‘Incel horror’ movies prove that a man’s dream is a woman’s nightmare 

Xandra Mae Gonzaga

Horror movies love to show women afraid and terrorized. 

For some reason, the shrieking female voice in 80s slasher films was the most highlighted element in the whole movie.  Whether it be caused by a supernatural force or a serial killer on the loose, fear somehow became more appealing and marketable coming from a woman.

Though when we step back and let the camera capture the bigger frame, we come to realize that the source of their horror was often men — hiding behind literal masks or appearing to be the ‘nice guy’ that everybody could trust. Filmmakers captured this perspective, and a new horror subgenre was born: ‘Incel horror’, the ultimate cinematic representation of the “Man or Bear?” debate and why women choose the latter. 

The crowd’s shiny, new obsession

         Incel horror, which is a shortened term for involuntary celibate, strays away from traditional plots that the film industry has been releasing for the past few decades. Here, the main character’s central source of terror takes a huge shift to men’s toxic sense of entitlement to women’s bodies, making it more unsettling than ghosts and monsters combined. 

The essence of this new subgenre was perfectly depicted in Obsession, a film directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker that has grossed an astonishing $224 million worldwide as of June 2026.

       Trailers marketed the movie as your simple “be careful what you wish for” trope. However, it surprisingly explored less of “One Wish Willow,” the supernatural trinket that served as the foundation of the plot, and more of the consequences faced by the person who carelessly took advantage of its power. 

People immediately saw why it falls under the ‘incel horror’ genre through the fate of Nikki, a young, aspiring writer. Her coworker, Bear, harbored feelings for her but failed to let it out of his chest after so many missed chances. This then pushed him to make a wish on a flimsy toy he got from a trinket shop, which made Nikki irrevocably obsessed with him.

The 2-minute montage of them sharing a regular, happy relationship after Bear used the One Wish Willow was like a fever dream. Although when Nikki started showing signs of an unnatural, heavy attachment to Bear, he suddenly regretted the wish he had made.

Of course, when the woman you’ve manipulated starts to act out of the script you made, you get worried. 

The appeal of the movie largely came from the ‘wish’ haunting Bear rather than Nikki. We got so used to seeing women on screen having an ‘eerie feeling’ that they’re being watched that it became refreshing to see the same type of fear being inflicted on a male character – by a woman. However, Bear brought it to himself, which made the situation a little different from what it seemed.

Nikki went completely out of character against her will from that moment on, and viewers have claimed that if the movie were shot from her perspective, it would’ve been a horror far greater than what Bear was experiencing. Being forced to love someone to the point of self-neglect and extreme anxiety is a man’s dream and a woman’s nightmare.

If only Bear simply dared to confess his feelings, then we would not get a movie at all – just a short film of him recovering his bruised ego from Nikki’s rejection.

“Good for her” endings

The ‘incel horror’ subgenre also popularized the ‘good for her’ endings that women love to see – female characters standing in front of each of their own burning buildings after surviving a nightmare. Although Nikki survived through the end of Obsession, audiences seldom describe it as the same pipeline because she is left to deal with the mess that Bear made — it was a life of imprisonment for a crime she did not commit. 

Movies like Companion (2025) and Blink Twice (2024), however, captured this to a T. The idea of making it out of a catastrophe caused by a man through sheer intelligence and grit is another level of fulfillment, defying the odds that biology and society imposed on a woman. These endings put strong female characters in the limelight of the horror genre, away from the traditional ‘male gaze’ — actually managing to think rationally and accomplishing physical feats instead of being given a shrill voice as a personality. 

 Unfortunately, these “good for her” endings are seen more often on screen than in real life. 

If each is given a chance, every woman has their own horrors to tell, where terror is not caused by any supernatural forces but by living, breathing men. These movies are being acted out in real life without a director to yell “cut!” to put an end to extremely overwhelming situations. 

There are no scripts or actors and actresses, just women from all over the world fearing for their lives while walking alone at night.

Through movies shot in unique lenses, many are starting to realize that fear is most marketable when shown on women’s faces because it makes men feel powerful — either they get fulfillment as the protector or the pleasure of being the tormentor.