Genre: Horror, psychological thiller
Release date: May 15, 2026
Director/Writer: Curry Baker
Cast: Micheal Johnnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless
Intro
Lonely and feeling like there wasn't much to lose, Bear uses a "One Wish Willow" to wish that his crush, Nikki would love him more than anything else in the world. But you know what they say: Be careful what you wish for.
Review
I know I'm late to the party on this one. Everybody has seen this movie. My own horror movie hating, resident scaredy cat mother, saw this movie when it released in the theatres. And all these months of people raving about it, I never once thought that the movie wasn't going to live up to the hype, which is rare for me. Typically, when everybody is obsessed with something for so long, by the time I actually get around to experiencing it for myself, I end up a little underwhelmed.
But let me tell you something, in case you needed one more person in your ear saying it.
This movie was phenomenal.
The acting was insane. Inde Navarrette, who plays Nikki nailed every single emotion, every single expression, every single movement in this movie. The scene where she is watching Bear sleep was quite literally a masterpiece plucked from my nightmares. The party scene where she frowns at the potential of Bear kissing another girl? I think we must move the Florence Pugh frown down a notch to make room for the work that Navarrette did in this film. I truly think I could sing her praises for days.
Micheal Johnston, who played Bear, also did a fantastic job. The insecurities of his character were palpable. Bear was ultimately a weak man, and Johnston did a great job of portraying that.
Another aspect of the film that I think was done so well was the lighting. The shadows of Nikki in the bedroom scene, and the shadow of her in doorways were so effective. I loved the way you could almost see her becoming somebody—or something—else.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the way footage was played in reverse to get some of Nikki’s odd movements. Such a simple trick, and so effective.
Now, on to how I felt about the story of the film and the characters generally. If you couldn’t already guess, I loved every minute of this.
It has been quite a year for weak men in horror. (Nicky Cunningham from Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, I’m looking at you.) And their female counterparts getting a fate they so desperately did not deserve, and this is another one of those stories.
Firstly, I want to say that Bear is the villain. Maybe it didn’t start that way. Maybe his wish was a silly attempt at hoping that love would find him. Nobody actually thought that the One Wish Willow would work. The problem comes in when he really knows that the wish did work. When he called the help number. He knew that this was not Nikki. It was definitely Nikki’s body. But not her. He asked to alter the wish instead of cancelling it. He didn’t consider Nikki in this at all. He simply wanted to have his cake and eat it too. When I tell you how my stomach dropped when he dared to utter “What’s so bad about being with me?” after the real Nikki asked him to kill her? He’s lucky I couldn’t reach through the screen.
Anyway, before I get too carried away here. This whole thing is a horror story. And sometimes the villain of the whole thing is just some guy you know.
Overall, this movie truly unsettled me, and it’s been years since I’ve been able to say that as an avid horror movie watcher. A true 10/10 for me. I would be shocked if this didn’t end up being the top movie of the year for me.
