Obsession director Curry Barker has revealed which scene was cut from his 2026 movie and why it may one day be included in a director's cut. The indie horror film has been a breakout success, scoring big box-office returns and earning praise from audiences and critics. Obsession keeps its runtime under 2 hours, and a few things never made it to the screen.
Barker confirmed that one scene that was cut short was the infamous car scene, in which Nikki (Inde Navarrette), driven by an obsession with Bear (Michael Johnston), shows up unannounced at a meetup between Bear and his friend, Sarah (Megan Lawless), and brutally murders her. Barker told audiences at SXSW (via Dread Central) that Obsession was heading toward an NC-17 rating with the original cut of this scene, which saw Nikki bash Sarah's head into a brick until she dies, causing him to cut "six or seven more smashes."
"There was about six or seven more smashes, 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.”
Removing this scene allowed Obsession to be rated R rather than the much more restrictive NC-17.
The head-smashing scene isn't the only thing that hit the cutting room floor, as Barker confirmed to Popternative that "there's so many things that are not in the movie." He entertained the idea that this could result in a director's cut of the movie one day:
"I would love to do a director’s cut of this just because there’s so many things that are not in the movie. That would be really fun."
However, Barker noted two caveats that may stand in the way of the director's cut, one being having enough time of his own to dedicate to the project, and the other being the studio, Focus Features, approving it:
"But it would literally be a project for me. I would have to set aside some time to really dive into the footage again. It would have to be something that Focus [Features] really wants and I would be like, 'Yes, let’s do it.'"
Obsession is Barker's second feature film after 2024's Milk & Serial, and the director is already working on his next project, Anything but Ghosts. Obsession was released in theaters on May 15, 2026, starring Johnston, Navarrette, Lawless, and Cooper Tomlinson.
Will A Director's Cut of Obsession Really Happen?
According to Barker, there are two things needed for an extended cut of Obsession to become a reality: time and money.
As mentioned, Barker is already moving ahead on his next projects, with Anything but Ghosts in production, and he's also attached to direct a reimagining of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Working on the director's cut of Obsession would really amount to having the time in between these projects to do it.
On top of that, it would have to be funded by the studio, but given that Obsession has made so much back on its tiny budget, it seems likely Focus Features would be happy to continue riding the Obsession wave, particularly if an extended cut would bring audiences back to cinemas or boost sales of a home release.
Obsession didn't leave audiences with too many unanswered questions throughout, but Barker's hint that there was plenty left on the cutting room floor suggests an extended version could offer more twisted scenarios in Bear and Nikki's relationship.
