Screen Crusades: Weekly Streaming Guide 6.25.21

OUT NOW:

‘An Unquiet Grave’ (Shudder)

Shudder’s latest exclusive is a tale of grief driving a man to the brink of madness. A slow and creeping horror film, An Unquiet Grave is a small scale, character driven piece that creates a wonderfully chilling atmosphere and boasts a pair of great performances. 

The film follows a man named Jaime (Jacob A. Ware), who lost his wife in a car accident over a year ago and hasn’t been able to move on. Riddled with guilt and sorrow, he devises a plan to bring her back from the dead. All he needs is one vital thing: his wife’s sister, Ava (Christine Nyland), to accompany him to the site of the crash in order to perform a strange and dark ritual. Needless to say, things don’t go quite according to plan.

Read full Knotfest write-up: ‘An Unquiet Grave’ Takes Sorrow to Spine-Tingling Places

‘False Positive’ (Hulu)

Ilana Glazer is best known for her comedy chops in series like Broad City, but her latest film, False Positive, has the actress switching gears to horror. Glazer wrote the film with director John Lee, and she stars alongside other talent like Justin Theroux, Pierce Brosnan, Gretchen Mol, Zainab Jah and Sophia Bush.

In a sort of modern take on Rosemary’s Baby, Glazer stars as a woman named Lucy who, along with her partner Adrian (Theroux) find their dream fertility doctor in the illustrious Dr. Hindle (Brosnan). But after becoming pregnant, Lucy begins to notice something sinister behind Hindle’s charm, and she sets out to uncover the unsettling truth about him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WtWjH8GGqE

‘Murder by the Coast’ (Netflix)

Murder by the Coast is the latest true crime documentary from Netflix, detailing the Wanninkhof-Carabantes case that took place over twenty years ago in Spain. In 1999, the murder of a young woman named Rocío Wanninkhof kicked off a media frenzy that sought to find the killer no matter the cost.

The campaign quickly took a nasty and prejudiced turn when Dolores Vázquez was arrested and found guilty of the crime, despite no real evidence. Not long after, the body of Sonia Carabantes was found and her murder was linked to Wanninkhof’s, proving that Vázquez was innocent, but it may have been far too late.

‘Godzilla Singular Point’ (Netflix)

A blend of hand-drawn and computer animation styles, Godzilla Singular Point is a new anime series coming to Netflix that takes the world’s most famous kaiju in a bold new direction.

The setting is Nigashio City, Chiba Prefecture in the year 2030. Engineer Yun Arikawa of the local “do-it-all” shop Otaki Factory investigates happenings in a Western-style house, long thought abandoned. Mei Kamino, a graduate student studying imaginary creatures, investigates mysterious signals received from Misakioku, the former Tsuguno district’s administrative building. These two strangers, visiting completely different places as part of completely different investigations, both hear the same song. As they become united, they are led into a battle beyond imagination involving the whole world.

‘Homewrecker’ (Shudder)

Homewrecker is one of those low-budget and contained films that makes the most out of its simple premise – two women, Linda (Precious Chong) and Michelle (Alex Essoe), start up a friendship when they take an exercise class together. But Linda, the older of the two, develops a growing obsession born out of jealousy and delusion.

The film is a tense game of cat-and-mouse, but it’s thriller inspirations are also imbued with a bit of self-awareness. There’s a bit of comedy to go with the psycho proceedings. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nA_wYWSt9A

‘Hostiles’ (Hulu)

2017’s Hostiles flew a bit under the radar back when it was released. Despite positive reviews, the film disappointed a bit at the box office, but it’s something well worth checking if you’re looking to watch a Western with an absolutely stacked cast. Christain Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemmons, Timothée Chalamet, Jonathan Majors, and many more. It’s practically oozing with talent.

In 1892, legendary Army Capt. Joseph Blocker (Bale) reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Studi) and his family back to their tribal land. Embarking on a harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, N.M., to the grasslands of Montana, they soon encounter a young widow (Pike) whose family was killed on the plains. The travelers must now band together to survive a punishing landscape that’s crawling with hostile Comanches and vicious outliers.

‘The Seventh Day’ (Netflix)

Yet another film with a great cast, The Seventh Day is a new take on the exorcism subgenre. It follows Father Peter (Guy Pearce), a prestigious exorcist, who teams up with Father Daniel (Vadhir Derbez), a young and inexperienced priest,

On his first day of work, they try to stop the demonic possession of a young boy, and as they plunge deeper into hell on Earth, the lines between good and evil blur and their own demons emerge. Written and directed by Justin P. Lange, the film also stars Stephen Lang, Keith David, and Robin Bartlett.

‘Fatale’ (HBO Max)

After a wild one-night stand, a successful sports agent (Michael Ealy) watches his perfect life slowly disappear when he discovers the sexy and mysterious woman (Hilary Swank) he risked everything for is a determined police detective who entangles him in her latest investigation. As he desperately tries to put the pieces together, he falls deeper into her trap, risking his family, his career, and even his life.

Directed by Deon Taylor, the film puts a neo-noir look over a classic thriller story. For those looking for a night of steamy and erotic thrills, Fatale might just be right up your alley.

‘An American Haunting’ (Hulu)

Southern folklore has its fair share of supernatural legends and ghostly entities, but the Bell Witch is one of the most well-known legends of the area. The story goes that back in the 19th century, a Tennessee family known as the Bell’s were tormented by a mysterious spirit that terrified them to no end. The legend spawned a variety of different books, one of which, The Bell Witch: An American Haunting by Brent Monahan, served as the inspiration for this 2005 horror flick.

