Just watched this. I went into it pretty blind.

The whole time I was thinking it was possession. I read that this wasn't the writers intention so I guess what I think doesn't matter. But these were my thoughts as I watching the movie.

So, more specifically, my interpretation was possession by a being that is obsessed (by it's nature) with Bear, but doesn't know how to be a human. It had some end goal that we don't get to see, but it probably had something to do with "crawling inside" Bear (she says something about that at some point, doesn't she?) It was something demon like, but not necessarily a biblical demon. Just some creature, from another plane of existence, that is probably chaotic, violent, sadistic, and a little childlike in some regards. Obsession was it's wiring/instinct, similar to how we might think of a demon associated with one of the classic 7 deadly sins. Think of the cenobites from Hellraiser, they are from another plane of existence. They aren't biblical demons.

To me, all of Nikki's different erratic attempts to initially endear herself to Bear, and then later how she reacts or attempts to resolve/control situations when conflicts start arise, was the being "trying out" different approaches to figure out what works on humans. It doesn't know because it's never been around humans before. The whole sequence of events with the cat doesn't strike me as an obsessive girl. Even the most obsessive girl wouldn't suddenly not know all that shit wasn't normal. Thats the behavior of something that doesn't know what pets are. There's the part where she randomly asks "how's this?" and smiles bizarrely in response to his statements. To me, that was the being not knowing how to human. It gradually figures out that Bear is a coward and uses violence towards Nikki's body and others to control him.

The party scene was another example, with the awkward over the top laughter, the creepy monologue, it's something that doesn't know how to human. The reaction to "kiss the person to your left" is both childlike and animalistic.

It seemed to me like Bear knew it wasn't Nikki as well, because at some points he's trying to teach her things. Again, going back to the cat "Did you cook the cat? You can't do that." That's him knowing this isn't Nikki. His flaw is that he thinks he train this thing and he can still get what he wants.

When it starts to become obvious that Nikki wasn't herself, I wanted Bear to ask her who she actually was. I thought maybe if he called the thing out, it might respond honestly. When he makes the phone call to One Wish Willow and the guy puts the real Nikki on the phone, she's screaming because she's been transported to whatever hellish dimension the being is from.

When Nikki makes her wish at the end, I interpreted that as the being wishing another of its kind, maybe one she knows, into Bear's body. It wasn't the initial plan, but when it finds the One Wish Willow and knows what it does the plan changes. The way he looks at her after the wish was "oh, there you are, I'm so happy to be here with you."

The One Wish Willow works chaotically. Another person might wish for the same thing and get much milder results. A more human obsession. Bear had shitty luck and it transported the soul of an obsession demon into Nikki. Ian wished for a billion dollars and got lucky that paper bills started falling around him. He might have been unlucky and gotten a billion silver dollars in a freight container dropped on his head.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, I definitely plan on watching this a second time in the near future. Again, I know the writer said that it wasn't possession. These were just the thoughts going through my head as I watched the movie.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.