Obsession

spoiler free part Obsession succeeded my expectations too well. This film provided so much shocking scenes and horror I would have never guessed. This had so many jump scare scenes, definitely not that scary overall as it was said but it did provide bunch of jump scares that work surprisingly well. The pacing is great with following a pretty straight path without any shifts. Many horror films nowadays fail because of the desperate attempt to keep the horror going. But this film balanced horror and dialogue in a way where even though there's calm situations, the situation itself still feels tense because of the uneasy atmosphere. The horror and somewhat if you can call this comedy is balanced in a way that make this film so unique. The tone shifts are so well done which makes this film not the usual and basic horror film many new horror releases feel like. The atmosphere of this indie film is pretty spectacular and I find this so much different than a lot of horror films. A lot of horror films have that usual boring atmosphere that's always the same. Like the atmosphere of Conjuring being the same as pretty much all horror films. But this film has that cozy yet uneasy atmosphere at the same time. It almost feels like cozy but that's the art of the film. It wants you to feel comfortable sometimes so it can play with your feelings like a roller coaster. The soundtrack is also probably one of the best parts of this film. Because of the young director who has a Youtube and everything, he knows what to give an teen audience. And the soundtrack is the exact reason why many younger directors can do an excellent job on a film just because the soundtrack suits the new audience and the film. incoming spoilers The performances are just over the top. Like flying to the roof with Inde Navarrette competing with oscar level actresses. Yes she indeed would deserve that oscar of the year because she does an performance many famous actress's would fail in. She proved herself and I see this actress having an promising future. She acts an psychopath so well with her mood swings and mental breakdown's feeling so realistic. What this film also manages to do with excellence is Bear's character. I find him so well written because he's obviously the "villain" in this film. This film manages to make something not a lot of horror films do and that is making the film's "victim" into the actual villain and we get to see how the protagonist does all these terrible things. So let's get into it. So Nikki obviously doesn't have any free will after the wish is done so that means all of what she is doing is not consensual. And what makes it worse and what makes this film so scary, not because of the jump scares but because of the disturbing fact that Nikki sometimes regains self control and then she goes back to wish Nikki. And she really wants to die and we get to see that. She even attempts suicide at many parts because she really doesn't want to be alive anymore. She also asks Bear to unalive her. Then Bear walks away from the situation like a psychopath because she gave an bad answer to "what would be so bad about being with me". I think her coming back to her old self sometimes is something that creates the art for this film because you can see in the panic in her and you can see that she's indeed a completely different person. This film contains a lot of rape as well. Every scene where Bear and Nikki have sex is obviously not consensual. She can't consent over her body if she's not herself. And Bear knows that but he still uses Nikki for her body. So every sex scene is also so disturbing because of the fact that this is an act of rape. This wish Nikki is just doing whatever to fulfill Bear's needs. So it comes to the final point. Was Bear even in love? Well from my perspective I would say absolutely not and we can see that in many parts of the film. Bear is obviously using Nikki because of her body and I'm not even sure if he does realize it. Bear was even ready to cheat on Nikki with Sarah and that shows that Bear really just uses women because Bear isn't even in love enough to maintain loyalty. And the scene that confirms my perspective is the ending. In the ending its heavily hinted that Nikki wished that Bear would love him back. After that Bear comes out of the bathroom with a smile on his face and ready to start a life with her before he overdoses. What Bear thought was love all along (if he did) was in the end just lust. So what is the only "good" thing Bear did in this film. Well I think his intensions were somewhat good when he was going to commit suicide because Nikki would be free but the outcome and consequences of his actions have already happened so what he actually did in that scene was the most selfish thing he could have done because now real Nikki is going to live her life with the actions that Bear caused. So when Bear realized that he needed to end his life it was already too late because the time had already ran out. But what I find even more fascinating about his character is the fact that people think that Bear knew Nikki wasn't consenting to the situation. But what I think was Bear knew but also didn't know. I think for example when he heard real Nikki on the phone screaming my speculation is that Bear couldn't accept the fact that he caused Nikki to lose her free will and her own life. But he was too full of himself and in shock of the whole situation he chose to ignore all the signs like "not me" picture in his lunchbox, breakdowns, phone call and the other stuff. And the part where he realizes Nikki is not herself is when he asks "what would be so bad about being with me" but even after that he kind of lives in denial. So in the end he knows deep down pretty clearly that Nikki is not herself but chooses to not accept that reality. This film did indeed earn its hype. Now the real question is does the theme obsession lean more towards Nikki or Bear? 10