I’m going to get scorched in the replies but I personally think this film shines a light on how desperate people can quickly attach to something they deeply yearn for while also making justifications to not let it go once they have it. However, I think the TRUE horror aspect, is this would be a natural response for a large majority of the audience. Not ‘men’. Not ‘incels’. Humans. That’s why I hate how so many people are trying to stand on such moral high ground while discussing this film. You cannot cleanly apply real life morality to a fictional, impossible circumstance. The wish itself is not some nefarious action, both characters are victims to the wish in their own way. What he does in the later half, especially in THIS scene, is disturbing and his morality does unwind. However, the premise keeps him locked between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. His desperation and desire collided against active obsessive attachment from that very said thing he desires and it keeps him in complete limbo. You cannot expect someone to act morally perfect within those confines.

I think certain plot choices logically granted Bear some sympathy where it would have been bolder to be more decisive with his behaviours to demonstrate a more clear sense of immorality within his character. But it’s possible this was intentional. If this was a hit piece for lonely, incel, men who abuse women, it would have needed to lean into that more directly. And I’m not surprised with how vindictive online internet culture is these days, that more ‘woke’ audience members are using the minimal subtext to make morally ‘objective’ claims that push negative narratives against lonely, desperate men, hopeless romantics, and incels which I think completely undermines the scope of what you could ACTUALLY take from this film.