himself of any chance of redemption. Despite knowing and understanding Nikki’s misery, he could only think of himself. Bear is not a stereotypical villain. He doesn’t have a grand scheme or traumatic origin. He is a regular person and that’s what makes him scary. He starts as a seemingly nice guy trying to win over the love of his life. He has flaws yet comes off as someone genuine. It is only after he’s put through dramatic circumstances that his true nature is fleshed out. The veil of a “nice guy” falls off. We see the man underneath, an ego driven and selfish cluster of insecurity. He never loved Nikki. He never really cared about her. He only fancied the idea of her and how it made him feel. What makes him even scarier is how relatable he is. Bear is written with intention of resonating with people. We feel for him, empathize with him and even root for him until we see the actual person beneath all the facade.

On the surface, Nikki’s shenanigans, unnatural behaviour and extreme gestures scare us. They are meant to. They are staged purposefully with precise sound design and editing choices to deliver the impact. The awkward silences, eerie dialogue delivery, strange movements and creepy facial expressions perfectly build the uncanny valley that makes Wish-Nikki something almost human but not an actual one. Inde Navarette’s performance is what makes the execution truly land. However, the true horror is the familiar nature of Nikki’s victimhood. People in the real world also share the experiences she went through in a relationship: getting abused, controlled, manipulated and tortured. She was forced in a relationship she never desired in the first place, doing things she never wanted to. What happened because of an honest mistake ended up being a horrible nightmare.