This summer was one for the spotlight.

From blockbuster hits to indie darlings, films sent fans flocking to theaters to escape the scorching heat.

Read on for the Daily Bruin Arts contributors’ favorite films of the summer.

“Obsession” (Focus Features)

If you didn’t watch “Obsession” this summer, you’d be wishing you had seen it in theaters.

Directed by Curry Barker, “Obsession” premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and was later released in United States theaters May 15. The horror film follows Baron “Bear” Bailey’s unrequited love for his music store co-worker, Nikki Freeman. After snapping the One Wish Willow toy he bought Nikki as a gift, Bear impulsively wishes for her to love him more than anything else. The wish transforms Nikki into Bear’s sinister, violent and obsessed girlfriend.

The film’s eerily familiar settings in retail stores and apartments make the days feel natural at first, but the supernatural breaks through with disgusting cat-sandwiches and gory murders. The “careful what you wish for” trope feels fresh yet familiar, enhanced by the intentional use of sound. Dramatic shifts from quiet conversation to shrieking arguments have viewers hooked. With an intense performance from Inde Navarrette as Nikki, they couldn’t look away while trying to decipher Nikki’s shadow in dark lighting before their eyes were met with startling facial expressions and sickening actions.

While the film budget was low, the directors’ masterful use of sound, lighting and gore had viewers obsessed.

– Brooke Herstein

[Related: Winner takes all: Which classic summer movie shines the brightest?]

“The Invite” (Annapurna Pictures)

This summer, everything was on the table.

Released June 26, the character-driven sex comedy drama “The Invite” stood out from the slate of summer blockbusters. Set over one night in a San Francisco apartment, the film follows Angela (Olivia Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen) as their rocky marriage is further tested during a dinner party with the sex-positive couple living in the apartment above.

The film’s small-scale grants it an intimacy that’s hard to find in modern-day Hollywood. Director and star Olivia Wilde makes the most of a curiously complicated floor plan, so the single location never feels stale. Each scene reveals a new room, hallway, window or piece of furniture that is prime for chaos and chemistry to unravel within. With superb ensemble performances, the film masterfully moves between comedy and devastation, all leading up to a riveting reckoning over what it means to love “till death do us part.”

Perhaps “one should never marry,” but one should definitely watch “The Invite.”

– Kiara Mack

The Odyssey (Universal Pictures)

Viewers ought to “sea” about a girl this summer.

“The Odyssey,” directed by the legendary Christopher Nolan of “Interstellar” and “The Dark Knight,” splashed into theaters July 17. Compelling performances from Matt Damon as Odysseus and Tom Holland as Telemachus breathe new life into Homer’s epic about one man’s perilous journey home. Among all supporting actors, Robert Pattinson as the suitor Antinous is the clear standout, delighting and charming audiences as the leading villain, rounding out a superb lineup of performances this year. Nolan also provides beautiful color grading, breathtaking camera work and a heart-pounding score, creating an experience both thrilling and sublime.

Further, many fans have praised the film for interpreting the original text through a more feminist lens: Anne Hathaway’s Penelope and Samantha Morton’s Circe display a level of interiority seldom given to female characters in ancient tales. Nolan adapted classicist Emily Wilson’s translation of the text, acclaimed for maintaining iambic pentameter and the same number of lines as the ancient Greek version. Although Wilson did criticize Nolan’s adaptation in her review in the London Review of Books, many viewers argue he maintained the splendor and introspection of her original work.

Delivering the magic of Homer’s ancient world to a new generation of viewers, “The Odyssey” is certainly epic.

– Julia Kinion