This weekend is supposed to be muggy, hot, rainy and gross, which means you’re going to need an excuse to stay indoors. Thanks to Netflix, there’s more than one reason.
The streaming service has been updated with so many good pieces of genre entertainment that you’re going to have an issue deciding what to watch first.
Stranger Things
The highly obvious one: “Stranger Things”, their Amblin-esque Spielbergian new series that sort of feels like a feature version of the new video game “Inside”. Watch the first 8-minutes of the show here. A love letter to the supernatural classics of the 80’s, “Stranger Things” is the story of a young boy who vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl. It’s as if they put Super 8 in a blender with Goonies, E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Oh, it stars Winona Ryder and a terrible wig. The kids steal the show and are the most likable since The Goonies.
Rebirth
Another Netflix original is Rebirth, which reminds us of The Game. “Get up. Go to work. Come home, dinner, bed, do it all again. That’s life, every day, every year, until you die — unless you’ve got what it takes to be reborn. Rebirth gives a new lease on life, but only if you’re willing to pay the price.” Netflix’s cast for Karl Mueller’s Rebirth features Fran Kranz, from Cabin in the Woods, as well as Adam Goldberg, Kat Foster, Nicky Whelan, Harry Hamlin, Andrew J West, Sheryl Lee, Pat Healy, Eric Ladin, Luis Geardo Méndez and Steve Agee.
Ghostheads
“Ghostheads” is another new film to debut today, exclusively on Netlix. Superfans of the monster 1984 hit Ghostbusters indulge their passion by gearing up, congregating at conventions and even doing charity work. I hope it’s as good as the Back to the Future doc from earlier this year. Brendan Mertens directs the doc that features Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Tom Gerhardt, Paul Feig, and Peter Mosen.
Darling
Mickey Keating’s Darling, a psychological horror story that stars up-and-coming genre titan Lauren Ashley Carter (Pod, Jug Face, The Mind’s Eye), is also now streaming.
Trace reviewed the film, calling Darling a hypnotic, trippy ride, while Luiz raves, explaining that it mesmerizes with minimalist filmmaking.
[Related Post] Darling: The Films That Shaped Mickey Keating’s Hypnotic Classic!
“Darling begins as a lonely young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) moves into an old, mysterious Manhattan mansion. Hired as a caretaker, it’s not long before she discovers the estate’s haunted reputation and troubling past. These stories slowly transform into a backdrop for her twisted and violent descent into madness…”
Holidays (2016)
A collaboration of some of Hollywood’s most distinct voices, the directors include Kevin Smith (Tusk, Yoga Hosers), Gary Shore (Dracula Untold), Scott Stewart (Dark Skies), Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes), Sarah Adina Smith (The Midnight Swim), Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact) Adam Egypt Mortimer (Some Kind of Hate) and Anthony Scott Burns (Darknet). Read our review here.
