Obsession’s Sarah – Megan Lawless, who plays Sarah in the indie horror film Obsession, described the death scene that nearly pushed the movie into an NC-17 rating—down to the practical setup on set and the louder reaction it sparked during a TIFF screening.
On a movie set, the scariest moments often look surreal in the moment—especially when the chaos is staged with careful rules for safety.
For Megan Lawless, the most unforgettable day filming Obsession wasn’t just about horror. It was the day Sarah’s death scene was built around a controlled impact: Inde Navarrette wore a wig with a helmet underneath to protect her head when she bashed into glass. Lawless remembers how it looked—“so funny”—and how the performance still demanded full commitment.
“Inde was wearing this crazy wig that had a helmet underneath it. basically something to protect her head when she bashed into the glass. ” Lawless said. She described how Navarrette had to run into the glass as fast as she could and charge at Lawless. while the two still had to execute the choreography in a way that wouldn’t actually injure anyone.
They didn’t get many chances to get it right. Lawless said they had “two takes” to land the sequence as filmmakers intended. She said the team told them. “Don’t actually hold her head hard or push her head in. ” specifically because of safety reasons. In the moment. it became a split between what could be controlled and what could be convincingly faked: Navarrette gently held her hand on the back of Lawless’s head. while Lawless mimed slamming her head into brick. and the production used a doll version for the glass impact.
“They placed a doll version of myself that they did bash the head in next. It’s peak actors acting, that feels silly, but you need to commit,” Lawless said with a laugh.
That scene didn’t just test her nerves—it nearly altered how the film could be rated.
Lawless said there was a more violent version of the moment that premiered at TIFF last year and nearly led Obsession to an NC-17 rating. She said the reaction to the scene surprised her more than the intensity itself. She remembered sitting there thinking. “Aw. poor Sarah gets brutally killed. ” only to watch “the whole theater at TIFF erupt into cheering at that moment.”.
“I was like, ‘Why is everyone cheering? Ouch!’” Lawless said.
She expected tears, not applause. “I did not expect everyone to be cheering. I thought people would be crying, maybe,” she said, laughing at the memory. But she later connected the crowd’s response to the instincts of horror fans—the kind who chase intensity.
“The moment is so iconic,” she said. “These horror fans, that’s their bread and butter. They just go bananas for something like that.”
The heightened version also involved sound. Lawless said the more intense take had gurgling audio planned. She explained that Curry [Barker] wanted her to make gurgling noises that would be added into the scene after her head is actually kicked in. In that intended version. viewers would hear Sarah gurgling “like she’s still alive.” Lawless said that sound was removed during editing to avoid an NC-17 rating. but she described it as “brutal” and tied to why the scene worked so hard to feel real.
Even after that moment, Obsession keeps pushing at the emotional boundaries of its story.
Lawless also addressed the film’s final scenes. where her character’s dead body is seen without clothes while Nikki continues trying to dress up as Sarah. She said that detail was written into the script and was Curry’s idea. In her telling. it wasn’t just visual shock—it’s an eerie button on an idea the film returns to: obsession that overrides someone else’s agency.
“It’s crazy because you see my dead body there naked and it’s because Nikki’s wearing my clothes,” Lawless said. “She’s even smoking the joint.”
She described the moment as an “eerie touch” that adds to the theme of “this unhealthy obsession that was against Nikki’s own agency,” while also echoing a broader romantic warning—changing yourself for someone else isn’t healthy.
“So, adding in that layer to be like, ‘Don’t do this! Don’t try to become someone else. Don’t try to become whatever they want to be.’ I think that is a nice touch at the end,” Lawless said.
The behind-the-scenes clip of Lawless and Inde preparing and goofing around for the scene is part of what has made the project resonate beyond the screen—because what looks like pure horror in the final cut is built from staging. constraints. and actors doing their jobs with precision. even when it’s meant to hurt.
Megan Lawless Obsession indie horror NC-17 rating TIFF Inde Navarrette Curry Barker Sarah death scene behind the scenes