Latest / Film Curious / Obsession (2026) Review & Analysis: All the Things This Film Is Trying to Say & Do the Wish Mechanics Matter?

Transcript

Obsession (2026) Review & Analysis: All the Things This Film Is Trying to Say & Do the Wish Mechanics Matter? · Film Curious

0:00
I really hope someone out there jokingly said
0:03
I want to hippopotamus for Christmas and broke that wish.
0:07
It fell down on top of them if it does.
0:09
Like with the billion dollars.
0:10
Like on Christmas Eve, we just cut to them on Christmas
0:14
Eve and a fucking hippo like falls onto them.
0:17
I would last for a day if I get to see that movies.
0:33
Hello and welcome to film curious.
0:34
I'm joined by Pete and Nicole this morning.
0:36
We've been on a bit of a horror train lately.
0:38
Talked about send help last week, Lee Cronin.
0:41
Zoom on me a few weeks prior,
0:42
and Pete gave us a little non spoiler review on Holcomb the week before.
0:47
And that train is going to keep chugging along
0:49
because this week we are going to talk about obsession.
0:51
Let me pull up the premise, even though I'm sure if you're listening,
0:55
you know the premise, you've seen the trailer ready.
0:57
I think that this movie was promoted a lot.
1:00
Did the trailer. Tell you the premise though?
1:03
I think so.
1:03
And this is a compliment. Yeah, okay.
1:06
For me, I knew it was. Yeah, I knew it was.
1:09
Guy makes wish for. Oh I know.
1:12
Oh okay.
1:13
Okay. I'm pretty sure that.
1:14
I guess I just avoided.
1:16
No, I guess I just avoided a bunch, which worked out really well.
1:20
That's what I remember from the trailer.
1:22
Nicole, you remember seeing the trailer?
1:24
Yeah. I mean, I remember there.
1:25
Being like a teaser
1:26
that was just the scene of him making that phone call with the number.
1:30
Oh, wow.
1:30
They showed that in a.
1:32
Yeah. No, it was just that clip that's pretty like.
1:34
Oh, and then that is what initially made me I'm like, what is this.
1:36
Because I love I love narratives or somebody makes a wish,
1:40
a nice monkey's paw or whatever.
1:41
I was like, okay, yeah, I'll definitely see that then. Yeah.
1:43
So the basic premise is, is a guy breaks a one wish Willow
1:48
to win his crush's heart, but he finds himself getting exactly what he asked for,
1:51
but soon discovers that desires come at a dark, sinister price.
1:55
And this is written, directed, and edited by Curry Barker.
2:00
It is not his first film.
2:02
I think Milk and Cereal was technically his first film.
2:06
It's a short film, but he had released it just on YouTube.
2:08
Because he's originally just a YouTube creator.
2:11
So this is, I guess, yeah, first feature length film.
2:15
It's made on like a shoe drink budget of 1 million.
2:20
So I will point that out that that's pretty impressive.
2:23
I don't at no point did I feel that like this was very small budget.
2:28
I was impressed with what he was able to do with that small of a budget.
2:31
I think now it's up to like 110 million he's made off of it so far.
2:37
Yeah, but this is like the first one since, I want to say almost Blair
2:40
Witch, where you've had a film that was so sub million
2:45
and making this much waves at the box office,
2:49
it's going to hit 100 million if it didn't already, it's going to hit 100 million.
2:53
Yeah. So Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity and now this.
2:55
And if I had to argue, I really like Blair Witch.
3:00
This is a better movie.
3:01
It's a totally different fucking movie.
3:03
But like, it's it's a, you know, Blair Witch.
3:06
You can look at it and be like, yeah, it's just shot on a camera, you know?
3:09
It's fun.
3:10
We can see how this was nice and easy to shoot the shot in the middle of the woods.
3:14
Right? Right.
3:15
We understand why it was. Yeah.
3:17
You could you could look at that and be like, oh yeah.
3:20
Okay. Yeah.
3:20
You gotta get away with making a film for cheap nowadays to shoot in the woods.
3:24
They charge you $25,000 or something.
3:26
Crazy for your permits.
3:29
Yeah, you need the permit. So.
3:31
Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna. I mean, it's huge.
3:33
So it stars Michael Johnson as Bear, who makes the wish,
3:37
Andy Navarette as Nicky, who is the victim of this wish.
3:42
And it's getting a lot of great reviews.
3:46
Everybody's really enjoying this film.
3:48
I was very actually nervous to start this conversation
3:53
because I feel complimentary towards the film.
3:55
I like the basic plot
3:58
and concept and I like elements that are in the film.
4:02
I'm not a big fan of how the story was executed.
4:07
I guess is how I will start this conversation off with,
4:12
I think you have to take a step back and kind of project things
4:16
onto the film that the film isn't actually saying.
4:20
Story wise, which I know that's what the director's intention was.
4:24
I know I'm talking in like very vague terms here.
4:27
Yeah, you're going to have to go
4:28
because I'm not following what you mean by that one.
4:33
Actually.
4:33
I think that and then obviously you can correct me, but I think that
4:37
what you're touching on is maybe something that people want from the movie,
4:41
like the bigger statement of what he's saying, and they're kind of
4:44
maybe reading into things or saying like, oh,
4:46
this is what this meant, this is what this meant.
4:48
And you feel like maybe it's not necessarily there from Curry Burger.
4:54
Yes. Thank you Nicole.
4:55
That's that.
4:56
Yeah. That's how I feel about this.
4:58
So I guess my question to get us into this conversation
5:03
and we'll just do spoilers right off the bat here.
5:08
I'm assuming if you're looking to listen to something about obsession
5:12
that you do are looking for spoilers,
5:15
and you have seen the movie for this one.
5:19
And yeah, and I'll say, if you have not,
5:23
go see it blind as much as you can, you know,
5:26
if you haven't yet seen it, don't look up more about it.
5:29
Come back to this at another time and then,
5:32
you know, jump into the conversation.
5:34
And the.
5:35
Damn near impossible to really talk about without like, getting into.
5:38
It, right?
5:39
Yes. Nicole, thank you for this is what I have. Nicole.
5:41
She's much more eloquent at even summing up my own thoughts.
5:46
Or I'm your interpreter. Yeah.
5:50
Then I am.
5:52
Yeah.
5:52
I think for me personally, I think that the concept is very solid.
5:59
I think that the execution of it isn't working for me.
6:02
I think for me there's a lot of thrown in.
6:07
Here's the crazy girlfriend trope.
6:10
I'm going to use it to further the plot, when I could have maybe taken
6:16
a harder route and found more creative ways of crazy things she could do.
6:22
That's kind of my.
6:25
My thing with it is I like the idea of, oh, you're forcing somebody.
6:30
You're forcing this woman who is not into you.
6:34
As far as we know, as the audience to now totally love you,
6:39
that she has to completely change her personality, who she is
6:44
to accomplish this wish, to fulfill this wish for you.
6:48
And we basically the director has to make her
6:51
into another entity for that to happen.
6:56
My thing is okay, but there are moments where we are
7:01
just relying heavily upon crazy girlfriend
7:04
things like the
7:07
no boys nights, and then we freak out in the bathroom over it.
7:11
And the why, you know,
7:14
don't you love me enough in return?
7:17
And the you can't leave me ever, I have to.
7:22
I know
7:22
these are like again, trying to signal codependency, unhealthy relationships.
7:26
Like I have a total understanding of what the what the intent is of
7:31
what he is trying to say for the story, what the story is trying to say.
7:36
Like,
7:37
I have a complete understanding of how you could draw these conclusions from it.
7:42
I just don't think it's actually in the film.
7:45
So I'm going to open up the door now to.
7:49
Did you feel that everything that is being drawn conclusion wise out of the film
7:55
that you were specifically not even specifically told the story,
8:00
was actually delving into these heavier topics, was actually tackling them?
8:05
I don't know, yeah.
8:07
I mean, I think that it was I do want to acknowledge that.
8:11
I think that sometimes there has been a trend of maybe male
8:15
filmmakers creating movies that maybe say something that went like
8:19
a message in terms of it being simple, but something that women know.
8:22
And then maybe the male filmmakers get praised very heavily as compared
8:26
to a million other female filmmakers that are saying something
8:29
and maybe a little bit more nuanced, and it doesn't get the attention.
8:32
But I also want to say that I think that it's a good thing
8:35
that there are male filmmakers, and when they have the opportunity
8:39
that they are delving into these kind of topics.
8:41
And I do think that for me, there was a lot of stuff that are included
8:46
in the movie that did bring up a lot of consideration of, like, consent.
