seen from Yemen
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seen from Malaysia
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seen from Malaysia
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seen from United States
seen from Greece
seen from Germany
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seen from Kyrgyzstan
Calling Jigsaw John Kramer, like we're close like that
Obsession Understands the Real Horror Better Than Most Modern Films
Horror fans are eating good this year 🤏🤏 and honestly, Obsession ended up being one of the movies that stuck with me the most. Not because it’s the bloodiest or the most shocking, but because underneath all the supernatural stuff, it’s painfully real.
It does lose a star for the insane amount of times they said the big C, and the whole car sandwich thing because good lord, but outside of that, I genuinely think this is one of the best examples of modern horror reflecting real fears instead of just relying on jump scares and gore.
People love saying “horror is too political now” as if horror hasn’t always been political. The genre has always reflected what society is afraid of most at the time. Obsession just does it in a way that clearly hit a nerve, because the reactions to this movie have honestly been as interesting as the movie itself.
At its core, Obsession is about a girl losing who she is because a man wants her to belong to him.
And somehow people are still acting confused about who the villain is.
Bear Was Never the Victim
The true horror in this movie is honestly just how some men think women owe them everything simply because the guy has a crush. Bear spends the whole film hiding behind this awkward “good guy” image, but every decision he makes proves he never actually cared about Nikki as a real person. He cared about possessing her.
Even the entity itself reflects that.
One of the smartest details in the movie is how the thing taking over Nikki is clearly mirroring Bear and his desires rather than just acting randomly. When Bear tells “Nikki” about Sandy, she suddenly says she doesn’t want to be alone because she “just lost her cat.”
Nikki does not have a cat.
Bear does.
He lost her.
That moment completely changes how you view the entity because it shows it’s feeding directly off Bear’s emotions and wants. Nikki slowly stops becoming herself and starts reshaping into whatever he emotionally needs her to be.
It happens again near the end when Bear starts liking Sarah. Suddenly “Nikki” starts copying Sarah’s tattoos, changes her appearance, and even swaps out her normal silver jewellery for gold during the restaurant scene. She becomes less of a person and more like an empty reflection of whatever Bear wants women to be for him at that moment.
Which honestly makes the movie way sadder once you realise Nikki is still trapped inside herself the entire time.
The Scariest Scene Isn’t Supernatural
The rape scene is easily the most horrifying part of the movie because that is what it is, no matter how much people try to downplay it.
Nikki is literally staring away crying with that completely dead look on her face while Bear ignores every sign that something is deeply wrong because he’s too obsessed with finally getting what he wants.
What makes it even worse is learning later that Nikki remembers everything.
There’s also that moment after Bear snaps the willow and they’re sharing the bed together. After he kisses her, Nikki briefly breaks through and screams, and Bear’s response says everything about his character.
“You made me feel like I was doing something wrong.”
That line matters because it proves he knows. Maybe not fully at first, but deep down he absolutely understands that this is wrong. He knows this isn’t real love.
Which makes it even more annoying when he acts embarrassed or frustrated by the way Nikki behaves afterward.
Like what did you think was gonna happen???
It was literally your wish for her to love you more than anyone else.
At one point Nikki is begging him to kill her after smashing her face with a bottle, and this man — bear, stupid fucking name by the way — still has the audacity to ask:
“Is it really that bad being with me??”
eye twitch
He Had Chances to Stop
One thing I really liked is that the movie never lets Bear fully escape responsibility.
The wish starts turning wrong almost immediately, and he ignores every warning sign possible. Instead of realising he needs to undo the wish and let Nikki go, he blames the shop that sold him the One Wish Willow.
He literally calls the help desk wanting to “alter” the wish instead of cancelling it.
That detail is so important because it destroys the whole argument that Bear is some tragic victim caught in a bad situation. He had multiple opportunities to stop everything, but he valued having Nikki more than Nikki herself.
That isn’t love.
It’s possession.
Sandy and Nikki Were Never Really Seen as People
Something else I found interesting is how Sandy and Bear end up dying the exact same way.
It feels intentional.
Sandy almost acts as another example of how Bear views women generally. She’s another girl he doesn’t actually care for in any meaningful way beyond what she provides emotionally. Once women stop fitting into what he wants from them, they become disposable.
The parallel deaths make the connection impossible to ignore.
And honestly? None of these people are truly friends either.
