These Movies About Obsession Will Have You…Obsessed
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It's one thing to be completely enamored with someone and so deeply in love that you see them through emoji heart eyes, but it's a whole other thing if that infatuation morphs into a dangerous obsession. And yet, some romantic movies can blur the line between love and obsession. Threatening to throw yourself off of a ferris wheel becomes a charming anecdote in The Notebook. Being so obsessed with your best friend’s bride that their entire wedding video is just close-ups of her face becomes endearing in Love Actually. But not all movies celebrate such creepy behavior. Some actually call it out or at least name it for what it is: stalking.
Movies about obsession can range in genre from comedies to horror—from cautionary tales, like Fatal Attraction, to societal critiques, like Ingrid Goes West—but they all explore a similar theme: when does obsession become dangerous? When do love and devotion become stalking instead of romance? And why, oh why, are stalkers in movies so attractive??? (OK, that last one isn’t a common theme, but if you watch some of the movies with stalkers on this list, trust me, it’s a question that’ll keep you up at night.)
So if you're looking to stream something thrilling tonight, check out this list of the best movies about obsession, ranked by just how obsessed you'll be.
22. Chloe
Erotic thrillers are all about obsession, and Chloe is no different. The film starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, and Amanda Seyfried follows a woman (Moore) who hires a young escort (Seyfriend) to seduce her husband (Neeson), but finds herself tangled up in a web of lies instead.
21. 365 Days
This NSFW movie follows a mobster (Michele Morrone) who kidnaps a woman (Anna-Maria Sieklucka) and makes her stay with him for 365 days to see if she’ll fall in love with him. As a trigger warning, the creepy, obsession-ridden plot received some backlash over its lack of consent and sex scenes.
20. Do Revenge
Unlike most movies on this list, Do Revenge isn’t an erotic thriller, so it’s not so much about romantic obsession as it is about, well, revenge. A campy high school dramedy, Do Revenge follows high school seniors Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke) as they form an alliance to take down their respective nemeses. But sometimes revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
19. Swimfan
Normally, I wouldn’t recommend movies that perpetuate the scorned woman stereotype, but I’ll make an exception for Swimfan because of its status as an early 2000s classic and because of Erika Christensen’s unforgettable performance as Madison, a girl who becomes obsessed with her one night stand, Ben (Jesse Bradford). Too bad he already has a girlfriend (Shiri Appleby).
18. Twilight
Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) may not be a full-blown sociopath with violent sexual fantasies, but! If the countless bad-boyfriend-alert red flags Cullen exhibits (kidnapping, prohibiting his girlfriend from seeing her friends, watching her sleep every night) over the course of the fan-loved first film have not caught your eye, then you are blinded by Robert Pattinson's cheekbones, and possibly also by Taylor Lautner's abs.
17. Can't Hardly Wait
A surprise inclusion! It may not be a thriller about obsession, but it's about obsession nonetheless. Nice-but-not-necessarily-noticed guy Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) is obsessively in love with the most popular girl in school, Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt)—so much so that he memorizes her schedule, eating habits, assorted likes and dislikes, and writes her a lengthy letter detailing his obsession, which he also memorizes. The fact that this otherwise textbook stalker behavior is somehow overlooked and interpreted to be adorable and wonderful to Amanda is, well, kids today! Jeez.
16. The Crush
Lemme tell ya, you're not alone if you ever crushed on a houseguest when you were a kid. But I bet your harmless crush never turned into a full-blown psychotic obsession, like 14-year-old Adrian in The Crush. Alicia Silverstone's breakout role (yes, before she was Cher) takes a cute lil girl crush to a wholeeeee other (low-key scary and high-key creepy) level.
15. The Perfect Guy
I don't know about you, but whenever the word "perfect" is followed by the word "guy," my eyebrows immediately raise and my bullsh*t antenna goes on red alert. I'm not cynical, I'm sensible, and I know that no human being is perfect except for maybe Ryan Reynolds or Michael B. Jordan. Case in point: Carter Duncan in The Perfect Guy. Played by the smoldering Michael Ealy, Duncan checks all the boxes at first (charming, gorgeous, attentive) but then turns out to be a lil too perfect AKA possessive, obsessive, AND aggressive.
14. Fifty Shades of Grey
Did you expect this to be a lil closer to number one? Sorry. Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) is a stone-cold fox, but cold is the operative word. (Forgive me for saying "stone-cold fox," but it was in service of making a point, okay?) Worse: His instantaneous fixation on "plain Jane" Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) is an unsettling turn-off. Don't let his hotness distract you from his sociopathic red-flag behavior.
