It didn’t take long for the horror fans obsessed with Obsession—which released today on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home—to notice that there was supposedly an Obsession “Unrated” version available to buy and rent on Apple TV. But is this actually an unrated version of the buzzy horror movie? We’re not so sure.
Written and directed by Curry Barker (a former YouTuber best known for his 2024 found-footage horror film Milk & Serial), Obsession stars Michael Johnston as a young romantic named Bear, who works at a music shop alongside his childhood bestie, Nikki (break-out star Inde Navarrette). Bear laments that he’s stuck in the friend zone with Nikki. So when he happens upon a supernatural object in a New Age store that purports to grant him a wish, he wishes for Nikki to fall in love with him. And boy, does he get what he wished for! As it turns out, it’s not so fun having a girl be obsessed with you.
Thanks to a word-of-mouth campaign from horror fans who loved the film, Obsession was a huge box office hit, earning over $371 million at the worldwide box office, and becoming Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time. Now that the film is on digital, even more people will be watching the movie at home.
If you’re buying Obsession on Apple TV, you might notice that the film is listed as “Unrated,” despite the fact that the digital release on both Amazon Prime and Fandango At Home are listed as “Rated R.” So what does it mean?
What is the Obsession Unrated Version on Apple TV?
Right now, the Obsession that you can buy or rent on Apple TV does not seem to be the unrated version, or a director’s cut of the movie. Despite the claim from Apple TV that the film is “Unrated,” the run time—1 hour and 48 minutes—is the same runtime as the R-rated cut that was screened in theaters. So, it seems highly unlikely that any extra gory scenes were added to this version of the film.
There is also no option to buy the R-rated Obsession on Apple TV. If this truly were an “unrated” version, it would be an option in addition to an R-rated version of the film, not the only option. Because of this, we think it’s most likely that this is just a mistake on Apple’s end, and that is not a true “unrated” version of Obsession.
Decider reached out to Universal Picture Home Entertainment to confirm if there is an unrated version of Obsession available on digital today, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Is there an Obsession Unrated Version or an Obsession Director’s Cut?
There is a more violent cut of Obsession floating around out there, but it seems it has not yet been released.
Earlier this year, director Curry Barker told audiences at South By Southwest Film Festival that there was a more gory, NC-17 version of the movie that screened for the Toronto Film Festival premiere, before the film was acquired by Focus Features.
“There was about six or seven more [head] smashes,” Barker told the audience, referring to the film’s most violent scene. “And we were getting an NC-17 rating. And so they were like, you’ve got to take out some of the smashes. And I was like, I’m not taking out a single bash. But I did.”
But according to a Forbes reporter, who compared this so-called unrated version on Apple TV to the R-rated version, there is no discernible difference in that scene, nor any other scene.
So the director’s cut might be coming, but it’s not available right now. Maybe it will be released alongside the Obsession DVD, 4K UHD and Blu-ray™, which will release on July 14, 2026.
What bonus features come with the Obsession digital release?
The Obsession digital release comes with a 19-minute bonus feature, “OBSESSION Unleashed,” which goes “behind the scenes with filmmaker Curry Barker and the cast, Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless, to see them create a wild horror story out of intense performances and shocking scares. Hear the cast reflect on their most memorable scenes, get a peek at Michael and Inde’s chemistry test that sparked the film’s emotional core, and see how their collaboration shaped the film’s most unsettling moments.”
The digital release also comes with an audio commentary with writer/director Curry Barker. Bonus features may vary, depending on which platform you use to buy the movie.
You can buy and rent Obsession digitally on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, and more. The price may vary depending on which platform you use to purchase the film, but on Amazon Prime the film costs $24.99 to buy a digital copy, and $19.99 to rent. If you rent the movie, you’ll have 48 hours to watch the movie after hitting “play.”