8:51
I did think that there were enough little things in there, and then
8:55
that he has those little things in there, but then he also has something
8:58
like a major scene that I think that he was conscious of.
9:02
And I've seen the internet discourse that there are some people that are like,
9:05
Bear's not the villain, you know, and then there's other like,
9:08
like no bear is the villain, you know, like.
9:10
That's just that's. Just.
9:11
Bad emotional intelligence. Yes.
9:13
But I think that.
9:14
That's just stupid.
9:15
It's very, very stupid.
9:16
And I think the crew was very aware of people, maybe certain
9:20
men that were going to go see the movie and have that perspective.
9:23
So he, I think, was careful to also have a scene where there's no
9:28
you can't make an argument for what's happening when we have that
9:32
truly horrifying scene where the real Niki is able to kind of come to the surface
9:36
and she begs him to kill her, and she says, I've never been with you.
9:40
And very purposefully
9:41
to that bears response to this is what's so bad about being with me.
9:46
You can't really
9:47
argue around that scene of like, how we're supposed to take it, right?
9:51
But I think that before that, there's for me a lot of little things
9:55
that I did appreciate some level of nuance,
9:59
you know, something like toward the beginning,
10:01
when Nikki is starting to kind of change, it seems like she's confused.
10:05
She's trying to fight it, that when their first kissing, that then she freaks out.
10:11
She screams at him.
10:12
And then when they talk about it later, he's like, you know, like that.
10:15
You made me feel like. I mean, I was scared. That was scary.
10:17
Nikki and I didn't take advantage.
10:18
And she's like,
10:19
no, no, no, I'm saying that you didn't, something like that for me.
10:23
He's not okay with that. He's uncomfortable.
10:25
It makes him feel bad about himself when she's screaming in his face.
10:29
But once he knows, he knows officially, after they have
10:33
that dinner scene in the wording of I love you
10:35
more than anybody in the whole world, he knows that it's because of the wish.
10:39
And then right after. Yeah.
10:40
And then right after that is what I would consider
10:44
a sexual assault scene then, because it comes like right after that
10:47
where he knows.
10:48
Yeah. When they're together.
10:50
That's the intent.
10:51
That's the intent. I think. That
10:55
again, unless you're an
10:56
imbecile, there's no way that you cut to that sex scene and you're like, oh, cool.
11:01
Oh, that was great. Yeah, she enjoyed that.
11:03
Yeah. You got. So. I'm sorry. Yes.
11:06
No. Go ahead.
11:07
I'm sorry.
11:07
Yeah. No, but just something like that.
11:09
To where he doesn't seem to care when it's.
11:13
It made me think a lot about consent in terms of, like,
11:16
coercion and maybe situations that people are more familiar with.
11:19
And I think that the bear character, it's like, okay, if a girl is screaming
11:23
and freaking out at me while we're making like, okay.
11:26
But he knows that it's not actual real consent
11:30
because he knows that it's not really her, it's because of the wish.
11:33
But he's okay with that.
11:34
And I feel like the pacing of having that scene
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where he clarifies the nose, okay, this is just because of the wish.
11:41
And then right into an assault scene like that, that very clearly
11:45
that Barker is saying to us, like, this guy knows what's going on.
11:49
He does not care.
11:51
He has gotten what he's wanted.
11:53
He doesn't really want to think about the logistics of it, you know?
11:57
And so I do think I didn't feel like
12:00
all this stuff that people are taking from the movie, they're projecting on it.
12:03
I think
12:04
maybe there are little things in there that maybe Curry Barker wasn't necessarily
12:07
meant at a certain way.
12:08
I've seen people, you know, analyzing, like the time that's on the clock
12:11
and this is with a historical event and like that kind of thing.
12:14
But I do think that he created a narrative and also especially
12:20
gave us enough of Nikki before the wish that we know things about her
12:25
and specifically to how she views the story,
12:29
the fact that she's a writer,
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the fact that we know she wanted to quit her job,
12:33
all these things that don't happen then once the wish that we don't get
12:36
real, Nikki.
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So we know that.
12:38
And he very much knows that too.
12:40
And I don't think that there's any, like, wiggle room where you could kind of say
12:45
that that's not
12:46
what we're dealing with, which is somebody being taken advantage of.
12:50
Yes. Yeah.
12:51
I mean, he does
12:52
I mean he does a good job of that,
12:54
of making you uncomfortable, of making you understand that.
12:57
I just think that we're filled with a lot of moments that I just,
13:00
I think are filling up, like, so the moments that you mentioned, right,
13:05
I think are the shining moments of the film,
13:08
and that's when he really is hitting a stride.
13:11
But then I think there are a lot of like, other filler things that move
13:16
the plot along that are repetitive and easy,
13:20
that sometimes he relies upon.
13:24
Like, here, let me feed you my dead, the dead cat, your dead cat, you know?
13:29
Here, let me have a weird the whole cat thing.
13:33
No, no, no, I just wasn't working for me.
13:34
Not that like not because of the cat. So.
13:38
Being good. Yeah.
13:40
I love.
13:43
Learning a lot.
13:43
Right. He's
13:45
accusing me of the worst possible things.
13:48
Now I hate children. I want to kill cats.
13:51
I love demons being like, oh, yeah, creepy as Garfield.
13:56
I am sorry.
13:57
Yeah, he's a knockoff Garfield.
13:58
But it's funny you, though. Clearly.
14:01
Yeah.
14:01
I'll mention because like, you talking about, like, the crazy girlfriend stuff.
14:04
Like it made me think of, like, a Glenn Close.
14:07
Like, you know, rabbit cooking the rabbit on the stove.
14:10
Kind of a moment.
14:10
Yeah, but I want to hear what you guys feel about it.
14:13
But the cat is something very specifically that I think when I was watching it,
14:17
I was like viewing it the way that you're talking about it,
14:20
where I'm like, okay, it was just like, I'm going to dig up your dead cat.
14:22
And it's a crazy thing I could do.
14:24
But when I thought about it the rest of the week after,
14:27
there were like so many layers to it
14:29
where I really ended up appreciating the cat more.
14:32
I'll say that.
14:33
Let me let me say what I took it as in you,
14:35
because this thing that takes over her is like an animal,
14:39
and it's being treated and acts like a pet,
14:43
and a cat would bring you like a dead animal into the house.
14:47
It's like, hey, look what I did.
14:49
And that's sort of how I viewed that.
14:51
Just the other thing
14:53
towards some of the other points that you guys were bringing up, actually,
14:56
do you think that they could bark, maybe give him more credit?
15:00
Who knows?
15:00
I think it's a trap for people to be like bears.
15:04
The good guy.
15:05
Like it's a real tell on yourself moment.
15:07
You know, when you're with other people and you're like, no, no, no, he was.
15:11
It wasn't his fault.
15:13
That is the trap for shitty people.
15:16
It's a good one to lay, especially nowadays,
15:19
because it's kind of usually an easy trap to lay.
15:22
Also, to be honest, I don't see how you can misconstrue.
15:28
He's a coward.
15:29
Like throughout the movie.
15:30
Yeah, he 100% even.
15:32
Even as we maybe, you know, like we learned what he learns
15:36
in real time, if he may suspect it
15:40
at the end of the cell, like he twice he goes to kill himself.
15:46
And if it wasn't for her breaking the wish,
15:49
he was going to make himself throw up all those pills.
15:52
So he's a fucking coward to the very end.
15:56
And actually, if you want to really want to be, I don't I don't again attempt.
16:00
Who knows.
16:01
The end of the film is like a really fucked twist on Romeo and Juliet
16:07
where, like, the suicide doesn't happen.
16:10
Yeah, but then there's one person who's just left now
16:13
to deal with all these dead bodies all around them. Yes.
16:16
I think the ending is,
16:19
like the most horrifying part of the movie.
16:23
And horror
16:23
and a different thing, I think, like ash, I see what you're saying, like,
16:27
you know, with the, you know, this is all crazy girlfriend stuff.
16:31
And it is, you know, on that end, I get it.
16:35
But if we flip the role in that
16:39
and it's a man doing this to a woman, it's totally different film
16:43
and you can't do that and then be like, no, no, no, no, it's just an entity.
16:48
It's not really the guy who's doing it because people would seize upon that
16:52
by the throat.
16:53
So yeah, I don't think that you can gender switch it because then it becomes
16:57
a totally different film with different of problems.
17:03
I don't know if.
17:03
Well, then what do. You fill it with? Right.
17:06
You know how he like these all these crazy girlfriend tropes, right?
17:09
If you were to gender swap it, then what do you.
17:12
It becomes more. It's more scary.
17:15
It's really.
17:16
It's worse.
17:16
It's a domestic abuse film. Be aggressive.