13. Lolita
Don't let this black and white film that's over 50 years old fool you: it's freakin' freaky. Adapted from Vladimir Nabokov's disturbingly infamous 1955 novel of the same name, Lolita is about an older man who becomes so completely infatuated with a 14-year-old girl that he'll go to the most extreme (read: illegal, psychopathic, pedophilloic) measures to stay close to her. It's so disturbing and problematic you won't even realize it's not in color.
12. The Boy Next Door
First of all, pretty much everything you need to know about The Boy Next Door is in the film's well-crafted trailer. Second, Ryan Guzman (of Step Up Revolution) does a great job of taking charge and seducing J.Lo before things get real violent and ridiculous. Lesson learned: Don't have sex with hot young neighbors. Or at least...be aware of the risks.
11. Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn's best-selling mystery-thriller adapted for the big screen by the visionary David Fincher? Yes, please. So many unexpected twists and turns in this film, full of surprising, deeply flawed characters and anchored by a stellar cast, including Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, and the crazy-compelling, Oscar-nominated Rosamund Pike. Even more interesting: No one really "wins" in the end.
10. Ingrid Goes West
Aubrey Plaza goes full Instagram stalker in Ingrid Goes West as a young woman who becomes so obsessed with an online influencer (Elizabeth Olsen) from LA that she starts copying her hair, her speech, and eventually worms her way into the influencer’s life.
9. Sleeping With the Enemy
The nerve of director Joseph Ruben to put America's newest sweetheart, a then post-Pretty Woman Julia Roberts, in a film that required her battered wife character Laura to fight, swim, and run for her life. Laura is terrified that her husband is going to kill her eventually, so she fakes her own death to get away from him. It works, for a while…
8. The Girl on the Train
This is one of those movies that's best to go into without a lot of backstory so you can experience its full effect. All I'm going to say is prepare to board the non-stop train to utter mind-f*ckery, featuring an awesome cast that includes Emily Blunt, Laura Prepon, Justin Theroux, and more of your faves.
7. Single White Female
Sweet, unsuspecting Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) thought she'd find the perfect roommate when she placed an ad in the classifieds. Instead she got "Hedy" (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a whole bunch of terrible behavior. Hedy's dirtiest deed? Impersonating Allison and then sleeping with her boyfriend Sam (Steven Weber) in an attempt to break them up. Feel free to watch the Minka Kelly/Leighton Meester version, The Roommate, instead. It's not technically a remake, nor is it nearly as good, but it's a "college years" take that is entertaining nonetheless.
6. Fear
Oh, David. Pretty, chiseled David (played by a 25-year-old Mark Wahlberg). I'll never forget "Wild Horses" and that rollercoaster ride, but must you handle your breakup with too-young-for-you-at-the-time Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) by losing your damned mind? So much violence, which included: the beating up of friends and cars, the building of creepy shrines, and the carving of names into chests.
5. The Invisible Man
This freaky film is about an abusive man (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is so obsessed with his wife (Elisabeth Moss) that he finds a way to make himself invisible and fakes his death to terrorize her without anyone knowing. Yeah, that’s one admirer I wouldn’t like to have.
4. Fatal Attraction
A Best Picture nominee and legendary movie. Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) engages in a passionate weekend fling with Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) that, when broken off, triggers a series of psychotic events and acts that leads to one of the most memorable scenes in cinema. Boiled rabbit, anyone?
3. Black Swan
Natalie Portman won her first Academy Award for her performance in Black Swan and rightly so, given that anytime you mention this movie, you're 100% guaranteed to hear audible gasps and murmurs about how brilliant(ly f*cked up) it is from anyone whose seen it. A chilling reminder of how obsession materializes not only psychologically, but also physically.
2. The Voyeurs
If you take nothing else away from watching The Voyeurs, remember this: curtains are your friend. The movie stars Sydney Sweeney as a woman who becomes obsessed with the sex lives of the neighbors across the way, specifically the infidelities of the man in the couple. But is she really the one stalking them? Or are they watching her?
1. Obsessed
Is this the best movie on the list? LOL, no. But it stars Beyoncé. And Idris Elba. The icing on the deliciously entertaining cake is proven cinematic temptress Ali Larter, in the role of unhinged obsessed lover (and totally inappropriate working professional) who wreaks all kinds of havoc upon Queen Bey's peaceful, domestic existence. Could this happen IRL? Never. Nope. Not to Beyoncé.
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