We're in the thick of summer now, and our favorite way to beat the heat is watching the latest movies across the best streaming services. Whether you're looking for an explosive action thriller or a haunting thriller, there's something for everyone's tastes on this list.
Leading the pack this week is “A Working Man" on MGM Plus, a Jason Statham-led action movie packed with all the familiar thrills you'd expect. For a more offbeat thriller, the Australian indie hit "In Vitro" just landed on paid video-on-demand platforms.
Netflix also has a new documentary "Trainwreck: Poop Cruise," about a cruise from hell for those morbidly curious. Meanwhile, horror fans are eating good this week between "Nosferatu" arriving on Prime Video and the meditative horror movie "The Woman in the Yard" on Peacock.
If you're looking to skip the search and find your next movie night pick, you're in the right spot. Here’s our guide on the best new movies to watch this weekend.
‘Trainwreck: Poop Cruise’ (Netflix)
With a title like "Poop Cruise," Netflix's latest installment in its "Trainwreck" docuseries is bound to turn some heads (it certainly caught my attention when the trailer popped up on my Netflix account).
What began as a four-day cruise from Texas to Mexico quickly spiraled into chaos for the more than 4,000 passengers and crew aboard when a fire crippled the ship's electrical systems. It left the ship adrift with no engine power, refrigeration, AC, or functioning toilets (in case you couldn't already guess from the voyage's infamous nickname).
Over a harrowing four days stranded at sea, the passengers endured raw sewage seeping into the hallways and dripping down the walls, shortages of food and water, and tensions that erupted into full-blown brawls.
Watch it now on Netflix
‘A Working Man’ (MGM Plus)
"A Working Man" just might be Jason Statham's Statham-iest film to date. It may lack some of the freshness of his previous outing with director David Ayer, last year's surprisingly charming "The Beekeeper," but fans of Statham’s gritty, no-nonsense action hero persona will find much to enjoy.
"A Working Man" sticks to a blueprint that fans of the genre will undoubtedly recognize. Statham stars as Levon Cade, a retired marine turned construction foreman. When a human trafficking ring kidnaps his boss’s daughter (Arianna Rivas), he's forced to dust off his deadly set of skills for one last mission.
His search pulls him into a dark criminal conspiracy, setting off a chain of events that puts his hard-earned new life at risk. Audiences have been far more enthusiastic about "A Working Man" than critics, likely because there's nothing quite like seeing Statham dismantle a Russian mafia militia with just his fists (oh, and a decorative ox skull he yanked off the wall).
Watch it now on MGM Plus
‘The Woman in the Yard’ (Peacock)
Director Jaume Collet-Serra, known for "The Shallows" and "House of Wax," brings his signature style of horror to "The Woman in the Yard" for a terrifying spin on the Boomer mantra, "Get off my lawn!"
"Till" actress Danielle Deadwyler stars as Ramona, a mother of two who is grappling with grief and guilt after the sudden death of her husband. Since she lives in an isolated, half-renovated farmhouse, she's understandably alarmed when a mute woman covered head to toe in black appears in her yard. Especially when the stranger breaks her silence to deliver a chilling message: "Today’s the day."
This time around, the terror has a more psychological bent than Collet-Serra's previous films, delivering a slower, moodier descent into unraveling sanity. Each scare skillfully builds the film's central mystery for a payoff that feels as genuinely satisfying as it is haunting.
Watch it now on Peacock
'Nosferatu' (Prime Video)
Robert Eggers once again cements his status as a modern master of horror with "Nosferatu," a haunting reimagining of the 1922 silent classic inspired by Bram Stoker’s "Dracula." While the storyline closely mirrors the original, Eggers injects his signature atmospheric dread and a streak of dark humor for a chilling experience that feels both timeless and uniquely his own.
Set in the late 1830s, the film follows newlyweds Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) and Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) as they become wrapped up in a slow-burning nightmare. When Thomas travels to the foreboding estate of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) in Transylvania for a business deal, eerie visions that have haunted Ellen since childhood begin to resurface.
Though the villagers warn Thomas to keep his distance, he forges onward and discovers that Orlok is no mere recluse but rather something far more horrifying: a terrifying monster with its sights on Ellen's soul.
Watch it now on Prime Video
'In Vitro' (PVOD)
This Australian indie sci-fi thriller earned a rare 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many highlighting how it winds up the tension with its unsettling score and precisely executed jolts.
Set in a not-so-distant future ravaged by ecological collapse, "In Vitro" follows Layla (Talia Zucker) and her husband Jack (Ashley Zuckerman), who struggle to make a living on their remote cattle farm.
To pull their family back from the brink of financial ruin, Jack turns to experimental animal breeding technology. Things grow tense between them as strange and unsettling events begin to haunt their property. But Layla only discovers the full extent of what horrors Jack has unleashed when a storm knocks out their power and releases his experiments.
Buy or rent on Amazon or Apple
‘The Actor’ (Hulu)
“The Actor” is one of those films best experienced going in blind, but here's a brief synopsis if you need more convincing. Paul Cole (André Holland) is a New York actor on tour who makes a fateful mistake: a fling with a married woman. When her husband discovers the affair and cracks his skull, Paul wakes up with amnesia.
Broke and disoriented, he boards a bus to a strange, remote Midwest town where he falls in love with a local costume designer (Gemma Chan). But when his memories start to return, he heads back to the city and uncovers unsettling revelations about his former life.
After struggling to revive his acting career, Paul resolves to return to the town and find the woman who haunts the edges of his fractured memory.
Watch it now on Hulu
‘The Ritual’ (PVOD)
"The Ritual" leans more toward moody thriller than true horror, so if you're expecting quality scares, you might be disappointed. But it's worth noting that audiences have been much warmer to it than its abysmal 8% Rotten Tomatoes score would suggest.
The film retells the infamous 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), a true story that partly inspired "The Exorcist." Al Pacino stars as Father Theophilus Riesinger, a seasoned priest with a troubled past. He's forced to join up with Dan Stevens' Father Joseph Steiger, a young priest grappling with his faith, to tackle one of the most documented exorcism cases in American history.
The two don't always see eye to eye, but they'll have to work together to perform a series of harrowing exorcisms to save Emma's life.
Buy or rent now on Prime Video
