5 best single-location thrillers on Netflix — stream these gripping movies now
I love a good thriller movie, but the only thing I love more than a compelling thriller is one that takes place entirely within one setting. There's something about the claustrophobic nature of a single location that reels me in every single time.
Single-location movies are among my favorite subgenres, and fortunately, Netflix has a pretty great selection of flicks that take place primarily in the same setting. Yes, some of my picks below open and/or close in a different place, but for the most part, all the action is contained to just the one spot, whether that's a plush holiday home or a futuristic tower block prison.
So, if you also have a love for movies confined to just one setting, here are the best single-location thrillers that you can watch on Netflix right now.
'Gerald's Game' is a rare psychological thriller that has forced me to avert my eyes from the screen as one truly wince-inducing moment had me feeling a little queasy. To dive into specifics would encroach on spoiler territory, but I'll just say ... maybe don't munch on snacks during this one.
Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, it comes from Mike Flanagan, a real titan in the horror genre after his Netflix series 'The Haunting of Hill House,' 'Midnight Mass' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' it's a tense exploration of one womens drive to survive.
Carla Gugino plays Jessie, a frustrated wife looking to spice up her struggling marriage by bringing some spice into the bedroom. Only her attempts to inject some excitement result in her being stuck handcuffed to a bed in an isolated holiday house with no means of escape.
What follows is a desperate attempt to free herself, both literally and metaphorically, as the flick explores not just her dire present circumstances but also her past trauma and the demons that have haunted her whole life.
Watch "Gerald's Game" on Netflix now
In many ways, 'Rear Window' is the single-location thriller. This Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece has been gripping audiences for more than 70 years, and while decades have passed since it originally hit theaters, none of its potency has been lost.
Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, it centers on a photojournalist who is cooped up in his sweltering apartment after breaking his leg. He passes time by watching his neighbors out of a large window, but soon becomes convinced that something sinister is afoot and that the man across the courtyard from him is a murderer.
Combining paranoia with eager curiosity, 'Rear Window' plays on the fact that we often only see a snapshot of other people's lives, and that hiding behind closed curtains can be some pretty dark secrets. It all ratchets up to a suspenseful ending and is often cited as one of the best movies ever made.
How is this for a hooky premise for a sci-fi thriller: 50 people awaken in a dark room, standing in several large concentric circles. Every two minutes, one of them randomly dies. Soon, the remaining survivors realize they can select who is killed, and now each participant in this deadly game must make a desperate case for why they shouldn't be chosen as the next victim.
'Circle' is extremely minimalistic. The setting is a single dark room with ominous red lights on the floor, and a large white skylight overhead (which somehow manages to make bright light feel threatening). The focus is very much on increasingly erratic and hostile conversations.
Kudos to the movie's creatives for managing to make such a simple premise hold your attention for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, the ending is more than a little outlandish. It's a shame 'Circle' ends on a disappointing bum note. But, still, the journey to get there is never less than engaging.
Watch "Circle" on Netflix now
I've long ranked 'Windfall' as one of Netflix's most overlooked original movies, so I'm thrilled to have another chance to highlight it here. Released in 2022, it stars Jesse Plemons, Jason Segel and Lilly Collins, and mixes effective crime thrills with biting dark comedy.
Segel plays a desperate man, who breaks into the vacation home of a wealthy CEO (Plemons) only to get in way over his head when the unnamed CEO and his wife (Collins) arrive for a relaxing trip. Forced to take them hostage and demand a ransom in exchange for their freedom, events spiral out of control as the burglar tries to keep things under his control, and his motives are revealed.
The chemistry between the three leads is just right in 'Windfall,' and the movie gets great mileage out of its habit of making you question who the true villains and victims of the piece are. Plus, its comedic streak is remarkably effective, but not so overbearing as to take away from the drama.
