Unrequited love is a gut-wrenching feeling everyone has experienced at least once.
Curry Barker’s breakout summer blockbuster “Obsession” (2025) turns a story of unrequited love into a nightmare. Themes of bodily autonomy, free will and power imbalances led the film to gross over $260 million at the domestic box office, surpassing Pixar’s “Elemental” as the biggest original film to hit the global box office in the 2020s.
Bear, played by Michael Johnston, is the controversial protagonist of the movie whose unhealthy crush on his best friend, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), borders on obsessive. After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” in hopes of winning Nikki’s heart, Bear soon finds out that his desire comes at an extreme cost when Nikki becomes possessed and subsequently obsessed with him.
With the old Nikki gone, viewers follow the star-crossed lovers as their lives unravel. Released four years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, “Obsession” demonstrates what a loss of bodily autonomy looks like.
At the beginning of the film, audiences see that Nikki is trying to spread her wings and explore possibilities for her future. She quits her dead-end job at a music store and begins working on a novel in an attempt to escape a life she feels stuck in. She makes it clear that Bear is just a friend, and the old Nikki is characterized as being independent, confident and kind to all of the people around her.
When Bear makes his fateful wish, he takes away Nikki’s aspirations, future and right to choose in his desire for her to love him.
After Bear’s wish is made, Nikki morphs into a distorted version of Bear’s desires. At first, the two of them seem madly in love. A montage of Nikki and Bear living a domestic life plays across the big screen, with shots of them cooking, watching movies and cuddling. All the while, their two friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless) voice skepticism over this sudden change in their relationship dynamic.
Slowly, Nikki’s devotion and servitude toward Bear sours. She begins to have disturbing outbursts, changes the way that she dresses and refuses to leave Bear’s side. Despite these obvious red flags, Bear refuses to accept that something is horribly wrong.
The most horrifying part of “Obsession” is that throughout the film, we see the old Nikki trying to fight back and get Bear’s attention. There is one scene where the old Nikki comes out and begs Bear to, “Just... kill me.”
Instead of reflecting on the situation or even pausing at the gravity of her words, Bear simply responds with, “What would be so bad? What’s so bad about being with me?” Here, the “good guy,” hopeless romantic facade Bear upheld throughout the film finally slips off. Audiences plainly recognize that Bear isn’t the victim, but the villain.
It is only when Nikki becomes too much, and starts acting too “crazy,” to Bear’s standards that he begins to think of ways to remedy the situation. The movie’s end is nothing short of devastating, with the fate and future of Nikki left unknown. Her body, soul and brain were used for Bear’s fantasy, stripping her of her power, her future and her right to choose.
“Obsession” joins the list of original horror movies whose success can be attributed to extensive word-of-mouth praise. After the film’s release, fans took to TikTok, sparking a flood of memes, discourse and think pieces made on the film’s content and themes. Fans of horror were thrilled to see an incredible, original creation in a market saturated with franchises and sequels.
Barker’s summer masterpiece ultimately taught audiences across the country to be careful what they wish for.
This article was edited by Vaughan Noble, Jessica Ackerman and Gabrielle McNamee. Copy editing by Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve, Nicole Kariuki and Mattie Lupo.
