I Watched 5 Horror Movies To Decode OBSESSION (2026's BEST Horror Film?)

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Just a few weeks back, I got a chance to check out Curry Barker's Obsession. And needless to say, I've been pretty obsessed with it.

[00:00:12]I'm I'm done. That's the last one. I won't do it anymore. Maybe. I promise I'll try.

[00:00:25]But walking out of that film, I felt inspired. There were so many little things I could pick out that I could just feel the influence, the personal touches, just the little things that I think really drove this story for Sir Curry Barker. So, there in lies the list. Yes, five films that whether you're just freshly out of seeing obsession, counting down the hours till your screening hits, or just flat out looking for some pretty good horror movie recommendations, I think I got you covered. So, with all that out of the way, let's dive in.

[00:01:01]I know I've brought this up more than a handful of times on this channel, so I will step away from really diving into the movie itself and just get straight into why I think if you're excited for Obsession, this is certainly going to quench some of that thirst.

[00:01:19]>> Talk to me.

[00:01:25]I mean, first up, we got to talk about the fact that the Philippo brothers, the ones behind Talk to Me here, were also YouTubers, just like Curry Barker, just two Australian brothers who started a YouTube channel called Rakaaraka, where they did everything from crazy Ronald McDonald sketches, two outright massive street battles in what I can only describe as a 10-year-old's wet dream when it comes to just action and explosions and IPs crashing together.

[00:01:56]And even though YouTubers turn directors are becoming a dime a dozen these days, I still think that there's a certain quality when it comes to both Obsession and Talk to Me that is very rarely hit.

[00:02:13]>> Beyond that though, both of these films have a very similar vibe when it comes to just the party atmosphere. I've coined it as like party horror before or I guess you'd call it Tik Tok horror, but it is this kind of modern somewhat blending of like elevated aesthetics with really out there, dare I say, you know, kind of mid to late8s concepts.

[00:02:38]>> One wish will only get one wish.

[00:02:41]>> Both films deal with an object that has some form of way cursed these people that it's involved with. you know, talk to me has this ceramic imbalmed witch's hand that somehow lets you like transport yourself into seeing a dead person. And it's it's just really unsettling [ __ ] as to where Obsession has the one wish Willow, which you know is kind of a joke all the way up until it it's not.

[00:03:11]Talk to me is like drug addiction. You know, it's a it's one of these things where it's like it's kind of a communal experience as to where obsession is more about consent and where that line uh can easily be broken.

[00:03:26]>> Just because you chose this for her doesn't make it less real.

[00:03:34]to set the stage for us here. This was Sam Ramy's big return to horror after about 20 years of basically doing anything but that. The story follows Christine Brown who denies an old woman a loan extension. The old woman proceeds to curse her.

[00:03:58]Christine has 3 days before a goat demon literally drags her into the dirt. Well, if you're thinking to yourself, "That sounds like pretty standard stuff." And then you see that the movie is PG-13.

[00:04:11]Just Just hold on a second. Okay, I I got you. I promise. This is probably the most evil PG-13 movie that I can think of. I mean, this this movie is downright batshit insane in the best and most Sam Ramiest way possible.

[00:04:37]In a lot of ways, it's a tonal whiplash that I don't think should work. But we are at some points in this film absolutely giggling with cringe and just humorous stuff. And and then the next moment we're about to puke because this old woman is spewing maggots into poor Christine's mouth.

[00:05:01]But I know you're not here for that. You want to know why I think this works so well and why I think you should watch this before seeing Obsession. And the answer really comes down to two points.

[00:05:10]One, Sam Ramy is somebody who absolutely understands comedy and who absolutely understands horror and knows how to blend them, how to balance them. We've seen a lot of unevenness with our horror recently when it comes to interjecting comedy. And Sam Ramy is just somebody who certainly does not miss. And Curry Barker is also somebody with a big comedy background. He started with doing a lot of uh comedy sketches, skits, and those slowly got darker, more twisted, more effed up as he went along. Really inspiring and bringing out that uh horror aur in him. You can say >> I would never hurt my friends.

[00:05:50]>> And for point number two, simply just how both of these guys use shadows.

