From ‘Babygirl' to ‘Bridget Jones,' How Women Are Taking Control in May-December Romances
If it feels like you've seen a lot of movies lately where women are dating much younger men, well, it's because you have. The latest is 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' now streaming on Peacock, where in her fourth and likely final outing, Renée Zellweger's new love interest is played by 26-years-younger star of 'The White Lotus,' Leo Woodall.
But Bridget is not alone. Last year saw the release of 'The Idea of You,' in which Anne Hathaway's character falls in love with a pop star 16 years her junior (played by Nicholas Galitzine); 'A Family Affair,' where Nicole Kidman falls in love with a man also 16 years her junior (played by Zac Efron, who is 20 years younger than Kidman in real life); 'Lonely Planet,' which sees Laura Dern fall for Liam Hemsworth, who is 23 years younger than her; and 'Babygirl,' wherein Kidman once again plays a character who falls for a man 24 years younger than her (Harris Dickinson, who in real life is 29 years younger than Kidman). And of course the 2023 Todd Haynes film, 'May December,' starring Julianne Moore and Charles Melton.
It's a trend that's becoming hard to ignore, though 'Bridget Jones' star Zellweger told TheWrap she finds it 'interesting … that people think it's a novelty. I mean, what does that say about what we've normalized, in terms of the dynamics between different ages and the sexes?'
She's not wrong. May-December romances between older men and younger women have long been present onscreen. From 'Sabrina' in 1954 to 'Lost in Translation' in 2003. Among more recent examples, 53-year-old Ke Huy Quan played a love interest to 34-year-old Ariana DeBose in 'Love Hurts.'
Flip the gender, though, and the most memorable older woman/younger man romance onscreen remains 1967's 'The Graduate,' with Anne Bancroft initiating an affair with Dustin Hoffman (although in real life, the two were actually just six years apart).
So why the new trend in romance? Experts told TheWrap that, while May-December romances aren't as common in real life as Hollywood would make you believe, this spate of films tackling this topic reflect the natural evolution of roles for women, especially as they're given more access and agency in Hollywood to create the roles themselves. And as more women are in positions of power at the studios making these kinds of movies — from Jennifer Salke at Amazon Studios to Donna Langley at Universal to Bela Bajaria at Netflix — roles for women over 40, including romantic leads, are gaining prominence.
'I think that it is, in some ways, a very logical next step of women claiming a space in Hollywood to be an older woman,' Sarah Banet-Weiser, Dean at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Associate for the USC Gender Studies Program, told TheWrap.
'Claiming that space also means a new recognition, and a new kind of revaluing of a woman over 50, their ideas, their sexuality, their agency,' she said.
Dr. Jessica Carbino, who got her PhD at UCLA and worked as a sociologist for dating apps Tinder and Bumble, agreed, adding that women in Hollywood may be establishing more independence, and even control, with stories like this.
'I think what's going on is you're seeing a cultural moment in which there's this broader understanding, maybe born out of the #MeToo movement, where there are more films, more books being written about women in ways that challenge conventional norms,' Carbino said, 'and that provide them with a certain air of control and potential dominance, and questions about what that means in relationships.'
Women are also the creative force behind many of these stories, which makes a difference.
'Babygirl' was written and directed by Halina Reijn, and Kidman said bluntly she doesn't think she could have given the same performance with a male director. 'Lonely Planet' was written and directed by Susannah Grant. And though directed by Michael Showalter, 'The Idea of You' was creatively spearheaded largely by women, with Gabrielle Union, Anne Hathaway and Cathy Schulman all producing and Amazon Studios head Jen Salke steering the project.
Speaking to TheWrap in 2024 for the film, Schulman noted that the nature of the production team made a huge impact.'I think a bunch of women came together to make this because we had to tell the story about pulling women out of compartments,' she said at the time. 'This whole idea that you should be one thing at a time; you can be a mother, you can be a grandmother, you could be a worker, you can be a wife, but you can't be everything, and all of it all at the same time. I think it was natural that women would come together because we all feel that.'
Schulman also pointed out that, in the case of Union, the idea of falling for a younger man isn't theoretical, as she's nine years older than her husband, Dwyane Wade. And Union's not the only real-life example. Demi Moore was 15 years older than her now ex-husband Ashton Kutcher. Priyanka Chopra-Jonas is 10 years older than her husband.
