Happy Friday, Polygon movie watchers! 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, Haunted Mansion, the new supernatural horror comedy starring LaKeith Stanfield and Tiffany Haddish and based on the Disney theme park ride, comes to streaming on Disney Plus. The Nun II, the sequel to the 2018 supernatural horror thriller starring Taissa Farmiga, is available to rent on VOD along with Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 3 starring Denzel Washington. The Boogeyman comes to Hulu, along with a host of other exciting new releases on Peacock, Prime Video, Netflix, Paramount Plus, and more.
Here’s everything new to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Fair Play
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
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Genre: Erotic thriller
Run time: 1h 53m
Director: Chloe Domont
Cast: Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan
Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) and Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) star in this erotic thriller as two co-workers at an elite hedge fund whose secret engagement is jeopardized when one of them is promoted. Is this a ploy by their supervisor (Eddie Marsan) to set them against one another? Can their relationship withstand the pressure?
New on Disney Plus
Haunted Mansion
Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus
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Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Justin Simien
Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson
After discovering that their new home is haunted by ghosts, a widowed doctor and her son enlist the aid of a group of paranormal investigators to exorcise the spirits. Things don’t go exactly as planned, however, forcing the team to improvise against an onslaught of ghoulish apparitions.
From our review:
In 2003, Verbinski distanced Pirates of the Caribbean from being a theme park movie. In 2023, Simien and crew revel in the fact that Haunted Mansion is one. Simien could’ve simply just leaned on the theme park of it all, like 2021’s Jungle Cruise, but he committed to getting all the little details on screen — and he committed hard. It’s full-throttle indulgence, and a full 180 from the Pirates of the Caribbean take on theme park movies. Both takes work, though this time around, the niche in-jokes might not hit with everyone. But for the subset it resonates with, Haunted Mansion is a grim, grinning delight.
New on Hulu
The Boogeyman
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
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Genre: Supernatural horror
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Rob Savage
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair
Based on Stephen King’s 1973 short story of the same name, The Boogeyman follows a teenage girl named Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister, Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), who find themselves inexplicably stalked by a malevolent otherworldly presence seemingly connected to their deepest and darkest fears.
From our review:
The adapted version of The Boogeyman is full of classically tailored scares and creeping mood. Even more so than Lights Out or James Wan’s Conjuring movies, Savage’s take on the creature feature is buttoned up and often overextended in the attempt to keep the Harper family’s bereavement at the center of the story. The action gets a bit repetitive: In the wake of Lester’s death, the film oscillates between Boogeyman attacks in the increasingly familiar Harper home, and Sadie’s trips to school, where she’s tormented for being a sad sack who wears her dead mom’s dresses. (Are high schoolers the real monsters? Makes you think.) Savage is playful about teasing out the dark corners of the home — whoever invented the cordless light ball deserves residuals on this film, given how often it rolls into the shadows to catch the silhouette of a spindly monster — but eventually, the jump scares wear thin.
Appendage
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
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Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 34m
Director: Anna Zlokovic
Cast: Emily Hampshire, Hadley Robinson, Deborah Rennard
This horror-thriller stars Hadley Robinson (Little Women) as Hannah, an aspiring fashion designer experiencing significant personal and professional stress in the lead-up to a consequential professional opportunity. Her frustrations physicalize as a monstrous growth that take on a life and form of its own, feeding her darkest impulses until she reaches her breaking point.
New on Prime Video
Totally Killer
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
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Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Cast: Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie
Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) stars in this new horror-comedy as Jamie, a teenage girl whose mother is brutally murdered by a mysterious killer known as the “Sweet 16 Killer” 35 years after their first murder spree. After accidentally traveling back in time, Jamie must find a way to stop the killer before they claim their first victim in order to save the past and her own present.
New on Peacock
Strays
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
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Genre: Comedy
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Josh Greenbaum
Cast: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher
Dogs! Who doesn’t love ’em? Those little rascals. Will Ferrell stars in this rated-R comedy as Reggie, a naive but lovable dog who is abandoned on the streets by his negligent owner. Befriending a streetwise stray (Jamie Foxx) and his pack of fellow ne’er-do-well mutts, Reggie embarks on a quest to return home and get back at the one who betrayed him. Think Homeward Bound, but with more revenge and curse words.
New on Paramount Plus
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus
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Genre: Supernatural horror
Run time: 1h 27m
Director: Lindsey Anderson Beer
Cast: Jackson White, Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern
Another year, another adaptation of Pet Sematary. Set 50 years before the events of the 2019 film directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines follows a young Jud Crandall (Jackson White), who uncovers a dark family secret that forces him to unite with his friends in a fight against an ancient evil that haunts the town of Ludlow.
New on Mubi
Passages
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi or to rent
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Genre: Romance drama
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Ira Sachs
Cast: Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulos
Franz Rogowski (Transit) and Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) star in this romantic drama as Tomas and Martin, a longtime couple whose relationship is thrown into turmoil when one of them engages in an affair with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a primary school teacher that they meet while out clubbing one night.
New on Starz
The Blackening
Where to watch: Available to stream on Starz
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Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 37m
Director: Tim Story
Cast: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg
This new horror comedy follows a group of Black friends who find themselves ensnared in the villainous clutches of a homicidal murderer. Forced to play a dangerous board game where “proving” their Blackness is key to survival, the friends must use every ounce of their wits to overcome their captor and make their way safely to freedom. Remember Scary Movie 2? Yeah, it’s a lot like that.
From our review:
Horror fans who are more into the genre for exceptional gore effects, gnarly kills, and other extreme shocks may not spark to The Blackening. The movie might land oddly even with more mainstream audiences who are used to bigger tensions than this film brings in, and bigger catharsis as a result. But by the final shot, the movie’s approach feels unusually generous and kind to this goofy ensemble, as if the filmmakers value the characters, their humanity, and their relationships more than horror-movie directors normally do. The Blackening is a strange movie, and often a very silly one. But the creators can at least boast that they’ve put something on screen that horror fans don’t see often, and won’t be expecting.
New on Shudder
V/H/S/85
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
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Genre: Horror anthology
Run time: 1h 50m
Directors: David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson
Cast: Freddy Rodríguez, James Ransone, Jordan Belfi
The latest installment in the long-running horror anthology series introduces five new original horror stories framed as the contents of a taped-over made-for-TV documentary. V/H/S/85 features directors including Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone), David Bruckner (2022’s Hellraiser), Natasha Kermani (Lucky), and more.
New on Showtime
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
Where to watch: Available to stream on Showtime
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Genre: Legal drama
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: William Friedkin
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, Jake Lacy
The final film directed by the late, great William Friedkin (The Exorcist), this adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1953 play stars Jason Clarke as a defense attorney who defends Lt. Stephen Maryk (The White Lotus’ Jake Lacy), an officer being tried for mutiny after relieving his commanding officer (Kiefer Sutherland) of duty following concerns about his mental stability amid an emergency.
New to rent
The Equalizer 3
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Action
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman
Denzel Washington reprises his role as the surgically precise vigilante Robert McCall in the third installment of the Equalizer series. After moving to Italy, McCall learns that his new friends from a southern Italian town are being terrorized by members of a Mafia organization. Bad news for the Mafia: They’re about to get equalized.
The Nun II
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
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Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Michael Chaves
Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid
Four years after the events of The Nun, a priest is murdered in a terrifying supernatural incident in the town of Tarascon, France. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), now serving in a convent in Italy, is called upon to investigate and forced to once again confront her unearthly nemesis: the demonic nun known as Valak.