20 Movies That Could've Been Horror Movies
3. Ruby Sparks
2012's fantastical romantic dramedy Ruby Sparks revolves around Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano), an anxious novelist who discovers that his latest fictional character, Ruby (Zoe Kazan), has come to life in the real world.
The tension at the heart of this apparent meet-cute is that, while Ruby has her own wants and desires, Calvin can literally control her actions and moods simply by typing about her on his typewriter.
Countless horror movies and thrillers have been made about men who want to dominate women, and in this case Calvin can quite literally bind Ruby to his will, as he regularly does throughout the film.
This culminates in a genuinely terrifying sequence where, following an argument, Calvin finally reveals the truth to Ruby and has her perform a number of humiliating acts - such as barking like a dog - as if a literal puppet.
Even though Calvin eventually sees the error of his ways and frees Ruby from his control, the bulk of the film is a uniquely twisted take on toxic relationships and the idea that, even today, women still need to fight for their own agency.