‘Obsession’ Director Curry Barker Trimmed Graphic Head Smashes to Avoid NC-17

Obsession director Curry Barker says he cut “six or seven” head smashes from one gory scene to avoid an NC-17 rating.

After premiering at TIFF, Curry Barker’s buzzy horror Obsession arrived at SXSW with a slight edit… trimming several head smashes from what’s likely the film’s most brutal scene and biggest jump scare.

In Toronto, where Obsession screened at the Midnight section, “there was about six or seven more smashes,” he revealed during the SXSW Q+A. “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.”

Thankfully, it still feels “really f**king hardcore,” he said. “I’d watch from the back of the theater and the way everyone reacted – whatever the number is now, it’s the right number,” he added.

Deadline, who reported from the Q+A, says they witnessed many loud screams in the theater and asserted that the smashes seemed plenty.

Hopefully, Focus Features released a director’s cut on home video because I need all the smashes.

In the film, after breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic (Michael Johnston) finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.

Obsession stars Inde Navarrette in her breakout role: “Her ghoulishness has all the makings of a newly minted horror icon. I’m not exaggerating when I say this performance is genuinely startling,” Josh raved about the film. “Think of Mikey Madison’s fireworks in Anora, then imagine she’s been bitten by a Deadite suffering from the world’s worst migraines. Her suffering is nearly as frightening as the suffering she enacts on the world around her. It’s a revelation.”