Obsession has taken the cinema world by storm. It has become a box office and critical darling.
The script, pacing, acting performances, and simple originality have made it a must see. In fact, it is so much of a must-see that it has made almost $300M worldwide.
The film centers on a sad, desperate man in his early 20s who wishes on a magic willow that his crush would love him “more than anything in the world.” To everyone’s (including the audience's) dismay, it actually works.
For the rest of the movie, we watch in horror as the young woman completely loses all sense of agency and control of herself. What starts out as what one would consider “coming on a bit strong” slowly and terrifyingly devolves into full on violent obsession.
It’s scary on the surface, with tense scenes, violent kills, and plenty of jumpy moments. However what makes Obsession the horror masterpiece it is—and what makes it so lastingly horrifying—is the psychological aspect.
It’s terrifying to think of losing yourself the way Nikki does. It’s terrifying that such a “nice guy” could be so cruel.
Obsession also completely flips the final girl trope on its head, because Nikki is not going to be celebrated as a hero. More than likely, no one will believe her and she will be a pariah, if not in prison.
While Obsession is a very original take on psychological horror and abuse, there are a handful of other films that do a great job in the genre. Here are five horror movies to watch if you loved Obsession!
The Shining
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) sees himself as a tortured genius being stifled by his job, his wife, and his son. What he really is is an alcoholic fraud.
His self awareness is so low that he uproots his wife and kid to a remote hotel so he could work on his manuscript in peace.
While Jack is the one who goes crazy, it is Wendy who pays the price as Jack continues to blame her and Danny for his impotence.
This is a great example of a movie that works perfectly well on the surface, but the further you dig, the more layered and sinister it gets.
What Lies Beneath
What Lies Beneath is the story of a couple, played by Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, who move into a beautiful new home. Soon after, it's a tale of ghosts, delusion, and gaslighting.
Michelle Pfeiffer—in an incredible performance—starts seeing ghosts, and her husband does not believe her. She quickly spirals and starts to think she is losing her mind.
She questions her sanity and reality. It’s hard not to put yourself in her shoes and wonder how lonely she must have felt.
What Lies Beneath makes the clever decision to not reveal how real or made up what Pfeiffer sees is.
The Invisible Man
While What Lies Beneath is about a subtle form of psychological abuse told through an allegory about ghosts, The Invisible Man dispenses with the allegories and gets straight to the point.
In this film, Elisabeth Moss is being mentally, physically, and emotionally abused by her rich husband. He controls her every move and keeps her isolated from friends and family.
Early on in the film, her husband dies. She finally feels free.
However, even in death he still finds ways to torture and control —ways nobody else believes.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
Gaslighting at its pure peak.
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is the story of a woman, freshly released from an institution, and her husband fixing up an old house. Soon they come across a stranger who they let stay in the house, and Jessica begins experiencing strange things.
She says nothing to her husband, because she’s afraid he’ll have her institutionalized again.
It’s a sufficiently spooky film, but when you realize Jessica was more afraid of her husband than potential ghosts or demons, it paints an even scarier picture.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
In this movie, Colin Farrell plays an arrogant doctor whose ego puts him and his family in danger. While it’s easy to point to Barry Keoghan’a character as the villain in this story because he’s the main antagonist driving the plot forward, in reality, the heinous actions of Farrell are the ones that cause all these problems.
Obsession wasn’t the first movie to use horror and disturbing imagery to tell the story of something women endure regularly. With the insane box office, it won’t be the last, either.
Women facing the consequences of their friends or spouses is a tale as old as time.
The men in these films exhibit entitlement, arrogance, and dishonesty, all while shirking accountability and facing their own consequences. That is what gives these otherwise compelling psychological horrors a deeper, more terrifying layer.
