Why Obsession Is the Scariest Movie of 2026 So Far

Obsession has garnered a ton of praise in theaters for its frights. Here’s why the movie has resonated with audiences as the scariest movie of the year so far.

Obsession relies on old tricks and atmosphere to deliver some big scares

Obsession is written and directed by Curry Barker (Milk & Serial), who also served as the film’s editor. The ensemble cast includes Michael Johnston (Slash) as Bear, Inde Navarrette (Superman & Lois) as Nikki, Cooper Tomlinson (Milk & Serial) as Ian, Megan Lawless (The Hate U Give) as Sarah, and Andy Richter (Elf) as Carter.

Unlike more modern horror movies, Obsession leans more into atmosphere and tension to deliver its scariest moments. There aren’t a ton of jump scares to be found throughout this movie. Instead, Obsession features a heavily foreboding atmosphere throughout most of the movie. The movie largely features the slow spiral of Bear and Nikki’s relationship as she becomes more and more obsessed with him after his wish.

Many of the “scares” in the movie come from actress Inde Navarrette, who expertly plays Nikki as she slowly begins to become more and more obsessed with Bear. Inde’s physical acting is what rockets this movie from just generally creepy to downright terrifying at times. Her ability to contort her face and body results in some of the best scares in the movie, including a big scene midway through the movie where Bear wakes up in the middle of the night.

Curry Barker also utilizes some old school movie tricks to make the movie scary, which is fun to see on display. Several moments of the film feature Inde’s Nikki moving in weird or unnerving ways, which was likely achieved by ramping up or slowing down her body movement, or playing it in reverse, to generate a scary effect. It’s stuff like this, without any reliance on traditional scares or audio cues to tell audiences when a scare is happening, that result in the movie having such an unnerving tone throughout its entirety.

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