David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street is poised to make a strong showing at the box office this weekend, reinforcing the obvious: audiences love dinosaurs. Just look to the behemoth Jurassic Park franchise, still going strong with more sequels in development.
If this weekend’s new release has you itching for more dinosaur chaos, here are five films you can stream this weekend that ensure the prehistoric movie monsters get the spotlight.
65 – Disney+, Hulu, Prime Video
A high concept sci-fi effort from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers behind A Quiet Place and writers/directors of Haunt. Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt star as the unlucky pair that find themselves on a hostile planet filled with creatures and obstacles. Driver takes his role seriously in this straightforward, polished sci-fi adventure filled with dinosaur mayhem. The resurgence of quicksand as a lethal trap, early dinosaur encounters, and a gruesome nighttime parasite provide prehistory fun.
The Dinosaur Project – Fawesome
This 2012 found footage feature follows adventurers searching for the legendary cryptid Mokele-mbembe deep in the Congo. Naturally, they run afoul of some carnivorous beasts from another era instead. It’s the dinosaurs that set this otherwise standard found footage film apart, complete with shaky camerawork. And it’s the dinos that get priority treatment with solid VFX. While The Dinosaur Project doesn’t reinvent the wheel, the dinos deliver.
Loop Track – Fandango, Prime Video, Tubi
I realize even including this underrated 2023 gem on this list reveals one of its biggest surprises, but it’s worth it if it means getting more eyes on one of the more recent genre surprises. Writer- Director Thomas Sainsbury also stars as Ian, a nervous antisocial type who sets off on a 4-day hiking trek into the New Zealand bush, just to avoid people. While there, though, he quickly turns to other campers with the sneaking suspicion that something is stalking them all. Sainsbury goes full throttle on psychological torment and turmoil, coaxing out a slow-burn until a full-throttle third act. That means that, for prehistoric animal lovers, the payoff is worth the wait.
Primitive War – Disney+, Hoopla, Hulu, Kanopy
Writer/Director Luke Sparke adapts author Ethan Pettus‘ novel about a recon squad’s discovery of rampaging dinos during the Vietnam War, starring Ryan Kwanten and Tricia Helfer. Primitive War, despite its B-movie setup, takes its dinosaurs and soldiers as seriously as its action. The action horror movie already has a sequel in the works, with Sparke promising to escalate the budding war between prehistoric beasts and the military. Its sequel will pit dinos against cowboys.
Tammy and the T-Rex – Kanopy, Midnight Pulp, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Screambox, Tubi
An unbelievable “how did this get made?” crowd-pleaser from beginning to end, Tammy and the T-Rex defies the boundaries of realism at every possible turn, including the opening credits that refer to the movie as “Tanny” and the T-Rex. After a bizarre accident, high school football player Michael (Paul Walker) is murdered, and his brain is transplanted into a mechanical dinosaur. He escapes, the body count rises, and he reunites with his girlfriend Tammy (Denise Richards). Originally trimmed down to a PG-13 to be touted as a family-friendly movie in 1994, John Carl Buechler’s fantastic SFX gore bits were recently reinstated, designating this for cult classic gem status.