17:20
Yeah.
17:20
It's a domestic abuse film with violence.
17:22
And on top of it you're saying, no, it's not really the guy.
17:26
It's this demon that took over the guy, which is even worse.
17:31
So I don't think you can do it
17:35
to towards what you were saying.
17:37
I actually did feel like, oh, we're kind of repeating the same note,
17:42
just in different scenarios right now, a little bit to get to a runtime.
17:47
So you could do that.
17:48
But I hate to say it, that's a lot of horror films.
17:51
Sometimes you kind of run over the same note just in different ways.
17:55
You know, there's different kills, blah, blah, blah.
17:57
Not excusing it.
17:58
It doesn't mean like it's totally fine.
18:00
But I can see where you were getting that because I was like, how many scenarios
18:04
can we go through
18:05
until we get to like the finale, you know, where are we headed with this?
18:09
Right.
18:09
Because maybe this is more of like a short story idea than a two hour film idea.
18:14
What does this run for? 109 minutes?
18:16
You could probably make it, you know, 95, and it's fine also.
18:19
Right? Right. That being said,
18:23
I kind of enjoyed a little
18:25
bit seeing this guy have to eat shit because I thought he deserved it.
18:30
So yeah, there is also that where like the door is a hilarious part.
18:36
That is the duct taped where ductwork.
18:39
For work. And. Like.
18:40
I really think he's.
18:41
Playing this a lot more for laughs in a couple of spots of like,
18:45
this guy's a piece of shit, we're going to give it to him.
18:47
Like he's going to take all the worst,
18:49
and then we're going to get like the serious consequences of his actions. But
18:54
maybe I can lower your guard a little bit by making some of these kind of funny.
18:59
You know, like the the restaurant thing.
19:02
If you've ever had an argument in public, does it matter what side of the argument
19:06
you're on?
19:07
You see that scene and you're like, oh, no.
19:09
Embarrassing.
19:10
You know, like.
19:11
That, that real like new is great.
19:14
But the door is such a great.
19:16
And that's sort of where I,
19:17
where I think it is, it's trying to lower you down a little bit.
19:22
You're like, oh, this is kind of funny and silly in a way.
19:25
And then crank it up with like,
19:29
you know, as Nicole was saying, the phone call is rough.
19:32
I actually thought even before that when he calls like the customer support
19:37
and he's like, I just want to talk to Nick, to Nikki.
19:40
And then you just hear her screaming.
19:43
Yeah. And he's like, yeah, that's.
19:45
Oh yeah, that's Nikki just, you know.
19:47
And then he hangs up.
19:48
And just hangs up.
19:49
Yeah. This is how we know that.
19:51
I mean yeah.
19:52
There are a lot of great little details that point to how selfish bear is
19:57
and awful he is and cowardly.
20:01
So I think the discussion around it is really great
20:05
and all we can point to all these moments.
20:06
But yeah, sometimes I think there are extra moments that
20:10
that take away from that.
20:12
Maybe that's my like consensus.
20:14
And then we can move on to the bigger picture things of the film.
20:18
And I can get over my initial reaction.
20:22
My initial reaction to this was, yeah.
20:27
I think maybe if he took out some things and he focused more on
20:33
the larger themes, it would have worked
20:36
better for me as a whole because I did like the ending.
20:39
I did like a lot of elements of it.
20:41
So I guess, yeah, let's move on to I'll get over it, I think.
20:47
I think I could give Kerry Barker credit and we can move.
20:51
On from this.
20:52
And I. Also want.
20:54
To say to though, like any feelings that I did have about it,
20:58
where like I will agree that there was a couple times
21:00
maybe like once I was hitting the middle where I'm like, all right.
21:03
Yeah. Like we do feel like we're doing the same things again.
21:05
Like maybe we're relying on things that aren't so creative to show
21:08
that something is wrong with her, but that he is like at the beginning,
21:13
you know, and he's lined up to now do other stuff already.
21:17
And so this kind of movie does any problems I might have had with it.
21:20
I will say it does get me excited to see.
21:23
I think that as he keeps going and I think he's
21:26
26, like, I think that we'll get to a point.
21:29
Where super young.
21:30
Yeah, I think the the backrooms that's coming out.
21:33
The director, he's 20, which is insane.
21:36
But you know, I think that I'll just say that that it got me excited to be like,
21:41
okay, I wonder how his second, his third, his fourth maybe.
21:44
Yeah. Yeah.
21:45
I mean, is it mean to say that it does seem
21:49
almost like a 26 year old wrote this film or younger?
21:52
I mean, that's the dialog wasn't working for me.
21:56
Well, they're 26 year olds in the film though.
21:59
But like, do. You even.
22:00
That's what I'm saying.
22:01
Like, I do think that it feels young and I guess that's what I'm going to give.
22:07
Like this.
22:08
I guess this is a very good start then.
22:11
But anyway, so, so. Oh.
22:15
I'm sorry.
22:16
Can I ask it? So.
22:17
Yeah, but but they're supposed to be young, so I want them.
22:22
To see that the.
22:23
Character kind of dumb sometimes, you know.
22:25
And yeah.
22:27
I mean I sound much dumber than them on normal occasions, so I don't know.
22:31
I don't know what you mean by it sounds.
22:33
But I don't think that you're I don't think you're
22:35
I don't think that you're the characters in your story have to be like,
22:39
you know, just because people are dumb or young in real life
22:44
doesn't mean that the story and the dialog itself has to be that way.
22:48
Like not, we don't watch movies to have a complete, accurate
22:54
representation of real world conversations, you know?
23:00
Yeah. No. Okay. Okay.
23:02
So I don't know, I would just
23:04
it would be a punchier a little bit punchier dialog at times.
23:08
With movies though though,
23:09
like I get what you're saying, but like, isn't that a different movie?
23:12
You know, like that's why you go see, you know, whatever, you know, 12
23:16
Angry men like, you know, it's it's written for a specific aim.
23:23
Okay. Yeah.
23:24
I don't know.
23:24
I just, I feel like it's it was written the way it was aimed to be written, like I
23:28
don't, you know, if these guys all sounded like they were in the West Wing,
23:34
which also
23:35
works, though, because brick brick is like,
23:38
you know, a newer high school, you know, murder mystery
23:42
where everyone talks like no one would ever talk in high school.
23:45
And that's what makes that movie like brick.
23:48
I'm sorry. I was just trying to understand.
23:50
Like what?
23:50
Yeah, well, but that's the thing, though, like, we don't watch movies
23:54
and shows with high schoolers in it and want to hear actually
23:58
actual high school or way of talking, right, like, I don't I'm sorry.
24:03
I don't know if I would want to hear it.
24:04
Listen to me in high school talk.
24:07
You know, I think that it's okay
24:10
that the movies are or serving in stories in general
24:14
are serving you a better dialog than they'd actually be in real life.
24:18
I mean, that's kind of why we watch movies over reality TV show.
24:23
Most people.
24:25
I don't think those people are talking like they really talk.
24:27
No no. No no no.
24:29
It's just trying. To pull those motherfuckers. Like.
24:32
If you were to record, you know, us right now.
24:35
And then, like, out of curiosity, like clerks, you know, like,
24:41
we have, like, the same reaction to that,
24:42
but they're they're as dumb as everyone, you know, who like.
24:46
But I don't think that I. Don't.
24:48
Think there's were conversations that were very much conversations
24:51
I had at those jobs. Right.
24:53
So I'm just trying to find out, like where it is that, you know,
24:57
where does that sound live?
25:00
Maybe it was.
25:01
Because I see what you're saying.
25:03
You know, it's okay.
25:04
Okay.
25:04
It's maybe it's more the delivery by certain performances.
25:08
Yeah.
25:08
I think that like, the main leads are great.
25:13
I think that Indian Navarette who, who plays Nikki is phenomenal.
25:18
But I think when and again, I don't like I hate having to be like,
25:22
oh, that was a cruddy performance
25:24
because like, everybody works hard on these things.
25:26
So I don't like, you know, but I think like Ian was a very weak performance.
25:32
And the the conversation between him
25:35
and his supposedly best friend didn't really flow.
25:39
And I don't know if it was.
25:40
It was mix of maybe a dialog and a performance issue,
25:45
but because I don't feel that every scene
25:49
had weak dialog or interaction, I just think that there are
25:55
a lot of scenes between the friend group that doesn't feel natural
26:01
and the conversation doesn't feel totally natural.
26:04
And I think that the point of like
26:08
of dialog
26:09
in a movie and is to keep the flow nice, unless like the purpose is totally like,
26:14
let's make you all feel uncomfortable right now, which.
26:18
That's one of.
26:18
The purpose.
