Film
The Crush
A sleek thriller about an obsessive teenage girl who fixates on her new neighbor, a naive writer, with escalating consequences. It's a taut cat-and-mouse game that trades on 90s anxiety about youth and technology, anchored by Alicia Silverstone's unsettling performance. For those who like their thrillers smart and uncomfortable.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like psychological thrillers where the menace grows out of an ordinary, flirtatious everyday setting and the tension lives in small, uncomfortable moments rather than set pieces.
Skip it if you need a likable lead to root for, since almost everyone here is unpleasant and the film keeps its nastiness front and centre for its brisk running time.
What it asks of you: Attention more than patience: at under ninety minutes it moves quickly, but it stays tightly wound and rarely lets the pressure drop, so give it your full focus.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Fatal Attraction1987
The blueprint for obsessive-love thrillers: Glenn Close's intensity and Michael Douglas's ordinary vulnerability create genuine dread. Expertly paced and morally ambiguous in ways that still provoke debate.
But The ending feels like a compromise with audiences. Some dialogue has dated badly, and the film's gender politics are complicated in ways worth interrogating.
Play Misty for Me1971
Clint Eastwood directed and starred in this taut predecessor that's leaner and meaner than Fatal Attraction. A radio DJ stalked by a devoted listener; the tension never loosens.
But The pacing is deliberate—this isn't a modern thriller. The ending is darker than you might expect, and some viewers find it misogynistic in its implications.
Single White Female1992
Roommate becomes dangerous obsession with genuine shocks and character reversals. Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh create a claustrophobic nightmare that trusts the audience to follow its logic.
But The third act leans into conventional thriller mechanics. It's slick and entertaining but not as psychologically complex as it pretends.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Crush
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Smooth Talk1985
Both films explore the dangerous collision between youthful obsession and adult naivety, but from opposite moral positions. This one asks how a girl becomes vulnerable; The Crush asks what a girl does with power.
Joyce Chopra's devastating adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?'—a teenage girl's vulnerability when she meets an older man. Laura Dern is luminous and terrified. It's the other side of The Crush's coin: the girl as victim, not predator.
But It's tragic and slow. No satisfying thriller resolution. The dread is internal—if you want action or climactic confrontation, you won't find it.
More like this (8)
Swimfan2002
Direct descendant of The Crush: obsessive teenage swimmer becomes a swimmer's nightmare. Erika Christensen is genuinely unhinged, and the film knows exactly what it is—a fun, guilty-pleasure thriller.
But It's silly. Very silly. Not serious enough to disturb you, not funny enough to mock itself. Depends on your tolerance for teen-thriller melodrama.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle1992
Rebecca De Mornay is chilling as a nanny with a hidden agenda in this glossy 90s paranoia machine. Immaculate craft, nasty surprises, and a committed central performance.
But The plot requires characters to be genuinely stupid for tension to work. It's manipulative by design—which is fine if that's what you want.
Poison Ivy1992
Drew Barrymore seduces her way through a wealthy family as a mysterious new friend. A trashy, hypnotic film that understands the appeal of its dangerous outsider while not forgiving her.
But It's genuinely exploitative in its imagery and doesn't have much to say. Barrymore's sexuality is the entire point, which you either find interesting or uncomfortable.
A Perfect Murder1998
Michael Douglas and Viggo Mortensen in a modern update of Hitchcock mechanics—marriage, betrayal, and a stranger with leverage. Sleek, twisty, and propulsive.
But It's perfectly pleasant but forgettable. No real surprises, and the moral stakes evaporate halfway through.
Color of Night1994
Bruce Willis as a therapist attracted to a woman in his group—who may be a patient, may be a murderer. A sincere attempt at 90s erotic thriller that commits entirely to its premise.
But It's very strange and frequently unintentionally funny. The twist makes no sense, and the sex scenes are more awkward than arousing.
Sliver1993
Sharon Stone moves into a high-tech apartment building where voyeurism and murder intertwine. Stylish, sexy, and uninterested in being tasteful.
But The plot is a mess and it's deeply trashy. If that's not what you signed up for, you'll spend two hours irritated.
Storytelling2001
Both films are interested in how we (and our characters) justify obsession—but where The Crush commits to thriller logic, Storytelling shatters the genre to ask if we're complicit in rooting for someone dangerous.
Todd Solondz dissects how we construct dangerous narratives around desire and youth. Two connected stories about obsession and self-deception that are bracingly honest about who we root for and why. Uncomfortable in entirely different ways.
But It's deliberately provocative and misanthropic. Solondz offers no easy answers, and the second story involves a particularly blunt depiction of sexual assault. This isn't entertainment.
Thirteen2003
Same obsessive intensity as The Crush, but turned inward—about how teenage girls destroy each other and themselves through fixation and codependency. It's the psychological truth underneath the thriller surface.
Catherine Hardwicke's film about teenage girls descending into self-destruction alongside a charismatic friend. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed create a feverish, addictive dynamic. It captures the intoxication of obsessive friendship—what The Crush keeps external becomes internal and self-inflicted.
But It's genuinely bleak and doesn't judge its characters in comfortable ways. The style (fast cuts, needledrops, chaos) may feel dated or exhausting. It's ugly because adolescence is ugly.
People
Cast
Cary ElwesNick Eliot
Alicia SilverstoneAdrian Forrester
Jennifer RubinAmy Maddik
Kurtwood SmithCliff Forrester
Amber BensonCheyenne
Gwynyth WalshLiv Forrester- Deborah HancockSamantha
Beverley ElliottTex Murphy
Andrew AirlieDr. Pollard
Sheila PatersonMrs. Tinkerman
Brent ChapmanSteven Tinkerman
James KidnieAttorney
Directing
- Alan ShapiroDirector
Writing
- Alan ShapiroWriter
Production
- Joel SegalAssociate Producer
- Marci LiroffAssociate Producer
- Marci LiroffCasting
- Gary BarberExecutive Producer
- Michael MacDonaldLine Producer
- James G. RobinsonProducer