Obsession
Came out; 2025
Time; 1 hour 48 Minutes
Watched: Amazon
Rated: R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language and brief graphic nudity
IMDB Rating; 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes:
Tomato Meter 94%
Popcorn Meter 94%
Caution; Spoiler Alert
Staring;
Michael Johnston as Bear
Inde Navarrette as Nikki
Cooper Tomlinson as Ian
Megan Lawless as Sarah
Andy Richter as Carter
Haley Fitzgerald as Viola
Story Line;
Baron Bailey seeks a romantic connection with his co-worker Nikki Freeman after a series of personal setbacks. He buys a novelty charm known as the One Wish Willow and wishes for her affection, triggering an immediate and deranged shift in her behavior. As Nikki becomes dangerously possessive, Baron learns the charm cannot be reversed and that her devotion masks a lethal instability. Following a series of gruesome confrontations involving their friends Sarah Harper and Ian, the situation collapses into violence. Nikki ultimately forces a final, tragic resolution that leaves the wreckage of their lives scattered around Baron
Thoughts:
I don't understand how this got such good ratings, it was so slow.
I have questions: If he lives along, how did the pills get out for the cat to eat them and die, how could he afford to live working at a music store, Did he not look at the sandwich before he ate it?
It had a good story line, the acting was fine but it just didn't land for me.
CAUTION; Spoiler Alert
Baron "Bear" Bailey (Michael Johnston) works at a music store alongside his co-workers Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette), Sarah Harper (Megan Lawless), Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), Harry (Darin Toonder), Reggie (Anthony Pavone), Joe (Justice), and Chris (Anthony Casabianca). The store operates under the management of Carter Harper (Andy Richter), Sarah's father. Bear has long harbored unacted-upon romantic feelings for Nikki. His best friend Ian is also part of his immediate social circle.
Bear returns home one day to find that his cat, Sandy, has died after consuming oxycodone pills left within the cat's reach. Shortly after, encouraged by Ian to pursue Nikki romantically, Bear accepts her invitation to join a group trivia night. Before meeting the group, he stops at a crystal shop to search for a replacement for a sentimental item Nikki recently lost. There, a shop employee named Viola (Haley Fitzgerald) directs his attention to a novelty item called the One Wish Willow, a small charm whose packaging claims it will grant a single wish to whoever snaps it in two. Bear purchases it.
That evening, the group convenes at a trivia bar hosted by the Trivia Bar Host (Jeff Barker). Afterward, Nikki directly asks Bear whether he has romantic feelings for her. He denies it. Frustrated with himself upon returning home, Bear snaps the One Wish Willow and wishes aloud for Nikki to love him more than anyone else in the world.
Almost immediately, Nikki reappears at his door asking to sleep at his house. She confides that her estranged father is dying of cancer. In bed that night, she kisses him, then screams and pulls back abruptly. The following morning, Nikki constructs a memorial using Sandy's remains. She attributes her erratic behavior the prior night to having taken MDMA, and Bear accepts this explanation. The two begin dating.
Ian calls Bear to relay that Nikki told Sarah she had viewed Bear as her "little brother" shortly before the relationship began, and that her stated reason for coming to Bear that night, her father's cancer, was a lie. That night, Bear wakes to find Nikki sitting beside him watching him sleep. She cries hysterically and accuses him of not loving her.
The following day, Bear discovers that Nikki has prepared him a sandwich using Sandy's remains. He calls the customer support number printed on the One Wish Willow packaging to request that the wish be reversed. The representative (Curry Barker) informs him that the wish will remain in effect until Bear's death. The representative then places a screaming Nikki on the line. Bear hangs up.
That night, Nikki accompanies Bear to a party at Ian's house, despite Ian's objections. During a Jenga drinking game, Nikki recites a violent, incestuous retelling of "Hansel and Gretel." Bear then draws a block printed with a dare instructing him to kiss the person to his left, who is Sarah. Before he can act, Nikki removes Sarah from her seat and kisses Bear herself. Moments later, Nikki screams and drives a broken bottle into her own face. Bear transports her to the emergency room, but she refuses treatment and continues to behave erratically. He brings her back to his home to recover.
Later, Sarah texts Bear asking to meet at a park. As Bear moves to leave, a visibly lucid Nikki stops him. She tells him her obsessive state is dormant and begs him to kill her. Bear refuses, offended that she would choose death over a relationship with him. At the park, Sarah tells Bear that Ian and Nikki had been casually involved with each other for two years, and raises the possibility that Nikki is using Bear to retaliate against Ian. Sarah hints at her own attraction to Bear. At that moment, Nikki bursts through the car window. She murders Sarah by repeatedly driving her head into a brick wall, then instructs a stunned Bear to return home while she handles the body.
Bear goes back to the crystal shop and buys all remaining One Wish Willows. He finds, however, that he cannot snap any of them to produce a countering wish. He brings the items to Ian and explains the situation. Ian, disbelieving, sarcastically wishes for a billion dollars. Cash immediately falls from the ceiling. Bear takes the last remaining One Wish Willow home with the intention of getting Nikki to use it to undo the original wish. Inside his house, he finds Sarah's mutilated body. Nikki appears wearing Sarah's dress and scalp and threatens Bear and herself at gunpoint. Ian arrives at the house and Nikki shoots him dead immediately.
Bear retreats to the bathroom and locks the door. He presses the barrel of the gun to his own head but cannot bring himself to fire. He swallows the remaining oxycodone pills, then changes his mind and attempts to vomit them up. In the next room, Nikki snaps the last One Wish Willow. The wish takes effect on Bear. He stops attempting to purge the pills, opens the bathroom door, and kisses Nikki before the overdose kills him.
Nikki, grief-stricken, raises the gun to herself. Bear's death breaks the wish's hold on her, and her original personality resurfaces just before she fires. She finds herself standing amid the bodies of Sarah and Ian, with Bear dead at her feet. Ruthie (Chloe Breen) is among those present in the aftermath. Nikki wails.
Sources
IMBD
Rotten Tomatoes
Wikipedia
