Editorials
Five Giant Monster Movies to Stream This Week
Giant monster movies come with an inherent promise of spectacle on a massive scale. Killer monster designs, epic set pieces, destructive chaos, and a giant-sized sense of fun that has audiences returning to this subgenre. With Meg 2: The Trench releasing this week, which will see Jason Statham take on not one but multiple megalodon sharks and a slew of Mariana Trench creatures, this week’s streaming picks are dedicated to giant monster movies.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Destroy All Monsters – Crackle, Criterion Channel, Fandor, freevee, Max, Pluto TV, Shout TV, Tubi
Toho’s kaiju mashup movie parties like it’s 1999. The Ishirō Honda-directed monster movie sees all the iconic Toho monsters gathered together to cohabitate in peace on Monster Island. Thanks to some pesky aliens that take control, the monsters split up to attack various cities, creating ultimate chaos. Destroy All Monsters assembles a rare all-star monster lineup, uniting Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, and many more into one packed feature. Silly kaiju hijinks combined with fun monster battles ensure maximum charm and entertainment.
The Host – Hoopla, Kanopy, Max, The Roku Channel
Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, Parasite) is a master of blending genres and tone, and his epic creature feature offers a perfect example. Deftly wrapping up the family drama, dysfunctional humor, and political satire in one thrilling creature feature bow, the plot sees a monster from Seoul’s Han River wreak havoc. When the beast snatches up a young girl, the girl’s family bands together to get her back by any means necessary. This big-budget spectacle will make you laugh one minute and cry the next.
Monsters – Crackle, Hoopla, Pluto TV
Written and directed by Gareth Edwards, this giant creature feature is likely responsible for Edwards landing the gig directing the 2014 American reboot, Godzilla. His feature debut is set six years after extraterrestrials crash-landed in Central America and began to spread. The U.S. and Mexican military struggle to keep the giant creatures contained in a quarantined area, creating a danger zone that a cynical journalist must navigate as he escorts a shaken tourist to the safety of the U.S. border. Gareth transcends the shackles of low-budget constraints with impressive visual effects and a story focused on the human condition. It’s innovative and ambitious.
Planet of Dinosaurs – freevee, Prime Video, the Roku Channel, Tubi
This 1977 sci-fi horror feature is for those that want monster variety. A mechanical failure causes a spaceship to crash land on a strange planet with a similar atmosphere to Earth. They quickly discover it’s inhabited by creatures much larger and more predatory than they are, and it becomes a nonstop fight for survival against various monsters and hostile terrain. Stop-motion animated dinosaurs, giant spiders, and more attempt to thwart the survivors in this campy underseen monster movie that likely inspired the recent dino flick 65.
Trollhunter – Hoopla, Tubi, YouTube
In this mockumentary by André Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe), a group of students set out to make a documentary about a bear poacher. They soon learn he’s a troll hunter tasked with eliminating dangerous trolls that have escaped their territory. One of the most unique entries in the found footage subgenre, Trollhunter infuses Norwegian folklore into a thrilling tale with massive creatures and dry wit. It’s highly entertaining and hilarious and fully uses scenic Norway as a breathtaking backdrop for the adventure. It’s a breezy genre adventure that offers easily digestible escapism but also contains poignant layers. Now is the perfect time to watch, with Øvredal’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter right around the corner.
The 30th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival commences this week in Montreal, running from July 16 through August 2. It’s set to unleash 125 features and 200+ shorts, from new premieres to festival favorites.
That includes screenings of upcoming theatrical releases Buddy, Colony, Her Private Hell, Hot Spot, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, as well as retrospective screenings of Pontypool and Gozu. But so much of the fun of Fantasia is the new film discoveries and surprises, and this year’s fest comes packed with potential.
Here are eight horror movies to keep an eye out for at this year’s fest.
