u/NintendoWeee

I have seen no one discuss this at all, but what was the real significance of the gift that nikki gives bear (the tigers eye)?

Was this the same necklace stone that Real nikki dropped inside of the sink in the beginning that led bear to the antique store to begin with or completely different?

I recall that the Tiger's eye represented courage, but I love the idea that it could've actually been a gift from Real Nikki to tell Bear to summon up the courage to free her. It's also the last thing that he had in his pocket before he decides to take the pills at the end of the film as his "final act to release her". But he sets it down and that causes him to try to vomit the pills. Did anyone else get a read on this?

This movie is generational. I've worked with a ton of horror directors and the genre is a breeding ground for indie talent because horror is cheap to produce yet requires true mastery of script, sound design, lighting and acting in order to elicit the deepest feelings of human terror. Curry barker will have a long career in Hollywood and deserves whatever budget he asks for in his next film. He will be a household name for a long time to come and I do not see another film surpassing this one in 2026.

***Spoiler Alert***

- The setups in this film are fantastic and there are no wasted scenes and no fat to trim in the whole movie. EVERY SINGLE SHOT AND SCENE IS NECESSARY and nothing is left to "convenient plot points." From the mirror shots, to the pills, to Sandy the cat, to the car shots, to the messy relationships that Bear has with Sarah and Ian and Nikki -- there are zero naked scenes that have no relevance to the plot and exist just for the sake of creating a single jumpscare or "spooky atmosphere."

- Typically in horror when the monster or ghost or demon is revealed there are reset moments that allow for the viewer to breathe. Often seeing the threat makes the danger known and less scary.

Yet what obsession does so well was that it kept the atmosphere terrifying equally when Nikki is on screen AND when she is off screen. I found myself in fear and looking at the corners of every frame every single second that Nikki was not there, afraid that she was going to show up. And whenever she did appear, scenes ran way longer than I expected and I found myself praying for the director to cut away before a third or fourth scare happened within the same scene.

- The film is not afraid to be brutally graphic when necessary. Especially in the car scene with sarah and close ups on Sarah's battered skull, or in Nikki excreting all over herself or her brutal self harm at Ian's party. I never had a single moment to relax because I was always afraid of what Nikki would do to herself or to others.

- Sound design was excellent. Everything from the score that felt like a dial that only turned greater intensity. To the dialogue from normal conversation to hysterical possession to delightfully passive versions of Nikki. Unlike other horror films that turn up suspenseful music when they want you to start feeling scared, every moment of silence in this film felt just as terrifying as the jumpscares themselves.

- The acting was phenomenal, up there with Toni collete in hereditary and Essie Davis in the babadook. Inde Navarrette needs to become a star after this role. Her voice control needs to be studied for decades.

- The lighting and camera work were pinpoint precise. You saw exactly how much you needed to see of the characters, Nikki's face, of the car windows, of the mirrors, of the bedroom, of each and every frame that you needed to see to advance the dialogue or the scene forward.

- Easter egg: I think the film borrows from Japanese horror (kairo) even in the choreography of Nikki's possession and how she moved around the room. I'm not sure if frames were cut to make her seemed like she glided through the floor but the rhythm in her movements definitely felt inhuman and deeply terrifying and supernatural. Especially in the scene when she was watching Bear sleep standing in the dark corner. I could be wrong, but it reminded me a lot of that and movements like in the Grudge.

I think this is genuinely an A or even an S tier horror film and I'm now going to watch every film Curry Barker puts out.