The Conjuring: Last Rites Hits VOD — Plus Demi Moore’s The Substance on HBO Max, Vicious on Paramount+ and More to Stream
This week brings a busy mix of horror and big-name movies to streaming and VOD. You can catch the latest Conjuring entry on VOD for the first time, see Demi Moore in a new body-horror turn on HBO Max, and watch a tense ritual mystery on Paramount Plus. Meanwhile, family and comedy fare also land across services, so there’s something for a quieter night in.
New on Netflix
The Woman in Cabin 10
Genre: Psychological thriller. Run time: 1h 32m. Director: Simon Stone. Cast: Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, Art Malik.
The film adapts Ruth Ware’s novel about journalist Laura Blacklock, who covers a charity event on a luxury yacht and thinks she witnesses a woman thrown overboard. However, the boat’s crew insists everyone is accounted for, and Laura pursues answers while her own safety comes under threat.
New on HBO Max
The Substance
Genre: Body horror. Run time: 2h 20m. Director: Coralie Fargeat. Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid.
Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a former star who uses a black-market drug to create a younger double named Sue (Margaret Qualley). As the pair’s symbiotic relationship frays, they face a violent struggle for control. The movie is now available again on HBO Max.
New on Mubi
Lurker
Genre: Psychological thriller. Run time: 1h 41m. Director: Alex Russell. Cast: Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox.
Matthew Morning, working in a clothing store, gets pulled into rising pop star Oliver’s world after Oliver likes his music. Matthew documents the entourage, and as the relationship deteriorates he goes to extremes to stay close to the inner circle.
New on Paramount Plus
Vicious
Genre: Horror. Run time: 1h 38m. Director: Bryan Bertino. Cast: Dakota Fanning, Kathryn Hunter, Mary McCormack.
Polly (Dakota Fanning) receives a late-night visit from a woman who says Polly will die unless she places something she loves, something she needs, and something she hates into a box. Then the threatening phone calls begin. The film is streaming on Paramount Plus.
New on Peacock
How to Train Your Dragon (live-action)
Genre: Fantasy adventure. Run time: 2h 5m. Director: Dean DeBlois. Cast: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gabriel Howell.
The live-action adaptation follows a teenage Viking, Hiccup, who befriends an injured dragon named Toothless. Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed the original animated films, returns to expand the story. This version is now on Peacock.
New to rent
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Genre: Supernatural horror. Run time: 2h 15m. Director: Michael Chaves. Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mia Tomlinson.
Marketed as the final film in the franchise, the movie follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they investigate a case of demonic possession involving a family and a haunted mirror. It has the distinction of the biggest opening weekend in scary movie history and is now available on VOD.
Even in its sillier moments, The Conjuring: Last Rites is effective enough as a scare machine. But the most efficient scare machines don’t tend to run 135 minutes. The creative team also seems unfortunately convinced they’re making a portrait of a family and a marriage. For those purposes, Ed and Lorraine are awfully static as characters, in spite of Wilson and Farmiga’s conviction as performers, and the amount of room the Smurls’ nonexistent characterization leaves them.
Freakier Friday
Genre: Fantasy comedy. Run time: 1h 51m. Director: Nisha Ganatra. Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters.
The sequel to the 2003 body-swap comedy expands the complications: Anna swaps bodies with her daughter Harper, while Anna’s mother swaps with Eric’s daughter. The film is now available to rent on VOD.
Him
Genre: Horror. Run time: 1h 36m. Director: Justin Tipping. Cast: Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox.
Rising football star Cameron Cade suffers a head injury that threatens his career. An offer from his childhood hero looks like a second chance, but the training becomes violent and disturbing. The film explores the pressure and danger around elite sports.
The Pickup
Genre: Heist comedy. Run time: 1h 34m. Director: Tim Story. Cast: Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Eva Longoria.
Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson play armored truck drivers who get roped into a heist by a woman with a hidden agenda. The movie is available to rent now.
Beast of War
Genre: Thriller. Run time: 1h 27m. Director: Kiah Roache-Turner. Cast: Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Sam Delich.
After a ship sinks in the Timor Sea, Australian World War II soldiers try to survive on a life raft. They hope for rescue, avoid enemy troops, and must also deal with a stalking great white shark.
Cloud
Genre: Psychological thriller. Run time: 2h 3m. Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Cast: Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaira.
Yoshii builds a profitable online resale business and becomes increasingly ruthless. People he wrongs come together to seek revenge and take violent measures to confront him.
Solvent
Genre: Supernatural horror. Run time: 1h 34m. Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner. Cast: Jon Gries, Aleksandra Cwen, Johannes Grenzfurthner.
A search for lost Nazi documents in an Austrian farmhouse draws a team into the building’s deeper, older evil. The group becomes obsessed and endangered by what they uncover.
Traumatika
Genre: Horror. Run time: 1h 21m. Director: Pierre Tsigaridis. Cast: Rebekah Kennedy, Ranen Navat, Emily Goss.
A chain of kidnappings in Los Angeles ties into a demonic threat that preys on children. A mother’s signs of possession and a boy’s night terrors reveal a horror spanning generations.
