Netflix’s Falling for Christmas, Terrifier 2, and every new movie to watch at home

This weekend, the new Christmas rom-com Falling for Christmas starring Lindsay Lohan arrives on Netflix, alongside the action crime thriller Lost Bullet 2, the animated children’s film My Father’s Dragon from the studio behind Wolfwalkers, the new documentary Is That Black Enough for You?!, and much more.

Not feeling any of those? Well, how about a brutal horror movie about a killer clown, or a pitch-dark horror comedy about a janitor eating hallucinogenic worms, or a National Geographic documentary about an eccentric pair of French scientists who died in a volcanic eruption? Did you somehow miss Olivia Wilde’s new psychological thriller starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles when it was released on VOD last week ? Well don’t worry, darling… It’s now streaming on HBO Max!

There’s lots to choose from in terms of what to watch and rent this weekend on streaming and VOD. Here are the top picks for this week’s new releases.

Falling for Christmas

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Scott Everett White/Netflix

Genre: Romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Janeen Damian
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Chord Overstreet, George Young

Lindsay Lohan stars in this new Christmas rom-com as Sierra Belmont, a spoiled hotel heiress who loses her memory after a skiing accident. Finding herself in the care of Jake (Chord Overstreet), a benevolent lodge owner, she adopts the name “Sarah” and gets a new lease on life helping out around the lodge in the days leading up to Christmas.

Terrifier 2

Where to watch: Available to rent for $7.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Bloody Disgusting

Genre: Horror
Run time: 2h 18m
Director: Damien Leone
Cast: Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt

The sequel to Damien Leone’s 2016 splatter slasher film features the return of Art the Killer Clown. After being resurrected by an unknown, sinister entity following the massacre in the previous film, Art once again embarks on a rampage to terrorize the hapless citizens of Miles County on Halloween night, this time targeting a teenage girl and her younger brother.

Leone’s sequel has generated an huge upswell of positive buzz since its limited release in theaters, even inspiring a fan-driven Oscar campaign. Just how scary is Terrifier 2? You’ll just have to watch it in order to find out!

Lost Bullet 2

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: Julien Goldstein/Netflix

Genre: Action/thriller
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Guillaume Pierret
Cast: Alban Lenoir, Stéfi Celma, Sébastien Lalanne

Is That Black Enough for You?!

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Netflix

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 2h 15m
Director: Elvis Mitchell
Cast: Margaret Avery, Harry Belafonte, Charles Burnett

Composed of interviews with Black artists and actors like Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Dee Williams, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, and more, film historian Elvis Mitchell’s new documentary charts the history of African American cinema from the era of Blaxploitation films to the modern renaissance of contemporary actors, directors, and writers.

My Father’s Dragon

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Cartoon Saloon/Netflix

Genre: Adventure/comedy
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Nora Twomey
Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Gaten Matarazzo, Whoopi Goldberg

Based on the children’s book by Ruth Stiles Gannett, this new animated adventure film from five-time Academy Award-nominated studio Cartoon Saloon follows Elmer (Tremblay), a young boy who ventures out to a mythical island in search of a young dragon (Matarazzo) waiting to be rescued.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix on Saturday, Nov. 12

Photo: Michele K Short/Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures

Genre: Mystery/thriller
Run time: 2h 5m
Director: Olivia Newman
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson

Based on Delia Owens’ 2018 novel of the same name, this coming-of-age murder-mystery thriller stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (Under the Banner of Heaven) as Kya Clark, a woman who raised herself in the marshlands of the Deep South. After becoming romantically involved with two men from the neighboring town of Barkley Cove, Kya finds herself at the center of a murder trial when one of her boyfriends is found dead after an alleged assault. The film adaptation has garnered significant publicity as of late, owed almost entirely to the uncanny parallels between the original novel’s plot and an actual 1995 murder investigation involving Owens herself.