Big Break
New York’s cult comedy darlings Simple Town are carving their way into horror with this comedic feature. In Big Break, Will (Will Niedmann), Caroline (Caro Yost), and Felipe (Felipe Di Poi Tamargo, Blood Barn) reunite with their estranged ex-collaborator Sam (Samuel Lanier) years after their sketch group disbanded, hoping to get in his good graces to appear in the sequel of his hit film. But dark secrets are exposed during their weekend getaway, forcing these washed-up comedians to learn what it really means to kill to get their big break. Art imitating life in a witty horror-comedy sounds like a blast.
Corpus
An invite to a secluded party with his longtime crush and rising film star instead unfurls a strange nightmare of sensual and supernatural proportions. Corrin Evans’ feature debut is set in the summer of 1998, capturing a stylish, transgressive web of seduction and terror. The film stars Jeff Wahlberg (“Euphoria”), Brodie Townsend (“Heartbreak High”), Michael Vlamis (“Pools”), Lily Cowles (Antebellum), Nuha Jes Izman (“Yellowjackets”) and Ching Valdes-Aran (The Equalizer).
Freaks Part II
Final Destination Bloodlines filmmakers Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein return to their mutant roots with their follow-up to 2018’s Freaks. Picking up several years later, Mary (Amanda Crew, Freaks) and her daughter Chloe (Lorelei Olivia Mote, Riddle of Fire) are on the run from authorities, masking their superpowered abilities and identities. But revenge will complicate matters in a sequel that teases a severe escalation in bloodshed. The Conjuring‘s Lili Taylor also stars.
Junction Row
Canadian horror icon Katharine Isabelle stars as Juno, a recovering addict who leaves a fringe housing compound for a better life, leaving her beloved Ruby behind. When she learns Ruby has gone missing, she discovers Junction Row has been overrun with criminals and something far more horrifying. The creature feature marks the feature debut of director Ashlea Wessel, who co-writes Junction Row with Clown in a Cornfield author Adam Cesare and Matt Serafini.
The Last Temptation of Becky
Becky Hooper (Lulu Wilson) escalates her ultra-violent annihilation of Neo-Nazis with a new CIA mission that sends her to Poland to infiltrate a family of innkeepers who are running a tourist venture at The Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s WWII bunker. To prevent the Fourth Reich, Becky takes matters into her own bloody hands. Jenn Wexler (The Sacrifice Game, The Ranger) directs this trilogy capper from a script she co-wrote with Matt Angel (The Wrath of Becky), from a story by Angel andSuzanne Coote (The Wrath of Becky). Neil Patrick Harris also stars.
Los Vampires
Lost actor Henry Ian Cusick and Spectre actor Thomas Kretschmann lead as uncanny surrogates for Carlos Villarías and Bela Lugosi in this fantastical fictionalized account of the making of George Melford’s classic horror film, one that was shot overnight on the same sets as Tod Browning’s Dracula. The period horror movie is written and directed by Craig Mitchell (Komodo). Daniela Couso (Serial Beauty), Jefferson Mays (Inherent Vice), Oscar Nuñez (“The Office”), and Jorge Diaz (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) round out the cast. Watch the intriguing teaser here.
Rubberhead: The Life & Monsters of Steve Johnson
The wild life and incredible career of SFX wizard Steve Johnson (Fright Night, Poltergeist II, An American Werewolf in London, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) gets the documentary spotlight from director Nick Taylor. Those familiar with Johnson’s two-book saga Rubberhead: Sex, Drugs and Special FX, which serves as the basis for the documentary, will already know that the artist is a candid raconteur as open about his failures as his successes. Linnea Quigley, John Landis, Tom Holland, and Oscar-winner Bill Corso also contribute as talking heads in this illuminating doc.
Unholy Night
Grandma is back from the dead and ready to commit murder in this holiday horror comedy from writer/director Michael Gabriele. The chaos of an Italian Christmas Eve gets dialed up to a zany, violent degree in the first teaser. Marc Bendavid (“Dark Matter”), Shailene Garnett (“Shadowhunters”), Al Sapienza (“The Sopranos”), Ron Lea (“Orphan Black”), Toni Ellwand (“Hannibal”), Cristina Rosato (Mother!), Jacqueline Robbins (“A Series of Unfortunate Events”), and Joe Pingue (Antiviral) star.
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