u/AdMotor8423

I think one of the overarching themes of the film is love vs desire/obsession. Early in the film, real nikki and bear even speak about love vs romance and the difference between the two. My question is did bear love nikki, or what he just in love with the idea of being with her as a result of his obsession? For example, (from what I can remember) in the first scene when he practices confessing his love to nikki he names things such as her being there for him when his grandma passed, failing to acknowledge things about her that he actually loves (e.g kindness, honesty, etc). It seems to me that he didnt love her for who she was, but just because he was a lonely guy who he had built a sort of dependent relationship with nikki. Following on from this, for someone who supposedly loves her, he seems to know little about her. As others have pointed out of all of his friends, he’s the only one who doesnt know she’s estranged from her father. Again this is shown when he cant even comprehend why she would leave her job at the music store and fails to even recognise or understand why she would leave to pursue her dreams of being a writer (selfishly thinking about himself and how this will effect him, as he will see her much less, another theme we see throughout the movie). Anyway, I think all this shows he never really knew her or understood her, just desired her and the idea of being with her. Was wondering what other people think!

Not necessarily the scariest or jumpiest part of the movie (that probably goes to Sarah’s death) but one scene that really stuck with me was when Bear called the number on the box and the guy on the other end asks if he wants to speak to Nikki, and what follows are screams of agony, fear, and helplessness, of an innocent girl trapped in her own body forced to watch someone who isnt her commit horrific acts from the passenger seat with no way of escape in her mind. This scene was purely harrowing, and paired with the scene where Nikki asks bear to kill her while whatever is possessing her is “sleeping” really drive home the effect of Bears actions and his refusal to let go, even as he sees how it effects the people around him and the girl he claims to love. Honestly they were quite distressing, obviously you feel nothing but sympathy for Nikki as Bear continues to keep her prisoner