What’s Streaming This Week (1/11 – 1/18)

DUST BUNNY – $14.99 Sale / $9.99 Rental

Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, Sophie Sloan, Rebecca Henderson, Sheila Atim and David Dastmalchian

Synopsis: An eight-year-old girl asks her scheming neighbor for help in killing the monster under her bed that she thinks ate her family.

What we like:

• Bryan Fuller’s feature directorial debut. Fuller, best known for shows like Hannibal and Pushing Daisies, wrote, produced, and directed Dust Bunny as his first theatrical film.
• Fuller has assembled a terrific cast: Alongside Mads Mikkelsen and talented young newcomer Sophie Sloan, the film features the legendary Sigourney Weaver and Late Night with the Devil’s David Dastmalchian.
• After world premiering in the Midnight Madness section of the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, the film received mostly positive reviews. It currently sits at 73 on Metacritic.

What we don’t like:

• Despite the good reviews and intriguing premise, the film failed to connect with audiences at the box-office, earning only $581K domestically. Might it have been too soft for horror fans, and too intense (it’s R-rated) for younger kids? It’s well worth checking out on streaming, and could become a great gateway film for young, budding horror fans.

BONE LAKE – Netflix

Cast: Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Andra Nechita, and Marco Pigossi

Synopsis: A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.

What we like:

• From director Mercedes Bryce Morgan, whose last feature, Spoonful of Sugar, is currently streaming on Shudder.
• The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2024 and picked up some solid buzz. It’s currently 83% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
• It blends horror, psychological mind games, dark humor, and relationship drama, making it much more than a straight slasher.

What we don’t like:

• So…we’re really excited to catch up with this one on Netflix. We love horror, and have a relatively strong stomach for hardcore gore. But there’s one kill we’ve heard about that freaks us out a bit. (Spoiler here) Apparently a character’s testicle is impaled by an arrow? We don’t consider ourselves triggered by much…but that is…triggering.

BEAST OF WAR – Shudder

Cast: Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Maximillian Johnson, Lee Tiger Halley, Sam Parsonson, Tristan McKinnon, and Sam Delich.

Synopsis: When their boat is sunk while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a young troop of Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking life raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they must confront interpersonal conflicts, enemy attacks, and the advances of one very large, very hungry great white shark.

What we like:

• We love shark movies and will watch them all! Even when they’re bad, we’re still in.
• Director Kiah Roache-Turner knows how to deliver the scares. His 2024 film Sting featured giant alien spiders and was a entertaining watch (it’s streaming on Tubi in the US if you want to check it out).
• Instead of relying on digital effects, the filmmakers built a real animatronic shark and filmed in a huge custom-built water tank in Australia, nearly 2 million liters of water, to make the creature feel tangible and terrifying. So much more effective than CGI sharks.

What we don’t like:

• This film has a 91% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes and yet still went straight to streaming in the US. Is there really not a theatrical audience for genre films like this? We get it’s expensive to mount a significant theatrical release…but when you’ve got the goods, give it a shot! (Very easy for us to say, it’s not our money)

BLACK PHONE 2 – Peacock

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demián Bichir, Miguel Mora, Jeremy Davies, Arianna Rivas

Synopsis: Set several years after the events of the first film, The Black Phone 2 reunites us with survivors Finney and Gwen as they attempt to move forward. But the past refuses to stay buried. When a new string of disappearances strikes the area, it becomes clear that something—or someone—has returned. And the black phone? It’s ringing again.

What we like:

• The film was directed by Scott Derrickson and co-written with C. Robert Cargill, continuing the collaboration that helped make the first movie a surprise hit.
• Unlike the suburban backdrop of the first film, Black Phone 2 takes place largely in a remote winter camp during a blizzard, which is nice change of atmosphere for the sequel.
• On a roughly $30 million budget, the film grossed over $130 million worldwide, proving audiences were hungry for a follow-up. Blumhouse managed to avoid repeating the debacle of M3GAN 2.0.