26:19
Yes, sleeping with the girl that he loves, like behind his back.
26:22
And then the other girl likes him in front while knowing that he likes them.
26:26
Yeah, it seems like a bad situation on all fronts.
26:29
Like. Right.
26:30
Those people should go and find
26:31
actually what I would say with with what you were saying
26:35
when the movie first started, I
26:37
100% thought it was taking place in like 1994.
26:41
And then it went on
26:44
and I was like, oh no, this is like a modern day.
26:48
I'll be honest, I had no idea people still dress like that.
26:51
Like with the backwards happened back on the Best friend.
26:55
From that time.
26:55
Is it really is all that back in? Yeah.
26:58
I straight up was like, oh this is like the 90s.
27:01
And then the movie went on.
27:02
I was like, oh no, it is not.
27:04
No. No, no, that's just that's the thing.
27:07
It's like back in like the, the early 2000 and the.
27:10
Really weird. Yeah. That's just in again I.
27:14
I will say too though, but like I, I understand Ashley,
27:17
I think what you're saying
27:18
and especially yes, there were some scenes between Ian and Bear and Ian
27:23
is played by Cooper Tomlinson who is Corey Barker's like writing partner.
27:27
Like they did comedy sketches together and like, that's,
27:30
you know, his friend and they write together.
27:32
I think that some of those scenes
27:34
then with him kind of did come off like comedy sketchy a little bit.
27:38
It felt almost sometimes like it was out of place.
27:41
There were maybe some scenes or like when they're at the bar all together
27:44
where I think you're right, like sometimes the dialog, it felt a little bit stiff,
27:48
but I think sometimes too, I took it as that curry barker.
27:53
Like when you have that feeling before the wish,
27:56
like when they're at the bar together and he's like looking at Nikki
27:58
and the music plays and it's just like, oh, I love this girl.
28:01
Like, she's such a great girl.
28:02
Like it did make me feel a little bit like it's not great writing.
28:06
It's kind of stiff.
28:07
It's kind of typical romance, I guess.
28:11
But that for me worked really well with.
28:13
I think that conversation really like permeated a lot of the movie.
28:16
When they're talking about, she's saying, I want to feel
28:19
what love is, you know, and I want to it's a love story that I'm trying to write.
28:22
And he's like a romance and she's like, it's the same thing.
28:25
And she's like, it's not.
28:27
And that's where she seems very.
28:28
She looks out the window and like her,
28:30
like, lets it linger to where it seems like she's very kind of disappointed.
28:34
Like he doesn't understand.
28:35
He doesn't understand the difference between
28:36
he doesn't understand what she's trying to write.
28:39
And so I think a lot of
28:40
like those early scenes, it feels like kind of like a cheesy,
28:43
awkward, not quite natural romance of somebody
28:47
telling themselves the romance or, you know, when she's
28:50
then getting out of the car and he's like, remember
28:52
when I didn't have my mouthpiece and band and she just cuts him off and she's like,
28:55
you were going to get in trouble. Like, I got to go to sleep.
28:58
Basically. She just like, yeah, like it's not.
29:00
I feel like curry barker.
29:01
Like it's that kind of funny thing where it's a guy who is building up that story.
29:06
And from the opening scene when he's telling the waitress and like,
29:08
I always had these feelings and all this stuff that in his mind,
29:12
he's creating a narrative that is not true.
29:15
And it's also boring and cliche, you know, like, it's just so I feel like for me,
29:20
and I don't know if maybe necessarily all that stuff was coming directly.
29:24
Curly Barker wanted us to take it that way, is like,
29:26
this is almost like a cheesy kind of romance.
29:28
But I felt like there were a
29:30
lot of moments in the movie where like, it starts dipping its toe back into that,
29:34
and then the horror comes back and lets you know, like,
29:37
that's not what this story is.
29:39
You know, when he's after you get home from the party and Nikki,
29:42
she's like, I can be Nikki, I can be Nikki, you know?
29:44
And he's like, Nikki wouldn't say that.
29:45
So he knows, like, this is not real.
29:47
Like you're not Nikki.
29:49
And she he says it's not real.
29:51
And I think it's a line where she's like,
29:52
bear, I love you in every universe, right?
29:56
And for me, I'm like, that's not a great.
29:58
That's like a cheesy kind of.
30:00
But he calms down and he gets this big smile on his face like,
30:02
oh yeah, you do love me, you know, like it's.
30:04
And then she starts, you know, moving backwards and being weird again.
30:09
But I really appreciated moments like that where it just feels like
30:13
he is so susceptible to the story he has told himself.
30:17
And then once she fits back into that narrative, he's okay with everything
30:21
that's been happening.
30:22
Such disturbing, terrible things have been happening.
30:25
Like they just went to a party where she, like, smashed herself in the face.
30:28
You know, everybody's really upset.
30:30
Oh, the story that. She told. Yeah.
30:33
The consulate. Gretel.
30:35
That made me really shrink into myself that way.
30:38
Yeah, that. Was God. Make it stop.
30:41
Like. Yeah.
30:41
And I think that enough of the film because, as you know, Nicole,
30:45
what you were saying was like, the way the music, the music changes,
30:50
the way the camera kind of, you know, does those long lingering,
30:53
you know, almost like fuzzy edges around the shot
30:57
where you're back in this rom com and you're like, no, we're not.
31:01
But to me, those are all purposeful decisions like those are made.
31:06
If it was only 1 or 2 things and then I was throwing in the other ones,
31:10
I would say, yeah, it's kind of like kind of knew where he wanted to go but didn't.
31:14
But it kind of felt like, I mean, it's all there in that sense.
31:19
I'm looking forward to watching you again.
31:21
I should ask you guys because I didn't notice anything.
31:24
And sometimes horror movies, they they can press on this button way too much.
31:29
When they first started kissing, like early in the movie when they're
31:32
at his house and she freaks out and says, there was something behind you,
31:37
did you actually see anything behind him, or was it because you can take it that
31:42
like she was literally just seeing the other person coming?
31:46
You know, that other being like starting to press and all that,
31:51
or actually the being was seeing the real Nikki try to press herself out.
31:56
But did I miss anything?
31:57
Was there like one of those one frame insert of something actually behind him?
32:03
Not that I noticed.
32:04
I didn't remember. Okay, I didn't you know.
32:07
I don't I couldn't, I don't I didn't think of it.
32:09
And then I kept on to that and it did happen
32:13
one other time when she said something to that effect.
32:16
And that time I was looking for it.
32:18
And I don't think it was there either.
32:20
But she must.
32:21
It was just the other Nikki and the real Nikki.
32:25
Kind of like bumping into each other.
32:28
Okay. All right.
32:29
Just wanted that verified because.
32:31
Yeah, maybe this would have solved a lot of my problems,
32:35
actually, is if we understood.
32:37
And I guess we're just coming off of talking about oddity and hokum
32:41
and, like, I don't need more explanation about whatever
32:45
the magical things that are happening or
32:49
the supernatural things that are happening in those film explained to me, I'm
32:52
not that kind of person like, and I didn't need it for oddity and hokum.
32:56
I didn't think they needed any more explanation
32:58
about the supernatural stuff happening in them.
33:01
For this
33:02
movie, though, I was like, I don't understand why we can't.
33:05
You can't read the file.
33:06
Like, why can't we get a shot of the fine print?
33:09
Why can't I understand that?
33:11
Like, we don't understand the wish mechanism for most of it, but
33:16
when we get to the point where bare walks is, everything's shit has hit the fan.
33:22
The Sarah's been murdered.
33:24
Brutally murdered now by the entity of Nikki.
33:28
And he.
33:30
He goes back into the shop that he bought the wish Willow from.
33:34
And he's talking to the guy
33:36
and he's like, well, it has a bunch of warnings on the back.
33:39
Like, you have to read the fine print before you use it sort of thing.
33:44
And I think that was an opportune moment to then
33:47
tell us how this wish system works, because not everybody
33:51
is getting demon Nikki's when they make wishes, right?
33:56
Like so. That's why I was like, is it the the monkey?
33:59
Poor thing.
34:00
It won't. We're not, I guess, absolutely certain.
34:02
Maybe it is a monkey, poor thing.
34:04
Where if you know the monkey poor short story, it's like the three wishes.
34:10
Right on this monkey.
34:11
The cursed monkey poor.
34:12
And something bad has like happens, though,
34:16
when you make the wish, you can't just get the wish free and clear.
34:20
Right?
34:21
So I'm like, is this a monkey paw situation?
34:24
Is this because.
34:26
Because then there's the guy at the shop who's like, yeah, I made my wish.
34:29
And he seems perfectly fine.
