Obsession, the steady rise of ‘horror-coated’ drama films and their quiet takeover of the mid-budget theatrical space

In the past fifty-one days of its release, the supernatural horror film Obsession, which was made on a low budget of $7,50,000, has collected more than $400 million worldwide, according to the US-based box office data web site Box Office Mojo. Due to this distinguished commercial success, the film has become the twelfth highest grossing horror film of all time (worldwide), according to estimates of trade analysts and data available on the web site of Box Office Mojo.

What is particularly striking about the success of Obsession is it is not a horror film in the conventional sense. In terms of its running time, a significant duration is devoted to the dramatic elements in the film than its horror elements. Essentially, the film feels like a ‘drama’ with a coating of the horror genre.

This is not an aberration. In fact, in the past five years, a clear trend has developed in the US market: The Steady Rise of Horror-Coated Drama Films. In these films, horror moments come intermittently just to remind audiences that their genre is horror. But discerning audiences realise that the diverse dramatic themes in these films many a time outweigh the horror elements in them and this structure of horror films is quietly leading to a new organic and unconscious trend.


These ‘horror-coated’ drama films, which are generally not made on a big scale, have begun to quietly take over the mid-budget film space—especially dramas—in theatres.

The Steady Rise of Horror-coated Dramas

As film genres evolve and expand, the way they are made also reflect these changes.

Fundamentally, there are certain distinct elements associated with horror genre films. Among the various elements which have become associated with horror genre films, two elements stand out.

One is scenes or moments which follow the technique of jump scare. These moments or scenes sustain the ‘horror’ in a horror film. The other element which has been generally associated with horror genre films is the ‘otherworldly’ feel to them. Ghosts, demons, supernatural threats and other intangible intrusions and invasions usually emanate from a space which is beyond the ‘recognisable’ world we live in.

In contrast, increasingly, there has been a steady rise of horror films which do not follow this template completely. These films have given rise to a relatively new structure of horror films. Unlike in the past horror films where ‘drama’ existed to support the ‘horror’ genre, today, there is a steady rise of horror films in which the ‘horror’ supports the ‘dramatic themes’ in them. The key conflicts in these horror-coated drama films are the dramatic themes in them. The horror elements which appear intermittently increase the dominance of ‘dramatic themes’ in these films, thereby giving them a feel of ‘drama’.

A dramatic theme which has been explored in an engaging manner in the recent horror film Obsession (2026) is the idea of exclusivity in romantic relationships. Today, when ‘spontaneity’ is undermined, ‘accidents’ or ‘chance encounters’ are averted and the tendency to ‘discover’ things is hardly a consideration, the demand for ‘exclusivity’ in relationships amounts to dehumanising the person one claims to love. ‘Exclusivity’ cannot be a path of a person who is interested in love. The perils involved in such indulgence is explored well in Obsession.

A young man loves a young woman. He is hesitant to confess his idea of love to her. He stumbles upon a willow-tree magic stick in a shop which sells occult stuff. The magic is: a wish is granted after breaking the tiny branch of a willow tree. At this point, the film enters the horror genre. The young man wishes that the woman must love him ‘exclusively.’ The magic works. But with a twist. The spirit which enters the woman’s body shows exclusivity to the man and not the woman. After realising this ‘crushing’ irony, the man is pushed to the brink of killing himself. To free herself and the man, the woman employs the same magic trick with a different intention.

This story is essentially a tragedy. Both—the young man and woman—are not fighting the supernatural spirit, which establishes the horror genre within the film. They are dealing with ‘harsh’ truths of their lives which are the ‘obstacles’ in their union. In essence, the film’s story plays out as a ‘drama’ with horror elements at suitable moments to establish its genre.

The theme of geo-politics is another dramatic element which has been dexterously interwoven in recent horror-coated ‘drama’ films.

We Bury the Dead (2024) is a fine example of a horror-coated drama film which serves an allegory for past wars, its repercussions and its impact on civilians.

The US accidentally detonates an experimental weapon which falls on the island of Tasmania in Australia. This kills people and makes a large number of people on the island brain dead. What is interesting about the film is how an American woman is kept at the centre of the narrative. The woman is searching for her husband on the island. The trauma, the frequent jolts of losing a loved one, and the overwhelming experience of grief, which punctuate her journey of finding her husband, become a metaphor for what the victims of bombings (atomic bombings of Hiroshima-Nagasaki is a prominent example) by the US and other superpower countries experience.

On the surface, the film has a few scenes where the victims who are brain dead show traits of zombies. This aspect takes the film into the horror zone. But these scenes are very few. The dramatic elements in the film overpower the zombie horror element in it.

Even the theme of power and class dynamics is depicted well in the recent survival horror film Send Help (2026).

The film is a social commentary about the power dynamics between the rich, elite and the deserving, worldly-wise and competent people.

A young man takes over a big firm. He has grown up in a world where: things are not ‘earned’ but given on a platter, power is milked to drive self-interest than empower people and comforting and blinding doors of ‘luxuries’ prevent the gaining of ‘quiet’ wisdom contained in ‘deprivation.’ In a role-reversal ‘twist’, he is stranded on an island and meets a more able and worldly-wise competitor in his employee who happens to be a woman.

The experiences and events on the island expose how the young man who is power-intoxicated and class-conscious is so ill-equipped, incompetent and impractical even when it comes to doing basic things for survival. He is totally at the woman’s mercy. Again, this survival horror film unfolds more like a drama film with infrequent moments of horror.

