Obsession Review: what you need to  know, and what you may have missed

Picture yourself watching a movie about a young woman, Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette), is being magically taken advantage of for a man’s personal desire. She starts to go out of control against her will. Bear (played by Micheal Johnston), who was Nikki’s friend and a brother figure, keeps her possession and weird behaviors a secret. That is the plot of Obsession, a horror movie that came out on May 15, 2026. I think the meaning of this movie is “being loved on YOUR own terms.” It requires you to pay A LOT of attention, so this review is meant to shed light on what you may have missed.

Bear’s ability to manipulate and take advantage of Nikki is a very real interpretation of modern men and relationship issues. His wish on a Wishing Willow made obvious his intentions with Nikki, it was “I wish Nikki loved me more than anyone else in the world.” Think to yourself, HOW DOES THAT SOUND? It sounds like someone who is an incel and a coward, who uses a magical opportunity to take advantage of a woman who is not showing any signs of attraction to him. His wish should have been “I wish to have the courage to tell Nikki I love her,” but that’s not what Bear decided to do with his power; he used it to take advantage of her.

I think this is one of the main meanings because in a part of the movie where Nikki was sleeping and her real not-possessed self woke up and was speaking through her possessed body, she asked Bear to kill her. Bear’s response to this was, “what’s so wrong with being with me?” He can clearly tell at this moment that Nikki’s love isn’t genuine but he continues to make decisions as though it could be. His reaction in this scene is why I believe Bear is one of the best written modern male horror villains

Before Bear uses the Wishing Willow, we didn’t see too much about Nikki’s character. From what we did see, she was very independent, funny, and very clearly did not want to be in a committed relationship. We never even got to understand her as a person, like we don’t know what her family was really like, or what she liked doing, or anything about WHO SHE IS. This is confusing to viewers because we have no understanding of Nikki’s character, like we don’t know why Bear is basically obsessed with this girl. Throughout the film we learn more about everyone else in this friend group, but not Nikki. For example, Sarah Harper, another female friend in the group, has had her OWN story, one that wasn’t swallowed up by a man, even if it was cruelly cut short. Sarah has gotten all her friends jobs at her dad’s music store and she wants to go to college to study art but had trouble in high school and keeps getting rejected. It seems like Nikki was only in the movie to be a part of Bear’s story and completely disregarded her story, which just goes to show how some women are treated like objects.

This movie should teach something to men and women. Women, we should not be lowering ourselves for a man or letting any man make us act, feel, or be someone we are not. If you are a man, if you are going to be in a relationship with someone or you’re going to pursue someone, make sure you both want the same thing. Don’t try and force something on a girl or try to overthrow her feelings or her desires for your own personal pleasure. If you feel like YOU need help in a relationship, then get help! There is nothing wrong with asking for help or looking for support. Men should learn from this movie to not take advantage of independent women and make her feel dependent on you. Everyone in a relationship should feel like they are able to be themselves.