'These relationships have existed for as long as anyone can remember. It's just that they're not portrayed on screen, and they're starting to now,' Woodall, who plays Zellweger's younger boyfriend in 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' told TheWrap.
He continued: 'And people maybe aren't used to it yet. It's not been normalized as it has the opposite version. And I'm sure we'll see more of it, and people will get more used to it, and then it will sort of be less of a topic of conversation.'
Getting to a point where this is unremarkable is the point for many. That's part of what drew Dern to 'Lonely Planet'— the fact that the age difference doesn't get mentioned in the story, and didn't even come up in discussions off screen.
'That's what, for me, felt like the real paradigm shift,' Dern told TheWrap during an interview for the film in October. 'Not that there aren't important stories to tell in which age or differences of experience don't come into it.
'But as someone who, as an actor, especially early in my career, always had sometimes a very large age difference with the actor I was working with, it was never mentioned, nor was it a story point. But often when it's flipped, it is a commented-on aspect of the love story.'
According to Banet-Weiser, those comments could be coming because it's a stark departure from how women are typically portrayed in media.
'I think the reason why it's commented on … is because older women are already seen to not be desirable,' she explained to TheWrap. 'They're past their prime. I mean, Don Lemon, when he said that Nikki Haley was past her prime, and she was like, 50, right? … He apologized, but he said it because it makes sense for him to say it.'
Carbino added that the attention also comes because 'there is a certain double standard' at play, as people think of a romantic relationship as an exchange of resources and services, where a woman's contribution is 'attractiveness, which is largely associated with youth.'
Indeed, a woman's youth is often treated like a commodity — an issue that's made literal in Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance,' starring Moore as an over-40 actress who takes a drug to create a younger version of herself so that she can prolong her desirability. She and Fargeat both earned Oscar nominations for the film.
'I think that there is a relentless pursuit of feminine youth,' Banet-Weiser said. 'Like the joke about Leonardo DiCaprio breaking up with every woman as soon as she turns 25. There's this idea, and it's rewarded. So men are seen as studs, and they're seen as hyper-masculine, and they're seen as still being able to attract the younger women.
'That path, and that power dynamic, hasn't been as available for older women, because older women themselves are not seen as desirable the way that older men are seen as desirable,' she added, pointing to examples like George Clooney, Robert Redford and Harrison Ford (all of whom are at least 17 years older than their wives).
When May-December relationships onscreen make that path available to women, Carbino says, 'It violates all of those understandings — evolutionarily, economically and socially, it's considered taboo or transgressive.'
Considering 'The Idea of You,' 'A Family Affair' and 'Babygirl' all found receptive audiences, exploring the taboo has translated into success. And when Hollywood is, as Banet-Weiser noted, 'trying to build as much predictability into an unpredictable system as you can,' focusing on these kinds of relationships is proving to be less of a risk.
'Lo and behold, women over 50 like to watch movies, right? They liked this movie because it positioned them as desirable beings,' she said.
'I think that when we live in a mediated society, we look to the media to recognize ourselves, and if recognition matters, which it does in this culture, then if we don't recognize ourselves, it can have an impact on us that we don't matter and that we aren't valuable.'
'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' may be the latest in this genre, but it likely won't be last. While director Michael Morris says the sequel didn't set out with an agenda to normalize an age-gapped relationship, he certainly doesn't mind joining the club.
'If we're part of a conversation that's a bigger one, that leads to someone saying 'We should just celebrate love. Why don't we try that? If someone's into someone, that's kind of great,' I would be so happy,' he said. 'Because it feels like a relic, all of these conversations.'