[00:05:56]That's right. Sam Ramy and Curry Barker are taking the age-old concept of just putting somebody in a shadowy place, only showing little pieces, bits of them, and just using it to maximum effect. There is a scene in a car in Drag Me to Hell with this elderly woman who of course Christine denied the loan to, and it is so unsettling.

[00:06:28]It is so brutally slow and it is just one of my favorite Sam Remy moments of all time and arguably one of his scariest.

[00:06:42]>> You shamed me.

[00:06:47]Our man Curry Barker, he also uses Shadow to a very uncomfortable and unsettling degree.

[00:06:57]I don't want to get into that. I don't want to spoil any more to that, but just know if you're watching Drag Me to Hell and that scene with the old woman in the car really gets to you, uh, Obsession is going to do that and and really crank that dial up a couple of times. Yeah.

[00:07:17]a very fresh watch for myself and that goes to none other than 1974's Death Dream or Dead of Night and also the The Night Andy Comes Home. It's Yeah, it's got three different titles. I to be honest, if you're under the age of 40 like your boy, you've probably never heard about this movie.

[00:07:36]>> You owe me this.

[00:07:44]But hey, in my research for this list, I wanted to see what other movies might kind of play into this, if there's any better examples. And I found Death Dream here. And you know what? The thing that uh really surprised me the most about this is that this is a film directed by Bob Clark. Yes, he actually made this in between Black Christmas and what everybody else knows him for, A Christmas Story. And it's a shame that this movie has kind of gone under the radar. I think a lot of that has to do with that three title problem, but I think that this is one of those movies that really kind of hits the nail on the head directly when it comes to adapting uh sort of like a monkeykey's paw scenario. To put it simply, when a presumed dead soldier reappears at his parents' home, there is joy. But soon as his behavior becomes more odd, tensions begin to rise within the family.

[00:08:41]>> No, Charlie.

[00:08:44]>> Stand up, Andy, and face me.

[00:08:49]>> But the best connection I can make between Death Dream and Obsession is really at the heart of these two stories. Both films are tackling the same subject matter and that is the WW Jacobs 1902 short story, The Monkeykey's Paw. It's how they both choose to use the Monkeykey's Paw and how they kind of make it their own that makes them undeniably a great match together because both stories deal with loved ones. loved ones who are injured, taken away from us, or just out of our reach in some capacity that come back to us but are corrupted in kind of the worst way possible.

[00:09:34]Oh god, please no. No, no.

[00:09:38]>> And that's where the horror of this pick truly sits for me. It's the fact that both films are dealing with people who have to come to terms with their own actions, their own wishes. What at first is the most amazing and miraculous thing imaginable and probably every wish they could ever want granted. It slowly starts to rot and become something dark and sinister and ultimately a problem that both have to contend with.

[00:10:07]Shawn Burn is another director that if you do not know the name of them, you should familiarize yourself with his work. I mean, he came out last year with a fantastic movie called Dangerous Animals that really, I think, upped the game a little bit when it comes to what a serial killer and what a shark film can be, as well as responsible for things like The Devil's Candy and of course the film I'm discussing here, The Loved Ones.

[00:10:45]To put it quite simply, this movie is probably the craziest, most batshitly, insane, twisted, evil, disturbing uh prom centric film out there. I mean, I know Carrie is a thing, but like this uh oh boy, this gets [ __ ] I don't know.

[00:11:11]But I'm getting ahead of myself. This movie is about a girl named Lola who works up the nerve to ask a boy to the prom. And well, unfortunately, that boy is already going with somebody. And you know what? She should just take it on the chin. Uh she worked up the courage to do it. It'll work out fine.

[00:11:30]Everything is going to be okay. No, not at all.

[00:11:41]A poor boy here named Brent wakes up tied to a chair in Lola's house with uh not only her but her father um I guess trying to make their own little prom for Lola and and and in a way um give Lola the revenge for I guess um embarrassing her. It's uh it's it's very psychotic and and very unclear. Um, but it's awesome.

[00:12:10]>> Lola stone.

