Forget ‘Obsession,’ 2026’s Viral Horror Sensation Hits Streaming This Month

This year, the horror genre has belonged to the YouTubers. While there have been plenty of critical darlings, like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and box office successes, like Scream 7, from established filmmakers and franchises, online creators have delivered the next generation of great scares that have thrived on both fronts. It began with Mark Fischbach's, aka Markiplier, video game adaptation Iron Lung surprising in January and challenging Sam Raimi's Send Help with $51 million during its brief stint in theaters, before two blockbusters took over in the spring. Curry Barker's Obsession particularly dominated the conversation after word of mouth powered the wildly acclaimed film to $505.7 million worldwide and launched its key stars and director into superstardom, with Inde Navarretterecently being cast as Rogue in Jake Schreier's X-Men movie.