Credit: Netflix

Can we all collectively agree that Obsession came out of absolutely nowhere and proceeded to make everybody uncomfortable? How did a movie about a guy making a wish turn into one of the most uncomfortable horror experiences of the year?

The premise sounds so simple when you explain it. Bear has a crush on Nikki. Bear finds the One Wish Willow. Bear uses it to make Nikki fall in love with him. End of story, right? Wrong. Horrifically wrong.

Because the second that wish works, the entire movie turns into this awful feeling that something is deeply, deeply off. Every conversation becomes harder to watch. And after a while, you are no longer wondering whether Bear will get the girl. You are wondering how much worse this can possibly get. Quite a bit worse, as it turns out.

And that’s probably why everyone has gone completely feral over this movie. People aren’t leaving Obsession talking about special effects or scary creatures. They are talking about choices. Terrible choices.

And once you’ve watched Obsession, a regular horror movie suddenly doesn’t feel good enough. You are not looking for ghosts anymore. You’re looking for obsession and manipulation. People becoming a little too attached and then making everybody else’s life a nightmare because of it. Thankfully, Netflix has a few movies that are more than happy to continue that nightmare.

Five Netflix movies to watch if you loved Obsession

It’s What’s Inside (Greg Jardin, 2024)

It’s What’s Inside starts with a bunch of friends getting together ahead of a wedding. Then Forbes turns up carrying this mad device that lets people swap bodies. Initially it looks like all fun and games until it isn’t. Shelby, Cyrus, Nikki, Maya, Dennis, Brooke, and Reuben all get involved, reckoning they’ll be able to keep track of who’s who. Spoiler: they can’t. As the night goes on, you can guess what happens… an absolute mess! In fact, people begin using their borrowed identities for reasons they’re keeping to themselves. By the time accusations start getting thrown across the room, nobody has got a clue who they’re actually talking to anymore.

One of the reasons the film got so much buzz after Sundance is because it takes a body-swap idea we’ve all seen before and uses it to drag every hidden secret out into the open. That’s where the comparison to Obsession gets interesting. Bear’s wish in Obsession creates horror because somebody gets access to a relationship that was never meant to be his. It’s What’s Inside plays with a similar loss of control, except this time nobody even owns their own identity anymore. In both the films, trust goes out of the window, and that’s something interesting to watch.

Secret Obsession (Peter Sullivan, 2019)

The title doesn’t exactly keep its cards close to its chest, does it? But fair play, the film gets away with it because the real tension comes from watching Jennifer Williams work out what the audience has already clocked. After surviving a brutal attack, Jennifer wakes up in hospital with no memory of who she is or what’s happened to her. Waiting by her side is Russell, a fella who claims to be her husband. He takes her home, looks after her, answers all her questions, and does everything you’d expect from someone who cares about her.

Only… the more Jennifer learns about her life, the less sense it all makes. Little details start feeling off. Stories don’t add up. Then Detective Frank Page starts digging into the attack, and the deeper he goes, the uglier the picture becomes. Where Obsession traps you inside Bear’s obsession, Secret Obsession flips things round and asks what happens when somebody else’s obsession takes over your whole life. Same creepy idea, just from the other side of the nightmare.

The Roommate (Christian E. Christiansen, 2011)

University is meant to be where you start fresh. New friends and new experiences make new memories. That’s exactly what Sara Matthews is expecting when she arrives on campus. Instead, she gets Rebecca Evans. At first, Rebecca seems sound enough. She is friendly and helpful. Sara has got no reason to think anything’s wrong.

But before long, Rebecca starts taking a bit too much interest in Sara’s life. Then a bit more. Then a lot more. It goes down to the level where friendships become a problem. Even their boyfriends become a problem. Pretty much anybody who gets close to Sara becomes a problem. That’s why The Roommate is such a good follow-up to Obsession. Both stories are built around people who just won’t accept boundaries. Rebecca doesn’t want to be part of Sara’s life: she wants to be the centre of it. And as the film goes on, that attachment turns into something far darker.

Fatal Affair (Peter Sullivan, 2020)

Yet another classic by Peter Sullivan, one thing Fatal Affair does well is make you think you’re watching one genre of film before it reveals it’s something completely different. Nia Long plays Ellie Warren, a successful lawyer whose marriage to Marcus looks solid enough from the outside. Then David Hammond pops back into her life. The pair have history together, and initially it does start as a harmless catch-up. However, it soon becomes something Ellie wishes she’d never got involved in. The second she tries to move on, David decides he is not having that. From there, the film shifts into psychological-thriller territory.

The comparison with Obsession is pretty obvious. A bear can’t separate love from possession, and that’s what the main driver of horror is. David’s working from the same playbook. He convinces himself he knows what’s best for Ellie and yet ignores every boundary she puts up. The result is a horrific nightmare of a film.

Influencer (Kurtis David Harder, 2022)

Before we go ahead into the story, Influencer has one thing in common with Obsession: both gained popularity by word of mouth. The film follows Madison, a travel influencer who has left on her own in Thailand after her boyfriend pulls out of their trip. While trying to make the best of things, she meets a charismatic woman called CW. The two hit it off straight away and spend time together. They explore the area and seem to become good friends in no time.

Then everything changes. Unlike Obsession, which uses a supernatural wish to kick things off, Influencer doesn’t need anything supernatural at all. It is built around false identities and manipulation. That’s what makes it so effective. The horror comes from realising you never actually knew who you were dealing with in the first place. By the time Madison works out what’s really going on, she is already trapped inside somebody else’s game. And that’s all! So, pick your poison.