there is still time

aster | horror blog | #1 peter friedkin fan | 18

[deaths-conductor]

i feel like something bad is going to happen to me. i feel like something bad has happened. it hasn't reached me yet, but it's on its way.

links

rentry

spacehey (BE WARNED, MUSIC AUTOPLAYS HERE)

my tags

#were-gonna-crash.txt is for me yapping

#now watching is for my live reaction to movies/shows

#what a fucking narcissist is for blog-like posts with a picture of myself

credits

quote - lake mungo (2008)

rentry - @pupilled

saw discs - @horror-sthetics

patrick bateman - @finns-gifs

[stari-hun]

I think a massive part of the story and that Entity Nikki exists alongside Nikki still being there and suffering is because Nikki already told Bear no. The wish Bear makes doesn’t just force Nikki to develop feelings, it actively overrides her own consent. This is such an important part about why Nikki still pops out and has room to come back because Nikki doesn’t want any of this. She isn’t just Bear’s friend who happens to not be in love with him and Bear foolishly wishes she’d develop the same feelings. She doesn’t LIKE Bear, she’s seen his feelings, she’s had time with other people, she’s had time to “see his appeal”, she actively tells him she doesn’t like anyone, she lets others know she sees him as a brother. She can’t be convinced!!! She made her decision! She doesn’t WANT him and she isn’t gonna change her mind! That’s why Entity!Nikki exists apart from regular Nikki who fights back against this all. Most narratives of a wish like this wouldn’t have scenes of Nikki fighting back and being horrified because they’d frame Bear as the victim. Obsession switches the roles because even the entity that takes over Nikki isn’t inherently bad or a divine punishment for his greed. It’s an active response to Bear saying no doesn’t mean no to me. The crack between them that allows Nikki to reappear from Entity Nikki is because Entity Nikki fundamentally can’t be her. Being Nikki means not liking Bear otherwise Nikki would’ve been something like “hey… do you wanna go on a date?” The wish couldn’t change Nikki and Bear didn’t wish for her to grow feelings for him he wished for [Nikki] to [love him more than anyone else in the world]. Nikki can’t do that! So Entity Nikki forms as a response

[deaths-conductor]

lotsa horrors

[meatsex]

[nerves-nebula]

went to see obsession today here's my review

[maxadecillion]

just because you chose this for her doesn't make it less real

[deaths-conductor]

thinking about how i left the theater hating b*ar the whole movie

thinking about how my mom left feeling a little bad for him

thinking about how she had to read a few posts to realize how evil b*ar really was

thinking about how we wasted 12 years in a psychologically abusive household until i made her see what i saw, and then they got divorced

[tildexart]

i love the hansel and gretel scene so much. it speaks to me as someone who was a middle school girl who had mostly guy friends. the amount of times my peers, teachers, even parents asked if i had a crush on my friends or implied that i wanted to date them even though we were just friends? completely awful. and when one of these friends did confess their feelings for me, i felt sick to my stomach.

i love this scene because of how true it is. like bear wishing for nikki to like him, the poem is showing boundaries being crossed and how uncomfortable that can be, especially when the relationship is not meant to be romantic. yea, i may be a girl (eh, female presenting) friends with guys, but trying to force us into a romantic relationship does feel like being told i should sleep with a brother. yea, this scene is great.

[deaths-conductor]

amazing work curry barker i love how entity nikki is way more sympathetic than b*ron

[spider-swift]

one thing that I keep coming back to about nikki's character is that to me, there's a sense of infantilisation after the wish is made. we know from the get-go that whoever or whatever has overtaken her autonomy is young, fresh, learning as it goes (see: confusing her grief over sandy as sandy being her cat, and then having to correct herself) but additionally, i feel we see nikki regress in a misogynistic manner. wishing she was in work, even though she couldn't wait to get out of the place, so she can be with bear. not wanting him to leave her side at the party. the delivery of 'actually? no!' outside bear's car sounding like a petulant child when she's first under the control of the wish. the frown. the tantrum in the restaurant and the baby-like crying in the middle of night. the needing bear to tell her to shower, to check that she's not ill, to give her permission to make decisions about her own wellbeing without his input. the needing to be scolded when she puts together sandy's memorial before she can recognise the immorality of it. when bear tells her off for making the sandwich and says 'you cannot do that!' like a parent. yes, wish nikki is a brand-new being, but also, wish nikki presents herself as someone more dependant, incapable, and childish, despite nikki being an intelligent, accomplished writer, because it automatically assumes the woman bear wants is someone entirely reliant on him. the ideal woman is a submissive and mouldable one.

