Wish-maxxing (Obsession film (2026) thoughts)

[corrector]

Anyone watch Obsession? This has got to be the modern version of 40 Year Virgin, Hitch, Rodger Dogger, American Pie. A spiritual sequal to all of those movies that portrays the new form of maxxing "wish maxxing".

When all the maxxing doesn't work, there is always the wishing willow left.

But then your woman becomes demonically obsessed with you and starts freaking you out.

That's where @MatureDJ will chime in and say that it's over for.....

Youtube has so much comments and reactions on this movie it's just insane.

 

[BaronOfHair]

No, that flick is what happens when a content creator who's gorged rhemselves on ABC Family/Free Form shows from The 2000s-about '17 attempts to pay homage to "weird menace" cinema of The 1970s, like Phantasm

The results are... Unique, to say the least. The "acting", music, dialogue, and cinematography bounce between being a tween love story and surreal horror

 

[corrector]

No, that flick is what happens when a content creator who's gorged rhemselves on ABC Family/Free Form shows from The 2000s-about '17 attempts to pay homage to "weird menace" cinema of The 1970s, like Phantasm

The results are... Unique, to say the least. The "acting", music, dialogue, and cinematography bounce between being a tween love story and surreal horror

What woman would you use a one wish willow on?

 

[eli77]

did a post about this liked the movie but only give it three stars !

 

[corrector]

did a post about this liked the movie but only give it three stars !

I only watched this movie once at home, on my desktop computer screen, and a small section of the movie, the part where Nikki bashes Sarah's head with a brick until she was killed, a part that shocked me as I didn't really see that coming, was seen in the dark basement with the 58 inch TV to have a cinema effect.

That said...I'd give it five stars as the movie is just crazy.

There is too much to unpack with this movie:
1) At what point does Bear turn into a villian in the story?
2) Does Bear taking Nikki to the hospital absolve him of guilt?
3) If I had a woman come on to me like Nikki, would I feel like I'm taking advantage of her?
4) Is this horror or a dark comedy?
5) Is Nikki have multiple personality disorder, possessed by a demon, or what is making her behave like that?
6) Would she be held criminally liable for the massacre in her home, or would she be able to plead insanity?
7) How far would I personally go if I had a genuine crush in a girl but she didn't want me or friendzoned me?
8) Bear was okay with his gf excavating and cooking his dead cat for lunch and tried to "work that out", he was okay with her duct taping his home and standing like a statue, peeing puking on the floor or who knows what else, she keeps on escalating and behaving more wierd and bizzarre and he's like "okay, lets work it out". Your crush could do anything, including murder your friend, and you are like "let me try and work this out babe".
9) The scene where he says "Is it that bad being with me", when the real Nikki wanted him to kill him because she was trapped.

I have literally gone over a week or two watching video reactions, looking at different angles of this movie, having a long AI chat about this very movie.

You are just giving it three stars, lol?

This is ** the movie **.

I mean I have not been this excited about any particular movie since Endgame (2019).

Ironically, I've only watched it once. Still spooked out by it's reference to that occult store. If it didn't have that occultic store in the movie, I probably would have watched it over again more comfortably. I don't like watching something depicting withcraft or love-spells.
These things are real and is not something I want to even see in fiction.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Monkeys Paw.

Simpsons vs. Aliens with a slingshot.

Every genie meme ever created.

Talking heads:

"Watch out. You might get what you asked for..."

This meme is as old as the hills.

 

[corrector]

The question is more at what point do you lose sympathy to Bear as a character.

For me it was the point real Nikki was begging him to kill him while wish Nikki was asleep and him saying "It it so bad wanting to be with me".

Then it dawned on me. His identity was so fused to the wish-Nikki that he was acting out of denial about something that could completely shatter and obliterate his ego, and couldn't handle it, and just walked away or put "real-Nikki"s cries of torment, request to being killed, or shocking changes between real/wish Nikki under a mental rug and moved on with the wish-Nikki.

Bear had obvious exit points in the movie:
1) Part where he left the home when he saw there was duct tape all over the door.
2) Part where he saw stand in one position and pee/poo and vomit on the rug
3) Part where she cooked his cat and served it to him for lunch (ie he honestly tried to negotiate boundaries of that relationship after that like she was a petulant child)
4) How she acted in that restaurant scene when confronted about lying about her dad.
5) How she behaved at that dinner party, including slashing her head with a bottle.
6) The hotline where the real Nikki was in torment


Some people get turned off with Bear as a character as soon as he breaks the wish stick. Other people stay with him until it's clear the real Nikki is crying out and he says that "Is it really so bad being wiht me"? Other people somewhere inbetween.

