The past few years have brought some great films to theaters. But it’s funny how sometimes a movie can stand out, compared to a lot of highly anticipated and heavily marketed releases, simply through word of mouth. That’s the case with Obsession, which follows the relationship between Bear (Michael Johnston) and his childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). He, deeply in love with her, buys a supernatural toy that grants a wish and asks to win her heart. From there, attraction and curiosity turn into something unstable, built around control, dependency, and broken boundaries. It’s a horror story that keeps surprising audiences and has even been called one of the best movies of the year.
So what now? What do you watch after seeing it and enjoying the experience so much? There are a few other films that connect to the same ideas as Obsession and might hit just as hard. Here are some of them.
When you think about Obsession, Pearl is probably the least obvious entry on the list, mainly because there isn’t really a central obsessive relationship driving the story. Instead, it’s a prequel to X and focuses on the title character, a young woman stuck on a farm with her parents, desperately trying to escape her small, suffocating life because she dreams of becoming a movie star. It sounds almost inspirational, but that desire to “be someone” is exactly what pushes her into increasingly extreme behavior, making the story progressively darker and heavier.
The connection to Obsession comes down to the psychological mechanism more than the plot itself. In both films, obsession is born from an emotional void that the character can’t deal with in a healthy way. In Pearl, that turns into an obsession with recognition and identity; in Obsession, it’s more about attachment and control within a relationship. But the logic is similar: reality is never enough, so the character builds a mental version of it and starts acting as if that version matters more than everything else.
A horror classic that’s now set to get a remake, Possession starts off looking like a pretty standard breakup drama: a couple in Berlin going through a strained, already-worn-down divorce. But the movie shatters any expectations the audience might have and turns that separation into something far more chaotic, filled with irrational behavior, paranoia, and intense psychological horror elements. Even today, many still consider it one of the genre’s most essential films.
And why is it similar to Obsession? It’s basically the same idea: both understand relationships as something that doesn’t really end cleanly. In Possession, the breakup doesn’t resolve anything; it only amplifies emotional dependency until it is destructive. In Obsession, this shows up in a more contained way, sure, but it’s still about the moment emotional attachment turns into dependency, where the other person stops being an individual and becomes an extension of your own instability. In both movies, it’s about a relationship that only deteriorates.
Fatal Attraction is considered one of those must-watch films, especially if you’re into cinema history. It’s not exactly pure horror, but it’s an amazing psychological thriller. The story revolves around a married man who has a brief affair with a woman and assumes it’s over — but she doesn’t see it that way. So what starts as a casual encounter turns into stalking and escalating tension as she refuses to accept the end of the relationship. Basically, you never really know how far things are going to go.
The reason it connects so well to Obsession is the idea of emotional consequences spiraling completely out of control. In Fatal Attraction, the tension comes from that expectation gap: the assumption that desire can be separated from responsibility, only for the movie to argue the opposite in a very aggressive way. Obsession plays with a similar dynamic, just in a more modern context and with a different tonal approach. And it’s worth watching mainly because it became the blueprint for stories about obsession turning destructive.
Misery is one of those Stephen King adaptations that doesn’t get talked about as much as the big-name ones. But when it comes to obsession, it’s one of the most direct and effective examples. The story is about a famous writer who gets into a car accident and is rescued by one of his biggest fans. At first, she seems caring, even supportive, but it turns into a nightmare when he realizes she has no intention of letting him leave — especially once she discovers what he’s done to her favorite character in his books.
In Obsession, love is treated like possession, but in Misery, that idea is pushed to its most literal extreme. She doesn’t just emotionally attach herself to him, but she controls his movements, his body, and even his work. One film keeps things more emotional and relational, while the other takes that same dynamic and pushes it into physical captivity. But both are ultimately dealing with the fact that the other person stops being seen as a human being and becomes something that exists to fulfill a very specific emotional need.
You might not have heard of Audition because it’s a Japanese film, but many psychological horror fans have already seen it, and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. And why? Well, the premise already starts by misleading you, showing a widowed man who decides to hold auditions to find a new partner and becomes interested in a seemingly calm, reserved woman who therefore seems like the ideal match. However, this almost romantic beginning slowly shifts in tone until it becomes something disturbing to watch unfold.
The biggest similarity to Obsession lies exactly in its construction. In Audition, the relationship is born from projection, so the protagonist sees in the woman what he wants to see, and she responds to that in a way that completely shatters that fantasy. In Obsession, the mechanism is similar, since the relationship is not built on a true understanding of the other person, but on expectation and emotional need. When that collapses, the movie then shifts gears and shows just how unstable that connection always was.
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