Sometimes, you just need to ask that person out. That is the moral of the story here: all Bear simply needed to do was ask Nikki out, and take any rejection with stride. But of course, things are not that simple. Instead, Bear goes into one of those crystal shops to do a good ‘nice guy’ deed for Nikki by replacing her crystal necklace that she had lost. Bear comes across a “One Wish Willow”, a trinket which requires you to speak the one wish out loud and breaking it in half in order for your wish to come true. Like many ‘nice guy’ deeds, Bear finds a way to make it all about himself rather than to seek to understand the girl he has a crush on and what she wants. He buys the trinket, wishes that Nikki would love her more than anyone else in the world and breaks it. Suddenly, Nikki has changed. Now Bear’s wish has come true.
In a way there is something very sinister about Bear himself as a character, almost to the point where you could interpret him as the true antagonist of the film. I found myself very uncomfortable throughout the film with their relationship dynamic which clearly feels very non-consensual to Nikki, who did not ask to be in this relationship with Bear. (The one scene of them having sexual intercourse with Nikki’s dead, yet slightly shocked face says it all – that was a very horrifying moment.)
Something to highlight here is Inde Navarette’s performance – she’s certainly a star in the making, and she carries the film hard. Her acting comes across as so expressive with her ability to change her facial expressions and body language in a fly is what sells her role. This is not to take away from the other acting performances here, which are convincing enough. But quite simply put, the film would not be nearly as good as it is if it had any lesser acting performance in the Nikki role.
I don’t think the film reinvents the wheel on the horror language or anything – the center framing of the subject in a lot of the shots plus the slightly desaturated color grading certainly feels very reminiscent of what you might get out of an Osgood Perkins movie, and the fast pacing, editing and escalation of jump scares reminds me of the films from the RackaRacka brothers as well. Some of the jump scares were indeed effective – even the moment where Nikki breaks in and kills Sarah in the car worked for me in spite of the fact that we as an audience are already clued into that moment (but not specifically when), and the camera reflects that fact. I do wish Barker’s approach were a little more patient and restrained however – sometimes building up suspense goes a long way.
I also like the film’s balance between the humor and horror – you’re never totally sure how much you should be laughing at what’s happening, but at the same time a lot of it does present itself as quite ridiculous. Case in point: the scene where Nikki stands there smiling as she pees on the carpet – although I think a more effective scene would have cut that out completely and have Bear walk in much later to find Nikki like that completely soiling herself.
I also question Bear’s decision to return to the house after Nikki serves him the dead cat and even after she kills Sarah – I think anybody in that position with a moral conscious would leave, why would you go back? Is he really that desperate to be in any kind of relationship, even if it puts his and other people’s lives close to him at stake? I suppose some men really are that desperate, aren’t they?