The post From 'Babygirl' to 'Bridget Jones,' How Women Are Taking Control in May-December Romances appeared first on TheWrap.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Limited/TV Movie Roundtable: Stephen Graham, Elizabeth Banks, Javier Bardem, Sacha Baron Cohen, More
Brian Tyree Henry ('Dope Thief') joins Jenny Slate ('Dying for Sex'), Renée Zellweger ('Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'), Elizabeth Banks ('The Better Sister'), Javier Bardem ('Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'), Stephen Graham ('Adolescence') & Sacha Baron Cohen ('Disclaimer') on the L.A. Times Limited Series & Television Movie by The Walt Disney Studios.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Somebody hug me!' 7 Emmy hopefuls on staying calm, hitting their marks and more
The Emmys' limited series/TV movie acting categories have come to represent some of the best and most-talked-about shows on television, and this year's crop of contenders is no exception. The seven actors who joined the 2025 Envelope Roundtable were Javier Bardem, who plays father, victim and alleged molester Jose Menendez in Netflix's 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'; Renée Zellweger, who reprises her role as the British romantic heroine in 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'; Stephen Graham, who co-created and stars in 'Adolescence' as the father of a teenage boy who commits a heinous murder; Jenny Slate, who plays the best friend of a terminally ill woman in FX's 'Dying for Sex'; Brian Tyree Henry, who portrays a man posing as a federal agent in order to rip off drug dealers in Apple TV+'s 'Dope Thief'; Elizabeth Banks, who takes on the role of an estranged sibling and recovering alcoholic in Prime Video's 'The Better Sister'; and Sacha Baron Cohen, who appears as the deceived husband of a successful filmmaker in Apple TV+'s 'Disclaimer.' The Times' news and culture critic Lorraine Ali spoke to the group about the emotional fallout of a heavy scene, the art of defying expectations and more. Read highlights from their conversation below and watch video of the roundtable above. Many of you move between drama and comedy. People often think, 'Drama's very serious and difficult, comedy's light and easy.' Is that true? Banks: I think the degree of difficulty with comedy is much higher. It's really hard to sustainably make people laugh over time, whereas [with] drama, everyone relates to loss and pining for love that's unrequited. Not everybody has great timing or is funny or gets satire. Henry: There's something fun about how closely intertwined they are. In my series, I'm playing a heroin addict running for my life, and I have this codependency with this friend … There's a scene where I've been looking for him, and I'm high out of my mind, and I find him in my attic, and all he's talking about is how he has to take a s—. And I'm like, 'But they're trying to kill us.' You just see him wincing and going through all these [groans]. It is so funny, but at the same time, you're just terrified for both. There's always humor somewhere in the drama. Banks: There's a reason why the theater [symbol] is a happy face/sad face. They're very intertwined. Renée, with Bridget Jones — how has she changed over the last 25 years and where is she now with 'Mad About the Boy'? Zellweger: Nobody's the same from one moment to the next, one chapter to the next and certainly not from one year to the next. It's been a really interesting sort of experiment to revisit a character in the different phases of her life. What I'm really grateful for is that the timing runs in parallel to the sort of experiences that you have in your early 20s, 30s and so on. With each iteration, I don't have to pretend that I'm less than I am, because I don't want to be the character that I was, or played, when she was 29, 35. I don't want to do that, and I certainly don't want to do that now. So it was really nice to meet her again in this place of what she's experiencing in the moment, which is bereavement and the loss of her great love, and being a mom, and trying to be responsible, and reevaluating what she values, and how she comports herself, and what's important and all of that, because, of course, I relate to that in this moment. Stephen, 'Adolescence' follows a family dealing with the fallout of their 13-year-old son being accused of a brutal murder. You direct and star in the series. What was it like being immersed in such heavy subject matter? Did it come home with you? Graham: We did that first episode, the end of it was quite heavy and quite emotional. When we said, 'Cut,' all of us older actors and the crew were very emotional. There were hugs and a bit of applause. And then everyone would be like, 'Where's Owen?' [Cooper, the teenage actor who plays Graham's character's son]. 