Watch "Windfall" on Netflix now
'The Platform' (and its sequel, "The Platform 2") are excellent dystopian thrillers that center on a tower block prison where inmates are paired up across dozens of individual vertical levels and fed each day via a slowly descending concrete platform. The people at the top enjoy a lush banquet, while those towards the bottom are lucky if there's even scraps left by the time it reaches them.
OK, so the political allegory here isn't exactly subtle. And frankly, lacking subtlety is a sort of running theme in 'The Platform,' but the bones of the movie are very solid, and watching protagonist Goreng (Iván Massagué) attempt to survive this nightmare prison is gripping.
This is another one where you definitely won't want to be eating while watching. The scenes of inmates on the lower floors having to pick the remaining morsels of already chewed-up chicken bones and lick dirty plates clean just for meager sustenance are pretty revolting.
Watch "The Platform" on Netflix now
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why young men seek community in the ‘manosphere'
'Adolescence,' Netflix's hit mini-series about a young man who commits a horrific act of violence after engaging with incel ideology online, brightened the media spotlight on the 'manosphere.' The manosphere — a web of online communities, podcasts and influencers that promote conversations about modern masculinity but often misogyny, as well — was already on the minds of many parents and researchers, but the show put the debate around it into hyperdrive. Some, including the prime minister of the United Kingdom, praised the show for making it clear that the manosphere is leading boys and young men to dangerous places. But others felt the show overplayed the potential for violence and overlooked how many people engage with manosphere content just for fun. Researchers that spoke with the Deseret News about the state of the manosphere agreed that the situation is more nuanced than is often discussed. For one thing, it should be acknowledged that boys and young men who are engaging with this content are often trying to solve a very real problem: the lack of spaces where they are free to discuss their fears, said Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life. 'You have podcasters and influencers who are talking to young men and talking about the problems that they have, the experiences that they can relate to,' Cox explained. 'And there's just so few other places they can have this kind of freewheeling, engaged conversations and feel like they're part of something.' That's one reason why Cox and other experts recommend entering into conversations with young people about the manosphere without judgment. Your goal should not be demonizing this online space, but instead seeking understanding. 'The first thing I often say to parents is listen to your young people, be prepared to listen,' said Craig Haslop, a senior lecturer at University of Liverpool who has done research on the manosphere. Research shows that young boys and men are struggling now more than ever before. According to The New York Times, girls now outperform boys in reading tests and achieve higher GPAs at school, while boys are 'more likely to be suspended.' Girls are also more likely to graduate from high school than boys and 'outnumber men in college enrollment.' As boys transition into adulthood, they're delaying important and traditional milestones. This trend is present among young women, too, but young men typically feel it more acutely. According to The New York Times, 19% of men between 25 and 34 live with their parents, in comparison to 13% of women. Men are also slightly more likely to be single — 39% of men are single compared to 36% of women, Pew Research Center found in 2021. Men are also facing new challenges in the workforce. As The New York Times pointed out, 'many of the jobs that mostly men did, like manual labor, have disappeared in the United States.' 'Of men ages 25 to 54, 89% are in the labor force, down from 94% in 1975. Of women that age, 78% are in the labor force, up from 55% in 1975,' the article noted. To put it simply, young boys and men are falling behind and unsure of how to catch up. According to Cox, many manosphere influencers have zeroed in on these issues and provided one of the few spaces where boys can commiserate about their problems. 'I think, to be fair, a lot of these podcasters are probably accurate in identifying some of the challenges that young men are facing,' he said. 'Whether it's economic challenges of the system (and) the fact that, in politics, the system is not responsive to the concerns that many young men have.' Most boys and young men likely aren't initially interested in the misogynistic ideas that circulate in the manosphere, Cox added. They're just looking for examples of how to be men in modern society and for solutions to their struggles. 'I think, something that those folks tend to do is speak very clearly about gender roles and articulate a clear vision of masculinity,' Cox said. 