u/Denjoswu

Watching the whole thing through my second time around, I was aware of the plot and scares along the way which allowed me to feel more at ease and divert my attention to the character building, particularly that of Freaky Nikki. During my first watch, I was terrified of what Nikki would do and react at every turn, and placed more of my sympathy on the real Nikki buried and puppetted against her will. This time, I was less scared of Freaky Nikki and felt a tremendous amount of empathy for whatever entity/alter ego conjured by the willow she is. Mostly, it was pretty tragic how her inability to understand human behavior unwittingly drove the one she loves most farther and farther away through her weird, yet actually innocuous behavior. The scares in the movie (her bizarre movements, screaming, slamming things, etc) were only due to her desire to connect with Bear and her subsequent frustration and desperation when she's unable to fully do that. She didnt seem particularly happy about killing Sarah, she just reminded Bear that yes, this level of delusion and obsession is what he wished for. At the end, when she tells Bear that they can take space and used the willow to snap him into a trance, we see their love right before it’s snatched away from her again. I feel like Barker deserves recognition for creating Nikki as two individual tragic characters within one body, it definitely played a part in why this movie is so memorable!

Just got out of my second viewing with a different group of friends, and I left feeling affirmed that this is one or the smarter horror flicks of this decade. Watching the whole thing through while being aware of the plot and scares along the way allowed me to feel more at ease and divert my attention to the character building, particularly that of Freaky Nikki. During my first watch, I was terrified of what Nikki would do and react at every turn, and placed more of my sympathy on the real Nikki buried and puppetted against her will. This time, I was less scared of Freaky Nikki and felt a tremendous amount of empathy for whatever entity/alter ego conjured by the willow she is. Mostly, it was pretty tragic how her inability to understand human behavior unwittingly drove the one she loves most farther and farther away through her weird, yet actually innocuous behavior. The scares in the movie (her bizarre movements, screaming, slamming things, etc) were only due to her desire to connect with Bear and her subsequent frustration and desperation when she's unable to fully do that. Especially at the end, when she tells Bear that they can take space and used the willow to snap him into a trance, we see their love right before its snatched away from her again. I feel like Barker deserves recognition for creating Nikki as two individual tragic characters within one body, it definitely played a part in why this movie is so memorable!