[00:12:23]Really, what I want to hone in on in this film is the performance of Lola. It is very much this obsessive, dysfunctional, just downright psychotic performance. and it is masterfully done.

[00:12:37]I also would say that the performance from Nikki in this film, Obsession, is right on the money with it. They are both so good, but they are both so psychotic and uncomfortable. And truly, that's what I think this and Obsession have in common is that they are two wonderful performances wrapped in just this absolutely batshit and in a lot of ways very fresh feeling bow of horror insanity.

[00:13:07]>> I'm going to your house now.

[00:13:10]I'm going to stab your mommy in the neck just like you did to my daddy.

[00:13:18]Now, the loved ones gets real grimy. I mean, you get into some really dark and messed up stuff. I mean, there's a sequence in this movie involving a power drill that is in probably every piece of marketing you're ever going to find for this because it is that extreme.

[00:13:39]I will say there's a moment in Obsession that is going to certainly have people talking. It happens in the third act.

[00:13:48]You will know it when you see it. And I am suffering because I heard recently that the festival cut was a little bit worse. And I really want to see that one day. I'd love to see it uncut cuz yeah, they weren't kidding. There there's something in this movie, guys, that's very very shocking.

[00:14:09]And that brings us to my number one pick, folks. And yes, I could think of no better movie to prep yourself for when it comes to going to see Obsession than a little something special from the man himself. Yes, Curry Barker with his microbudget free 80inute found footage [ __ ] just nightmare. That is milk and cereal.

[00:14:37]>> I'm gonna go up to his corpse and I'm gonna say, "How's that for being creative?"

[00:14:44]What do you mean you don't like it?

[00:14:47]What do you mean you don't like it?

[00:14:50]Yes, this is not the first time that I've incorporated a director's previous work into a list. This, however, is one of the purest recommendations I could give for Obsession. Cuz yes, not only is the same filmmaker with even a handful of the same actors, it truly is progression at its finest levels, folks.

[00:15:11]We are watching these people who grew a following, made this 80minute no payw wall feature just as a proof of concept, just as something that says, "Hey, if you like this, we got more to show." And yeah, it worked. It did the YouTube movie dream thing and it got them the interest for a budget and eventually got them picked up by Blumbhouse and Focus Features.

[00:15:37]>> I was calling to see if there's a way I can cancel Wish.

[00:15:41]>> I'm sorry, we don't really do that.

[00:15:43]>> Truly, the way I look at it is it's not influence as much as it is authorship.

[00:15:48]It's them using their likenesses, their channel, their kind of, you know, notable backgrounds to kind of fill this out. But it is that brilliance of being able to kind of almost satarize yourself and then start layering in some dark twists on top of twists that make this movie go from a standard YouTuber kind of short film movie thing to an actual found footage gem. about a coffee shop.

[00:16:18]>> He's a nice guy. You have no room for this.

[00:16:21]>> Yeah, but like what the [ __ ] I just >> What the [ __ ] >> Happy birthday to you.

[00:16:42]>> Happy birthday to you.

[00:16:47]Truly, any of the films on this list will do a great job of getting you prepped for obsession or prolonging uh that euphoric experience if you really enjoyed it. But nothing, I think, is going to hit home as closely and give you the best representation for not necessarily what you're going to see visually with Obsession, but what the voice of that film is going to feel like, what the humor, the darkness, all of it is there, and you can watch it for free right now on YouTube.

[00:17:23]Well, there you have it, folks. There are five films for your viewing pleasure. If you've watched it, made it all the way here, made it this far, thank you. You are a real one. And hey, if you haven't already and you think I deserve it, please hit that subscribe button. We are really getting close to 70,000 subscribers, which is kind of mind-blowing. I really appreciate it.

[00:17:44]All of the love and support you guys have given over the last few weeks, the last few months, hell, the last four years has been incredible. So, thank you so much as always. I appreciate it. And let me know down below. Are you going to be checking out Obsession? Are you looking forward to it? I definitely think you should be. And yeah, that's going to wrap it up for me. So until next time, I'm Dylan Null and remember, stay scared.

[00:18:08]>> Going to do it live cuz kick it every day. Knife cash cash slash assash your