Fatal Attraction (1987) is one of the best movies to represent the stalker mentality. Good stalker films take an average so-and-so and turn them into a narcissistic bunny boiler. If you like your thriller movies to give you that tense and ominous feeling as you go about your day, look no further than this collection of the best obsession-based movies I have seen. More to the point, they are also rated highly on multiple review sites: unrequited love, obsession, and pure psychotic behavior in a bite-sized movie-flavored story.
But first, let’s talk about Michael Douglas and Glen Close who star in Fatal Attraction. I think this movie is the best stalker film of the bunch. Dan and Alex have an affair while Dan’s wife is out of town. The usual meandering story of their encounter just being a fling and a mistake doesn’t quite sit right with Alex. She immediately decides two wrongs do make a right. What’s more, Alex knows a very good recipe for, bunny and wants to cook for Dan to show him just how important she is. Did you know they made a series about what happened after this? Find out more about that outrageously great TV show here (Fatal Attraction – The Reboot.)
Best Bunny Boiler Movies – Stalker Films
The Fatal Attraction movie is my bar for stalker films and this one hasn’t aged since its release date of 1987. It’s more poignant now than it was back then. For more ideas on where to watch other movies about obsession and love, Collider.com has a good list too.
Looking for other movie titles about love and obsession? Watch A Stalker in the House | The Baby Reineer Series | The Tutor or Hypnotic next.
Alternate Ending For Fatal Attraction – The One that Didn’t Make it to Theatres
The Devils (1971)
A religious horror. A nun decides there is no one better than the unscrupulous priest who is also a rising figure in the church. Her obsession with the priest dissolves into a Chinese-whispered witch hunt where bunnies aren’t boiled but instead are exorcised of their demons. The Devil’s stars, Vanessa Redgrave and Ken Russell and serves as a historical drama-horror that you would be silly to pass up. If not for the fact it’s one of the most controversial films ever then just see it because it’s got a nun who would’ve boiled everyone’s bunnies if she could.
Trivia for The Devils
The movie was so controversial during its release, that the Italian government banned it and also threatened the lead cast with jail if they ever stepped foot in the country.
Poison Ivy (1992)
Poison Ivy is almost like a right of passage for the younger generations from the ’90s. It certainly propelled my liking of this type of stalker film. Drew Barrymore stars as Ivy. Just when you thought it was safe to bring a new friend into the fold, comes Ivy. Very much a 90’s version epitomizing the sentiment of the song Bad Guy by Billy Eilish. Ivy wants her friend Sylvie’s life and subsequently devours it from the inside.
Poison Ivy quote
Sylvie Cooper: “Her acceptance didn’t make me think less of her. It made me think more of me.”
Greta (2018)
Firstly, this is a film that mixes up the rules compared with classic obsession movies, “Greta” is a more mature lady. Played by the amazing Isabelle Huppert, Greta will get the connection she needs by any means necessary. After finding a handbag on a train, Frances does the right thing and returns it to its rightful owner. Greta couldn’t be more grateful and over the next few weeks, both Greta and Frances form a solid friendship.
This film wouldn’t be a stalker movie unless there was some good stalking and Greta didn’t drop the ball. The more Frances tries to separate herself from her new quasi-mom, the more Greta digs her claws in.
The best thing about this film is the performance from Huppert, it’s one you really shouldn’t pass up. How can a lonely old widower ever be scary?
Quote from Greta
Frances McCullen: “My friends say I’m like chewing gum.”
Greta Hideg: “Chewing gum?”
Frances McCullen: “Yeah. I tend to stick around.”
Unsane (2018)
Unsane is an underrated love obsession movie gem directed by Steven Soderbergh. The story starts with Sawyer (Claire Foy) who is doing whatever she can to put some distance between herself and a stalker. With events still interfering with her day-to-day life, Sawyer seeks the help of professionals at a behavioral center. In the wrong place at the wrong time, the Highland Creek Behavioural Center is knee-deep in a high-level scam to gouge patients with health insurance. After signing a routine form, Sawyer discovers she’s now involuntary admission and is locked up in a psychiatric hospital.
Of course, Sawyer repeatedly tries to escape which results in sedation and being restrained. The majority of the story poses the question of whether Sawyer really is crazy. When her stalker appears as one of the medical staff, Sawyer begins to think she really might be insane. Is she?
The final quarter of this movie leaves nothing unexplained. You won’t be left wondering who the baddies are in this scenario and there are also enough tiny twists to satiate the appetites of those that love a good narrative.
Unsane Quote
Nate Hoffman: “First thing we do in these meetings is, go over the Highland Creek rules book. The maximum use of a public phone is in ten minutes. No smuggling of food or drink into the ward. Uh, no touching the other patients. Masturbating in their hair is fine.”