34:31
Like nothing catastrophically awful seemed to happen to him.
34:34
I don't know, he and nothing catastrophically awful seem to happen
34:38
to Ian, the best friend, except for he gets shot.
34:41
Right on the head. Yeah.
34:42
After after he gets $1 billion.
34:44
But we don't know if that's because of Nick.
34:48
The the wish from bear with Nicky or if you know.
34:52
So I just think that like, I don't understand the mechanism
34:55
of the wish and most of the time like that wouldn't bother me.
34:58
But for this film it bothers me.
35:00
So I don't know if.
35:01
What are your guys feelings are on that?
35:03
Well, Curry Barker has said in interviews that he does not consider the one wish
35:08
Willow the whole system cursed, but that bear made a cursed wish.
35:12
He's like what he is wishing for is a bad thing, that he believes
35:15
that there's people make wishes
35:17
and they don't have these terrible things happen like you brought up the clerk.
35:21
You know, the other clerk at the beginning.
35:23
She says to him like, don't come back and complain.
35:25
He's like, well, why do people complain? People?
35:27
Yeah, like some people, I guess, make wishes that are shitty.
35:31
And, you know,
35:32
I've seen a lot of discussion too, about like the phrasing of his wish.
35:34
And this is where then I guess it comes in where people are like, well, bears,
35:38
not the villain, because he didn't think the wish was going to work.
35:40
And it's like, yes, obviously he didn't know the wish was going to work.
35:43
It's everything that happens after that.
35:45
Then he continues it. Yeah, that he keeps going. Right.
35:47
But even the phrasing of The wish, it's like coming after this moment.
35:51
He's so frustrated with himself,
35:53
he should be frustrated with himself that he cannot just tell her.
35:57
But he doesn't say, like, I wish I could tell her, you know,
36:00
he says, like, I wish that Nikki and that not I wish Nikki liked me.
36:03
I wish Nike liked me back.
36:05
I wish Nikki.
36:06
Anything. In the whole world. Right.
36:08
And he sells anyone, right? Yeah.
36:10
More than any. Any more.
36:12
I think anyone in the whole world, anyone or anything
36:15
and like that, that to like I do take it as.
36:19
But I agree with you actually that like maybe there could be just like another
36:23
like a little more specific thing of like even the clerk saying to like,
36:28
like I've said people all the time, you know,
36:29
and like I'm fine or like, what did you, you know, what did you wish for?
36:32
I do think that we get that kind of, though, from that phone call with the guy
36:36
when he calls, like customer service, basically that he's like, oh, okay.
36:40
Well, yeah, I mean, it's like that sounds pretty bad.
36:43
And I guess you kind of owe it to her to stay with her.
36:45
You know, like, I think that this scene is kind of funny,
36:48
but it also then, you know, like, like you said, like she's
36:51
screaming on the phone at the end and it.
36:55
Seems she should have killed himself right then. Right?
36:58
Yeah. And he can't.
36:59
And then I thought it was so interesting too, like I was reading behind the scenes.
37:04
And one being that initially when they filmed it,
37:07
that in the script bear takes the pills
37:09
and then Nikki breaks the thing and he goes out and dies.
37:11
He doesn't try and make himself throw up.
37:13
But after they film it, that Mike Johnson, the actor, said to Curry, Barker
37:16
like, what if he like, what if he try, you know, because he's a coward.
37:20
Like when he try and throw up? Yeah. And that creates.
37:22
I was so happy that he did that. I was too.
37:24
But Curry Barker was like, let's roll the you know he's like, let's do it again.
37:28
Like he was like yeah yeah like that's great.
37:30
And then Nikki two at the end that she doesn't die.
37:33
That the original ending was that she does.
37:35
And they only filmed one take with her screaming like that and she survives
37:40
and that after that they were like, oh no, that's
37:43
got to be the ending actually, because that's a lot more horrific
37:45
that she's just like left with this, right?
37:48
I did I did read that you could apparently see the blood on the back of the wall.
37:52
Of what the takes that that she kills herself.
37:55
Yeah.
37:55
Of is in the the last take.
37:58
Well that would have been even more Romeo and Juliet then like the worst possible.
38:03
Even though I know the I know we've all discovered
38:07
finally people discovered that Romeo and Juliet.
38:09
It's a weird story.
38:10
Congratulations to the people who read it over the last 5 to 10 years.
38:15
No one else put that together. Before.
38:17
We never thought there was anything wrong with it.
38:19
No one ever read that.
38:20
It was. Like, called the tragedy.
38:22
It was just a tragedy for no reason.
38:24
You figured it out. Thank you.
38:25
You also pick it out anyways.
38:29
I do not need to know mechanics behind this.
38:33
Personally, I and I'll tell you right now, my biggest fear
38:39
is that we are going to get more of these, and I'm going to get
38:42
way too much information into something that doesn't need it.
38:46
He made a shitty wish the other.
38:49
And again, like this jump between funny and horror
38:52
that this movie likes to do and does it effectively when he's like,
38:55
I want $1 billion and money just starts raining from the ceiling.
39:01
That is fucking hilarious in the middle of all this, because that guy,
39:06
he put as much like thought into this is going to work as Baird did.
39:11
But his wish was also incredibly like selfish.
39:15
But it doesn't affect anyone else.
39:18
Like, right?
39:18
Although you could if it was a truly evil contraption.
39:22
Someone saying I want to get this much money could happen because
39:29
a death of someone
39:30
else and the money gets passed over to him, you know,
39:33
or some like wild series of coincidences that winds up with him gaining money.
39:39
The fact that the money just seemed
39:40
to run out of the ceiling and it's the man would have just stayed home.
39:44
Nothing he.
39:44
Wouldn't have. Fine. Yeah, he would have been fine. Maybe.
39:47
I like that idea, you know that.
39:48
There's this.
39:50
You know, if if you're careful, careful what you wish for, literally.
39:53
And if not, this person on the other
39:57
end of the line has been doing this for millennia
40:01
in different forms throughout history, throughout all of mankind.
40:05
And, yeah, you know, it was that sounds like it didn't work out.
40:10
You could, like, kill yourself
40:12
and that'll be that'll that'll fix it.
40:15
That reaction to that is great.
40:18
So I don't I don't want to know a little more.
40:20
Also I'm wondering and I'll guess I'll watch it again.
40:23
Also they do sell those things.
40:25
They're sold out right now.
40:27
But they do sell them on the obsession website for 699.
40:31
And I'm assuming all the fine print is literally on the box.
40:36
And you could.
40:36
Read it, which would be funny to then read and see if it actually, you know.
40:42
But he bought it thinking it was a joke.
40:44
You know, it's like anyone else.
40:45
Like if I buy x ray glasses from the, you know, from a, you know,
40:49
from Spencer's 20 years ago,
40:52
I'm not going to read the instructions like I'm just.
40:55
No, no, I'm not saying that you should have read the instructions.
40:58
I was just I just thought it was an opportunity.
41:02
Yeah.
41:02
I just thought it would have been.
41:03
An. Opportune moment.
41:04
For him to then read it.
41:07
Right, because, like, after
41:09
that would be a shit.
41:11
What does this say?
41:13
It would be funny though.
41:14
Like in that moment where he is freaking out if he was like.
41:19
Yeah.
41:21
Oh well, shit, that's where I went wrong.
41:24
I think it does say on the bar I saw somebody that like, had bought it,
41:28
I guess off the website. It's got to be a freeze frame in the movie.
41:31
But I think that someone was saying that on there it has that listed specifically
41:35
is something that you're not supposed to wish for.
41:37
And I saw someone doing a deep dive and I'm like, oh, I didn't notice that at all.
41:41
But like during the trivia night that somebody asks a question
41:44
that's obviously supposed to be about Aladdin,
41:46
it's like this animated movie and like a blue genie.
41:49
And I think that maybe on the box, it is like those three kind of rules
41:52
that are in the Aladdin movie.
41:54
Like if you watch Aladdin, that it's you can't wish for more wishes,
41:57
you can't wish for somebody to love somebody else.
42:00
Yeah. And you can't wish somebody back from the dead.
42:03
And I feel that does keep coming up when the movie, you know,
42:05
something like Sandy, too.
42:07
And I definitely think Sandy the cat that I didn't realize at all
42:11
that I saw someone being like Sandy, like sandwich.
42:13
And I was like, oh, like,
42:16
we should have known.
42:17
But that that to for me, like, that loops back to the cat thing
42:22
where like I kept coming up in the movie, but I guess then that's
42:25
like another version of like a curse
42:26
kind of a wish thing, which we're all familiar with.
42:28
It's like,
42:29
you can't bring people back from the dead, and you can't make people love you
42:34
just because you want to, and they don't really love you.
