Bear (Michael Johnston) falls in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette) in Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’
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Obsession tells the disturbing tale of a magical wish, granted by a store-bought item known as a “One-Wish Willow.”
Curry Barker’s viral horror film follows Bear (Michael Johnston), who is in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but can’t bring himself to tell her how he feels.
Bear wishes that Nikki would love him too, more than anyone else in the world—the supernaturally induced romance immediately backfires, creating a pathological obsession that destroys Nikki’s real personality.
Mystery is vital to a good horror story, and Obsession leaves much to the imagination—the One-Wish Willow is largely unexplained, only a few clues hinting at the source of the magic.
Here’s everything Obsession reveals about the One-Wish Willow.
Warning—Spoilers Ahead
The One-Wish Willow Of ‘Obsession,’ Explained
“Be careful what you wish for” is a timeless trope for good reason—unforeseen consequences sparked by selfish desires tend to inspire compelling stories.
Curry Barker says that Obsession was inspired by a “Treehouse of Horror” episode of The Simpsons (season three, episode seven), in which Homer makes cursed wishes with a Monkey’s Paw.
The Simpsons was inspired by W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short story The Monkey’s Paw—the chilling story has inspired a wealth of parodies, references and imitators, such as Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.
The Monkey’s Paw invokes Orientalist tropes of the time period, the titular object imbued with dark magic from an exotic, mysterious part of the world.
Unlike the Monkey’s Paw, the One-Wish Willow is amusingly mundane, a cheap trinket that grants a life-changing, reality bending wish.
The One-Wish Willow reflects modern fears and creepypasta trends, like analog horror—it’s wrapped in retro packaging, mass-produced and sold in a regular store, staffed by apathetic employees.
The One-Wish Willow of Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’
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Open the box and celebratory, distorted music plays, like a plastic novelty gift for a birthday party.
Once the willow is snapped, the wish is permanently activated, leaving the consumer to deal with the consequences—customer service will not help you.
When Bear searches the internet for information about the willow, he finds mixed results, with some claiming that it works, others dismissing the object as junk, and a few commentators claiming that it’s a collectible that should be kept in the box.
The powerful item is treated like a Labubu, with the mystique of a mood ring.
How Does The Magic Of The One-Wish Willow Work?
When the wish is activated, Nikki’s soul seems to be removed from her body, replaced by an otherworldly entity that doesn’t understand social norms.
At one point, Nikki’s true personality speaks to Bear and begs for death while her body sleeps—her true self can also be heard screaming in the background when Bear calls the product helpline, speaking to a bored employee who might be the devil himself.
It’s unclear if the One-Wish Willow is a demonic object (demons are a tad overrepresented in horror), but Obsession echoes another Stephen King story, Needful Things, which sees the devil sell cursed, wish-fulfillment objects to inhabitants of a small town, ruining lives with each sale.
The breaking of the One-Wish Willow brings to mind another horror hit, Weapons, featuring a witchy wooden “wand,” activated when snapped in half.
Notably, Nikki also talks about a witch when she reads a disturbing segment of a story she’s writing. Before the wish overtook her mind, Nikki had dreams of being a writer, and longed to experience love, for the sake of her art.
After being inflicted with Bear’s cursed wish, Nikki’s writing speaks of an incestuous relationship between Hansel and Gretel, the fairytale siblings who were lured in by a witch dwelling in a gingerbread house.
Nikki’s story is about Gretel molesting her brother, the girl musing about flaying Hansel and using his flesh to make a candy-coated sex toy.
It’s a deeply unsettling moment, and might be a clue to the source of the One-Wish Willow’s power as a piece of witchcraft.
Either that, or the story is simply an illustration of how Nikki viewed Bear, her childhood friend, as akin to a sibling, highlighting the unnatural horror of her forced love.
In traditional British folklore, the willow tree is associated with grief, loss and unrequited love, the wood of the tree often used for religious and ritualistic purposes throughout history.
Negative associations with willow can be seen in several famous stories, such as Old Man Willow, the malignant tree spirit in The Lord of the Rings, and the violent Whomping Willow in Harry Potter.
Obsession dances around all of these influences and hints at possibilities without ever giving a straight answer—it’s not even confirmed that the wishes granted by the One-Wish Willow are inherently cursed, as they are in The Monkey’s Paw.
Tragically, it might be the case that Bear just made a bad wish, destroying Nikki’s sense of self with his own desire—the One-Wish Willow might be perfectly harmless, if used correctly.
Either way, the ethereal corporation behind the magical product is not liable for misuse.