omg, OBSESSED! đ
Hey, horror hotties.
We throw the word 'obsessed' around a lot these days, don't we? We're all obsessed with a product, an outfit, a celebrity. But true obsession? Like, actual obsession? Nightmare fuel.
Take my hand, and tumble with me into the twisted, unrelenting world of female obsession horrorâŚ
Female obsession (and why it hits different)
When I say âobsession horrorâ, your mind might skip to The Invisible Man, The Collector, The Boy Next Door or Netflixâs You. Narratives in which a man uses his strength, size, and power to infringe on a womanâs already limited freedoms because he doesn't understand the word âno.â The horror is very real but (sadly) very commonplace.
Obsessed women, however, present a very different threat.
As creatures of love and devotion with an unparalleled eye for detail and a penchant for psychological warfare, obsessed women just hit different. And, given the quantity of female-obsession horror films, it seems the world agrees.
Here are a few faves and why they go so hardâŚ
Women-on-man obsession
The first and most obvious layer of our female obsession nightmare starts in the hetero space with affairs gone wrong. After all â thereâs only one thing worse than your casual hook-up refusing to keep quiet after a clandestine sesh, and thatâs a casual hook-up who falls into a deep obsession with you.
Films like Swimfan and Fatal Attraction explore this in a similar way, starting with the male protagonist cheating on his partner with an utterly irresistible hottie. Said hottie then refuses to be side-lined, blackmailing and tormenting our male protagonist in the hope heâll leave his partner for her.
The âbunny boilerâ hottie is usually positioned as deserving of her grisly end because she threatened the family dynamic and refused to go away quietly once the hook-up was over. She got too intense, too quickly. And we all know thatâs a dating no-no đ
Another flavour of hetero-obsessed female horror is the super fan. And anyone with a social media account will tell you how brazenly obsessed some female fans can be (Iâm looking at you, BTS ARMY).
Films like Play Misty for Me and Misery explore manâs terror at being confronted with an adoring female fanâs advances â a scenario in which sexism, gender roles, and patriarchy work in the obsessed womanâs favour. After all â what harm could a woman do to a man? It's a scenario weâve seen play out recently in Netflixâs 2024 series, Baby Reindeer (not to mention the ethics of exploring these stories through media in the internet sleuthing age).
Itâs not just obsessed super fans and overt hotties men need to worry about, either. Films like The Loved Ones, The Crush, and The Hole imagine the sheer ruthlessness of young girls when presented with the opportunity to lock down their crush.
When you look at things from a male perspective, the obsessed female represents love gone wrong. A reversal of the power structure. Because women are perceived as being meek, gentle, and inept, our obsessed âvillainsâ can pass under the radar and dodge suspicion, making the male protagonist look paranoid and â worse â weak.
In these scenarios, women donât need to be bigger or stronger to gain the advantage; the patriarchy shields them, averting suspicion and shaming their victims into silence.
And if you thought the covenant of sisterhood protected women from female obsession, youâve got another thing comingâŚ
Woman-on-woman obsession
This is where things kick up a notch. The dynamic between women is very different, making same-sex female obsession a super-compelling and deadly horror narrative.
In many cases, it all starts with envy. Films like The Neon Demon and Single White Female (not to mention its step-sister The Roommate) show us what happens when we become so deeply obsessed with another woman that we canât tell whether we want to fuck her or be her. After all, society teaches us that thereâs only room for one woman at the top.
Like men, women are also trapped by gender discourse in this scenario. Accuse a woman of being obsessed with you or stealing your identity, and you can expect to be called âarrogantâ, âpettyâ, or âanti-feministâ. Your fear and trauma are likely to be chalked up as hysteria (urgh) or silly drama, like a public slapfight over a mediocre guy.
In these stories, our female characters are simply doing what women do â forming close and intimate bonds with other women. In this sense, same-sex female obsession films tap into our underlying fear of freely handing our acquaintances the ammo they need to destroy us should the friendship go wrong. Society doesnât truly believe women can be a threat, so youâre not likely to find help or anyone to take you seriously.
And on that note, we canât touch on same-sex female obsession without circling back around to teenage girls and true crime by way of Heavenly Creatures. Based on the true Parker-Hulme murder case, this film explores the mutual obsession between two teenage girls who commit murder to prevent their parents from separating them.
It stands as a testament to the ruthlessness of teenage obsession, female obsession, and the shocking depths it can reach when reciprocated by an equally enthusiastic female obsessive.
Because nobody loves like a woman.
On a more serious note, if you or someone you know is the subject of unwanted attention or harassment, check out the National Stalking Helpline via the Suzy Lamplugh Trust for expert guidance. Be safe out there, babes x
Thanks for reading, boo. Until next time, sleep tight!
Cowners x