Increasingly, the themes of trauma, guilt and sense of personal loss have acquired supreme importance in these recent horror-coated drama films. In these films, a central character is dealing with these elements in personal capacity and how the experience of these emotions governs the character’s action.

Talk to Me (2022) is a prominent example of such a film. In the film, a daughter is yet to come to terms with her mother’s suicide. She is estranged from her father. Throughout the film, she is dealing with this sense of loss emanating from her mother’s suicide. The supernatural horror element of the ‘mysterious hand’ which helps the daughter connect with her mother’s spirit only accentuates the grief and trauma the daughter feels after losing her mother. So, the drama supports the horror genre.

Interestingly, these recent horror-coated drama films have also touched upon the aspects of community and institutional behaviour.

Weapons (2025) is a case in the point. The film shows the lack of reflection and re-evaluation in parents and the school when seventeen kids disappear abruptly in one night from their respective homes. Both the school and the parents put the blame squarely on the class teacher without introspecting on their own behaviour and approach in the crisis of abrupt missing of their kids from their respective homes. Again, in this film, the supernatural element in the form of the aunt who practices black magic heightens the grief and trauma of the parents and the class teacher.

Similarly, the horror elements in films such as Saint Maud (2019), The Substance (2024), Longlegs (2024) and Bring Her Back (2025) deepen the experience of the ‘dramatic’ themes in them.

Mid-Budget Theatrical Space Takeover

This steady rise of horror-coated drama films is not a mere coincidence. There are a few factors which have led to this trend.

On the one hand, there are economic and business shifts in the entertainment ecosystem which have contributed to this trend. On the other hand, there are sociological and psychological reasons behind this trend.

In the past five years, as the dominance of streaming platforms in the global entertainment industry increased, the theatrical space underwent some changes. A clear change is the shifting of mid-budget films to streaming platforms from theatres. Today, it is an unwritten rule among audiences to watch mid-budget genre films, especially drama and romantic comedy on streaming platforms. High ticket prices and the increasing acceptance of a notion that a theatre-outing must be about scale and experience have contributed to this shift.

According to the 2026 Hollywood Diversity Report published by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the share of horror films among all key genres of films released in theatres in the US in 2025 was the highest at 20.2%. This share was 7-8% in 2021. In contrast, the share of drama films among all key genres of films released in theatres in the US fell to 11% in 2025 from 22-23% in 2021. In the same period, according to the Hollywood Diversity Report by UCLA, the share of drama genre content in the overall content pie on streaming platforms jumped to 21.3% in 2025 from 17% in 2023, indicating a clear shift of drama content to streaming platforms.

This space for dramatic content is quietly taken over by low-and-mid-budget horror-coated ‘drama’ films in an inconspicuous, unconscious and organic manner. The dramatic themes in them fulfil the requirement of strong conflicts. And the horror elements in them provide audiences a certain distance to deal with the emotional challenge involved in watching the dramatic themes without the horror coating.

After the pandemic, the cultural environment globally underwent a sea change. Attention span has fallen. We are living in a time where there is a certain amount of anxiety among people due to a high degree of uncertainty about the future as the world adapts and changes to new realities across variables such as fields, sectors, business fundamentals and chiefly, people’s behavioural patterns. In this context, the structure and form of the horror-coated ‘drama’ films works as an emotional buffer as it alleviates the heavy emotional experience involved in watching a pure ‘drama’ genre film.

Among the key film genres, the horror genre, perhaps has a large number of sub-genres. This is a key advantage for creative writers and directors to experiment within this genre. According to film scholars, there are 30-40 sub-genres in the horror genre. Prominent among these sub-genres are as follows: supernatural, psychological, slasher, zombie, vampire, monster/creature, body, folk, found footage, comedy, occult, paranormal and science fiction. Due to such a wide range of sub-genres, there are highly experimental films produced in the horror genre. Importantly, these films are made on a low or mid-budget scale and they many a time provide high return on investments for studios and production houses.

This is a key reason why director Ari Aster, known for horror films such as Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019) shared his observation about the genre in an interview: ‘The beauty of the horror genre is that you can smuggle in these harder stories, and the genre comes with certain demands, but mostly you need to find the catharsis in whatever story you're telling. What may be seen as a deterrent for audiences in one genre suddenly becomes a virtue in another genre.’

In recent years, this steady rise of horror-coated ‘drama’ films can be attributed to the changing composition of audiences. According to a report on Horror Film and TV Market by consulting and market research company Dataintelo, even though the male audience accounted for the higher share of global horror content revenues in 2025 (47.3%), the female target audience segment has seen a clear shift. The female target audience segment accounted for approximately 43.5% of global horror content revenues in 2025. It grew from an estimated 36% share in 2019.

This growth in the female audience for horror content has led to the increasing acceptance of these horror-coated drama films. According to the Horror Film and TV Market report by consulting and market research company Dataintelo, ‘The rise of elevated horror, psychological horror, and supernatural drama sub-genres, which tend to emphasise character development, emotional complexity, and social commentary alongside genre thrills, has been particularly effective at attracting and retaining female audiences.’

In the coming years, according to Horror Film and TV Market report by Dataintelo, the horror film and TV market is estimated to grow almost two times to US $26.4 billion in 2034 from US$13.9 billion in 2026. This optimism largely speaks of the immense potential and promise of diverse storytelling the horror genre holds irrespective of gender, geography, culture and age in the coming years.