I watched 2026's biggest movie surprise on physical – this one factor demonstrates why you should too
Obsession's twists are best enjoyed with proper sound
Few modern movies have done numbers quite like Obsession earlier this year. Made for around $1 million, the movie went on to make a quite absurd $520 million globally in cinemas, becoming one of the biggest pound-per-pound hits ever. It seems to have set movie studios all a-flutter, too, as they realise at last that financing smaller movies could be worth the effort compared to huge mega-productions.
Well, that all happened in the summer, and now it's a good few months later, you might be wondering why I've brought it up. I like a horror movie as much as the next person, but I missed Obsession in the cinema – it just didn't work on my schedule, so the chance to watch it at home around Halloween seemed like a no-brainer.
As I've written a lot about moving over to physical media this year, and Obsession is no different – I got hold of it on Blu-ray to watch it this past week, and it was a great little example of where the physical experience can shine.
Horror movies have long been a great place to test out your sound system, and the difference between streaming and physical can often be quite stark in that area. Surround sound on a high-end subscription through Netflix, for instance, can be pretty great, but it often lacks detail and precision in favour of broader power. Swap over to a 4K or even standard Blu-ray with an Atmos mix (like Obsession) and you'll hear the contrast.
Obsession didn't have a huge production budget, and while it has a couple of moments with lovely effects, I'd say a lot of its most effective scares are actually sound-based. From Nikki's escalating vocals in the now-famous date scene, to her creepy off-screen whispers when being asked what she's doing one night-time, the sound work is really excellent.
That feeling of discomfort that you get as her hysteria escalates, or the visceral upset of hearing her true self breaking out on occasion, all come across quite beautifully. Of course, I'm watching on a pretty great system – with a Panasonic DP-UB820 as the player of choice, with a Sonos Beam Ultra and Era 100 surrounds to make that Atmos mix sound right.
I'm confident it would sound great even on just a soundbar alone, though. Plus, the visual side of things shouldn't be ignored. Obsession repeatedly uses the technique of having Nikki stand in shadows, almost entirely (but not completely) obscuring her features. This is a great, surprising example of where a simple visual choice can be quite hard for streaming services to render.
Lower bitrates can often struggle with shades of grey and darkness, but that issue is mitigated massively when you watch on a Blu-ray. To that end, these scenes looked great on my now relatively old LG C2 OLED – with basically no banding to speak of.
These are all examples of the advantage physical media has, even without the biggest one (that I own the movie outright with no asterisks). So, if you're still in the mood for a horror movie even with Halloween done and dusted, consider this my recommendation right now.