The Skin I Live In (2011)
The role of the antagonist in stalker films is rarely a point of interest. In The Skin, I Live In, it’s the most important aspect of all. Here the stalker is no other than Antonio Banderas who plays a plastic surgeon called Robert. He’s obsessed with two things; his wife Gal and coming up with a solution to overcome the horrific burns she sustained. Gal had already left Robert for another man but lucky for her, she is rescued from the burning car she is left to die in. Robert keeps Gal in seclusion while he works on restoring her to her former glory.
Not to mention, “The Skin I Live in” is a Spanish-language film with so many twists and turns, that you’ll wonder what’s going on from time to time. Trust me when I say, Robert Ledgard takes the term obsession as far as humanly possible. Not a single bunny was boiled in this movie but the object of his stalking certainly didn’t see their fate coming like this.
Vera Cruz: “I breathe. I breathe. I breathe. I know I breathe.”
Quote from The Skin I Live In
Stalker Films, What’s Your Favorite?
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (1992)
One of the best ever nanny turns bunny boiler films is The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. A woman called Peyton is hired as the Bartels’ live-in nanny. Peyton is one of the more twisted narcissistic examples of obsession derived from a psychotic break there is. This film counts as a revenge story as well as one that grips the handle on wanting what someone else has. Rebecca De Mornay stars as Peyton, a woman who systematically engineers a plan to take back what she lost.
Cybill Shepherd was offered the role of Peyton but knocked it back because of her feminist beliefs.
Trivia for The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Single White Female (1992)
A film that pinpricks all your greatest fears about intimacy and trust. Bridget Fonda plays Allie and she’s just discovered her fiance is still getting it on with his ex. They break up and Allie needs a roommate in her now lonely apartment. Along comes, Hedra (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) who seems like the perfect flatmate. They even become friends. But Hendra is looking for more than just a ‘friend’ and soon it becomes obvious that Allie has something more in mind.
Single White Female sets the bar for psychological stalker films that come with plenty of violent surprises and bunny boiler goodness. Sure it’s slightly ridiculous at times, but aren’t they all?
Trivia
This film has a lesser-known sequel, Single White Female 2: The Psycho, which was released in 2005. With no strong leads and a very similar storyline without the intensity, this one is best left on the shelf.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Michael Douglass and Sharon Stone famously made this bunny boiler cult hit. Douglass plays a corrupt police officer, Nick Curran, who’s investigating a murder. After investigating their prime suspect, Curran begins an affair with Catherine.
A deadly game ensues where you never know who the bad guy is because all the women in this movie, seem suspicious. Basic Instinct also includes the famous killing by icepick, leg crossing, and lots and lots of sex scenes. After the film’s release, many critics talked about the unfavorable depiction of LGBT, its overuse of sexuality, and the awesome soundtrack. However you feel about all these factors, doesn’t detract from the fact the movie is super cool, visually amazing, and well-performed. What good a stalker movie list would be without Basic Instinct?
Quote from Basic Instinct
Catherine: You know I don’t like to wear any underwear, don’t you, Nick?
Good Stalker Movies
Josef: “I love wolves. because they love deeply, but they don’t know how to express it, and they’re often very violent and, quite frankly, murder the things that they love, and inside of the wolf is this beautiful heart.”
Quote from Creep
Creep 1 (2014)
Standing out from the psycho female playbook comes a stalker of a different kind. As an illustration, Creep 1 and 2 are both films that depict just how far some people will go to ease their loneliness. Normally the term bunny boiler would be about a woman, wanting to fix a man or in the absence of that, destroying his life for rejecting her.
In Creep, Josef does things a little backward. He gets to know people by hiring them for a job that doesn’t exist. Under pretenses, he gets to know his first victim, Aaron when he hires him to be a videographer. As Aaron’s time with Josef becomes increasingly strange, he escapes only to be relentlessly stalked. In the ultimate creepy ending, Josef shows Aaron what not maintaining the friendship properly really means.
The Fanatic 2019
The Fanatic does not have to stand compared with any of the other films in this stalker films list. But, I liked it. Starring John Travolta and directed by Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Moose is more than a casual fan of Hunter Dunbar. Up against critics and audiences alike, many didn’t like Travolta’s performance or the constant voiceover citing the most irrelevant insight into aspects the film didn’t get into.
Even though I agree with many of the sentiments given about The Fanatic, I also simply liked the fact the story is like the Eminem song, Stan – come to life. Its unlikeable protagonist, Hunter Dunbar is even the same guy they used for the music video to accompany the rapper’s hit song, Devon Sawa.
Lastly, all Moose wants is an autograph from the one person he has adored since he discovered his love of films. Not one to be rejected on such simplistic terms, he doesn’t give up. Not only does The Fanatic have a character who destroys the life of the object of his desire, but he never for one minute thinks he is doing the wrong thing.
Quote from The Fanatic
Moose: “Am I alright?”
