It’s a big week for slashers on streaming. Neve Campbell is menaced by Ghostface once again in Scream 7, which arrives on Paramount Plus after a succesful box office run despite the controversy and ensuing boycott that plagued the movie. Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker returns to the serial killer genre in the throwback film Psycho Killer, but first-time director Gavin Polone blends slasher tropes with ornate on-screen kills. The film carves a bloody path onto Hulu.
Andy Serkis spent 15 years working on an adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, adding a more hopeful ending to the allegory about Stalinism. The divisive film is now available to rent. Mermaid gets even weirder than The Shape of Water as a Florida man falls for a injured monstrous mermaid. The horror comedy swims onto VOD.
Here’s a rundown of the most notable new releases on streaming and VOD, including the biggest, best, and most popular new movies you can watch at home right now.
New on Netflix
Dead Man’s Wire
- Genre: Crime thriller
- Run time: 1h 45m
- Director: Gus Van Sant
- Cast: Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo
Oscar-winning director Gus Van Sant worked with the makers of the documentary Dead Man’s Line on Dead Man’s Wire, a dramatization of the same story about Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), who became a folk hero by holding the son of a wealthy mortgage broker (Dacre Montgomery) hostage in an attempt to get money and an apology from the company.
Goat
- Genre: Animated sports comedy
- Run time: 1h 40m
- Director: Tyree Dillihay
- Cast: Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre
Goat Will Harris (Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin) has dreamed of being a professional roarball player since he was a kid, but other players don’t think he can compete because of his small size. When he joins a team desperate to end their decade-long losing streak, Will has to navigate their big personalities and flaws to turn things around.
New on Paramount Plus
Scream 7
- Genre: Slasher
- Run time: 1h 54m
- Director: Kevin Williamson
- Cast: Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown
When a masked killer starts terrorizing the town of Pine Grove, Indiana, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is very prepared. Survivors of Ghostface’s previous killing sprees unite to protect Sidney’s daughter Tatum (Isabel May). The film combines nasty kills and creepy scares, but ditches most of the franchise’s meta humor.
From our review:
The real problem with Scream 7 isn’t the absence of Tara and Sam, even if they did offer more intriguing story avenues than Sidney getting menaced for the sixth time. It’s Williamson’s inability to flip the movie’s weaknesses into evocative strengths. Tatum’s high school, and Pine Grove in general, seem weirdly underpopulated — the sparing use of extras makes it seem as if the town has a bustling population of about 30 people — and a big scene set downtown closely resembles a movie backlot, albeit one where the lighting rigs are broken.
New on Hulu
Psycho Killer
- Genre: Horror thriller
- Run time: 1h 31m
- Director: Gavin Polone
- Cast: Georgina Campbell, James Preston Rogers, Malcolm McDowell
After her husband is murdered by a serial killer, Highway Patrol officer Jane Archer (Georgina Campbell) goes well outside her jurisdiction to try to bring the Satanic Slasher (James Preston Rogers) to justice. Jane goes on a cross-country journey pursuing the Slasher as he continues his killing spree.
From our review:
Psycho Killer is indeed about a character from a serial killer/cop movie chasing a character from a slasher movie. That genre-bending worked wonders for Oz Perkins’ Longlegs, which also steered a ’90s serial killer story toward something eerier and more uncanny. But as Jane tails the Satanic Slasher on a cross-country journey and the two storylines converge, they grow increasingly incompatible.
New to rent
Animal Farm
- Genre: Animated comedy-drama
- Run time: 1h 36m
- Director: Andy Serkis
- Cast: Seth Rogen, Gaten Matarazzo, Steve Buscemi
Andy Serkis radically reimagines George Orwell’s novel about the Russian Revolution and Stalinism, adding a new protagonist, fart jokes, and a more upbeat tone. The piglet Lucky (Gaten Matarazzo) is torn between the teachings of the rival leaders of a group of livestock who rebel against the new owners of their farm.
Fuze
- Genre: Crime thriller
- Run time: 1h 36m
- Director: David Mackenzie
- Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
When part of London is evacuated after an unexploded World War II bomb is found at a construction site, a group of criminals use the chaos to try to pull off a bank heist. Expect plenty of twists and chase scenes as the police and military work to neutralize the threat and respond to the crime.
Mermaid
- Genre: Horror comedy
- Run time: 1h 45m
- Director: Tyler Cornack
- Cast: Johnny Pemberton, Avery Potemri, Kevin Nealon, Julia Valentine Larson
When Doug, (Johnny Pemberton) a drug-addicted and deeply awkward Florida man, discovers an injured mermaid he dubs Destiny (Julia Valentine Larson), he decides he’ll do anything to protect her and nurse her back to health. He’s convinced they have some sort of connection despite being unable to communicate with the creature, who has a taste for human flesh.
From our review:
Mermaid challenges our expectations about relationships and what they can mean for different people, picking up where Guillermo del Toro left off and taking the concept even further. This unlikely romance, brought to life by Pemberton and Larson, proves there is love and community to be found, even between two people (or creatures) from very different backgrounds.
Over Your Dead Body
- Genre: Horror comedy
- Run time: 1h 45m
- Director: Jorma Taccone
- Cast: Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Paul Guilfoyle
Lonely Island member Jorma Taccone fuses thriller, horror, and action into one film about Dan (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving), an unhappy couple who plan to murder each other during a vacation in a remote cabin. But their plans are interrupted when escaped convicts break into the cabin looking for a place to hide out.
