OUT NOW:
‘Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster’ (Shudder)
Beginning just before his debut as Frankenstein’s creation, Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster compellingly explores the life and legacy of a cinema legend, presenting a perceptive history of the genre he personified. His films were long derided as hokum and attacked by censors. But his phenomenal popularity and pervasive influence endures, inspiring some of our greatest actors and directors into the 21st Century – among them Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman, Roger Corman & John Landis all of whom and many more contribute their personal insights and anecdotes. Directed by Thomas Hamilton, this documentary examines Karloff’s illustrious career and legacy.
‘All of Us Are Dead’ (Netflix)
This South Korean series centers on a high school that becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak. Trapped students must fight their way out — or turn into one of the rabid infected. Based on Joo Dong-geun’s webtoon of the same name is sure to contain plenty of blood, guts and zombie mayhem.
‘The Afterparty’ (AppleTV+)
Christopher Miller and creative partner Phil Lord have become the go-to duo for wildly imaginative, genre-bending meta flair, making everything from 21 Jump Street to The Lego Movie to producing hits like Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Their latest endeavor is The Afterparty, a murder mystery series. When a high school reunion's afterparty ends in a death, everyone is a suspect. A detective (Tiffany Haddish) grills the former classmates one by one, uncovering potential motives as each tells their version of the story - culminating in the shocking truth.
‘The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window’ (Netflix)
From director Michael Lehmann, this hilariously overlong titled miniseries centers around heartbroken Anna (Kristen Bell), for whom every day is the same. She sits with her wine, staring out the window, watching life go by without her. But when a handsome neighbor moves in across the street, Anna starts to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That is until she witnesses a gruesome murder Or did she? The series looks to poke fun at the women-focused crime dramas that have become popular again in recent years.
‘Malignant’ (HBO Max)
One of the best horror films of the year is now officially back on HBO Max. James Wan’s story of a woman named Madison (Annabelle Wallis) who begins having terrifying visions of a serial killer may seem like it’s headed toward an obvious trajectory only to leap off the track entirely, making for one of the most delightfully deranged horror movies to come from a major studio in quite some time. The film’s biggest reveal followed by a scene of mayhem at a police station is unquestionably one of the best sequences of the entire year, and the most fun Wan has ever been.
‘The Last Matinee’ (Shudder)
It's a soaking wet day with rain pouring down and one of the best things to do is to go seek refuge in a great old cinema. There's just one problem: a murderer is on the loose and he also has taken refuge there. This horror flick acts as a tribute to both slashers and giallo films, and while it doesn’t necessarily reinvent either one, it does manage to pull off some creatively gruesome kills with its simple premise.
‘Feria: The Darkest Light’ (Netflix)
This Spanish supernatural thriller follows two sisters who must face a new reality -- and supernatural elements -- when it's revealed their parents participated in a cult ritual ending in death. Eva (Ana Tomeno) and Sofía (Carla Campra), discover that their missing parents are actually two monsters who, before disappearing, committed a horrendous crime that cost the lives of 23 victims. The two sisters have to face the consequences of their parents' doing in a town where its inhabitants are not as naive as they seem and reality hides a fantastical universe.
‘Dachra’ (Shudder)
From writer and director Abdelhamid Bouchnak, Dachra is about a woman named Yassmine (Yassmine Dimassi), a Tunisian journalism student. Along with her two male friends, she sets out on a university assignment to solve the cold case of Mongia, a woman found mutilated 20 years ago, now imprisoned in an asylum and suspected of witchcraft. As they pursue their investigation, the three friends stumble into the archaic and ominous world of Dachra, an isolated countryside compound filled with goats, silent women, mysterious drying meat and steaming pots. They are welcomed to stay overnight by the jovial yet menacing cult leader, but when Yasmin discovers Dachra's secrets, she must escape before she gets hurt.
‘In From the Cold’ (Netflix)
A single mother's (Margarita Levieva) life in suburban New Jersey is turned upside down when the FBI arrests her and forces her to make a choice: confront her long-buried past as a highly trained, bio-engineered Russian agent, and become an asset against Russia's underworld drug trade, and shadow war on U.S. elections or put her family and the new life she has built at risk.
