‘Obsession’ Director Confirms Nikki’s Devastating Post-Credits Fate, and It’s as Bleak as You Feared

Blumhouse has had no shortage of low-budget horror triumphs, but even by the studio’s own standards, ‘Obsession’ has been something else entirely. Written, directed, and edited by first-time feature filmmaker Curry Barker, the supernatural psychological horror film follows Bear, a music store employee who buys a supernatural toy that grants him his wish for his friend Nikki to fall in love with him, resulting in horrifying consequences. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before hitting North American theaters and quickly becoming one of the most talked-about genre releases in recent memory.

The horror pic has earned north of $68 million in North America alone against a minuscule production budget of $750,000. Worldwide, ‘Obsession’ has now made a whopping $148 million, making it Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time at the domestic box office. The film’s word-of-mouth engine has been relentless, fueled in no small part by its genuinely gut-wrenching finale, which left audiences desperate to know what happens next to its tragic central characters.

Now, Dread Central has flagged a major spoiler reveal from Barker himself regarding the fate of Nikki after the credits roll. At the end of ‘Obsession,’ Nikki has already killed her friends Sarah and Ian when Bear kills himself, and his death releases Nikki from the powers of the One Wish Willow, essentially returning her to herself. But the question of what that return actually means for her life has haunted audiences since the film opened. Barker has now answered it, and the news is grim.

Speaking at a Q&A reported on by Deadline, Barker revealed that his upcoming film ‘Anything But Ghosts’ contains a news anchor Easter egg referencing “a triple homicide by a woman,” confirming that Nikki is being blamed for the deaths of Sarah, Ian, and Bear. From the outside world’s perspective, she committed three killings, with no supernatural explanation available to defend her. According to Barker in an interview with Inverse, the billion dollars that Ian wished for before his death did not disappear, but Barker believes it is “more likely that the cops find the money and she goes to jail,” adding potential theft charges on top of everything else.

Barker had also previously discussed an even darker alternate ending for the film, where Nikki dies too, telling Movie Web, “I wanted the ending to feel brutal. The original ending, she just ends it all.” He said the people around him ultimately talked him out of it, arguing that Nikki surviving was “so much more gruesome, because you’re kind of like, ‘Now what?'” That instinct has proven correct. Knowing she survived only to face murder charges for crimes she was powerless to stop makes the film’s conclusion feel more suffocating, not less.

‘Anything But Ghosts,’ which stars Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, follows two fake ghost hunters who end up encountering real ghosts, and Barker has described it as living in the same world as ‘Obsession,’ though with a tone that lends itself more to comedy. The film has already been shot but does not yet have a release date. Whether or not we ever see Nikki’s story continue beyond that background news report remains an open question, but for now, Barker seems content to let that single detail do its devastating work.

For a story that was always really about the cost of someone else’s wish, the idea of Nikki paying for Bear’s choices with her freedom is a fitting, if brutal, final note. Now the question is whether you think she deserves any shot at a different outcome, and what you would have wanted to see happen to her next.