Hollywood Keeps Waiting for Horror to Prove Itself – ‘Obsession’ Proves Why That’s Bullshit

I’m sitting here pretty fucking irritated with Hollywood right now.

Horror is always treated like the redheaded stepchild of the industry, and we all know it. Every single time a horror movie breaks out, suddenly the conversation becomes, “Horror is back.” As if the genre disappears every six months and has to reintroduce itself to the industry over and over again.

Meanwhile, horror has quietly been one of the most reliable genres in the business for decades.

And look, I understand why the studios think the way they do. When you’re staring at billion-dollar superhero movies and giant franchise IP, a horror movie making $40 million, $50 million, even $100 million can look small in comparison. These companies answer to shareholders. To conglomerates. To corporations like Comcast and everybody else sitting above them demanding constant growth.

But what really lights a fire under Hollywood’s ass are these low-budget horror movies that cost almost nothing and suddenly make everybody look stupid.

That’s why the reaction to Curry Barker and Obsession has been driving me crazy.

Everyone in town seems completely shocked by what’s happening with this movie, and I keep sitting here asking myself… why? Seriously, why are we pretending this came out of nowhere?

I was saying back in April that Backrooms would be massive. When early tracking started throwing around $20 million projections, I laughed publicly because they were obviously low. I wrote about it on May 7. I tweeted about it repeatedly. And now, suddenly, everybody’s shocked that it’s heading toward a $40 million to $50 million opening.

I’m not shocked at all.

And while I never would’ve predicted Obsession somehow pulling off the impossible and making more money in weekend two than weekend one, I absolutely thought it was going to be a huge hit.