Weapons Lands on HBO Max — The Long Walk Hits VOD and 8 More Must-Stream Thrillers & Horrors
If you’re looking for something new to watch at home, here’s a tidy roundup of the biggest arrivals this week: a tense nuclear thriller on Netflix, a mystery horror on HBO Max, a Stephen King adaptation on VOD, plus a handful of smaller horrors, thrillers, and documentaries across streaming platforms and rental services. Below you’ll find where each film is available, quick facts, and the official trailers when they exist.
New on Netflix
A House of Dynamite
– Genre: Apocalyptic thriller
– Run time: 1h 52m
– Director: Kathryn Bigelow
– Cast: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso
Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite centers on an unattributed nuclear missile detected heading toward the continental U.S., and follows military leaders as they test contingency plans and try to respond. It’s tense, tightly paced, and clearly aimed at viewers who like political and procedural thrills.
New on AMC Plus
Descendent
– Genre: Science fiction thriller
– Run time: 1h 32m
– Director: Peter Cilella
– Cast: Ross Marquand, Sarah Bolger
Descendent follows a security guard named Sean who wakes up after an apparent fall and becomes convinced he was abducted by aliens. As a result, he grows fixated on protecting his family from an otherworldly threat.
New on HBO Max
Weapons
– Genre: Horror mystery
– Run time: 2h 8m
– Director: Zach Cregger
– Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich
Weapons follows multiple perspectives as a community searches for answers after 17 children from the same third-grade class get up in the night, run into the dark, and vanish. The film adapts Zach Cregger’s unsettling approach from Barbarian into a wider, emotionally charged mystery.
From our review :
“The questions with an elaborate mystery are always whether that narrative momentum can be sustained, and whether the journey is ultimately worthwhile. On the most elemental level, Weapons pays off big time. Once its grand finale falls into place, it feels both inevitable and delightfully fresh, perfectly timed to refute (or at least drown out) any mutterings of “That’s it?” Yet as the horror-movie high wears off, there are some lingering questions about why, precisely, this story required a multiple-POV ensemble approach.”
New on Hulu
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
– Genre: Horror thriller
– Director: Michelle Garza Cervera
– Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maika Monroe, Raúl Castillo
Michelle Garza Cervera remakes Curtis Hanson’s 1992 thriller, centering on a suburban mother who hires a nanny and then discovers she doesn’t know who she’s welcomed into her home. The film follows Garza Cervera’s earlier focus on pregnancy and domestic dread.
The Unholy Trinity
– Genre: Western
– Run time: 1h 33m
– Director: Richard Gray
– Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Daly
The Unholy Trinity drops a young man named Henry into a Montana town where he’s pulled between a sheriff and an outlaw over a cache of stolen gold. Expect shootouts and classic western conflict.
New to rent
Afterburn
– Genre: Post-apocalyptic action
– Run time: 1h 46m
– Director: J. J. Perry
– Cast: Dave Bautista, Olga Kurylenko, Kristofer Hivju, Samuel L. Jackson
After a solar flare wipes out technology, a would-be king enlists a scavenger to recover humanity’s greatest treasures — including the Mona Lisa. It’s an action-forward salvage mission across a chaotic world.
Bone Lake
– Genre: Erotic thriller
– Run time: 1h 34m
– Director: Mercedes Bryce Morgan
– Cast: Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Andra Nechita
Bone Lake leans into camp and gore: a couple’s romantic weekend is interrupted by another duo who push their relationship toward infidelity — and also happen to be serial killers. The director stated she wanted the film to feel intentionally unserious in places.
Chain Reactions
– Genre: Documentary
– Run time: 1h 42m
– Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
This documentary looks at the impact of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre through interviews with filmmakers and writers such as Stephen King, Patton Oswalt, and Takashi Miike. It explores why the original remains disturbing and influential.
Dead of Winter
– Genre: Action thriller
– Run time: 1h 38m
– Director: Brian Kirk
– Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca
Emma Thompson stars as a woman trying to scatter her husband’s ashes who stops for directions and finds a hostage in a cabin. The film follows her attempts to rescue the young woman while staying alive during a snowstorm.
Good Boy
– Genre: Supernatural horror
– Run time: 1h 13m
– Director: Ben Leonberg
– Cast: Shane Jensen, Arielle Friedman, Larry Fessenden
Good Boy is told from a dog’s perspective as the pup senses a presence haunting the home where he lives with his chronically ill owner. For viewers worried about animal outcomes, there’s an entire website that tracks whether pets survive in movies; see this site for details.
The Long Walk
– Genre: Dystopian thriller
– Run time: 1h 48m
– Director: Francis Lawrence
– Cast: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing
Adapted from Stephen King’s 1979 novel, The Long Walk follows teenage boys who enter an annual walking competition where they must keep moving nonstop or face being shot; the last survivor gets their wish. The film presents a bleak, survivalist premise with high stakes.