'And even if much of what they're articulating is not achievable or problematic, it is a clear roadmap.' Manosphere influencers, like Andrew Tate, offer advice about the very real concerns on young men's minds, including how to do better at school, how to get dates and how to make more money. But according to Haslop, this advice can drive a wedge between young men and young women. Manosphere influencers 'will reiterate what might seem like innocuous stereotypes, but (that) actually do undermine women,' he said. Listeners or readers may not realize they're becoming more hostile toward women because the content they're consuming seems to fit their experiences, Cox said. They often observe their female counterparts, especially in school, 'getting better grades, getting into better schools, getting awards, getting all the attention. And they're like, wait a second, the story that I'm being told about gender inequality and gender disparity, that's not what I'm seeing in my own life experience,' he said. But this discussion of these trends becomes problematic when it pushes young men into a victim mindset instead of encouraging them to form meaningful connections and try new things. 'It's about you getting what you deserve. It's not about service or not about sacrifice. It's only about how you're feeling and validating your feelings and emotions,' Cox said. Users may end up angry and withdrawn from the world, a trend that stands to deepen the male loneliness epidemic. 'These guys who fall down the manosphere rabbit hole ... are unable to forge and develop the kind of relationships that could help them avoid some of the more toxic lessons that the manosphere is teaching,' Cox said. Harriet Over, a professor at University of York and co-author of 'What do we need to know about the manosphere and young people's mental health?,' also worries about the manosphere's potential influence on mental health. 'Some influencers claim that 'depression isn't real' and that successful men can't get depressed,' she wrote in an email. 'The risk is that engaging with this type of content will discourage young men from seeking out valuable sources of support.' According to Over, there are a few warning signs that parents can look out for if they're worried about their child's relationship with manosphere content. 'One possibility is that children may start to express views they haven't spoken about before,' she said. 'For example ... some influencers are advocating for women to lose the vote.' Over also recommends keeping an ear out for any incel terminology, like 'black pill' or 'red pill.' But both Over and Haslop recommend listening without judgment. 'From our research, one of these we really recommended is to avoid demonizing those influences like Tate,' Haslop said, since criticism can reinforce the narrative that these creators are being targeted for unfair attacks. Instead, Haslop recommends that parents teach their children 'good, critical digital literacy' and encourage them to fact-check and assess information they come across in the manosphere — especially misogynistic or racist content. Over recommends a similar approach. 'Encourage them to think critically about what they view,' she said. Over suggested asking your children these questions: Can you think of counter examples to what the influencers are saying? What do you think the influencers' motivations are in saying things like that? How do you think hearing disrespectful or unkind content makes other people feel? Both Cox and Haslop said young boys and men need spaces to express their feelings and talk about their issues without judgement. 'I think it's definitely one of the issues we've got in society is men not being able to feel they can talk about stuff, being open, being vulnerable,' Haslop said. As Cox pointed out, there's plenty of 'upside(s) for female-only places,' while similar male spaces have 'come under critique.' 'The locker room can ... be a place where young men are kind of feeling out the ways for them to engage with each other,' Cox said. What we need, Haslop said, is for any environment where young men gather — school, sports, etc. — to encourage boys to be vulnerable with each other, talk about their issues and dismantle negative gender stereotypes. Families should have these discussions, too. While we should be worried about boys and young men who feel lost today, this is hardly the first time that experts are wringing their hands over a masculinity crisis, Haslop said. What's new is that digital spaces, including social media sites and podcast feeds, make it possible for problematic responses to today's crisis to spread like wildfire. Moving forward, Cox said he'll be watching for what the rise of the manosphere means for young men's relationships, particularly with young women. As more young boys and men are being drawn into the manosphere, more young women are expressing their aversion for manosphere ideology and the men who promote it. 'I am interested in where this is going,' Cox said. 'Where does it all end, societally? ... Where do we go from here?'
Los Angeles Times
an hour 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
an hour 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
