7 horror books to read if you can’t stop thinking about the film ‘Obsession’

This Filipino gothic novel needs only one line to express its eerie similarity to Obsession: “It was as if only a tiny part of her was aware of the monstrosity she was committing, but she was still powerless to stop.”

A successful business professional in Manila, Maria has spent her entire life chasing validation and support from an emotionally absent father. Upon her return to her hometown, she tends to his ill health and even brings him a pet pig for comfort. But the longer she spends in her father's presence, the more she sinks into a state of resentment and despair—leading to an unforgettably climactic moment in the family’s backyard. 

This gripping, unsettling novel is a cautionary tale exploring intergenerational trauma, creating a captivating exploration of female rage taken to its most extreme.

Designated as the queen of Philippine horror, Yvette Tan’s short story collection is an undeniable page-turner. Composed of four short stories and a novella, the collection explores various elements of Filipino culture, including the ‘anting’ (amulets) that encase folk Catholicism in its final form. 

First of the Gang follows a young boy who steals an item from his mother’s sari-sari store. Although his goal is to make the wishes of his friends come true, he gets more than he bargained for. Obsession follows a similar plot pattern on a larger scale. But one notable scene occurs when Nikki drops her crystal amulet down a drain, causing Bear to stop by a store to find a replacement for her. He is stunned by the range of necklaces on display, demonstrating how little he knows Nikki, the (literal) object of his affections, at all. 

Another short story in the collection that further elucidates the movie is Horror Vacui, in which Tan explores “why people hoard and the comfort they find in packing their homes with material things.” In the film, Bear lives in his grandmother’s apartment, a place filled to the brim with boxes, furniture and home goods from an earlier era. His haphazard attempts to put up posters in his room show how little stake he has in establishing his own identity, even in a space where he spends most of his time. 

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Originally written in Spanish, this translated short story collection is not for the faint of heart. Readers are immersed in the world of Argentinian magical realism, where women have to navigate oppressive forces in both the spiritual and physical realms.  

Enriquez has a hypnotic, gritty writing style that heightens the atmosphere of her stories, which range from an Instagram shop that inherits beautiful, cursed dresses to a couple who stumble upon a sleepy town with a dark, undulating secret. 

Similar to the collection, Obsession lures viewers in with the belief that Bear’s crush on Nikki is harmless. Romantic love is, after all, the primary fixation upon which most forms of media are built. But after Bear breaks the One Wish Willow to create a Nikki “who loves him more than anyone else in the world,” the underbelly of romantic love is revealed in all its gory glory. 

When asked to describe this short story collection, author Julia Armfield described it as being about ”women and bodies and the ways in which our bodies contain us and betray us.” Therein lies the true terror of Obsession: that a woman’s body becomes a vehicle for male validation, that her autonomy becomes a footnote in the overarching story of her life. 

Instead of succumbing to such forces, the women in Armfield’s story collection take ownership of their experiences and relationships, from puberty to romantic pursuits and everything in between. The protagonists do not shy away from the discomfort and constant evolution of existence; rather, they dive into it, embrace it and revel in it, in a way that generations of women before them never got to.

For readers seeking a fast-paced novel that will keep them until the wee hours of the morning, F.H. Batacan is their best bet. This Filipino writer is unafraid to pierce the economic and social conditions that beset Manila. Her writing style explores, with surgical precision, the ways that people fall through the cracks too easily. 

In her debut novel, two Jesuit priests are trying to solve a series of unexplained deaths occurring in the Payatas dumpsite of Quezon City. The gruesome crimes occur with ritualistic intensity, pushing the priests into the world of corruption brought about by a loss of innocence and bodily autonomy. The latter is a central theme of Obsession, where the protagonist also seeks to manipulate his surroundings into a space under his total control. 

No reading round-up would be complete without this feminist retelling of fairy tales. Although it was written in the 1970s, Carter’s haunting tales still ring true today. From the tale of Bluebeard to the Beauty and the Beast, Carter reevaluates the pinnacle that romantic love has been placed upon. Instead of being a source of fulfilment and connection, it often strips women of their capacity for creative expression.  

Obsession is a film that takes such a struggle to the extreme. With no stable ground on which to base his identity or romantic feelings, Bear believes that a romantic relationship with Nikki will give his life meaning. He pursues this path even at the expense of Nikki’s consciousness and goal to become a writer, which creates a catastrophic outcome for the entire friend group. 

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