[rorykillmore]

the irony of the people who insist that "nikki liked bear back" is a take which further tarnishes her agency somehow is that these people are basing that take on information that the movie gives us third hand through a friend group who are constantly lying to one another and struggling to communcate. like i still think you can interpret it either way, to be clear. but you are equally basing your take on "people who are not nikki who are trying to speak for nikki". the entire point is that she has no voice of her own.

[keresofdeath]

Bear saying that Nikki would "hate" citrine. Citrine, which is sunshine and remarkable healing. Citrine, which supports emotional well-being, stimulates clarity, and promotes creativity. A crystal which is believed to dispel negative energies. To replace them with joy and optimism. Balance. Harmony. Vitality. Everything he refused to give her.

[fandomgalore-blog]

Everyone is rightfully discussing the incredible performance Inde made in Obsession, but I’d also like to discuss how amazing Michael Johnston was. He played an incel loser bitch boy so well that it’s gonna take me a while to want to see him in another movie again. The scariest part of his performance was that he absolutely could be one of your guy friends and he’d totally think he didn’t do anything wrong. This was a very realistic horror film because damn near every girl can relate to this scenario. Props to him for embodying a fucking loser to the max that well. I’d have to take a shower after leaving set every day to cleanse my soul if I were him. Hope the main two actors have successful futures in Hollywood cuz they ate!

[kaleb0x]

Okay actually I will make an original post about this movie. Just really quick before I go to bed, anyway, so nothing profound.

Maybe I’m the only one who cares about it, but I think it’s interesting to me that Bear is an AI user (which is snuck in throughout the movie). I think it’s interesting because the concept of the Willow Nikki read SO much like AI chatbots to me and the epidemic of people talking with them for comfort or to fufill relationship needs.

Her repeated and monotone short sentences when she first switched over is what really set me off on it. I don’t know about current AI (Won’t touch it), but in its early stages it was impossible to have coherent conversations with it because it would continually repeat the information you gave it, as well as constantly shifting in conversational moods.

Further on, the conversations are, and will always be, one sided and for the gratification of the user (in this case Bear (duh)). In chatbots specifically they exist solely to entertain or serve the needs of someone else. They literally cannot exist outside of the concept they were programmed as, just as Willow Nikki cannot be anything BUT in love with Bear

Does this make sense like do I sound insane. TLDR using AI makes you evil and you WILL trap women in their own subconscious /silly

[officialdietcoke]

one of the things i admire most about obsession is the deliberate denial of any kind of optimistic ending, as well as the method by which that is executed. i’m thinking, specifically, of how the musical cues are utilized to pull multiple bait-and-switches on the audience: the way the music swells when bear is explaining the wish to ian and asking for his help; when bear puts the gun in his mouth; and when he takes the oxycodone.

obviously, if ian wishes away bear’s initial wish, that’s a happy ending! if bear dies in the bathroom and we cut to black, the audience can hold onto the hope that the wish breaking allows nikki to go back to her life before!

but those endings, especially the latter, would be dishonest. i appreciate that the film makes us sit in nikki’s anguish instead, bc i appreciate that it understands that she was equally affected by this, if not more so! an ending that bleak is honest to the concept and to the consequences inherent to the concept and i think it shows a great deal of respect for nikki. it’s an acknowledgement that nikki experienced something deeply violating and now has to somehow learn how to cope with it.

[livingursa]

Obsession (2026)

[brightorangelover]

i have thoughts and feelings. all them towards killing bear.