‘Pennyworth’ (HBO Max)
This DC series tells the origin story of Alfred Pennyworth (Jack Bannon), a former special-forces soldier living in London and how he came to work for Bruce Wayne's father. All of the first two seasons are now available.
CONTINUED WEEKLY EPISODES:
‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (Disney+)
With Boba Fett officially back in Star Wars thanks to The Mandalorian, the legendary bounty hunter (with Temuera Morrison reprising the role) has now received his own spin-off series. Along with mercenary Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), The Book of Boba Fett has the two navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer. The first five episodes are now streaming.
‘Peacemaker’ (HBO Max)
A spin-off for John Cena’s popular jingoist character from James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad last year, Peacemaker puts Cena front and center. The series goes into the origins of Christopher Smith AKA Peacemaker, a hero and villain dedicated to achieving peace at any cost. Gunn wrote all eight episodes and directed five of them, so his signature sense of humor is all over it. It’s wacky, shocking, and a ton of fun. The first five episodes are now streaming.
‘Euphoria’ (HBO Max)
This HBO teen drama about love, violence, identity, sex, and drugs returns for a second season to continue the misadventures of Rue (Zendaya), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), Nate (Jacob Elordi), and others. The first three episodes of season 2 are now streaming.
‘The Righteous Gemstones (Season 2)’ (HBO Max)
This impeccable and hilarious HBO comedy from Danny McBride follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work. It stars McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson, Adam DeVine, and more. The family seeks to expand their empire of mega churches, no matter who gets crushed along the way. The first four episodes of season 2 are now streaming.
Also streaming now:
Netflix - ‘Neymar: The Perfect Chaos’, ‘Chosen’, ‘Home Team’, ‘The Orbital Children’
HBO Max - ‘The Hangover Part III’
Disney+ - ‘The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild’
COMING NEXT WEEK:
Netflix - ‘Anaconda’, ‘Batman Begins’, ‘Caddyshack’, ‘Countdown’, ‘Despicable Me’, ‘Despicable Me 2’, ‘Donnie Brasco’, ‘Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole’, ‘Raising Dion (Season 2)’, ‘That’s My Boy’, ‘The Addams Family (1991)’, ‘The Book of Eli’, ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Foreigner’, ‘The Hangover’, ‘The Last Samurai’, ‘The One’, ‘The Other Guys’, ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’, ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Watchmen’, ‘Murderville’
Hulu - ‘Airplane!’, ‘Ali’, ‘Almost Famous’, ‘The Bank Job’, ‘Batman (1989)’, ‘Batman Returns’, ‘Batman Returns’, ‘Batman & Robin’, ‘Beautiful Creatures’, ‘Black Swan’, ‘Borat’, ‘Casualties of War’, ‘Charlie’s Angels (2000)’, ‘Cousins’, ‘Crocodile Dundee’, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘The French Connection’, ‘John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars’, ‘Lake Placid’, ‘Lucky’, ‘Mirrors’, ‘Miss Bala’, ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’, ‘Nightmare Alley’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘Small Soldiers’, ‘The Tree of Life’, ‘Whiplash’, ‘Pam & Tommy’, ‘The Deep House’, ‘The Beta Test’
Shudder - ‘Slapface’, ‘Tales from the Hood’, ‘Tales from the Hood 2’, ‘Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight’, ‘Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood’
HBO Max - '3:10 to Yuma', '12 Years a Slave', 'Airheads', 'An American Haunting', 'The Butterfly Effect', 'Chinatown', 'The Dark Half', 'Donnie Darko', 'The Hunter', 'Kick-Ass 2', 'Nightmare Alley', 'Rango', 'Red 2', 'Riddick', 'Santa's Slay', 'The Searchers', 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', 'The Untouchables', 'Cry Macho', 'Raised by Wolves (Season 2)'
Amazon Prime Video - '(500) Days of Summer', 'A Fistful of Dollars', 'Die Hard', 'Die Hard: With a Vengeance', 'Forrest Gump', 'Gone in Sixty Seconds', 'Half Baked', 'Killers', 'King Arthur', 'Lincoln', 'Little Miss Sunshine', 'Live Free or Die Hard', 'Robocop', 'The A-Team', 'The Fly', 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly', 'The Impossible', 'The Rock', 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story', 'Walk the Line', 'Key & Peele', 'Nathan for You', 'Workaholics'
