The Fan Theory Connecting ‘Weapons’ and ‘Obsession’ Is the Horror Crossover No One Saw Coming
Horror fans have never needed explicit permission to build a shared universe. The genre has spent decades training its audiences to hunt for patterns, match up mythologies, and treat every unusual prop like a breadcrumb leading somewhere darker. When two standout horror films drop within a year of each other and happen to share a very specific supernatural device, the internet is going to talk.
‘Weapons’, Zach Cregger’s supernatural mystery, became one of the biggest genre events of the year when it arrived in summer 2025, earning over $269 million worldwide against a $38 million budget. The film also earned Amy Madigan an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the terrifying Aunt Gladys. Then came Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’, which reached theaters in May 2026 and has since grossed $148 million worldwide on the back of strong reviews for its deeply unsettling story of a supernatural wish that warps a young woman’s love into something violent and inescapable.
Now a fan theory making waves online is drawing an unexpected connection between the two films. X user BLURAYANGEL sparked the debate by posting a video asking whether ‘Weapons’ and ‘Obsession’ share the same universe, a question that quickly spread to Reddit’s WeaponsMovie community and ignited some genuinely passionate discussion.
The theory zeroes in on a strikingly specific detail both films share. In ‘Weapons’, Aunt Gladys conducts her rituals using a branch from an old holly tree, while in ‘Obsession’, the central supernatural object is the “One Wish Willow,” a novelty trinket that Bear snaps in half to activate a dark wish. The identical physical action of breaking a branch to unleash something sinister has led fans to speculate that the One Wish Willow might be a fragment from the same cursed tree Aunt Gladys wields, or that both objects draw from the same witchcraft lore.
The skeptics have a fair point. ‘Obsession’ comes from Focus Features while ‘Weapons’ was distributed by Warner Bros., making any intentional cross-studio connection almost certainly unintentional. As some online commenters have also noted, snapping branches and tree-based ritual magic are well-worn horror tropes, meaning the overlap may simply be two filmmakers independently reaching for the same folkloric shorthand.
What keeps the theory alive is the fact that both directors have already shown a willingness to think in terms of expanded mythology. ‘Weapons’ was confirmed to share continuity with Cregger’s 2022 film ‘Barbarian’ through viral promotional material that tied the two stories together. Meanwhile, Barker recently revealed at a post-screening Q&A, as reported by Deadline, that his upcoming film ‘Anything But Ghosts’ directly references the events of ‘Obsession’ through an on-screen news broadcast tied to Nikki’s fate, meaning the ‘Obsession’ universe is already expanding with intention.
With the ‘Weapons’ prequel tentatively titled ‘Gladys’ now officially moving forward at Warner Bros. and ‘Obsession’ quietly building its own connected mythology, both corners of the horror landscape are growing fast. Whether you think the One Wish Willow and Aunt Gladys’s branch share the same cursed roots or not, the horror community clearly wants these worlds to collide, so is that a crossover you would actually want to see happen?
