Film Secret Obsession is a gift for fans of YOU

YOU was of course one of the biggest Netflix hits of the past year, so there's a good chance you've seen it. Dan Humphrey, excuse me, Penn Badgley as bad guy, was something that many found hard to swallow. Handsome, charming, murderer… I was a bit confused by it too, but at least it has set a new kind of genre in motion and I'm totally on board with that. The new film Secret Obsession, which comes out on July 18, also features this bad guy. Handsome, charming, and also: murderer? We don't have an answer to that last question yet (that would be a bit too big of a spoiler for the trailer), but the signals are definitely there.

Okay, the story: Jennifer has had a serious car accident. So serious that she can't remember anything. Her husband Russel is also a big blur, sitting by her bed when she wakes up. She goes with Russel to a gigantic mansion in the middle of f*ing nowhere (never a good sign when your neighbors live a mile and a half away), and she does her best to remember something. Meanwhile, the police are trying to get in touch with Jennifer because they don't fully trust the situation. She didn't have an ID on her during the car accident, so how could Russel prove that he was married to her? It turns out it was with photos, not exactly watertight evidence.

Just a small point of criticism: the trailer reveals way too much of the plot. We find out that Russel is not Russel at all but an (ex-)colleague of Jennifer who apparently was completely crazy and extremely jealous of the real Russel, her actual husband. What remains to be guessed is where the real Russel is, and whether Jennifer makes it out alive. Charming fake-Russel manages to develop into quite a psychopath à la YOU. So it's definitely thrilling, and judging by Jennifer's panicked eyes, her escape won't be without its struggles.

It's also nice that Netflix is releasing a thrilling movie again, because lately it's mostly been romcoms. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I also don't say no to an evening of suspense. And since we still have to wait a bit for season 2 of YOU I think this is a very good alternative. We only have to wait a little over a week for this, so that's very manageable. Afterwards, we can all become very paranoid that all those charming men might secretly be killing stalkers. Ah, lovely.