What we don’t like:

• Instead of scares coming from grounded danger like in the first film, the sequel leans heavily on surreal dream sequences and stylistic choices (grainy, 8mm-style visuals) that dilute the impact of The Grabber. The story spends a lot of time on exposition and dream logic that sometimes makes it a slog.

KILLER WHALE – $12.99 Sale / TBD Rental

Cast: Virginia Gardner, Melanie Jarnson, Mitchell Hope, Isaac Crawley, Scott James George

Synopsis: Best friends Maddie and Trish find themselves trapped in a remote lagoon with a dangerous killer whale named Ceto.

What we like:

• Unlike typical animal attack movies driven just by instinct, the orca in Killer Whale (named Ceto) is framed as intelligent and retaliatory, its violence tied to a traumatic history of captivity. It’s pissed.
• The screenplay was co-written by director Jo-Anne Brechin and Katharine McPhee (no, not that Katharine McPhee)
• As we mentioned…we love shark movies. Are killer whales as scary? Let’s see!

What we don’t like:

• If we’re looking for the definitive Killer Whale movie, shouldn’t we be taking inspiration from the real-life Orcas ramming pleasure boats in the last few years? Sure…it might make them the heroes instead of the villains, but look at these class warriors:

THE RIP – Netflix

Cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Néstor Carbonell, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kyle Chandler, Scott Adkins, and Lina Esco

Synopsis: Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.

What we like:

• Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who first rose to fame together with Good Will Hunting, reunite as co-stars and producers through their company Artists Equity, continuing one of Hollywood’s most enduring creative partnerships.
• Joe Carnahan, known for directing tough, character-driven action crime films, both directed and co-wrote the screenplay (with Michael McGrale).
• The supporting cast is stacked with talent: Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Scott Adkins, and Kyle Chandler. We’re keeping our fingers crossed Taylor picks up an Oscar nomination later in the month for One Battle After Another.

What we don’t like:

• Though the story is set in Miami, production mostly took place in Los Angeles, Long Beach (CA), and Hoboken (NJ). It’s always a bit of a bummer when the the actual cities aren’t used in filming. Toronto never looks like New York City, and we’re skeptical Hoboken gives Miami vibes.

TWINLESS – Hulu

Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Aisling Franciosi, Lauren Graham, Tasha Smith, Chris Perfetti, François Arnaud, Susan Park and Cree Cicchino

Synopsis: Two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance.

What we like:

• This fantastic indie won the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and earned star Dylan O’Brien a Special Jury Award for Acting.
• O’Brien plays dual roles in the film, portraying both twins (one gay, one straight) totally convincingly. He’s always been an actor to watch, but he’s a revelation here.
• The film is nominated for 3 Film Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Lead Performance (O’Brien), and Best Screenplay for writer/director/star James Sweeney (who’s also great in the film).

What we don’t like:

• When Twinless screened online for Sundance Film Festival audiences, some graphic scenes were leaked on social media, leading Sundance to remove it from the virtual platform to protect the film’s release and copyright. This is why we can’t have nice things…there’s always some asshole ruining it for the rest of us.

A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY – Netflix

Cast: Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie, Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Hamish Linklater

Synopsis: Some doors bring you to your past. Some doors lead you to your future. And some doors change everything. Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present…and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.

What we like:

• A big swing for director Kogonada, whose previous films were 2021’s After Yang (also featuring Colin Farrell) and his 2017 breakout Columbus. This film (notably) is the first he didn’t write himself.
• The score was composed by Joe Hisaishi, famed for his work on Studio Ghibli films, and this marks his first Hollywood feature film scoring assignment.
• Lily Rabe, who plays Sarah’s mom, and Hamish Linklater, who plays David’s dad, are married in real life.

What we don’t like:

• This film is packed with talent both in front of and behind the camera, and yet it just didn’t work, critically or commercially. It was Robbie’s first major release post-Barbie, and we love that she’s trying to push boundaries instead of just pivoting to more IP. Keep taking those big, bold swings. We need more of them.

Happy Streaming Everyone!

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