'Is Owen OK? Is he with his child psychologist?' No, Owen's upstairs playing swing ball with his tutor. It was like OK, that's the way to do this — not to take myself too seriously when we say, 'Cut,' but when I am there, immerse myself in it. Let's be honest, we can all be slightly self-obsessed. My missus, she's the best for me because I'd phone her and say, 'I had a really tough day. I had to cry all day. My wife's died of cancer, and it was a really tough one.' She goes, 'The dog s— all over the living room. I had to go shopping and the f— bag split when I got to Tesco. There was a flat tire. They've let the kids out of school early because there's been a flood. And you've had a hard day pretending to be sad?' Bardem: I totally agree with what Stephen says. You have a life with your family and your children that you have to really pay attention to. This is a job, and you just do the job as good as you can with your own limitations. You put everything into it when they say, 'Action,' and when you're out, you just leave it behind. Otherwise, it's too much. Certain scenes, certain moments stay with you because we work with what we are. But I think it doesn't make you a better actor to really stay in character, as they say, for 24 hours. That doesn't work for me. It actually makes me feel very confused if I do that. On the show 'Monsters' I tried to protect Cooper [Koch] and Nicholas [Alexander Chavez], the actors who play the children, because they were carrying the heavy weight on the show every day. I was trying to make them feel protected and loved and accompanied by us, the adults, and let them know that we are there for them and that this is fiction. Because they were going really deep into it, and they did an amazing job. Elizabeth, in 'The Better Sister,' you portray Nicky, a sister estranged from her sibling who's been through quite a bit of her own trauma. Banks: I play a drunk who's lost her child and her husband, basically, to her little sister, played by Jessica Biel. She is grappling with trauma from her childhood, which she's trying not to bring forward. She's been working [with] Alcoholics Anonymous, an incredible program, to get through her stuff. But she's also a fish out of water when she visits her sister, who [lives in a] very rarefied New York, literary, fancy rich world. My character basically lives in a trailer park in Ohio. There's a lot going on. And there's a murder mystery. I loved the complication … but it brought up all of those things for me. I do think you absolutely leave most of that [heaviness] on set. You are mining it all for the character work, so you've got to find it, but I don't need to then infect my own children with it. Sacha, you have played and created these really gregarious characters like Ali G or Borat. Your character in 'Disclaimer,' he's not a character you created, but he is very understated. Was that a challenge? Cohen: It took me a long time to work out who the character was. I said to [director] Alfonso [Cuarón], 'I don't understand why this guy goes on that journey from where we see him in Act 1.' For me it was, how do you make this person unique? We worked a lot through the specificity of what words he uses and what he actually says to explain and give hints for me as an actor. A lot of that was Alfonso Cuarón saying, 'Take it down.' And there was a lot of rewriting and loads of drafts before I even understood how this guy reacts to the news and information that he believes about his wife. Jenny, 'Dying for Sex' is based on a true story about two friends. One has terminal cancer, and the other — your character — supports her right up until the end. Talk about what it was like to play that role in a series that alternates between biting humor and deep grief. Slate: Michelle Williams, who does a brilliant job in this show, her energy is extending outward and [her character] is trying to experiment before she does the greatest experiment of all, which is to cross over into the other side. My character is really out there, not out there willy-nilly, but she will yell at people if they are being rude, wasteful or if she feels it's unjust. [And she's] going from blasting to taking all that energy and making it this tight laser, and pointing it right into care, and knowing more about herself at the end. I am a peppy person, and I felt so excited to have the job that a lot of my day started with calming myself down. I'm at work with Michelle Williams and Sissy Spacek and Liz Meriwether and Shannon Murphy and being, like, 'Siri, set a meditation timer for 10 minutes,' and making myself do alternate nostril breathing [exercises]. Brian, many people came to know you from your role as Paper Boi in 'Atlanta.' The series was groundbreaking and like nothing else on television. What was it like moving out of that world and onto other projects? Henry: People really thought that I was this rapper that they pulled off the street from Atlanta. To me, that's the greatest compliment … When I did 'Bullet Train,' I was shocked at how many people thought I was British. I was like, 'Oh, right. Now I've twisted your mind this way.' I was [the voice of] Megatron at one point, and now I've twisted your mind that way. My path in is always going to be stretching people's imaginations, because they get so attached to characters that I've played that they really believe that I'm that person. People feel like they have an ownership of who you are. I love the challenge of having to force the imaginations of the viewers and myself to see me in a departure [from] what they saw me [as] previously. Because I realize that when I walk in a room, before I even open my mouth, there's 90 different things that are put on me or taken away from me because of how I look and how I carry myself. Javier, since doing the series are you now frequently asked about your own opinions on the Menendez case? The brothers claim their father molested them, and that is in part what led to them murdering their parents. Bardem: I don't think anybody knows. That's the point. That was the great thing about playing that character, is you have to play it in a way that it's not obvious that he did those things that he was accused of, because nobody knows, but at the same time you have to make people believe that he was capable. I did say to Ryan [Murphy] that I can't do a scene with a kid. Because in the beginning, they do drafts, and there were certain