42:37
And I like that deeper message of the movie.
42:39
I think those two things, that it is consistent, that he's cowardly,
42:43
that he's not dealing with those things you have to deal with in life.
42:46
Like you have to take a risk, maybe face rejection.
42:48
He just wants Nikki to love him without having to, like, risk and be like, I like.
42:52
You any of the.
42:53
Yeah, he's not with the cat.
42:55
He's not really dealing with.
42:57
I think the biggest thing with the cat, and it's at the very beginning
43:00
of the movie, is like, how did this cat die?
43:02
Like it got into these pills that a child has a child, right?
43:06
So he didn't just leave the pills out like he left the pills out.
43:09
He left the top off.
43:11
Oh, right.
43:11
Yeah. Open. Yeah. It's really sad.
43:14
And then me, as a cat lover to at the start of the movie, I was like,
43:17
that was terrible. Right away. I was like, like seeing the cat.
43:19
They're dead.
43:20
Like, actually, probably about the same way.
43:21
I was like, this is awful.
43:23
He clearly is very upset about it.
43:24
He's sobbing about it and he still goes out that night.
43:27
He's still considered that he he said he wasn't out because he wants to go out.
43:30
He wants to see him.
43:32
But he but he doesn't tell Nikki that his cat is dead.
43:35
That's another thing.
43:36
Like, how are you supposed to have a good connection relationship?
43:39
He tells Sarah. And yeah, he tells Sarah.
43:42
But also he doesn't tell Sarah that it's his.
43:45
He just says that his cat died so he gets the sympathy.
43:48
So I took that then too is like she keeps bringing the cat back as well,
43:53
that it's it's like you have to deal with one this grief,
43:56
you know, like the cat is dead.
43:58
And to your accountability, you know, he's not with that at the start with the cat.
44:02
And he's not dealing with the accountability of,
44:04
like, this whole thing with Nikki.
44:06
He is then actively making a choice the rest of the movie
44:09
that he is just going along with it and he knows that it's not really her.
44:13
Yeah. And yes, it does.
44:15
Then kind of just play into typical maybe like crazy woman stereotype of like,
44:19
I cooked your cat and now you're eating and it's not so upsetting.
44:22
But like even the fact to like he knows that he can't then tell anybody
44:26
what she's doing. He can't tell Sarah in the moment.
44:29
She's like, oh, that's funny.
44:30
What does that mean? He's not going to tell Sarah.
44:32
Like, oh, well, remember I told you my cat died
44:34
like Nikki dug it up and then, like, made it into a sandwich
44:37
because then Sarah would be like, what the fuck is going on?
44:40
You know, like, that's another thing. He just lies to all of his friends.
44:43
And also then it makes this is another like one last I guess thing.
44:49
We can continue on forever.
44:51
I think about the little things that are happening in the movie
44:54
that signaled to something, but like the friend group is kind of terrible.
44:58
They're all kind of terrible because they don't know Nikki.
45:00
Like they're all just assuming they must all not know Nikki very well,
45:05
it seems, because Sarah seems to be like, I'm
45:09
just very concerned about you bear and her taking advantage of you.
45:13
She doesn't like Nikki.
45:14
She likes bear. Yeah, that's fair, but you.
45:17
You still.
45:18
Get the guy that he likes. Well, it could also be.
45:20
That could also be a girl stereotype, then.
45:23
Like, women don't like each other.
45:25
Like she wasn't really friends with Nikki.
45:27
Well, I don't know.
45:29
I think that's, you know,
45:30
I think you're bringing that in a little bit, but I also think.
45:33
Like, probably.
45:34
But I kind of just threw that out there to be because.
45:36
Why do you hate other women? That's awesome.
45:42
Got her.
45:42
Yeah.
45:44
Well, no with with Nikki and Sarah.
45:46
You know, like I it is interesting as well.
45:48
I've seen people point out like both Sarah though, and Ian
45:52
seem to know that she doesn't really have a close relationship at all with her dad.
45:57
So they're like, why would she, you know?
45:58
But he doesn't seem to know that, you know?
46:01
So it seems like even if maybe,
46:03
you know, she's letting feelings because she likes bear get in there.
46:06
She seems mildly concern Ian specifically to is like,
46:09
you just told me that you felt like she was having a breakdown the other day,
46:13
and now you guys are, like, having a perfect, happy relationship.
46:16
Ian. Ian brings it up.
46:18
Yes, Ian for sure brings it up.
46:20
I just I do think that it's it's kind of strange that, like,
46:23
no one really seems to be super concerned for Nikki's erratic behavior.
46:28
Like, hey, I mean Ian does briefly, but like,
46:32
if we were really friends with this woman, this girl, like, we would bring,
46:36
at least for me, I, I'd be like, we need to bring her to a hospital
46:40
for mental health help like she is.
46:42
This is a mental break.
46:44
She she needs serious help.
46:47
Especially after gouging her eye with the glass.
46:49
And, like, now she's acting like she's never acted before.
46:53
Like, I don't know how you just as friends,
46:55
you just blinders on, and instead you're pissed because she's with the
47:00
the guy that you want to be with, or you're Ian and you're
47:03
you're pissed or whatever because you were hooking up with her,
47:06
like, I don't know, I just don't think those are very friend
47:08
like reactions, even if you have those romantic interest in those people.
47:12
Sorry, I just that's not.
47:13
I mean, I, I agree with you.
47:16
I agree with you to a point, but these are friends in high school.
47:19
I mean, I remember my friends in high school,
47:21
I don't give a shit about them.
47:23
I didn't really care about them at the time either.
47:25
And I was only going to do like so much if it was something like that.
47:29
Like, I don't know, I, I get what you're saying.
47:32
I also think it was like the next day when everyone winds up dead, right?
47:38
Or am I missing the timing on that?
47:39
Maybe it was one extra day, I think after the the party night thing.
47:43
With all the same night. Actually.
47:45
I think it's like the next into the next.
47:47
Day he brings to the hospital.
47:49
She doesn't want to go to the emergency room,
47:51
but then again, a person who is behaving like that could easily, I think, of been
47:55
committed for her behavior, at least held for a few hours or so.
48:00
I mean, I don't know the, the legal legality
48:03
of of how long you can hold somebody if they're mentally unstable,
48:06
you think they're going to hurt themselves or hurt other people.
48:08
But your parents can do that.
48:11
Well, they're college.
48:12
They're not sure.
48:13
So they aren't high school. They're college.
48:16
Oh, they're getting into college.
48:17
They just graduated high school.
48:18
No, he says, like seven years later, like, these people are college aged.
48:22
Yeah.
48:22
So the girl is. Oh, yeah.
48:24
Okay. Okay.
48:24
Yeah. Like they're all.
48:25
Supposed to be like, I thought, because the one girl was already.
48:27
She was trying.
48:28
I know it's it's confusing again.
48:30
Like, I would assume that they were high school people.
48:32
Like, I don't blame you for for thinking that. Yeah. No.
48:34
But like they mentioned, like, oh, it's seven. Years old.
48:37
He goes seven years post prom and she just hasn't gotten in to
48:42
she now wants to get into some kind of
48:44
college, Sarah, to like, not be working at her dad's music shop.
48:47
Yeah. Anyway, I mean, again, like, these.
48:49
Are Andy Richter.
48:51
That showing up?
48:51
Yeah. He lost all his employees.
48:54
Nobody's gonna. Yeah. No, no.
48:57
He has a massively successful music show, too.
49:00
If this took place in present day.
49:02
Because that's a lot of employees to have on staff all the time.
49:05
Sure.
49:06
And depending on, like, who goes to check on Ian first, maybe he's a billionaire.
49:11
That's true.
49:12
But did the money disappear because he's dead?
49:15
Oh. That's a good point.
49:16
Does the wish go away? Oh, yeah. There's the wish becomes.
49:18
Well, like, the thing. Is, because of that.
49:20
I have to rewatch it for that too. Because I saw it with.
49:23
My partner and he was like, no.
49:25
He's like, I could swear that when he comes in
49:27
that he's holding some of the money, and then when he gets shot, it disappears.
49:30
I'm like, I don't know, I don't remember. Oh, that would be fun.
49:33
It would be. Yeah.
49:33
I didn't notice that.
49:34
Yeah, but I think it's.
49:35
Supposed to be, you know, Like when you die, then the wish goes away.
49:37
Because then I saw people being like, yeah, maybe Nikki goes to his house
49:40
and she's on the run and she gets the billion dollars.
49:42
And I'm like, I don't think the money's there anymore.
49:45
Come on, I don't.
49:46
Come on. It's a that's a more hopeful anyway.
