Greetings, Polygon readers! Each week, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Abigail, the horror comedy from Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, gnaws its way onto VOD. There’s plenty more than that to choose from, as a plethora of exciting releases make their way onto streaming this weekend. Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence is now streaming on Netflix, the psychological thriller Eileen is available to watch on Hulu, and The Iron Claw is on Max, not to mention all the other new releases available to rent and purchase on VOD.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
The Book of Clarence
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Historical comedy
Run time: 2h 9m
Director: Jeymes Samuel
Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop
Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall) returns with a new film, this time a biblical comedy drama starring LaKeith Stanfield. The Book of Clarence follows the story of a down-on-his-luck man living in A.D. 33 Jerusalem who aspires to free himself from debt.
His plan? Take a page out of the book of a local preacher claiming to be the son of God and proclaim himself as the Messiah, performing “miracles” in a bid for fame and glory. When Clarence’s schemes run afoul of the Romans, he’ll be faced with not only the consequences of his deception, but a choice that will shape his life and the course of history.
Mother of the Bride
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Rom-com
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Brooke Shields, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove
Brooke Shields stars in this new rom-com as Lan, the mother of a woman who is about to marry the man of her dreams. After traveling to Thailand for the wedding, Lana learns that her college ex Will (Benjamin Bratt) is in fact the father of her daughter’s husband-to-be. Can these two figure out how to make it through the wedding without being painfully awkward, and is there still a chance for them to fall in love again?
New on Hulu
Eileen
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Psychological thriller
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: William Oldroyd
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Whigham
Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 novel, this psychological thriller stars Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) as a young secretary who becomes infatuated with Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), the charismatic new psychologist at the juvenile detention facility where she works. As their friendship grows, Eileen finds herself exploring new aspects of her personality — to equally sinister and deadly effect.
From our review:
In making Eileen’s character flesh, Thomasin McKenzie walks a dramatic tightrope: effortlessly showing how much effort her character puts into performing for others, while also not tipping her hand about what, if anything, resides in Eileen’s soul. Both Eileen’s script and McKenzie’s choices depict her character as someone who wants to be human, even a certain kind of human, but doesn’t know how, or even to what end. So she settles on voyeurism — the film’s opening scene depicts her sitting in her car on a lovers’ lane, surreptitiously watching a couple of strangers make out in a second car. She flirts with the idea of masturbation, only to abruptly stop and stuff filthy snow down her skirt instead.
New on Max
The Iron Claw
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max
Genre: Biographical sports drama
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Sean Durkin
Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson
Zac Efron (Hairspray), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), and Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) star in this thrilling dramatization of the lives of the Von Erich brothers, a trio of professional wrestlers whose larger-than-life careers and success during the 1980s were marred by tragedy and struggle.
From our review:
The biopicification of such a horrendous, personal series of tragedies will sound crass to some. But Durkin doesn’t dilute the Von Erich story into direct-to-cable fluff. He’s performing a balancing act, aware that a sad story is only useful if people have the desire (and fortitude) to stay until the credits.
New on AMC Plus
The Taste of Things
Where to watch: Available to stream on AMC Plus
Genre: Romance drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Tran Anh Hung
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger
This historical romance follows the story of Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin (Benoît Magimel), a cook and a gourmand who live in a French country estate in 1889. Though the two are in love, Eugenie refuses to marry Dodin, and wishes to keep their relationship as it is. Desperate to woo her, Dodin takes up cooking in order to prepare a meal that will sweep her off her feet. The film is as terrific as the food looks scrumptious.
New to rent
Abigail
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 49m
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton
The directors behind 2019’s Ready or Not and 2022’s Scream are back with another horror comedy, this time centered around a group of kidnappers who are tasked with abducting the daughter of a wealthy businessman in exchange for ransom money. Unfortunately, the kidnappers have bit off more than they can chew, as this the little girl in question harbors a deadly secret of her own.
From our review:
Once Abigail reveals herself as a deadly supernatural creature, the movie transforms into more of an action slasher, rather than going for scares. In that way, Abigail feels more like Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s earlier movie Ready or Not than like any other vampire movie. Both movies are mostly set in heavily locked-down mansions where someone is viciously, comedically hunted down. And both feature a deep love for explosions of blood and guts. After Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s brief detour for two messy, chaotic, clumsy entries in the Scream franchise, Abigail proves they’re still excellent at creating tension in the hallways of massive houses, and flipping their horror into action at a moment’s notice.
Founders Day
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Slasher horror
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Cast: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ
If you enjoyed Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and are looking for more holiday-themed slashers, director-screenwriter duo Erik and Carson Bloomquist are here to oblige. Set in a small town on the eve of a major mayoral election, Founders Day follows a group of teens who are stalked by a vicious masked killer. It’s supposed to be a political satire, but even if you’re not in for that element, it sure to be a gorey good time.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Supernatural comedy
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Gil Kenan
Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard
The Ghostbusters have returned with an all-new movie, and this time Bill Murray is here! Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spengler family must join forces with the veteran Ghostbusters to stop a wrathful demonic entity from freezing all of New York City. Oh, and Slimer is here too, because of course.
From our review:
The Ghostbusters franchise doesn’t really seem to be aimed at anyone anymore. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. It’s mostly abandoned its new younger characters, and its older actors barely seem to care. Frozen Empire’s unintentional answer to the question seems to be that Ghostbusters is now corporate nostalgia-farming given cinematic form. Sure, it’s missing all the charm and goofiness that earned the original Ghostbusters so many fans — but if you stick around long enough, they filmmakers will show off the proton packs again, and there’s always a new person to slime. It’s a franchise reduced to nothing more than a parade of hollow, familiar images, lightly repackaged in hopes that we’ll buy another ticket and try to revisit the emotions we felt when we encountered this world for the first time.
La Chimera
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Period comedy-drama
Run time: 2h 13m
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Cast: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato
The latest from masterful Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro, Le Pupille) stars one of the Challengers boys as a British archaeologist in a story of stolen historical artifacts. La Chimera was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes 2023.
Kim’s Video
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 25m
Directors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Cast: Isabel Gillies Robert Greene, Eric Hynes
Fans of unconventional mystery documentaries like 2018’s Shirkers will likely dig this new film chronicling the rise, fall, and legacy of one of New York City’s most infamous video stores. Featuring interviews with notable former employees like Alex Ross Perrry, Ashley Sabin and David Redmon’s documentary is filled with surprises and revelations aplenty.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Spy action-comedy
Run time: 2h
Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson
Guy Ritchie’s been on a hot run as of late, with some of the best work of his career in Wrath of Man and The Covenant. This time, he turns his eye to historical action, with this larger-than-life true story about a British special ops team in World War II. The movie features a big cast and lots of big guns.
Source: Polygon
