Five Nights at Freddy’s, new Exorcist movie, and every new movie to watch

Another week, another set of new movies for you to watch at home. Halloween is right around the corner, which means spooky season is technically coming to an end, but don’t let that stop you: You can watch great horror movies all year long.

There are multiple options on that front for you this week. The best of the bunch is the terrifying When Evil Lurks, which is now streaming on Shudder. If you’re more in the mood for a known entity, there are new franchise offerings to watch at home in The Exorcist: Believer, The Nun II, and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Looking for something other than horror? Netflix has a new star-studded crime conspiracy move in Pain Hustlers, burgeoning stars Mackenyu and Kiersey Clemons have new movies out, Jackie Chan’s new action comedy is available to watch at home, and there’s a new David Lynch documentary to sink into, among other options.

Let’s get into it.

New on Netflix

Pain Hustlers

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Netflix

Genre: Crime drama
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: David Yates
Cast: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Catherine O’Hara

Repeat Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts director David Yates moves away from that franchise to this story about the opportunities and evils of American industry.

From our review:

They commit neither to a Scorsesean ride into the heart of darkness, nor to Erin Brockovich’s clear-sighted crusade. Blending those conflicting ideas turns this copycat into a movie with half the impact and a fraction of the moral weight of either of those movies. But still, Pain Hustlers is a fun watch that also elucidates one of the darkest spasms of modern American capitalism, and that’s something. It makes the sale.

Knights of the Zodiac

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Photo: David Lukacs/Stage 6 and Toei Animation

Genre: Fantasy action
Run time: 1h 52m
Director: Tomasz Baginski
Cast: Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Mackenyu

This mythological martial arts fantasy film follows a teenage orphan named Seiya (Mackenyu) who learns that he is destined to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena (Madison Iseman) after being recruited by a wealthy billionaire (Sean Bean). Donning the armor of the Pegasus Knight, Seiya must do battle against supernatural forces in order to protect humanity from harm.

From our review:

[There are] two things for new viewers to enjoy: Bean and Janssen’s unfortunately brief performances, and short, erratic bursts of creative action. It seems like the people behind Knights of the Zodiac started by drawing on the worst part of the franchise, then kept making progressively worse decisions. The movie’s only saving grace is that there was once a ’90s live-action American TV pilot (only 19 seconds of which have survived), so Knights of the Zodiac at least can’t be called it the worst piece of Saint Seiya media ever made.

New on Hulu

Susie Searches

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

Image: Vertical Entertainment

Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Sophie Kargman
Cast: Kiersey Clemons, Alex Wolff, Jim Gaffigan

Kiersey Clemons (The Flash, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) stars as an outcast college student and true crime podcaster who tries to find a missing student.

New on Max

The Nun II

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Michael Chaves
Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid

Four years after the events of The Nun, a priest is murdered in a terrifying supernatural incident in the town of Tarascon, France. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), now serving in a convent in Italy, is called upon to investigate and forced to once again confront her unearthly nemesis: the demonic nun known as Valak.

New on Prime Video

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre: Superhero
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: David F. Sandberg
Cast: Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu

More and more Warner Bros. movies and shows are making their way to Prime, and one of DC’s biggest flops is up next. This time, Billy Batson/Shazam (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi) face off against the Titans Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu).

New on Peacock

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

Photo: Patti Perret/Universal Pictures

Genre: Supernatural horror thriller
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Emma Tammi
Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio

The massive hit video game finally gets a horror movie adaptation, and Universal is going with the 2021 release model of simultaneous home and theatrical releases. Will it work for them? Only time will tell, but what it means for you is that you can watch a movie about the infamous, creepy pizza restaurant and its cursed animatronic animals either at home or in theaters.

From our review:

The movie’s funniest line is unintentional, when Mike earnestly explains, “I’m having a hard time just processing everything that’s happened,” as if he’s working through a tough breakup rather than a series of increasingly bizarre animatronic attacks. He’s right, though. For a movie with such a simple, appealing premise, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a lot to process.