Bear doesn’t seem to know Nikki outside of the version he created in his head. Ian tells him to call her “Freaky Nikki” because apparently insulting women counts as flirting, while also hooking up with her knowing Bear’s feelings.
Sarah honestly feels the saddest to me because I wish we got more scenes between her and Nikki. The tiny moments we do get make it seem like they were actually close once, which makes it more upsetting when Nikki starts clearly falling apart and Sarah mostly checks on Bear instead.
Everyone keeps centring him.
The “nice guy.”
Meanwhile Nikki is visibly losing herself right in front of them.
The Name “Bear” Is Smarter Than People Realise
The movie naming the main guy “Bear” honestly feels so intentional considering the whole conversation women have had online about “choosing the bear over the man.”
Because at least with a bear, you know what it is.
A bear is just a bear.
But a man can manipulate you, control you, violate you, pretend to be safe while doing something far worse.
The girl who sold me the ticket honestly summed the entire movie up perfectly when she said:
“I wouldn’t pick the man or bear.”
And yeah. Exactly.
The Reactions to This Movie Prove Its Point
One of the most worrying things about Obsession has genuinely been seeing how many men completely misunderstand it.
I’ve seen so many people acting like Bear is somehow the victim because of how Nikki acts after the wish starts changing her. Men genuinely asking how women could possibly see Bear as the bad guy.
Which is insane because the movie practically spells it out for the audience.
Nikki isn’t “crazy” naturally. Her behaviour is the direct result of Bear’s actions. But everyone around her treats her like she’s the problem while Bear hides behind this harmless awkward guy act.
And honestly, that reaction from audiences almost makes the movie feel more effective.
Because the whole point is that people are willing to excuse terrifying behaviour as long as the guy doing it seems “nice enough.”
Final Thoughts
What makes Obsession work so well is that the supernatural horror is never really the point.
The real horror is losing your identity because somebody else thinks their feelings matter more than your autonomy.
It’s being trapped inside yourself while everyone around you either ignores what’s happening or blames you for it.
That’s why the movie sticks.
Not because of the gore or the kills, but because underneath all of it is something uncomfortably believable.
Now this is one of my all-time favourite films ever, not just in horror!
Scream 1996 came out the year I was born, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve absolutely loved this film. The first scream is a smart, self-aware horror film that went on to be one of the most influential horror movies ever made.
IMDb 7.4/10 rating
Personal rating 11/10
I don't get people who don't like Immaculate, there's nothing not to like about a woman brutally executing her abusers, and the crushing the monstrous fetus she was impregnated with.
barbarian, the conjuring, and many others use the trope of casting a man as an scary and/or evil woman, which i feel like we just kind of let slide for some reason (igss bc uncritical acceptance of transmisogyny honestly) like making your serial killer be a trans woman/crossdresser/etc has definitely gone out of vogue bc its too obvious now, but this more subtle form of associating evil with women who have large and more masculinized bodies is so clearly still alive and kicking, even if these characters are textually cis women
“It’s scarier when the creepy place has monsters”
“no, it’s scarier when the creepy place is just a creepy place”
“No no, guys, it’s scariest when the place itself is the creepy monster”
Motherfuckers it’s scariest when you can’t for sure say which one it is
are you by yourself? you see nothing but there’s constant noises, and you can’t tell what those noises are, is it a creature? is it just the place settling? actually, is the place settling, it almost feels like it’s expanding and contracting, like it’s breathing? would it be worse if it’s a monster or if you’re completely, agonizingly alone in this horrifying place? you think there’s something that keeps darting just out of the corner of your eyes but is it just your nerves? can you blame your nerves for everything or are you just lulling yourself into a false sense of security? if you call for help, would you prefer for something to hear or for nothing to hear?
You seem to like horror. What movies and books do you recommend?
Ooh! I do! It depends on what you like.
Movies:
Skinamarink if you're into vibes
Eraserhead if you're into David Lynch stuff
I also really enjoyed His House, Rosemary's Baby, and Spree.
Books:
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Haddix
The Upstairs House is on my to-read list.
If you're into graphic novels, Uzumaki by Junji Ito is one of the most unsettling things I've read in my life.
And then my specialty, literary short stories:
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (which I've been talking about a lot lately lol)
"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
And honorary mention: the poem, "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe (which is where I got my URL)
I think I mostly like horror where people are kinda trapped--where their surroundings are changing and it's not a monster or demon threatening them. It's very Romantic. I live nature as an antagonist. But I do like other types of horror as you can see from the list!
