20 Hit Horror Movies NOBODY Saw Coming

2. Obsession

Even accepting the popularity of filmmaker Curry Barker on social media and the viral buzz surrounding his new film Obsession, nobody could've possibly predicted that it would become a genuine box office phenom.

Following its premiere at TIFF 2025, the $750,000 film was acquired by Focus Features for around $15 million - the most ever paid for a genre film at the festival - before releasing this past May.

Propelled forward by strong word-of-mouth, an easily marketable concept, and the movie's sheer meme-worthy appeal, Obsession was an absolute juggernaut, ultimately going on to gross a scarcely believable $519 million worldwide.

For context, this puts it far above many of the year's biggest IP movies, including Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Moana, Scary Movie, and Scream 7, while also making it the fifth highest-grossing horror film of all time.

Even the most optimistic of observers couldn't have predicted that Obsession would blow up like this, and what a refreshing outcome for an extremely low-budget genre film with little star power.