Why Does Nikki Cook Sandy the Cat in Obsession, Explained

Helmed by Curry Barker, ‘Obsession‘ takes the concept of wish fulfillment and stretches it to its very limits through the story of Bear and Nikki. The duo starts the movie as friends and co-workers, but gets entrapped in a nightmarish reality, summoned into being by Bear. At the start of this supernatural horror movie, we see Bear hitting a low point in life, as his pet cat, Sandy, dies after accidentally consuming his oxycodone pills. Feeling guilty and heartbroken, Bear determines that the only way to salvage the night is by asking out Nikki. However, a chance encounter with a novelty toy named One Wish Willow spins things out of control, as Bear’s wish for Nikki to love him more than anyone is materialized with a sinister set of consequences, including a gruesome sendoff to Sandy the cat.

Nikki Likely Cooks Bear’s Pet Cat as She Perceives it as Competition

Among the most morbid moments in ‘Obsession’ is when Bear realizes that Nikki made his sandwich with pieces of his dead cat, Sandy. While we are never given an explicit reason as to why Nikki goes to such lengths, all of this ties back to how she is stripped of her autonomy in order to become someone who fits into Bear’s wish. The movie begins with Sandy’s death, and though we never get to see the cat when it’s alive, Bear’s intense reaction alone is an indicator of how much he loved it. More than that, perhaps, Sandy appears to be one of his only close companions in life, and now, without his pet, Bear is placed in a more precarious and lonely situation than ever before. While these events contextualize his desperate, sweeping desire to become the person Nikki loves the most, they also have their own consequences.

As per the supernatural effects of the One Wish Willow, Nikki soon develops a fiercely possessive obsession with one that manifests as both self-destruction and outbursts regarding others, especially if they are close to Bear in any capacity. Given that Nikki knows how much Sandy means to Bear, it is no surprise that the contorted ideas of love and possessiveness forced into her mind also consider Sandy as a threat. While she at first tries to distance Sandy from Bear by preparing a shrine for the cat, her most drastic step is to turn Sandy’s body into a meal, almost as if she wants him to swallow down whatever emotions he has for his pet. At the same time, however, the movie makes an important distinction that it isn’t the real Nikki who is doing any of this, but rather, the version of her created as a result of Bear’s wish.

Nikki’s Feline Movements Might be Her Emulating Sandy to Feel Loved by Bear

Another interpretation for why Nikki cooks Sandy’s body is the fact that she, at least in this form, doesn’t recognize this as something that crosses boundaries. As a persona designed solely to love Bear, the possessed Nikki may have taken the fact that Bear loved his cat, and the fact that he wishes to be a food critic, and clubbed them together. In this case, while her intention may have been to impress Bear, or perhaps hone his culinary tasting skills in a twisted way, all this does is further her inner psychological self-destruction. We know for a fact that the “real” Nikki is in a constant state of suffering, trapped in a liminal space where she is always aware of what her counterpart is doing. As such, performing these actions against her will was likely a crushing experience in and of itself. It is also likely why Nikki vomits while standing still at the same spot, as it’s implied that she had the sandwich with the cat as well.

Another factor that plays into Nikki’s decision to cook Sandy can be that she quite literally wishes to take the cat’s place in Bear’s place. We see this play out more clearly in Sarah’s death, as shortly after killing her, Nikki begins dressing as Sarah, and even matching her tattoos, all in a hopeless attempt to make Bear “love” her. In retrospect, it’s likely that something similar happens in the case of Sandy, as Nikki almost seems to be emulating feline movements in one of the bedroom sequences, when she approaches Bear from the shadows. In a state where her agency is removed from the equation, Nikki is left with a single-minded pursuit of becoming Bear’s one and only, and in doing so, she’s forced to participate in horrors beyond her imagination, the cruel fate of Sandy being one of them.

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