Three horror movies to stream now
By Erik Piepenburg “Daughter”
Writer- director Corey Deshon wastes no time establishing the depraved scenario that fuels his slowburn thriller. In the opening minutes, a man who goes by Father (Casper Van Dien, maniacal) bludgeons a woman to death on a desolate hillscape. Cut to Father taking a hood off a young woman ( Vivien Ngo) whom he has kidnapped so that his son, known as Brother (Ian Alexander), can have a new “sister.”
Enter Mother ( Elyse Dinh), who assures the terrified captive that she’ll be fine as long as she keeps Father happy. (Both women are Vietnamese, a connection that becomes pivotal.) What Father doesn’t know is that he picked the wrong Daughter to mess with.
Deshon’s thrillingly demented feature film debut explores what happens when fragile masculinity meets unquestioned faith and fanaticism. Rent it on most major platforms.
“The Strays”
Neve (Ashley Madekwe) lives with her husband and two teenagers in a lovely suburban home. But Neve keeps seeing the same two people staring at her — on the street and in the halls of the elite school where she’s deputy headmistress. Each is Black, and are giving Neve the willies, even though she is a light-skinned Black herself. When the two (Jorden
Myrie and Bukky Bakray) unexpectedly greet Neve at a party, the film takes an unexpected detour that forces Neve (and us) to question everything that’s come before.
I’m going out of my way not to spoil this British psychological thriller because going into it cold is the best way to experience the dread that writer- director Nathaniel Martello-white has in store. Stream it on
Netflix. “The Integrity of Joseph Chambers”
Joe (Clayne Crawford, excellent) is an insurance salesman who lives with his wife and kids in rural Alabama. He gets up early one morning to go hunting, a skill he wants to hone just in case the world goes to hell and he needs to provide food for his family. Alone, Joe naps and wanders the woods but doesn’t shoot anything — until he does, accidentally and shockingly.
There’s much to admire in Robert Machoian’s follow-up to “The Killing of Two Lovers,” his aching neo-noir thriller that also starred Crawford as a dad who tries, and fails hard, to do the right thing. As in that film, Machoian tenderly and hauntingly explores how men navigate the demands of masculinity and fatherhood, with the threat of gun violence hovering over it all. Rent or buy it on most major platforms.