Written and directed by Courtney Solomon, An American Haunting follows the story of the only documented case in US history, and validated by the State of Tennessee, in which a spirit caused a person’s death. Switching between the 19th century and the modern day, the film stars Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D’Arcy, and Rachel Hurd-Wood.

‘The Ice Road’ (Netflix)

After a remote diamond mine collapses in the far northern regions of Canada, an ice driver (Liam Neeson) leads an implausible rescue mission over a frozen ocean to save the lives of trapped miners despite thawing waters and a threat they never see coming.

The Ice Road may seem like another typical Liam Neeson action movie, but its unique setting allows for some impressive and thrilling stunts that include trucks skidding on ice as our hero attempts his rescue mission. The soundtrack is also noteworthy – writer and director Jonathan Hensleigh requested that Big Machine Records create the soundtrack, which led to the project being produced by Nikki Sixx, who put together the supergroup the L.A. Rats, which includes Sixx, Rob Zombie, John 5, and Tommy Clufetos.

CONTINUED WEEKLY EPISODES:

‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ (Disney+)

The Bad Batch is the latest of Star Wars’ various animated series, and the first to premiere on Disney+. Originally introduced in the prior series, The Clone Wars, the Bad Batch are a squad of clone troopers that had genetic mutations occur during the cloning process. This has given them unique abilities that other clones do not, and together they form an elite squadron to battle on the front lines of the war.

The series begins with the squad dealing with the galaxy-shattering events of Order 66 and the end of the Clone Wars. It will certainly be interesting to see what happened to the clone army in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, and the series also introduces a new female clone named Omega (Michelle Ang) who joins the Bad Batch on their missions. The first nine episodes are now streaming.

‘Loki’ (Disney+)

The latest Marvel series to launch on Disney+ following WandaVision and The Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Loki puts the god of mischief front and center. Tom Hiddleston has been stealing scenes since appearing as the character in the first Thor movie, and while Loki did die at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, a new one from an alternate timeline was created during the time travel hijinks of Avengers: Endgame.

The six episode series has Loki captured by the Time Variance Authority, an organization that maintains the timeline. They give the trickster god a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a “time variant”, or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat. Micheal Waldron serves as head writer for the show, who is best known for his work on Community and Rick and Morty, and will also co-write the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The first three episodes are now streaming.

Also streaming now:

Netflix – ‘This is Pop’, ‘Good on Paper’, ‘Sisters on Track’, ‘Ray’, ‘The A List (Season 2)’

Hulu – ‘The Guilt Trip’, ‘Monster Trucks’

Shudder – ‘City of the Dead’, ‘The Antenna’

HBO Max – ‘LFG’, ‘My Heart Goes Boom!’

Disney+ – ‘The Mysterious Benedict Society’, ‘Wolfgang’

COMING THIS WEEK:

Netflix – ‘Fear Street: 1994’, ‘Killing Them Softly’, ‘America: The Motion Picture’, ‘Lying and Stealing’, ‘Prime Time’, ‘Audible’, ‘Dynasty Warriors’, ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, ‘Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’, ‘Ophelia’, ‘Underworld: Awakening’

Hulu – ‘Summer of Soul’, ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’, ‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’, ‘Jack Reacher’, ‘127 Hours’, ‘28 Days Later’, ‘28 Weeks Later’, ‘68 Kill’, ‘78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene’, ‘Australia’, ‘Bad Teacher’, ‘Band Aid’, ‘Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest’, ‘Beetlejuice’, ‘Big Fish’, ‘Blue Sky’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Breakdown’, ‘Caddyshack’, ‘Carnage Park’, ‘The Condemned’, ‘The Cured’, ‘Enemy at the Gates’, ‘Fargo’, ‘Galaxy Quest’, ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’, ‘The House That Jack Built’, ‘Knowing’, ‘The Mask’, ‘Open Water’, ‘Robocop’, ‘Stand by Me’, ‘Taken’, ‘The Terminator’, ‘Underworld’

Shudder – ‘Vicious Fun’, ‘Manhunter’, ‘Near Dark’, ‘Burnt Offerings’, ‘Creepshow’, ‘Thirteen Ghosts’

HBO Max – ‘8 Mile’, ‘Blackhat’, ‘Demolition Man’, ‘Disturbia’, ‘Firestarter’, ‘House on Haunted Hill’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’, ‘Planet of the Apes’, ‘The Punisher’, ‘Rambo’, ‘Reservoir Dogs’, ‘Scream’, ‘Trick ‘R Treat’, ‘Westworld’

Amazon Prime Video – ‘The Tomorrow War’, ‘30 Days of Night’, ‘Alien’, ‘30 Minutes or Less’, ‘Absence of Malice’, ‘Crimson Tide’, ‘Frozen River’, ‘Hellboy’, ‘I, Robot’, ‘Marie Antoinette’, ‘Money Train’, ‘On the Waterfront’, ‘Patton’, ‘Phone Booth’, ‘Premonition’, ‘Rear Window’, ‘Snatch’, ‘The International’, ‘The Last King of Scotland’, ‘The Mask of Zorro’, ‘The Messengers’, ‘Vertigo’

Disney+ – ‘The Sandlot’

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