moments where I said, 'I can't. It's not needed.' The only moment that I had a hard time was when [Jose] has to face [his] young kid. It was only a moment where Jose was mean to him. That's not in my nature. Henry: I discovered, while doing my series, 'My body doesn't know this isn't real.' There's an episode where I'm shot in the leg, and I'm bleeding out and I'm on all this different morphine and drugs and all this stuff, and I'm literally lying on this ground, take after take, having to mime this. To go through the delusion of this pain ... in the middle of the takes, it was just so crazy. I would literally look at the crew and say, 'Somebody hug me! Somebody!' Stephen, that scene where you confront the boys in the parking lot with the bike, I was just like, 'Oh, my God, how many times did he have to do that?' This kid gets in your face, and I was like, 'Punch the kid!' My heart went out to you, man, not just as the character but as you being in there. Graham: Because we did it all in one take, we had that unique quality. You're using the best of two mediums. You've got that beauty and that spontaneity and that reality of the theater, and then you have the naturalism and the truth that we have with film and television. So by the time I get to that final bit, we've been through all those emotions. When I open the door and go into [Jamie's] room, everything's shaken. But it's not you. It's an out-of-body experience and just comes from somewhere else. Bardem: Listen, we don't do brain surgery, but let's give ourselves some credit. We are generous in what we do because we are putting our bodies into an experience. We are doing this for something bigger than us, and that is the story that we're telling. What have been some of the more challenging or difficult moments for you, either in your career or your recent series? Zellweger: Trying not to do what you're feeling in the moment sometimes, because it's not appropriate to what you're telling. That happens in most shows, most things that you do. I think everybody experiences it where you're bringing something from home and it doesn't belong on the set. It's impossible to leave it behind when you walk in because it's bigger than you are in that moment. Banks: I would say that the thing that I worked on the most for 'The Better Sister' was [understanding] sobriety. I'm not sober. I love a bubbly rosé. So it really did bring up how much I think about drinking and how social it is and what that ritual is for me, and how this character is thinking about it every day and deciding every day to stay sober or not. I am also a huge fan of AA and sobriety programs. I think they're incredible tools for everybody who works those programs. I was grateful for the access to all of that as I was making the series. But that's what you get to do in TV. You get to explore episode by episode. You get to play out a lot more than just three acts. Stephen, about the continuous single shot. It seems like it's an incredibly difficult and complex way to shoot a series. Why do it? Graham: It's exceptionally difficult, I'm not going to lie. It's like a swan glides across the water beautifully, but the legs are going rapidly underneath. A lot of it is done in preparation. We spend a whole week learning the script, and then the second week is just with the camera crew and the rest of the crew. It's a choreography that you work out, getting an idea of where they want the camera to go, and the opportunity to embody the space ourselves. Cohen: That reminds me of a bit of doing the undercover movies that I do because you have one take. ... I did a scene where I'm wearing a bulletproof vest. There were a lot of the people in the audience who'd gone to this rally, a lot of them had machine guns. We knew they were going to get angry, but you've got to do the scene. You've got one time to get the scene right. But you also go, 'OK, those guys have got guns. They're trying to storm the stage. I haven't quite finished the scene. When do I leave?' But you've got to get the scene. I could get shot, but that's not important. Henry: There's a certain level of sociopathy. Slate: I feel like I'm never on my mark, and it was always a very kind camera operator being like, 'Hey, Jenny, you weren't in the shot shoulder-wise.' I feel like such an idiot. Part of it is working through lifelong, longstanding feelings of 'I'm a fool and my foolishness is going to make people incredibly angry with me.' And then really still wanting to participate and having no real certainty that I'm going to be able to do anything but just make all of my fears real. Part of the thing that I love about performance is I just want to experience the version of myself that does not collapse into useless fragments when I face the thing that scares me the most. I do that, and then I feel the appetite for performance again. Do you see yourself in roles when you're watching other people's films or TV show? Graham: At the end of the day, we're all big fans of acting. That's why we do it. Because when we were young, we were inspired by people on the screen, or we were inspired by places where we could put ourselves and lose our imaginations. We have a lot of t— in this industry. But I think if we fight hard enough, we can come through. Do you know what I mean? It's people that are here for the right reasons. It's a collective. Acting is not a game of golf. It's a team. It's in front and it's behind the camera. I think it's important that we nourish that. Henry: And remember that none of us are t—. Bardem: What is a t—? I may be one of them and I don't know it. Graham: I'll explain it to you later.
Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
5 best new movies to stream this weekend on Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, and more (June 7-8)
The weekend is here, and the best streaming services are flooded with plenty of great new movies to beat the heat with. Which can make narrowing down what to watch a headache in and of itself. At the top of our weekend watchlist is 'Sinners,' one of the biggest hits of the year so far, arriving on premium video-on-demand streaming. Over on Netflix, you'll find Tyler Perry's newest high-stakes drama, "Straw," about a struggling single mother pushed past her breaking point. For even more thrills, Prime Video just got the Ben Affleck-led sequel "The Accountant 2." Meanwhile, if you're looking for other flavors of horror, Peacock has the razor-sharp satire "The Blackening," while Steven Soderbergh's "Presence," a cerebral twist on the haunted house genre, just landed on Hulu. So let's dive into all the best new movies to watch this weekend that just landed on streaming. For even more streaming recommendations, be sure to check out our round-up of all the top new TV shows you'll want to binge-watch. The box office success and pop culture phenomenon "Sinners" is now streaming. So if you missed Ryan Coogler's hit horror movie in theaters, now's your chance to catch it at home. "Sinners" stars Michael B. Jordan in a double role as enterprising twins Smoke and Stack, who leave their troubled lives in Chicago behind to start a juke joint in their small hometown in Mississippi. Rather than a welcoming committee, they discover a supernatural evil has taken root in their community, and it's leaching off the talents and energy of Black folks. This horror-thriller is a gripping, stylish ride packed with standout performances and an unforgettable musical score, making it an absolute must-watch for horror fans. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Buy or rent now on Amazon Tyler Perry's no stranger to heartwrenching dramas, and his latest, "Straw," follows a struggling single mother pushed to her absolute breaking point. Taraji P. Henson stars as Janiyah, whose day from hell just keeps going downhill. Just when it seems things can't get worse, she returns to her workplace to collect her final paycheck, only to walk into a deadly armed robbery. She survives, but when the bank refuses to cash her check to pay for her daughter's medicine, it proves to be her breaking point. With nothing left to lose, Janiyah takes a desperate stand, holding the bank and its occupants hostage. A bank teller (Sherri Shepherd) caught in the chaos begins to empathize with Janiyah's pain. Meanwhile, outside, Detective Raymond (Teyana Taylor) leads the negotiation, determined to bring the situation to a peaceful end and convinced that Janiyah isn't a criminal, but a mother stretched impossibly thin. But with tension rising and the odds stacked against her, it's hard to believe this day won't take an even darker turn. Watch it now on Netflix Ben Affleck returns as the money laundering Christian Wolff in the action thriller sequel "The Accountant 2," which just landed on Prime Video after racking up a respectable $100 million at the box office. Though its theatrical run hasn't been quite as stellar as 2016's "The Accountant," it's bound to be a hit on the streamer now that subscribers can check out all the heart-pounding thrills for no extra fee. After an old acquaintance is murdered, Wolff — a CPA who leads a double life cooking books for criminal organizations — must team up with his estranged mercenary brother Brax (Jon Bernthal) to uncover a deadly conspiracy. Their only lead is a cryptic message left behind: "Find the accountant." As the brothers work with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to crack the case, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a ruthless network of killers hellbent on making sure certain secrets stay buried. Watch it now on Prime Video 2025 has been a great year for horror films, but director Steven Soderbergh's "Presence" has proven to be one of the most divisive. It flips the traditional haunted house story on its head, shot from the perspective of the ghostly entity making things go bump in the night. The creative framing makes for a slower pace that focuses more on building tension and family drama than scares, but it's surprisingly impactful. "Presence" follows the Payne family — mom Rebekah (Lucy Liu), dad Chris (Chris Sullivan), and their teenage son (Eddy Maday) and daughter (Callina Liang) — who move into their dream house in the suburbs. While they appear to be the perfect nuclear family on paper, it's not long before cracks start becoming clear. When nightmarish events start unfolding, the parents must protect their children from forces beyond their understanding. Watch it now on Hulu If you like your horror with a healthy dose of humor, "The Blackening" is the perfect pick. This clever slasher-comedy follows a group of Black friends who head to a remote cabin to celebrate Juneteenth. While exploring the cabin's game room, they stumble upon a board game called "The Blackening," which features a racist caricature mascot on the cover and pieces that correlate to each member of the group. To their horror, they find themselves locked in while a "Saw"-esque broadcast explains that they must compete in "The Blackening," a trivia-based game on Black culture, if they want to survive. To make it through the night, they'll have to rely on their wits along with their deep knowledge of horror movie clichés. "The Blackening" is hilariously self-aware, poking fun at classic genre tropes while still delivering suspense and surprises. It feels like a cross between "Scary Movie" and "Get Out," offering up as many laughs as it does scares. Watch it now on Peacock
