dread fascination

noun3

1. •
   A response to something characterized by staring, an inability to move or intervene, and feelings of dread.

   • We watched in dread fascination as he skipped lightly down the steps. — 2017
2. •
   An obsessive interest in something that evokes feelings of fear or that hurts the person with the interest.

   • We can also see that one element in crime fiction always remains the same: our dread fascination for the unknown, for the darker side of human nature, and the everpresent phantom of danger. — 1977
3. •
   A malignant supernatural influence produced by the evil eye.

   • Fair was Eutelidas once, with his beautiful hair, But admiring his face in the stream, on himself he inflicted A dread fascination, and wasted away with disease. — 1895