Nikki was a prisoner in her own body, which is more horrific than most situations in a horror film.

The worst thing is: Bear won, to a point. He got weeks of fake love, then died and escaped the consequences of his actions. Meanwhile Nikki is almost definitely going to prison (or is at least going to be sentenced for Bear’s actions, she could possibly plead innocent by insanity).

In reality, the best ending for Nikki would’ve been if Bear killed her when she asked. No one else would’ve died, and Nikki wouldn’t have to answer for things that she didn’t do.

The actress in this movie is incredible the way she snaps from one character / emotion to another when she catches herself in the reflections

Even without the wish Bear would have ended up a predator. Its his personality. The wish just made it easy

(not so)fun fact!  the incest poem,at Ian's party,that Nikki was reading is a follow up to the moment where Nikki was telling Sarah that she treats Bear like her lttle brother,so now when the real Nikki is forced to be in a "romantic" and sexual relationship with him,it feels incestous and deeply wrong to her,which is told indirectly in said poem

I love how it showed that predators aren't always the way media has portrayed them to be (violent, creepy, and persistent strangers that are direct about their intentions). After all, people are more likely to be SAed by their family and friends than some random person on the streets. They made Bear seem like an awkward and meek person, and that’s why his actions felt so disorienting. The story he tells himself and others is completely different from what the reality is. That’s how actual predators work. Also, I have been waiting for your review of it for so long ❤

I love how the real person with the obsession was bear, never nikki.

The point most people miss is Nikki never "loved" Bear, in essence, his wish didn't work. Nikki became Bear, because Bear is the only thing that loves Bear, I'll explain. As soon as Bear makes his "wish" Nikki starts saying things to Bear that he said to her. She also started talking like him, uncertain, weak, mumbling. She starts staring at him the way he used to stare at her. He never loved her, he loved the idea of HIM having her, her choosing HIM, real or not. After Bear finds his cat dead, he says "no, no, no, no..." basically the same way Nikki does at the restaurant. Even when Bear first had her in bed, he wasn't confident. He knew he'd never have the courage to make a move on Nikki. He only had the courage to sleep with her when he KNEW she wasn't in control. Nikki would often lurk in the shadows, just like Bear in the car in the beginning, and generally in every scene he was in, he wasn't confident enough to be out in the open, Nikki mirrored that. Finally, even after Nikki killed her friends, she was only focused on making a wish that Bear would "love" her more than anything, just like Bear's train of thought after losing his grandmother and cat. Bear even tried to take the easy way out by offing himself, instead of doing what the REAL Nikki asked him to do by killing her. He didn't care that she'd be left to deal with the carnage after his "wish" was lifted with his death. No, Bear NEVER loved her. Bear was his own obsession and Nikki was his possession. Great movie, deeply layered and there's no wrong theories.

Whoever thinks bear is the victim needs to be locked uppp

The reason the story is incest is because Nikki isn’t into bear and sees him as a brother but he’s been taking advantage of her to be in a relationship and have s3x with her which is why she reads it like that

Fun fact: Nikki wasn't supposed to live in the end. The original ending was supposed to be her dying after Bear, but the director let them do just ONE take where she lived and Inde did so fucking good they decided to keep it

I think the best part of the movie is the representation of consent. It is a horrific way but cool way of showing control in relationships and how important consent is (as Nikki did not consent to having sex with Bear and she begged he killed her as she didnt want to be trapped by him)

Bear gives “I didn’t know she was on drugs” to “maybe I drugged her accidentally but that’s ok.”
So evil.

Interesting thing that doesn’t get pointed out a lot is that Nikki actually says a lot of things about herself around Bear but he doesn’t care about her as a person enough to hear and internalize that info. She says she has issues with her dad within ear shot of him and he’s still surprised when it’s brought up by others.

Not fun fact:bear brought two one wish willows to ian and told him specifically to wish that he never made one so he could use the second one to wish for the same thing,just without the “embarrassment” of her acting weird

The fact that after his pet died, he’s obsessively in Nikki mode and doesn’t even really care the cat is dead was a huge clue he wasn’t the ‘sweet boy’ the surface narrative was showing.  

I’ve had lots of crushes that were perhaps a bit superficial but felt like overwhelming love at the time, but younger rejected, you get hurt, you cry it off alone and move on. He had the opportinity to admit he liked her and hear the truth from her and lied. He wanted to live in safe delusion no matter the price and that’s clear before the wish is ever made.

Girl nooooo! This is the BAD ending. Nikki is the only one left alive, the trauma of murdering her friends and the aftermath that comes of that is soul crushing. Nikki is doomed

I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR YOU TO COVER THIS, YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!

As someone who had a crystal phase, I find it really fitting that the necklaces Bear was looking at for Nikki represented mental clarity, romantic love, and happiness, but he dismissed them as too cheesy because he believes she doesn’t need any of those things to be in a relationship with him because he doesn’t actually care about how she feels or what she wants

Someone asked Barker what the shop clerk wish was (because he said he'd used his wish already),and he said that he wished for no more anxiety and thats why he was so mellow and chill about everything.