49:48
It's not that type of movie.
49:50
I mean, she's completely destroyed and she's murdered people.
49:53
Now she's going to have to deal with it.
49:55
No, it's the worst possible ending.
49:56
I don't think she deserves that kind of ending.
49:58
I mean, I thought I thought it was a good ending, but, like,
50:02
yeah, I don't I think it's completely awful
50:05
and miserable that this now she's snapped out of it.
50:08
We don't.
50:09
I mean, I guess we can assume that she,
50:11
she knows every experience that the entity Nikki has.
50:15
Oh, I don't think so. No. No.
50:18
We think that there's. Only.
50:20
Of clarity and lucidity.
50:21
Yeah, I think it's only like when she breaks through
50:24
and maybe has an idea, but, like, I don't think so.
50:28
I don't think she knows the extent of everything that she just got dropped into.
50:32
So that's why her reaction everything. Right.
50:34
And I mean, there's nothing about deserves
50:37
I mean, I don't think he's trying to say like she deserves this or anything.
50:40
It's just a lot of
50:42
people have horrible things happen to them that they do not deserve.
50:45
And what happens in the movie, it's fine to me.
50:48
Yeah, well, no.
50:48
But it's fucking dark.
50:50
No, I'm just saying this is a it's a very dark ending for a character that has to.
50:55
That's done nothing wrong. That's all.
50:57
I guess I'm not saying I don't deserve isn't the right word at all.
51:00
I'm just saying that now she's she's left with this kind of this mess,
51:04
this awfulness that she didn't start and she had nothing to do with,
51:07
which is, you know, I guess a pretty big statement, right?
51:11
Or what you're trying to say is like, selfish person fucks
51:14
everybody up like, yep, ruins everyone.
51:18
Yeah, yeah.
51:19
One person can suck up numerous lives and still themselves not be something
51:25
brave enough to end it themselves because he would have just kept going
51:28
along with it.
51:30
Yeah, I do like the one movie.
51:32
Oh no, no.
51:33
He pauses. Yeah.
51:35
Well.
51:36
Because he pauses and then he hears the snap.
51:39
Yeah, well, because then she we entity Nikki makes the wish.
51:44
We can assume that she makes the wish
51:46
that I wish he loved me more than anyone in the world.
51:49
And that's where the humor, I guess, comes in, right?
51:52
Because that was a very funny moment where, like, now, both entities are like,
51:57
oh yeah, or is this we love each other equally now?
52:02
It kind of reminded me, do you guys see the movie together?
52:05
No, I still have to see it now. Yeah.
52:07
You should check.
52:07
You should check together out.
52:09
Another movie that has a lot to do.
52:11
Well, I mean, different, but it's,
52:13
you know, a lot to do with codependency where this isn't codependency.
52:17
This is insane, you know, destroying of one's life. But
52:22
that has a lot about to do with codependency.
52:25
And there's some similarities in the ending
52:28
that are there are funny mirrors to one another.
52:32
Yeah, I have to.
52:33
It is on the list. I will see it.
52:35
I might need some kind of like palate cleanser after all this.
52:39
All the horror movies I've watched, I've been like, just straight.
52:42
It should be straight horror.
52:43
And I'm not the type of person
52:45
that is usually always watching horror movies like I.
52:48
I hate actually going to see the good horror movies, and I
52:51
have to be fed all these shitty horror movie trailers beforehand, like,
52:55
this is the only time that they play these trailers, for the most part.
52:58
And I'm like, fuck, I don't watch these.
53:00
All these other shitty horror movie trailers I'm not interested in.
53:05
But so,
53:06
I mean, yeah, you guys make that's the thing.
53:09
Everyone's making very valid points.
53:11
I agree with them.
53:12
I, I think that it is a smarter movie maybe than I thought
53:17
when I walked out of the theater, but I think that it does require
53:22
a lot of this kind of discussion to like, I don't know, flesh it out.
53:28
The film.
53:29
You're the first people I spoken to about
53:32
this.
53:33
I haven't like a couple other friends have seen it.
53:36
I have not talked to him about it yet.
53:39
But yeah, I don't know.
53:41
Yeah. I'm happy.
53:43
I mean, I'm,
53:43
you know, it's always interesting to hear someone else's reaction to it,
53:46
but my reaction was not that I needed to flesh it out with other people.
53:49
Personally.
53:50
I maybe not fleshed out just a bit more again.
53:55
Yeah, I guess I just have to harp on the.
53:56
Can we come up with more creative ways to make her crazy?
53:59
I think it could have been.
54:00
It would have worked better as a actually
54:04
a scarier, more psychological thriller film.
54:07
If we we get more of of weirder things Nikki is doing that are a little
54:12
not just insane entity things like, I think we just replace
54:15
Nikki as a character with the entity and call it a day.
54:19
I think I would say that like.
54:21
One example of that because I do, I, I think I agree with what you're saying,
54:24
that it's like, yeah, a lot of the like, this is how crazy she is.
54:28
Let's show how crazy she is, that there might have been something
54:31
that was a little bit more specific, a lot of bit more unique.
54:35
A moment like I think stands out to me
54:37
is when she's standing there and she pees on herself.
54:41
That to me is like something that's like a little bit different,
54:45
a little bit creepy.
54:45
You know, when he comes back and she's been sick or whatever.
54:48
So I will, I will agree with you on that.
54:52
And I do think that maybe that is the kind of thing that maybe an older perspective
54:57
he would have, maybe other ways, other techniques of showing that.
55:02
But I will say that I and I don't think it's projecting.
55:06
I'll say the more thinking about it,
55:08
because I got worried about it during the week.
55:09
I was like, am I just seeing something
55:10
that's not there, but that it was a lot more?
55:14
It was a lot deeper and that there was more nuance on it
55:17
than I was expecting, I will say, and I think that
55:20
there were certain choices that definitely were purposeful choices on his part
55:24
that really had me thinking days after I saw it.
55:28
Yeah.
55:28
I mean,
55:28
I guess there you can't rule it out entirely because
55:31
it would be a different conversation.
55:32
So it's not like full projecting onto what the movie of what you, you think
55:36
is happening or what he's trying to say, because then you it would be
55:41
all crazy stuff.
55:42
That's also just part of seeing the movie, though,
55:44
because you bring in your own baggage and your own experiences,
55:47
and then when you see something, you take it one way.
55:51
It may not be the intended, but as long as it isn't like,
55:54
you know, I watch Superman
55:57
and now I want to murder children like, that's, you know, like,
56:00
if that's a takeaway that you got, it's because you're insane, you know?
56:03
But like, you know, as long as I think it's totally like part of the saying,
56:09
you know, when you read a book,
56:10
you're going to pull out your own experience
56:12
that might be slightly different than someone else's experience.
56:15
And that's just normal.
56:18
I don't I don't really think it's projecting.
56:20
I think it's you interacting with someone else, telling you a story.
56:26
You know, if you see it exactly as they say it,
56:29
which is possible to cool, it's, you know,
56:33
if you pull something out, you know, it's maybe the intent, maybe not.
56:38
But as long as it's like within the same vein, it's not like, you know,
56:42
I don't think it's anything that's just normal in my opinion, I don't know.
56:45
Yeah, yeah.
56:46
And I guess I'm bringing my perspective of why would if even if you did love
56:51
somebody more than anyone in the whole wide world or whatever.
56:54
Why would you be acting like a crazy person?
56:57
I don't. That doesn't necessarily.
56:59
That doesn't necessarily make you act behave crazy.
57:03
You know.
57:04
I know that this is an entity. That takes over.
57:06
I think that people who are like, obsessed with somebody,
57:11
that I love you more than anything in the whole world, that is
57:15
crazy.
57:16
But that's guilty.
57:17
That level in drive someone crazy.
57:19
Like, there are literally like hundreds of people right now
57:23
who are being murdered in the world over someone's love of the other person.
57:29
So I don't I do see that, you know.
57:32
But that's not a love that's like. A perversion. Of love.
57:35
That's the thing. This thing doesn't know what love is, right?
57:37
It has no idea. It's not a person.
57:40
It's no concept.
57:42
Any other lovers? Sorry.
57:43
Just like the genie in Aladdin isn't Robin Williams.
57:47
It's not a person. It's a something else.
57:50
And this other thing
57:52
doesn't really understand what love is, or understands it completely, and thinks
57:57
that this person who made the switch is getting exactly what they deserve.
58:02
But I took and they don't have, you know,
58:05
they don't have compassion for what it's going to affect other people.
58:08
Because again, like, for all you know, this has been going on since
58:13
the dawn of time, you know, and they've they don't
58:16
have that empathy or anything.
58:19
It's just like okay that's what you want.
