Forget 'Obsession,' This Intense 7-Year-Old HBO Max Film Changed Horror

Image via Focus Features Published Aug 1, 2026, 7:47 AM EDT Rotten Tomatoes | Letterboxd | Metacritic Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King. Sign in to your Collider account It has been hot horror summer with the best features hitting theaters for 2026. While The Odyssey rightfully continues its divine ascension up the charts, eerie genre films have also dominated. Curry Barker devised a monkey paw story to end all monkey paws in Obsession, a personification of be careful what you wish for. Viewers have been raving about the disconcerting story of Bear (Michael Johnston), one of the worst men to find on dating apps. Bear has been nursing a crush on Nikki (Inde Navarrette) and never dared to pursue her. Instead of getting more self-confidence, Bear opts to make a wish on a One Wish Willow, which forces Nikki to love him more than anything else in the world. As anyone who has seen that classic Supernatural episode knows, wishes like these never go well. First and foremost, it takes away Nikki’s agency, and even when Bear is made aware that he is forcing her into this hell where she has no choice, he still wonders what is so bad about being with him. Obsession is the newest socially aware horror film about men’s crimes against women, but is far from the first entry into this subject material. Seven years ago, the perfect horror movie covering this topic premiered, and now it is available to view on HBO Max. ‘Midsommar’ Perfected the Toxic Man Trope Obsession is part of the refreshing new wave of genuinely creepy horror films, but there is no beating Ari Aster’s masterclass of a horror movie. In 2019, Midsommar was Aster’s follow-up to the traumatizing Hereditary and perfected social commentary in horror narratives. Florence Pugh broke out as Dani Ardor, a young woman who has to learn an important lesson. Dani is in a toxic relationship full of gaslighting and manipulation, and that is before she suffers the loss of her entire family. Her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), begrudgingly takes her on a trip to Sweden for his thesis after she is affected by a murder-suicide in her family. Throughout her experiences, she is confronted with how much Christian doesn’t just respect her or really anyone in his friend group. Midsommar ultimately brings out the toxicity of the relationship when they visit a Swedish commune where all hell breaks loose. The story is open about the ills that Christian commits, but some of the most harrowing elements occur even before Dani and Christian make it to Sweden. Christian strings Dani along, gaslighting her all the way and only inviting her on the trip because of her family tragedy. His treatment of his girlfriend is so abhorrent that when the literal horrors present themselves, it’s almost a relief. Christian is the ultimate villain of the movie, driving Midsommar into the perfect horror story about toxic men. Aster famously wrote the movie after he got out of a difficult relationship, writing Dani as a proxy for himself. Christian is horrifying to watch because his evil is casual and because it is unfortunately so common in relationships. Midsommar blew audiences away, made Pugh a star, and has cemented itself as one of the best modern horror movies. Even seven years later, no toxic boyfriend narrative can hold a candle to this sun-drenched horror-fest. Release Date July 3, 2019 Runtime 147 minutes Director Ari Aster A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.