Code Name Banshee

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Image: Screen Media Films

Genre: Action/drama
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Jon Keeyes
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Jaime King, Tommy Flanagan

Antonio Banderas stars in this assassin action drama as Caleb, a former government “cleaner” in hiding who resurfaces with his protégé “Banshee” (King) after discovering a hit has been placed on his head.

Don’t Worry Darling

Where to watch: Available to stream on HBO Max

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre: Mystery/thriller
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Olivia Wilde
Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde

Florence Pugh stars in Olivia Wilde’s follow-up to 2019’s Booksmart as Alice, the doting wife to a workaholic husband (Harry Styles) in a 1950s-styled company town secluded in an unknown desert. When Alice begins to question the true nature of her idyllic existence and the supposedly benevolent intentions of her husband, she sets out in search of answers that bring her face-to-face with a secret of immense, unspeakable horror. But don’t worry, darling, everything’s fine!

From our review:

Pugh’s performance is enough of a recommendation to see this shiny, smoothly finished movie-that-feels-like-a-movie. The production design, costuming, and cinematography are ravishing, and wielded with precision. Musically, it’s even richer and a little edgier, pitting crooning doo-wop and civilized jazz against John Powell’s unsettling, nervy score. In the space between these luxurious images and discordant sounds, you can feel a door opening to a thornier, more provocative film. But Wilde, anxious to make sure everyone gets the point, has nailed it shut.

Fire of Love

Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus

Image: National Geographic Documentary Films

Genre: Documentary/biography
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Sara Dosa
Cast: Katia Krafft, Maurice Krafft

This National Geographic documentary film follows the life, and final days, of Katia and Maurice Krafft, two French volcanologists who passed away in the 1991 eruption of Japan’s Mount Unzen. Composed of archival footage shot by the couple themselves, Dosa’s film attempts to chart the extraordinary story of the Kraffts and their all-consuming dedication to science.

The Accursed

Where to watch: Available to rent for $6.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Screen Media Films

Genre: Horror/thriller
Run time: 1h 37m
Director: Kevin Lewis
Cast: Mena Suvari, Sarah Grey, Meg Foster

After agreeing to spend a few days caring for an elderly woman (Foster) by a family friend, Elly (Grey) finds herself plagued by disturbing hallucinations. Learning more about her mysterious host and the house, Elly begins to suspect that she has in fact been lured here by a malevolent spirit who hides inside the old woman’s body.

All Jacked Up and Full of Worms

Where to watch: Available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon, Apple; $3.99 on Vudu

Image: Screambox

Genre: Comedy/horror
Run time: 1h 12m
Director: Alex Phillips
Cast: Phillip Andre Botello, Trevor Dawkins, Betsey Brown

The trailer for director Alex Phillips’ new horror film certainly lives up to the movie’s title, featuring an assortment of odd and colorful characters who are either (a) all euphemistic forms of “jacked up” or (b) full of worms. The story centers on Roscoe (Botello), a maintenance man who, after eating from a stash of hallucinogenic worms and embarking on a self-destructive spree across Chicago, meets and falls in love with a moped enthusiast trying to transform an inanimate sex doll into a baby.

Yeah, so… Look, what else could I possibly say to pique your interest about this film aside from that last sentence alone? C’mon now.

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm

Where to watch: Available to purchase for $19.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Williams Street/Adult Swim, Bento Box Entertainment

Genre: Action/black comedy
Run time: 1h 19m
Director: Dave Willis, Matt Maiellaro
Cast: Carey Means, Dana Snyder, Dave Willis

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force (i.e., Frylock, Master Shake, Meatwad, and their eternally suffering neighbor Carl) return in this new direct-to-video feature-length movie. Reuniting years after a bad fallout, the group finds themselves faced with a new enemy: an evil mega-corporation called “Amazin” led by an unscrupulous tech mogul named Neil (Peter Serafinowicz).

Bar Fight!

