Great analysis. I've been thinking about the movie a lot for similar reasons.
Like it genuinely upset me for a while at how the movie made me sympathize and even partly identify with Bear early in the movie, only to reveal his true nature in the second half. To be clear, I wasn't actually mad at Barker or the movie, I took my reaction as a sign at the movie's quality, but it was nevertheless upsetting to feel so sympathetic to someone who turned out to be a monster. It hits home the ultimate message that normal, sympathetic flaws like social anxiety, neediness, emotional guardedness, and cowardice can turn into something much darker if taken to an extreme.
Something I have been thinking about a bit and don't know what to make of is how to judge pre-Willow Nikki and Ian. While of course, they didn't do anything to deserve their ultimate fates (possession and being shot in cold blood, respectively), they aren't exactly revealed to be perfect people either. It's revealed that they were hooking up in secret despite both knowing that Bear had feelings for Nikki, and it seems like Ian was going out of his way to subtly sabotage Bear's attempts to flirt with or connect with Nikki. Meanwhile, Nikki herself knows all this but still maintained an emotionally intimate relationship with Bear, letting the waters get muddied. To be clear, the hooking up is not the betrayal, it's doing so in secret over a long period of time given the context of their close friendship with Bear that seems shitty.
Of course the rebuttal is that if Bear had been just a bit more assertive, this would have all been revealed to him. It was only his cowardice and guardedness that allowed that dynamic to persist. Perhaps a more assertive Bear would have realized that Sarah had been the better friend to him, and developed attraction for her.
I think Ian is way worse than Nikki tbh. It’s not like she knew that Bear was into her, because Bear was too cowardly to say it, and she may have had some inkling but it shouldn’t be on her to prevent some potential interpersonal conflict by reading Bear’s mind. Maybe she should’ve told him because they were friends or something idk—I’m not super settled on the specifics here.
But *Ian* knew about Bear’s feelings the entire time. And he totally did try to sabotage Bear; I think his initial confession in the opening scene was over the top, but making fun of him for it was ABSOLUTELY the wrong move and probably made Bear even more scared to confess, and also him telling Bear to call her “Freaky Nikki” was weird and wrong on all counts.
(Extremely unimportant headcanon of mine but I think Ian can actually get away with calling her Freaky Nikki because of his personality but Bear can't btw)
She’s fine with Ian seeing her as Freaky Nikki but she’s not okay with Bear seeing her that way. She was seeing Ian on the down low because she’s not 100% comfortable being the person he brings out in her, whereas she feels like the person she is with Bear is closer to her authentic self.
I don't think the movie gave us enough details to come to a definite conclusion but... Maybe she just wanted a casual hookup? Ian seems like someone who would be able to keep a friends-with-benefits situation clean. Bear definitely wouldn't.
I like the idea of "the Devil fully follows the letter of the wish, but twists it into horror", but I'm annoyed by the fact that the implementation usually is "so she makes him a sandwich with a dead cat". Stephen King's "Needful Things" is also that. I read it because I was promised that Liland manipulates normal people by selling them innocent items, and it's really not that.
Good review, and seems like a compelling downfall arc. Does seem like the eldritch horror works here, I just don't think "not malevolent" claim holds.
Fair enough. The eldritch horror isn’t what I found the most compelling anyway; the most effective horror really comes from Bear (and Nikki’s situation of course). The actual actions of “Nikki” are pretty standard for horror movies (I think)
My friend recently sent a meme 'no need to check for monsters under the bed, they are inside of you' and it seems like that has been the theme of every horror movie in the past 10 years.
Man, I didn't think the script was very good. I got so tired of hearing the characters say "what the fuck." And I'm not opposed to swearing, just, they never seemed to have anything else to say. Are they intentionally portrayed as vapid people?
Great analysis. I've been thinking about the movie a lot for similar reasons.
Like it genuinely upset me for a while at how the movie made me sympathize and even partly identify with Bear early in the movie, only to reveal his true nature in the second half. To be clear, I wasn't actually mad at Barker or the movie, I took my reaction as a sign at the movie's quality, but it was nevertheless upsetting to feel so sympathetic to someone who turned out to be a monster. It hits home the ultimate message that normal, sympathetic flaws like social anxiety, neediness, emotional guardedness, and cowardice can turn into something much darker if taken to an extreme.
Something I have been thinking about a bit and don't know what to make of is how to judge pre-Willow Nikki and Ian. While of course, they didn't do anything to deserve their ultimate fates (possession and being shot in cold blood, respectively), they aren't exactly revealed to be perfect people either. It's revealed that they were hooking up in secret despite both knowing that Bear had feelings for Nikki, and it seems like Ian was going out of his way to subtly sabotage Bear's attempts to flirt with or connect with Nikki. Meanwhile, Nikki herself knows all this but still maintained an emotionally intimate relationship with Bear, letting the waters get muddied. To be clear, the hooking up is not the betrayal, it's doing so in secret over a long period of time given the context of their close friendship with Bear that seems shitty.
Of course the rebuttal is that if Bear had been just a bit more assertive, this would have all been revealed to him. It was only his cowardice and guardedness that allowed that dynamic to persist. Perhaps a more assertive Bear would have realized that Sarah had been the better friend to him, and developed attraction for her.
I think Ian is way worse than Nikki tbh. It’s not like she knew that Bear was into her, because Bear was too cowardly to say it, and she may have had some inkling but it shouldn’t be on her to prevent some potential interpersonal conflict by reading Bear’s mind. Maybe she should’ve told him because they were friends or something idk—I’m not super settled on the specifics here.
But *Ian* knew about Bear’s feelings the entire time. And he totally did try to sabotage Bear; I think his initial confession in the opening scene was over the top, but making fun of him for it was ABSOLUTELY the wrong move and probably made Bear even more scared to confess, and also him telling Bear to call her “Freaky Nikki” was weird and wrong on all counts.
(Extremely unimportant headcanon of mine but I think Ian can actually get away with calling her Freaky Nikki because of his personality but Bear can't btw)
She’s fine with Ian seeing her as Freaky Nikki but she’s not okay with Bear seeing her that way. She was seeing Ian on the down low because she’s not 100% comfortable being the person he brings out in her, whereas she feels like the person she is with Bear is closer to her authentic self.
I don't think the movie gave us enough details to come to a definite conclusion but... Maybe she just wanted a casual hookup? Ian seems like someone who would be able to keep a friends-with-benefits situation clean. Bear definitely wouldn't.
Missed opportunity to title the post: ‘I have an Obsession obsession’
ugh should’ve made it one of the title test options
I like the idea of "the Devil fully follows the letter of the wish, but twists it into horror", but I'm annoyed by the fact that the implementation usually is "so she makes him a sandwich with a dead cat". Stephen King's "Needful Things" is also that. I read it because I was promised that Liland manipulates normal people by selling them innocent items, and it's really not that.
Good review, and seems like a compelling downfall arc. Does seem like the eldritch horror works here, I just don't think "not malevolent" claim holds.
Fair enough. The eldritch horror isn’t what I found the most compelling anyway; the most effective horror really comes from Bear (and Nikki’s situation of course). The actual actions of “Nikki” are pretty standard for horror movies (I think)
My friend recently sent a meme 'no need to check for monsters under the bed, they are inside of you' and it seems like that has been the theme of every horror movie in the past 10 years.
It’s effective!
Man, I didn't think the script was very good. I got so tired of hearing the characters say "what the fuck." And I'm not opposed to swearing, just, they never seemed to have anything else to say. Are they intentionally portrayed as vapid people?