Brief Story Line
Four co-workers that consisted of Baron "Bear" Bailey (Michael Johnston - Endangered Species, Teen Wolf TV series etc), Ian (Youtuber Cooper Tomlinson), Nikki (Inde Navarrette - Superman & Lois TV series, Trap House etc) & Sarah (Megan Lawless - The Hate U Give etc) had been working together for some time in a music store. Bear had a crush on Nikki but had no courage to express his feeling. When he bought a toy that was said to be able to grant a wish, Bear casually wished for Nikki to love him.
Unfortunately what started as seemingly harmless wish just for fun became something that would change their lives forever.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Looking at the brief synopsis available on the internet, the movie seemed to have a very simple premise. However, the various comments, news and information all over the internet and social media made me curious about it. If you have read a lot of my earlier posts, you would know that supernatural horror is not my favorite which was why I had my doubts with this one cause somewhere it was classified under such genre. But my curiosity got the best of me, plus in the Indonesian cinema apps, it was put under romance, thriller. So I dared myself to just give a try and I was happy that I did cause it was satisfying and I could understand why it was highly praised.
The movie clearly was made without large budget but somehow it worked perfectly. The dark images, the practical effects, the eerie background music and simple yet terrifying sound effect were put to very good use. In the beginning, the story started off pretty standard with the intro of the main characters. It took a while before it reached the interesting part. Subsequently, though it was not moving at fast pace, the eerie and darkness felt very strong and added the frightening sense. To be honest, I think the scariest part was the shrieking and the facial expression of Nikki who I thought was the one that made this movie so horrifying.
This film was written & directed by Youtuber Curry Barker with the Sketch Comedy channel named "That's a bad idea" which he created together with Cooper Tomlinson. From what I read, this was his second feature film but the first that had theatrical release (his first movie Milk & Serial was released on Youtube for free). With the huge success of this movie, I am sure he would get the chance to create more in the near future. Btw, Barker also appeared in this film as voice of Customer Service. Aside from the four above, there was only Andy Richter (Quintuplets TV series, Aliens in the Attic etc) in support role as Carter the owner of the music store with few others in very minor capacity.
Overall this is an excellently done horror movie with a simple yet creative premise. Though it might not have the most original idea (I read that it was inspired by an episode in The Simpsons series, titled Treehouse of Horror II), but it managed to defy all odds and became such a juggernaut in term of Box Office. It has already gotten > USD 400 million at the time of writing against the budget of USD 750k. Focus Features bought the distribution right for USD 15 million after seeing this shown in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2025. It was actually a 2025 production but was only released this year. Before I forgot, this movie had duration of 109 minutes with no mid or post end credit scene.
So if you are in the mood for an eerie & disturbing horror film and you have same taste with most audience and critics, then I am sure you would enjoy this. But if you prefer supernatural horror movie with many jump scare scenes or the bloody gore type, then this would not be to your liking. For me, this was a pretty satisfying experience of watching a psychological horror movie with wonderful execution and a great, albeit predictable ending.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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