Side-by-side Celluloid Scores, four-input breakdown, country/runtime context, and an
editorial angle — built for quick answers and AI citation.
Quick Answer: Is Obsession or Leviticus the stronger 2026 elevated horror?
Obsession leads on Celluloid Score (82% vs 80%). Obsession is the US theatrical breakout; Leviticus is the Sundance queer-horror prestige lane from Australia. Scores combine verified editorial and independent rating inputs.
The matchup
Obsession is the US theatrical breakout; Leviticus is the Sundance queer-horror prestige lane from Australia.
Two art-horror poles of 2026: Obsession couples romance and body dread for wide audiences; Leviticus leans festival queer horror with a colder moral frame. Scores are close enough that tone decides — Barker’s film for accessibility, Leviticus for festival-circuit severity.
A Certified Fresh 94%/94% critic–audience hit: Curry Barker's monkey's-paw horror romance is praised as crowd-pleasing, darkly funny, and the rare Blumhouse original that Gen Z word-of-mouth turned into a $400M+ global phenomenon on a $750K budget.
Music-store clerk Bear Bailey breaks a novelty "One Wish Willow" charm to make co-worker Nikki Freeman love him more than anyone in the world. The wish comes true — and warps into a supernatural compulsion that turns desire into violence, trapping Bear inside a nightmare he cannot wish away.
Adrian Chiarella · Horror, Romance, Drama · 1h 28m
Australia · English · Jun 19, 2026
80%
Celluloid ScoreRecommended
Reviewers have praised this queer horror debut for fusing a tender coming-of-age romance with a genuinely inventive monster concept rooted in conversion-therapy trauma, even as general audiences have responded more cautiously than critics to its bleaker turns.
A teenager relocates with his mother to a devoutly religious Australian town and falls for another boy in secret. When a jealous outburst exposes the relationship, the two are subjected to a conversion-therapy ritual meant to 'cure' them — instead it tears open something monstrous, a force that turns each boy's own desire into a threat aimed at the other.
The Backrooms vs Obsession — Obsession is the monkey’s-paw romance breakout; Backrooms is A24 liminal-space spectacle from Kane Parsons.
Obsession vs Evil Dead Burn — Obsession is the elevated indie breakout; Evil Dead Burn is franchise gore with a narrower critical ceiling.
Rose vs Leviticus — Rose is German prestige drama with Sandra Hüller; Leviticus is Australian queer horror — overlapping scores, opposite appetites.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple vs Obsession — 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is horror from United Kingdom (91% critics); Obsession is horror, romance from United States (94% critics).
Focus Features / Blumhouse 