The beginning of the movie really lets the audience have full sympathy for bear. Here is a nice guy, part of a male lonliness epidemic with shallow friends, the modern lonely nice guy that obviously internet dating has not worked out for him and he's fixated on Nikki. Then your your sympathy is tested as an audience to see where you break ranks with him. Some people do it sooner rather than later. That's the question that each viewer has to answer.

 

[corrector]

The way I see it is this:

In the 2000s, you had Neil Strauss and the whole PUA culture took off. You had all sort of dating gurus peddling, buy this and I'll teach you the secrets to seduce the woman of your dreams.

Then you had Hitch (2005), and the 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005), Rodger Dodger (2002).

This all teach you that if you have game you can get any woman you want.


Then after serious pushback in the 2010s, where PUA was demonized, you had Tinder launched, the #Me-Too movement, Looksmaxxing, Gymmaxxing, Black Pill Red Pill,

You now have Obsession (2026)

That says, fvck all that, and the stupid fuzzy movies that came before that, including learning game and a little persistance ultimately got the girl of your dreams, and just use a one wish willow because the sitaution is that hopeless now.

 

[corrector]

I know understand what is going on.

Wish-Nikki synched wonderfully with Bear until Ian told him the truth about her. Ian undermined his fantasy. When he confronted Wish-Nikki, that was the beginning of the end. The Wish-Nikki starts destablising, as the real-Nikki starts breaking through. Even though Bear says, "it doesn't matter" (ie what she says about her father), his actions, mindset has altered as he can't just unlearn that, no matter how desperately he wants it to work.

Evidence 1: Real Nikki breaks through on the initial night BECAUSE Bear could not accept her behaviour and was not ready for it.

Evidence 2: When wish-Nikki approaches him the next night, explains herself, Bear accepts she is real, and he confesses he likes her. Then you have a positive feedback loop and the real-Nikki is suppressed while the wish-Nikki is dominant, because Bear of himself is stable.

(example of positive feed-back loop:

The montage may be a fraction of the screen-time of the movie. But it at least shows there is no rupture of truth (ie about Nikki's father) during that time. Wish-Nikki is stable -- a little suffocating eventually as time continues with Bear, but Bear is 100% comfortable with wish-Nikki during this time. The horror aspect of the movie is the next sequence over when Ian destabalizes Bear to doubt Wish-Nikki.

Most people simply miss this sequence within the movie that what Bear believed he had during this time was real and he created a new identity around her. Wish-Nikki knows him and her own stability is contingent on his stability. Since he is stable, they are both happy.

Evidence 3: Bear gets bad information from Ian that Nikki lied about her father. This is the seed that destroyed Bears ability to maintain the fantasy -- even if he agrees "it doesn't matter", Wish-Nikki is attune to Bear, his subsconcious, his feelings, and know "something is wrong".
This destablizes her and the real-Nikki starts breaking through, while wish-Nikki starts behaving more bizarre and strange in ways that were not part of the original montage. This reflects the cognitive dissonance Bear feels. In this sense, wish-Nikki is a mirror of Bear's internal state. We are seeing the collpase of Bear's fantasy in real time as the feedback loop changes to a negative feedback loop.

Evidence 4: The more dramatically destablized Bear gets, the more real-Nikki breaks through. Peak destablization occurs in Bear when he had that hotline and heard Nikki screaming. The next sequence is the real-Nikki begging him to kill him. It reflects that Bear of himself can not internally maintain the fantasy it is now a negative feed-back loop (ie real-Nikki break throughs and/or wish-Nikki behaving more erratic and dangerous as Bear's instablity is now mirroring on her)

My ex-girlfriend also appeared to be very sensitive to my state. When I started getting more information that destablizied the relationship (ie her past, whether her divorce, while theologically incompatable, was something I could continue to live with as I learned more of the details/parciulars about it), I could not unlearn anything. She detected something changed with me. Even if I wanted to continue it, it would not be the same since the parameters of it would change with the new knowledge.

Ian therefore killed the whole thing in the movie, as it shows that it destablized him to the core, no matter how much he wanted to be with wish-Nikki.