Obsess premieres on Netflix on Friday, October 30, 2026. Like every Netflix original, it drops worldwide at the same moment — 12:00 a.m. Pacific, which is 3:00 a.m. Eastern — and it is included with any Netflix plan, so US viewers pay nothing extra beyond a subscription that runs from $8.99 a month (Standard with ads) to $26.99 a month (Premium).
That is the practical answer. Here is why this particular title is worth setting a reminder for: Obsess is one of the first Kuwaiti horror series Netflix has ever carried, and it arrives right in the middle of Halloween week.
How to watch Obsess on Netflix
There is no separate rental, no add-on channel, and no theatrical window to wait out. Obsess is a Netflix original, which means it streams exclusively on Netflix and is bundled into every tier of the service. If you already subscribe, it will simply appear in your library on release day.
- Platform: Netflix (exclusive)
- US release date: October 30, 2026
- Start time: 12:00 a.m. PT / 3:00 a.m. ET
- Price: included with any Netflix plan — $8.99/month (Standard with ads), $19.99/month (Standard), or $26.99/month (Premium)
- Format: limited horror series in Arabic, with subtitles and dubbing available
What Obsess is about
Obsess is a psychological horror story set in 1970s Kuwait, built around love, guilt, and revenge. Talal (Yagoub Alfarhan) returns home after his father’s death and begins to see Hessa (Haya Abdulsalam), the woman he once loved, resurfacing around him. What first looks like buried guilt slowly curdles into something darker: Talal can no longer tell whether Hessa exists only in his head or whether something far more sinister is waiting for him inside the family house.
His wife, Mona (Laila Abdallah), the mother of his child, tries to hold the family together as he grows distant and suspicious — and finds herself pulled into a darkness she does not fully understand. Hessa’s own story takes up as much space as Talal’s, and it reframes the central question. The issue is no longer only why Talal cannot forget her, but what she did to make sure he never could.
What to expect
Netflix files Obsess under psychological horror rather than slasher, and the setup leans into that. The scares are built on ambiguity — the question of whether Hessa is a haunting, a hallucination, or a reckoning Talal has earned — more than on monsters jumping out of the dark. The 1970s Kuwaiti setting does real work here too, grounding the dread in a specific time and place: a family house heavy with memory, a marriage quietly coming apart, and a past that refuses to stay buried.
If you tend to prefer atmosphere and mounting unease to gore, that framing is a point in the show’s favor. It also means Obsess rewards watching with the subtitles on and the lights off, the way its slow-tightening structure seems designed to be seen.
Cast and crew
Yagoub Alfarhan leads as Talal, opposite Haya Abdulsalam as Hessa, with Laila Abdallah rounding out the central trio as Mona. The wider ensemble includes Hussein Almansour, Ibrahim Alharbi, Asmahan Tawfik, Ghada Al Mulla, Hussain Alhaddad, and Abdulla Alblooshi. Behind the camera, Said El Marouk directs from a script by Eyad Saleh, with Shasha producing and originating the story.
Why Obsess stands out on Netflix
Kuwaiti productions are still rare in Netflix’s catalog, and local, Arabic-language horror is rarer still. Obsess arrives as one of the genre’s first entries driven out of Kuwait, and the late-October release date is no accident. Dropping it during Halloween week puts it alongside the genre classics the platform pushes to the top of the app every October — and gives subscribers who want something other than the usual American scares a reason to look past the familiar titles.
For US viewers, that is the real draw. The horror shelf in late October tends to look the same every year; a 1970s-set ghost story told from Kuwait is exactly the kind of title that gets lost if you are not watching for it. If you build a Halloween watchlist, this is one to slot in on release day.
Frequently asked
When does Obsess come out on Netflix in the US?
Obsess premieres on Netflix on October 30, 2026, streaming worldwide at 12:00 a.m. PT / 3:00 a.m. ET.
Is Obsess a movie or a series?
It is a series, led by Yagoub Alfarhan and Haya Abdulsalam, not a film.
How much does it cost to watch Obsess?
Nothing beyond a Netflix subscription. US plans run from $8.99 a month for Standard with ads to $26.99 a month for Premium, and Obsess is included with all of them.
Where is Obsess set?
The story unfolds in Kuwait in the 1970s, weaving together love, guilt, and revenge.
What language is Obsess in?
It is an Arabic-language production from Kuwait; Netflix typically offers both subtitles and dubbed audio for its international originals.