58:22
Cool.
58:23
Go ahead and have it.
58:24
But that's where we don't know how the wish mechanics work.
58:26
Yeah, we don't need to.
58:28
But I think you need you to know that much.
58:31
Like, why would every I don't know, maybe.
58:34
Every wishes that way, the way that it is with this.
58:36
Like I took it as that.
58:38
I'll call her Willow. Nicki.
58:40
Okay. That she like.
58:42
Is sort of.
58:42
You don't want to say Nicki. Like.
58:44
I don't agree. Nicki.
58:46
No, I want to say Willow. Nicki.
58:47
But that she's kind of mirroring him.
58:50
She's trying to figure out what he wants, you know?
58:53
And like, you're saying, like she's not a person.
58:55
Like, it seems like,
58:56
you know, she says even just things that happened to him
58:58
that, you know, when she says something about her
58:59
cat dying and he's like, no, my cat died, you know, and she shows. Up in.
59:04
Yeah, she's wearing.
59:04
The red dress and she's like, I didn't know what to wear,
59:06
you know, like that too, where she's like, okay, guys like red dress,
59:10
you know, like, she changes her, you know, the clothes change a lot.
59:12
And then obviously she starts dressing like Sarah, like,
59:14
so she's not actually, I guess like a person.
59:19
Yeah.
59:19
So I but I see what you're saying.
59:21
Like, we don't really have the mechanics of the wish.
59:23
I didn't take it that with every situation, this is what happens.
59:27
Even if somebody had maybe a similar wish where it was like a love kind of a thing,
59:31
it might not be exactly like this, right?
59:35
I just so.
59:36
One last point and then we'll we'll wrap.
59:39
So it's interesting you should say that because I thought that.
59:41
The concept of loving somebody more than anyone in the world,
59:46
and where she started confusing her, what is happening with a bear
59:51
with her in the very beginning, I thought that actually
59:54
was the most interesting concept of like,
59:56
well, if you love somebody more than you love yourself, like,
59:59
do you really, truly like you take out any human ego and selfishness of
1:00:03
like the survival instinct of humans, of how much we care about ourselves then?
1:00:09
Yeah.
1:00:10
You would only think about you would think their life is your life, right?
1:00:15
I think.
1:00:15
It's like it's understanding what I'm trying to say there.
1:00:18
Yeah. No no, no. Yeah. Like she. Yeah.
1:00:19
There's no she hasn't, she has really like no care for herself.
1:00:23
That's why she can stand there.
1:00:24
And this thing has no care for itself.
1:00:27
That's why
1:00:27
it will just stand there cycling itself, waiting for the person to come back.
1:00:32
Right.
1:00:32
Yeah.
1:00:32
It's you know, I took it as it's a manifestation of his obsession
1:00:36
with her, you know, and so he's so put off by it and it is so discussing.
1:00:40
But that is just him.
1:00:41
And there's numerous shots in the movie where like he's looking in a mirror
1:00:44
and he makes that connection, it seems.
1:00:45
But he doesn't want to
1:00:46
make the connection, but it's just her being obsessed with him.
1:00:49
But that's just really how he felt about her.
1:00:52
And he doesn't really know her and he doesn't really love her.
1:00:56
He just wants, wants, wants.
1:00:58
And and again, like just towards the mechanics and that you you're looking for.
1:01:04
Most of this movie very, very much except for like
1:01:08
some cutaway shots where we stay on Nicki an extra second after he's left the door.
1:01:12
It's his POV,
1:01:15
so we know as much as he does and he doesn't care.
1:01:20
He just wants her to love him.
1:01:23
So there is a shot in the film
1:01:25
where you can read the rules on the back of the box.
1:01:29
He doesn't, so we don't. Right.
1:01:32
And I like that, and I don't think later I don't think he cares.
1:01:36
Still, I think he cares when like Stacy.
1:01:41
Was that her name? Sarah. Sarah.
1:01:43
Sarah. Sarah wouldn't say.
1:01:44
You know, like, that obviously has a big effect,
1:01:47
but he still, after that twice could kill himself.
1:01:52
And he doesn't even have to swallow the pills.
1:01:55
He's about to choke himself, and that's when the thing breaks.
1:01:58
And he wants to.
1:01:58
Go take another wish. And it's the wish of.
1:02:02
Can you wish?
1:02:02
Just take this wish away, wish this wish back.
1:02:05
Or even he wants the alter, the wish.
1:02:07
And like the guy who runs a shop, I don't trust him either.
1:02:12
For a line of people.
1:02:13
That shop are hilarious.
1:02:15
They're like the what?
1:02:17
The first woman who's just on her phone and she knows exactly like they clearly
1:02:23
the two shop owners have an idea like, oh yeah, this thing actually does work.
1:02:27
Yeah.
1:02:27
And she sells it to him like he was buying one of those fake
1:02:30
rocks, which, who knows, maybe the rocks are real.
1:02:33
You know, this, this, this energy rock that she wanted to sell him.
1:02:36
And then the guy at the end is just like,
1:02:40
get someone else to do it.
1:02:41
It's just so funny how they're so nonchalant about it.
1:02:45
Because, again, I think that if once you go deeper into it,
1:02:49
which I fear, I and I don't love doing that, but I'd be surprised
1:02:53
if this was the only obsession film that we ever made that ever gets made.
1:02:57
I wonder if there's something to those two shop owners,
1:03:01
you know, because they 100% know what they're doing
1:03:04
and what they're selling and how it can go one way or the other, like,
1:03:07
hey, don't come back here with your bullshit.
1:03:09
What, like what a wild thing to say to somebody instead of,
1:03:13
you know, if you do this wrong, like, it could be really, really bad.
1:03:18
But he wouldn't have listened to that anyway because he would believe them,
1:03:21
right?
1:03:21
Right.
1:03:22
Like, no one believes that shit when you buy it. No.
1:03:25
So that's also a lot of fun is the idea that there's so many people out there who
1:03:29
just like him,
1:03:32
God knows what they said
1:03:34
and caused in actual reality
1:03:38
because they didn't actually believe it was real at all.
1:03:41
So that's that's where it could be very funny.
1:03:45
Like that could cause for some really funny things to happen.
1:03:48
All right.
1:03:49
I mean, kind of like with a in oddity and hokum.
1:03:52
It's the people who are open to it that see
1:03:56
the ghosts, that see the hauntings.
1:03:59
I mean, this bush works no matter what.
1:04:00
It's just whether you see it.
1:04:01
And I think that's the same thing with oddity and hokum is actually like,
1:04:04
the ghosts are there, whether you see them or not, they're there.
1:04:07
I really hope someone out there jokingly said,
1:04:10
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas and broke that wish it.
1:04:15
Fell down on top of them.
1:04:16
If it does, like with $1 billion.
1:04:18
Like on Christmas Eve, we just cut to them on Christmas
1:04:21
Eve and a fucking hippo like falls onto them.
1:04:24
I will last for a day if I get to see that in a movie.
1:04:28
So anyways.
1:04:30
Yeah, well, I think you guys did change my mind about it a little bit, I think.
1:04:35
Yeah, reading about it,
1:04:36
I see all these things and I'm not going to be so, you know,
1:04:40
this is my opinion of the film and that's it.
1:04:42
And I'm going to seek out only opinions that agree
1:04:46
with me about these certain things.
1:04:48
So we got it.
1:04:50
We got it. You hate the girl.
1:04:53
I. Hate lemon. I. Love demons.
1:04:57
The demon did nothing wrong.
1:04:59
How rude.
1:05:00
Demon.
1:05:00
We don't know if it's a demon. Have some entity.
1:05:03
The jinn, the gin.
1:05:05
He did nothing.
1:05:05
Wrong anyway.
1:05:07
Well, thank you guys for for this.
1:05:10
Talking about this for me. I know the next.
1:05:12
I think back rooms is coming up soon.
1:05:16
2020 ninth, 20.
1:05:18
29th. Okay.
1:05:19
Other than that, like I don't I'm trying to think of any other films that
1:05:22
I might be seeking out in the coming months.
1:05:26
If you want a palate cleanser, maybe I'm going to go see
1:05:28
I Love boosters, the new Boots Riley movie.
1:05:31
Yes. Yes, I've. Seen that tomorrow. Yeah.
1:05:34
Seeing that tomorrow. Yeah.
1:05:35
Yeah that's a good that's a good one.
1:05:37
So I will definitely be going and check that out.
1:05:40
And yeah maybe that will be our next conversation.
1:05:42
Thanks everyone for listening.
1:05:44
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1:05:45
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1:05:48
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1:05:49
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1:05:52
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1:05:55
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1:05:58
Good bye bye.