Amber Ramos was on a date at the movies when the 23-year-old felt herself being watched: it was her boyfriend’s sharp side-eye.
“Obsession” is supposed to be a horror movie about a dangerously psychotic girlfriend, yet the couple found themselves exchanging looks a bit too frequently.
“She knows what I’m thinking,” said Anthony Paiva, Ramos’s partner.
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As it turns out, theatres across the world are filled with the same kind of guilty recognition. Girlfriends are proudly admitting that they, too, relate to the movie’s “villain,” Nikki, whose behavior rapidly escalates from demanding more of her boyfriend’s time to cooking his cat.
“Obsession” has turned into one of the biggest box-office anomalies in years. Directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker, the $750,000 production has grossed over $220 million in the U.S. since opening, from an audience that is mostly between ages 18 and 35.
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The film caught fire before it was even released, fueled by a marketing strategy that featured an interactive billboard with increasingly unhinged messages from Nikki and an automated hotline for fans to text with her. Audiences are using it as the ultimate relationship litmus test.
When “Fatal Attraction” debuted in 1987, Glenn Close’s character was viewed strictly as a horror story. Nowadays, rather than being scared by Nikki’s behavior, a wave of young women are bonding on social media over their similarities with her.
@yuppie_66I love you so so so so so so much baby🥰♬ Forever – Single Version – The Little Dippers
Meanwhile, a parallel trend has emerged of boyfriends documenting how the movie left them rattled. Content creator Zac James posted a video with the text overlay: “Just watched Obsession and the entire movie she just kept whispering ‘valid’ am i cooked?”
@zacjameskissesgirl Please help me. #obession #obsessionmovie #gf ♬ Maneater – Daryl Hall & John Oates
Comment sections have quickly evolved into a digital support group for bewildered men swapping stories of their own theatre experience. “The movie made me afraid of my girlfriend,” one user wrote on James’s video. Another added, “My girlfriend had a notebook and was taking notes.”
Most videos go viral quickly after posting, as comment sections get flooded with girlfriends everywhere confessing their codependent tendencies.
Ramos’s video, which racked up millions of views, featured a caption that echoed a growing sentiment among young couples: “me side eyeing my bf during Obsession every time she does something i’ve actually done… this movie was supposed to scare me, not expose me.”
While others flooded her comments to agree, some chimed in to question why so many women identified and even sympathized with the villain.
For Ramos, a lab technician trainee in Connecticut, the cinematic parallels hit close to home. She describes her three-year relationship with Paiva as incredibly loving, although she admits to being the more possessive of the two.
“I love this man. Like, he’s mine,” she said.
Ramos pointed to a scene where Nikki throws a tantrum over being excluded from a “boys’ night” that secretly includes other women.
@ektadizyIn Curry Barker’s 2026 horror film Obsession, the “Boys’ Night” scene is widely considered one of the most painfully awkward, uncomfortable, and effective moments in the entire movie. It perfectly highlights the terrifying, controlling nature of Nikki’s supernatural infatuation and Bear’s growing regret. The scene begins with Bear (Michael Johnston) tentatively approaching Nikki (Inde Navarrette) while she is in the shower. He mentions that his friend, Ian, has invited him out for a “boys’ night” later that evening and asks if it is okay for him to go♬ original sound – ektadizy
“I definitely have done that before, not gonna lie,” she said. She also resonates with Nikki’s constant need for reassurance, admitting she asks Paiva if he loves her two to three times a day just to make sure.
She’s quick to point out where the similarities end. In the movie, Nikki tapes doors shut and packs the boyfriend’s dead cat into his work lunch, disguised as a meat sandwich.
“We have two healthy cats living right here,” Ramos said.
Paiva takes the comparisons in stride, viewing Nikki’s intense behavior not as a red flag but as an intense manifestation of romance. “It’s just her way of expressing her love.”
Some viewers say the internet’s rush to make Nikki relatable misses the point.
For them, the sympathy for Nikki stems from a central plot twist. Early in the film, the protagonist, Bear, uses a magical wish that Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world.
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This wish forces a sudden flip in her laid-back persona, trapping her in a state of involuntary and absolute obsession. When Bear begins to pull away from the intense devotion he engineered, Nikki’s behavior spirals out of control.
It was this dynamic that had Elizabeth Cotterell and Coen Ware deeply analyzing the film during a recent tube ride in London. They saw a victim stripped of her free will by a “lonely and resentful” man’s wish, rather than viewing Nikki as just another horror villain.
“It’s interesting because she’s seen as a villain, but she really doesn’t have any autonomy in it,” Cotterell said.
Ramos remains unbothered by the critics creeping into her comment section. To her, the movie has achieved something far more valuable than a deep cinematic thesis.
“I love that I have a little community where I’m not by myself,” Ramos said, content with her own real-world, cat-friendly version of devotion.
“I’m not the only crazy one.”
