'Obsession' Ending Explained: Who Got What They Wished For?

The movie everyone is talking about right now is Obsession, a horror film directed by Curry Barker that is a scathing critique of modern relationship dynamics.

It's cleaning up at the box office and changing all of Hollywood for the better.

If you haven't seen it, the story is original and interesting. Bear (Michael Johnston), a timid guy, has a desperate crush on his coworker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) and stumbles upon a novelty toy called the "One Wish Willow" in a crystal shop. He's so frustrated by his inability to tell her how he feels, he breaks the twig and wishes that Nikki would love him “more than anyone in the whole f–king world.”

What follows is a grotesque nightmare with a lot to say about consent and humanity. And it really pulls apart boring tropes that need reinvention, and does so with glee.

But what has everyone talking is the bleak ending that everyone is trying to interpret and pick apart.

Let's dive in.

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The Mechanics of the One Wish Willow

This was one thing I saw people talking about online after the movie. Basically, if you use a one-wish willow, you break this stick and get any wish you want.

You can only do that once.

The horror of Obsession comes from the literal execution of the wish.

The moment Bear makes his demand that Nikki love him, the real Nikki is suppressed, and the exterior Nikki is there to fulfill his wish and won't let anything stand in her way.

The haunting thing in the movie, for me, was the idea that Nikki is still in there, sometimes literally screaming in agony within her own subconscious.

As the curse deepens, Nikki's "love" turns homicidal. I think that's because she's going so hard against what she actually wants to do that things keep escalating as she loses her mind.

Either way, as the movie progresses, Nikki brutally murders their mutual friends Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) and Sarah (Megan Lawless) to eliminate any distractions for Bear.

Bear wants this to end, but he can't take his wish back. His only choices are to get someone else ot wish it would all end or to kill himself.

The Third-Act Twist: Who Made the Last Wish?

By the final act, Bear is trapped in his own home by the violent entity he created. So he looks for a way out and buys more of the willows to try to get Ian to wish it away.

But Ian thinks Bear is full of crap and instead wishes for a billion dollars. Money rains down on them, and Bear knows he's now trapped.

He goes home, where Nikki is with Sarah's body. She was supposed to dispose of it, but now she's taken its skin off and is trying to be like her so that Bear loves her.

Ian shows up to talk with all his money, and Nikki shoots him in the face, killing him.

Terrified and cornered, Bear tries to swallow a lethal dose of prescription sleeping pills after being unable to shoot himself. But in true, selfish "nice guy" fashion, he panics and shoves his fingers down his throat to save himself.

He can't sacrifice anything for Nikki, even after taking everything from her.

Then, a subtle camera shift and an audio "whoosh" change everything.

Bear suddenly stops gagging, calms down, and mindlessly walks into the living room to embrace Nikki.

In the background, we hear the faint jingle of the One Wish Willow, and realize Bear is dying at the same time. He didn't cough up enough of the pills before he suddenly had the curse on him.

We infer that the possessed Nikki has used the final wish on one of the toys that he bought to try to undo her. But she wished for Bear to love her just as intensely.

The sudden shift isn't Bear "choosing" to do the right thing; it’s the curse taking hold of him. He is no longer Bear; he is "Wish Bear," completely hollowed out by magic.

So instead of puking up more pills, he goes to her...where he dies in her arms.

Here's the messed-up part: as soon as Bear dies, the curse is lifted.

So Nikki finally gets possession of her own body back and is surprised by all of her friends being dead around her.

And that's how it ends.

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Who Got What They Wished For?

The tragic irony of the finale is that the One Wish Willow technically delivers on every promise, leaving absolutely everyone miserable.

The thing is, all these wishes were really perfect character development. You can unpack each thing these people wanted

Here's who we saw wish and why.

Summing It All Up

Obsession functions as a brilliant horror movie that gets a dark ending, which perfectly complements its theme and gets us all talking.

For more on subverting genre tropes, check out our guide on how to write a psychological thriller script and look at our breakdown of the history of the 'Final Girl' trope in horror.

And let us know what you think about the Obsession ending in the comments.