It’s a big day in Hollywood. Even though it’s still putting up big numbers in theaters, Blumhouse couldn’t wait any longer, and Obsession is now available to stream online, rentable for $20 or buyable for $25.
Obsession is now live across a number of stores including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, but there’s something weird going on with the latter. Apple TV lists that its version of the film is “unrated,” while Amazon’s is rated R, as it was in theaters. Neither site has the option to watch the other.
Naturally, this has raised eyebrows among fans, or those looking to watch the film for the first time. What’s the difference? Should you watch one over the other? But here’s where it’s confusing: it’s not clear if this Obsession unrated version is actually the unrated version at all.
Watchers of the original have been combing through the unrated version, which lists the same runtime as the original, looking for differences. It’s not clear if there are any, which is certainly strange. What’s going on here?
To be clear, an unrated edition of a movie is usually different from a director’s cut, which can add scenes that were edited out or more elaborate offerings, like alternate endings. That’s not what this is. An unrated edition usually has changes that make it too brutal/sexual to get rated R to be released in theaters. We’re now going to have to get into spoilers to talk about what’s happening here.
There’s supposed a different cut of the film that shows Sarah’s face being smashed in by Nikki in the movie’s most shocking moment. There were a lot more hits, and a sort of gurgle indicating that she was alive, something Sarah actress Megan Lawless had previously confirmed. That went too far for the ratings board and had to be trimmed down for the final theatrical cut.
That does…not appear to be different in this unrated version. It’s the same number of face smashes (still gross),, and if there’s any indication that Sarah is alive, I couldn’t tell the difference. Tiny, tiny sounds, maybe, but far from anything noticeable. As of right now, there appear to be no other confirmed changes.
This all may be…an accident. It seems possible that Apple TV does not have the unrated cut at all, one that was supposedly originally shown at TIFF, and this may be some sort of listing error. It is very strange at baseline that Apple TV would only offer the unrated cut, with no option to buy the theatrical one. That’s almost never how it works. Nor does it make much sense that Amazon wouldn’t have that option, as it would be a very strange form of exclusivity.
At the present moment, it does not seem to matter which version you watch, and believing you’re watching some extra-brutal version of the movie is not the case (though I can imagine how you might think that, given the scene in question). We’ll see if there’s some additional clarity here, but for now, this seems like a mix-up.
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