Where to watch: Available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon and Apple; $3.99 on Vudu

Image: IFC Films

Genre: Comedy
Run time: 1h 24m
Director: Jim Mahoney
Cast: Melissa Fumero, Rachel Bloom, Luka Jones

Nina (Fumero) and Allen (Jones), a recently divorced couple who split everything after their breakup, refuse to give up “custody” over their favorite bar. With neither one willing to budge, Nina’s friend Chelsea (Bloom) steps in to orchestrate a series of challenges to decide which of the two will win the right to frequent the bar. Zany!

Dylan & Zoey

Where to watch: Available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon and Apple; $3.99 on Vudu

Image: Gravitas Ventures

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 22m
Director: Matt Sauter
Cast: Blake Scott Lewis, Claudia Doumit, Malcolm Barrett

Two estranged childhood friends reunite one evening in Los Angeles on a whim and attempt to unpack why they began to drift apart from each other in the first place in hopes of rekindling their friendship.

The Friendship Game

Where to watch: Available to rent for $6.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: RLJ Entertainment

Genre: Horror/thriller
Run time: 1h 27m
Director: Scooter Corkle
Cast: Peyton List, Brendan Meyer, Maria Hart

Looking for another puzzle-box horror film à la 2022’s Hellraiser? Feasts your eyes on The Friendship Game, the new supernatural horror thriller starring Peyton List (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days). After coming across a strange dodecahedron-like object in a yard sale, a teenage girl and her group of friends find themselves plagued by a series of inexplicable deaths when their close-knit bond begins to fray.

Medieval

Where to watch: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon and Apple; $4.99 on Vudu

Image: Paramount Home Entertainment

Genre: Historical war drama
Run time: 2h 5m
Director: Petr Jákl
Cast: Ben Foster, Michael Caine, Til Schweiger

The biggest-budget movie in the history of Czech cinema, Medieval tells the story of the legendary military figure Jan Žižka (Ben Foster). A gritty and violent medieval military drama, this one is filled with court intrigue, military strategy, and gruesome fights.

Ticket to Paradise

Where to watch: Available to rent for $19.99 on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Image: Universal Pictures

Genre: Romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: Ol Parker
Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever

George Clooney and Julia Roberts star in this romantic comedy as a divorced couple who put aside their differences to work together with one goal in mind: stopping their lovestruck daughter Lily (Dever) from getting married and making the same “mistake” they did.

Vide Noir

Where to watch: Available to rent for $3.49 on Amazon and Apple; $3.99 on Vudu

Image: Yellow Veil Pictures

Genre: Crime/drama
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Ariel Vida
Cast: Victor Mascitelli, Ashleigh Cummings, Joanna Bacalso

If you’re looking for a ’60s neo-noir mystery à la 2014’s Inherent Vice refracted through the Lynchian surreality of Brand New Cherry Flavor and psychotropic visual stylings of Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy, this film might just be your particular flavor of weird.

Written by Lord Huron frontman Ben Schneider and named after the band’s 2018 album, which in French translates to “Black Void,” the movie centers on Buck Vernon (Victor Mascitelli), a young man who travels to Los Angeles to track down his missing fiancée. While searching for her, Buck stumbles upon an underground drug ring responsible for an illicit new narcotic with the purported ability to suspend the boundaries of time and space and induce ego death. Jinkies! Also, there’s a ton of strobing neon lights and kaleidoscopic transitions, if you’re into that sort of aesthetic!

The Witch: Part 2 – The Other One

Where to watch: Available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon and Apple; $3.99 on Vudu

Image: Well Go USA Entertainment

Genre: Sci-fi/horror/action
Run time: 2h 17m
Director: Park Hoon-jung
Cast: Shin Si-ah, Jo Min-su, Park Eun-bin

Not to be confused with a belated Scary Movie-like parody of Robert Eggers’ 2015 folk horror film, this sci-fi action horror movie is a sequel to a 2018 Korean film and follows a young girl with mysterious psychokinetic abilities who escapes from a hidden laboratory. When a criminal organization threatens both her freedom and the life of the man who rescued her, she’ll have to bring the fight to them in order to survive.