Obsession — Collector’s Edition 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Universal
By now, almost everyone is obsessed with Obsession. Or should be. It won me over and I am not the biggest fan of horror. I have to admit that watching it a second time via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s fab 4K-UHD disc, I was just as taken with how freaky and engaging the film is. I probably gasped and jumped at the same moments that shook me when I saw it in a theater. What impressed me most, though, were the two central performances. More on that in a bit.
Writer-director-editor Curry Barker, with his first studio-backed feature, completely flummoxed studio executives by dramatically changing box office expectations as everyone watched the film’s grosses increase in it’s the second and third weekends—only dropping slighting the next four weekends.
So much of 2026 has proven exciting for new and creative voices. Of course, now everyone wants a piece of Barker as well as his two new stars Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette. Let’s hope they all proceed with caution and not allow the system to suck them in/up.
Obsession centers on sweet and tentative Bear (Johnston), who has a secret crush on his music store co-worker Nikki (Navarrette). After the death of his cat, Bear decides he’s finally going to tell Nikki how he feels. While in a novelty shop, he buys an item called One Wish Willow, which grants the holder a single wish after they break the stick inside.
Alas, when it comes time to disclose his true feelings to Nikki, he fucks it up and, alone in his car, breaks the stick and quick speaks: “I wish Nikki Freeman loved me more than anyone in the fucking world.” That one ill-advised moment starts a sequence of events in motion that changes both their worlds forever.
Obsession is an atmospheric, frightening thriller that really gets under your skin because the two lead performances are so captivating and fascinating. Navarrette leaps off the cinematic cliff and is simply mesmerizing. Johnston grounds Bear in as much reality as possible considering the absurd circumstances.
You can also see my fun VIDEO chat with Johnston HERE.
Special features on the disc include Obsession Unleashed a near-20-minute featurette on the making of the movie as well as an audio commentary track with Barker.
Universal’s 4K-UHD gloriously preserves the dark and nightmarish look of the film.
https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/obsession-2026
Identity – Limited Edition 4K-UHD – Arrow Video
When I first saw James Mangold’s thriller Identity, upon its release in 2003, I was taken with its cleverness and enjoyed the mystery and twisty nature of the narrative. I was also impressed with the solid group of actors assembled. None of that has changed 23 years later, although the final reveal feels completely unnecessary and, if you give it more than a few seconds thought, makes very little sense.
There are initially two tales being told in the Michael Cooney penned screenplay; one centers on a gaggle of strangers who find themselves stranded at a remote motel during a frightful rainstorm and borrows freely from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. The second is more of a psychological character study focused on a murderer, about to be put to death, whose defense attorney argues for a stay of execution based on his psychiatrist’s findings that he might be suffering from dissociative identity disorder.
Both narratives converge and you might see the major shocker coming, or you might not. But it’s a thrilling, chilling ride thanks to Mangold’s keen direction. It’s also super fun because of the crackerjack cast led by the always-underrated John Cusack, who did impressive work in films like Being John Malkovich, Bullets Over Broadway, The Grifters and Grosse Pointe Blank, to name a few, but is rarely recognized—certainly not by awards’ bodies.
The film also boasts excellent perfs from Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes, William Lee Scott, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Rebecca De Mornay, camping up a dreadfully selfish diva turn.
Previous to Identity, Mangold directed Cop Land and Girl, Interrupted. He recently made his two best films to date, Ford v Ferrari and A Complete Unknown.
Arrow Video has done a fine job presenting both the Theatrical and Extended cuts on 4K (2160p) UHD, in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible). They’re quite similar but the extended cut is the preferred watch.
Special features include two archival audio commentaries by Mangold and Cooney, a new interview with Vince, who plays a crucial role in the movie, a new chat with producer Cathy Konrad, an archival featurette and some enjoyable deleted scenes.
The late ‘90s/early 2000s saw a deluge of films with twist endings, in large part thanks to The Sixth Sense. Identity remains one of the most mind-bendingly clever entries into a cinematic subgenre that has almost disappeared.
Identity is available August 24, 2026.
https://www.arrowvideo.com/p/4k/identity-limited-edition-4k-uhd/17897666/
Soylent Green – Limited Edition 4K-UHD – Arrow Video
I love me a good dystopian thriller. And somehow, even though I knew the crazy twist, I had never seen Richard Fleischer’s Soylent Green before—even though I know I owned it on Laserdisc, way back when. Why had I never given the sci-fi classic a looksee? I have no idea. But I am glad I waited for Arrow Video’s impressive brand-new 4K restoration (from the original 35mm camera negative) as it was a beguiling sit—even if the big reveal doesn’t pack the punch it probably packed back when it was released in 1973.
Say what you will about Charlton Heston, but his incredible performances in Ben-Hur and Planet of the Apes cannot be denied. I also quite enjoyed him in the disaster flicks, Airport 1975 and Earthquake (both released in 1974) since, often, he seems to be the only one taking the silly circumstances seriously—which can be quite fun to watch.
In Soylent Green, Heston plays detective Robert Thorn who exists in a plagued and polluted NYC in 2022 (yikes) where only a certain elite few live well. He is tasked with investigating the murder of a prominent member of the Soylent Corporation board (Joseph Cotten), a group that manufacture the food wafers that everyone eats to stay alive. In the victim’s apartment he discovers clean water, natural food and even booze—as well as Shirl (an excellent Leigh Taylor-Young), a young woman who was being kept by the Cotten character now left to wonder if the new man moving in will want to keep her. Women are just commodities in the 1973 version of the 2022 future.
Aided by his roommate Sol (Edward G. Robinson, in his final screen role—his 101st!), Thorn’s investigation leads to a shocking discovery!
Robinson, who is wonderful, died just weeks after he finished filming. I was stunned to learn that this extraordinary actor was never even nominated for an Oscar and died months before he was given an Honorary Academy Award.
Soylent Green was based on the 1966 novel, Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison and is a seriously entertaining watch today, no longer as frightening but still quite effective and disturbing, especially in it’s early warnings about the climate crisis as well as the notion that the rich could/would basically run roughshod over the poor.
Upon release, it received mixed notices and did okay business.
Arrow Video’s package includes archival audio commentary with Fleischer and star Young and a new commentary track with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains. More features: two on-stage interviews, with Heston and Fleischer at the BFI (separately) a vintage ‘making of’ featurette and footage from an MGM tribute to Robinson on his 101st film–which had to have happened very shortly before his death. The Fleischer chat is most intriguing as he is quite honest about the difficulties he had working on certain films like Doctor Doolittle.
https://www.arrowvideo.com/p/4k/soylent-green-limited-edition-4k-uhd/17824328/
