Obsession's Creepiest Moment Came From A Viral TikTok Trend

"Obsession" is one of the best horror movies of 2026, and it's full of incredibly unsettling moments. But by far the creepiest one is when Inde Navarrette's Nikki stands in the corner of a room at night, silently watching her pathetic and sad boyfriend Bear (Michael Johnston) sleep. Her face appears to be distorted, recalling one of the demons from the "Conjuring" movies. It's a very effective shot that looks like either a practical creature effect or very good CGI, and it even brings an equally scary bit from the all-timer horror flick "Pulse" to mind.

However, in truth, it relies on a trick straight out of a viral TikTok trend. "Obsession" makeup artist Kate Oja took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes look at this scene and how the film made Nikki seem so creepy. As it turns out, Nikki's distorted look was achieved "using highlight and shadow only. No prosthetics."

This style of makeup follows a trend on TikTok from 2023 and 2024 referred to as "Uncanny Valley Makeup." The term was popularized by BeautyTok user Emilia Barth during the Halloween season of 2023, and it refers to makeup meant to make someone look almost human but not quite. The trend involved users applying their makeup and then staring at the camera with a blank expression, usually in the dark or from a corner of a room. The effect is that of a lifeless, almost mannequin-like person. Recognizable, yet unnervingly different.

It's the same thing that makes the "Obsession" scene in question tick. It's very much Nikki on screen, but there's just something off and eerie about her. That director Curry Barker elected to draw from this kind of recent internet trend to make his film is part of why "Obsession" works as well as it does.

The premise of "Obsession" is so timeless it feels like the grown-up version of a "Goosebumps" book. It tells a simple story of a guy who magically wishes his crush would love him — before everything spirals out of control.

But what makes the film work so well is how it specifically tells the story from a Gen Z point of view, portraying its protagonist as a young man who simply won't take no for an answer. Bear is too shy and scared to be honest about his fear of rejection, so he makes increasingly ludicrous excuses to avoid having to acknowledge the truth of what his actions are doing to Nikki over the course of the film. In other words, "Obsession" is a movie about someone who would rather destroy everyone around them than show some vulnerability in a single conversation.

The film even uses an unconventional aspect ratio that mimics the framing of a picture taken with a cell phone. This keeps it feeling claustrophobic, all while appealing to the type of images that its Gen Z target audience is used to seeing on a daily basis.

"Obsession" is also the latest horror movie geared towards Gen Z to do unique things with the genre and, in turn, benefit big time at the box office. Danny and Michael Philippou's debut film "Talk to Me" is similarly about teenagers making bad choices, while Halina Reijn's "Bodies Bodies Bodies" features some of the best uses of phones in a movie in years. Indeed, as more Gen Zers enter the film biz, it seems we'll only continue to get more projects that play with horror conventions the way these titles do.

"Obsession" is currently playing in theaters.