I went to watch Obsession last night, and let me tell you, I’m not a horror movie fan, but this one had me screaming! It’s not a simple horror film with ghosts or someone getting possessed, and that’s exactly what makes it so gripping. Here are my theories about Obsession’s gritty world.
Ghosts? No. Haunted house? No. A demon running behind people? A big NO. It was not your usual horror movie, and that is why I went in. Obsession has a very different world, a very different premise, and it works.
Bear (Michael Johnston) is secretly in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but he is hesitant to go and express his feelings for her. His friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) is constantly pushing him and trying to give him the confidence to go and tell her, but he’s just not able to do it. Another friend of theirs is Sarah (Megan Lawless), who secretly admires Bear (that’s what I thought), but keeps it to herself since she knows he is interested in Nikki.
The movie kicks off with Bear practicing how to confess his feelings to Nikki, with Ian helping him. But very quickly, it becomes clear this isn’t just a simple crush story. A major turning point comes when Bear returns home and finds his beloved cat, Sandy, dead after consuming pills (presumably accidental or self-inflicted), which he had in his cupboard.
The film slowly shifts into something darker and more psychological, especially after Bear comes across a mysterious object called the “One Wish Willow” – a seemingly harmless trinket that grants exactly one wish, but never in the way you expect. From that point, the tone of the film starts tightening – like something is already going wrong even before the “wish” fully kicks in. Fast forward to Nikki calling him and asking him to come out and join them at the bar. Before meeting her, he goes to a store to buy a pendant for Nikki but ends up getting the “One Wish Willow” instead, something he initially treats like a backup gift. But the real shift happens when he finally uses it. After a series of interruptions where he can’t confess properly, he drops Nikki home and finally makes his wish:
“I wish freaky Nikki loves me more than anything in this world.”
And from that moment, everything changes – including Nikki herself.
What starts as wish fulfillment quickly turns into something far more disturbing. Nikki doesn’t just fall in love with Bear – she becomes intensely, dangerously obsessed with him, in a way that feels unnatural and uncontrollable. The film plays with this idea of love turning into possession, and it constantly escalates the tension through Nikki’s increasingly unhinged behavior, creating shock after shock over its two-hour runtime.
There’s a lot of confusion (I’m trying to keep it precise and avoid spoilers), but I came up with three theories based on my understanding.
1. Was Bear A Victim?
Soon after he made the wish, we see Nikki turn into his lover – but in a very intense and disturbing way. She can’t see him with anyone else and can’t tolerate him even talking to other people. For a while, it feels like Bear is the one bearing the consequences of his own wish, like he is the victim of what he created. That is, until the scene where Bear calls the helpline number of the “One Wish Willow” and asks if he can alter, re-do, or cancel his wish. The person on the other side simply says no. But what’s more disturbing is how they already seem to know about Nikki – and we even hear Nikki screaming through the phone. That moment makes it feel like Nikki’s consciousness is trapped somewhere else, as if something else is inhabiting her body.
So, if this theory works and the real Nikki is trapped somewhere else, then who is really suffering here? Nikki, for sure.
Another key moment is when Bear is going out at midnight to meet Sarah, and Nikki stops him and begs him “Please don’t wake her up. Put me out of my misery, I’ve never been with you Bear”. That felt like the real Nikki speaking – the real Nikki begging to be freed from whatever horror or mental prison she is trapped in. But instead of understanding her pain, Bear responds with, “What’s so wrong about being with me?” That line really makes you question his mindset in that moment. And that’s where it hits you: Nikki is the true victim of Bear’s obsession. Bear is not the victim – he is the cause. He got exactly what he wished for.
When the real Nikki earlier asked Bear if he liked her, he couldn’t tell her – or maybe he simply didn’t have the courage to say it directly to her face – but he still wanted things to go his way. He made the wish that Nikki would love him more than anything in the world, and that wish altered her completely – her personality, her emotions, everything about her became centered around Bear. But when he could no longer handle the consequences of that wish, he tried to undo it. So, it was always about Bear and never about Nikki? Bear was never in love with Nikki, he loved the idea of being loved by Nikki. Bear was never the victim. Nikki was!
2. What did Nikki wish for?
Bear brought a “One Wish Willow” to Nikki and was about to ask her to make a wish for him. But when he reached there and saw what he saw (I’m not spoiling it for you guys), he left the wish willow behind, went into the washroom, swallowed a handful of pills to end his life – and then suddenly puked them all out. He came out of the washroom and started acting like Nikki.
After that, we are shown a glimpse of the broken wish willow. Now the question is: what did Nikki wish for? Given everything that happens afterward – especially how Bear starts behaving in a similar way – there are four possibilities:
- Nikki wished that Bear and she would live happily ever after and be together forever.
- She wished that Bear would love her as much as she loved him.
- She wished that Bear would LOVE HER MORE THAN ANYONE IN THIS ENTIRE WORLD!
- Nikki never made a wish and Bear’s wish backfired.
3. Was Sandy Inside Nikki’s Body?
Ever since the movie came out, there has been an ongoing discussion across the internet that Sandy’s soul was the one occupying Nikki’s body. The idea is actually pretty interesting. Right before everything went downhill, Sandy died, and shortly after that, Bear made his wish. According to this theory, Sandy’s soul was still around Bear and somehow entered Nikki’s body the moment the wish took effect. Now, why Sandy?
Well, one thing that supports this theory is how deeply attached cats can be to their owners. While cats are often seen as independent animals, studies have shown that many cats form strong emotional bonds with the people around them, seek comfort from them, follow them around, and can become highly dependent on them for security and affection. In a way, Bear was Sandy’s entire world. So if a supernatural wish was powerful enough to alter a person’s reality, who’s to say it couldn’t pull Sandy into the mix as well?
There are a couple of moments in the movie that seem to support this idea.
The first is when Nikki packs lunch for Bear before he leaves for work. Along with it, she gives him two Polaroid pictures. One says “You” and the other says “Not Me.” That feels like a huge clue. If taken literally, it almost sounds like someone is trying to tell Bear that the person standing in front of him isn’t really Nikki. It supports the idea that Nikki was no longer fully present in her own body.
Another moment comes when Nikki casually tells Bear that she ate a bug during the night. It sounds bizarre at first, but if you look at it through the Sandy theory, it starts making a little more sense. After all, catching and eating bugs is something cats commonly do. It almost feels like a small hint from the filmmakers that there might be something feline hiding beneath Nikki’s behavior.
But there is one thing that completely throws a wrench into this theory.
Nikki gives Bear a sandwich made from cat meat. If Sandy’s soul was really inside Nikki, then why would a cat do something like that? Why would a cat serve its own cooked meat to the person it loves most? That part just doesn’t add up. In fact, it directly contradicts the entire theory. So while the Sandy theory explains some of the movie’s strangest moments surprisingly well, there are still a few details that stop me from fully buying into it.
Overall, I’d rate it an 8/10. You should definitely watch it! I tried my best to avoid major spoilers so that you can fully enjoy the experience when you do.
And now I’m curious…
If you had a One Wish Willow and could make just one wish, what would it be?