New on Criterion Channel

Lynch/Oz

Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel

Genre: Documentary
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

We love David Lynch, and I’m willing to guess you do, too. David Lynch loves The Wizard of Oz. This movie goes deep into his obsession with the classic film, and the ways in which its influence shows up in his movies and shows.

New on Shudder

When Evil Lurks

Image: Shudder

Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder and AMC Plus

Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Demián Rugna
Cast: Ezequiel Rodriguez, Demián Salomon, Luis Ziembrowski

The scariest horror movie of 2023, When Evil Lurks is an Argentinian possession movie with a deep, mysterious lore and a dark mean streak.

From our review:

When Evil Lurks is a movie for the sleaziest of gorehounds as much as it is for fans of cerebral horror — the practical effects are grisly in the extreme, and as the body count mounts, the deaths get more and more blunt and graphic. Rugna never needs to rely on cheap shocks or jump scares when he has so many ways of evoking real dread. But at heart, this film is meant for horror fans who thought they’d seen it all and were done being scared by possession thrillers. With this project, Rugna breaks plenty of horror rules and literally writes his own, turning his film into 2023’s most unnerving horror release — and a welcome revival for a subgenre that seemed like it was on its last spindly, clawed, wall-climbing legs.

New to rent

The Exorcist: Believer

Image: Universal Studios

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

Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Leslie Odom Jr., Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd

After a short theatrical run, David Gordon Green’s new entry in the Exorcist franchise arrives at home. It’s a bizarre twist on the franchise, per our review:

Up until this most recent movie, the title The Exorcist carried some weight. While its role as a representation of quality was up for debate, its mark as a sign of ambition was not. Since the original Exorcist, the series has provided some of American cinema’s best and most interesting artists with space to ruminate on faith and evil. Believer lacks the ambition that’s meant to define an Exorcist movie. This is the most profound statement the movie has to offer, seemingly by accident: If the result of moving past God is that everything in the world will feel as empty and pointless as The Exorcist: Believer, we should cling to faith forever.

Ride On

Image: Well Go USA Entertainment

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

Genre: Action comedy
Run time: 2h 6m
Director: Larry Yang
Cast: Jackie Chan, Haocun Liu, Kevin Guo

Jackie Chan is back, and this time he’s brought his vintage style of action-comedy with him. In Ride On, Chan is an aging stunt legend who never made it big as a movie star. He spends his days working odd jobs with his beloved horse, Red Hare, who he has trained since the horse was a colt. When debt collectors and lawyers attempt to take the horse from him, the stunt man has to pull out all his tricks to keep his beloved, yet unconventional, family together.

From our review:

That relationship is where the movie shines — Chan and the horse performer, Chitu, have terrific chemistry, and they clearly had a blast working together. Chan’s sweet and sincere performance is a perfect fit for a buddy comedy with an animal co-star, and his childlike, innocent smile can still light up a screen. (Luo’s daughter remarks, “You got old before you grew up.”) The scenes of Master Luo and Red Hare practicing their stunt routine are delightful, especially as Luo speaks gently, then sternly, to the stubborn horse as if it’s a child pupil.

Boudica

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

Image: Saban Films

Genre: Historical action
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Cast: Olga Kurylenko, Clive Standen, Nick Moran

Direct-to-video action director extraordinaire Jesse V. Johnson, best known for his collaborations with Scott Adkins, like Avengement and the Debt Collector movies, or the tense Hell Hath No Fury, takes his talents to this historical war drama. Olga Kurylenko has been carving out quite the action career for herself recently, and a collaboration between the two just makes too much sense. This is their second of three projects together, following last year’s White Elephant.

Suitable Flesh

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

Photo: AMP/Eyevox

Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Joe Lynch
Cast: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Barbara Crampton

A Lovecraft adaptation by way of Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator, this under-the-radar horror movie stars Heather Graham as a psychiatrist who gets caught up in an ancient curse after one of her patients claims his father is trying to steal his body.

From our review:

Lynch and Paoli are openly aiming this one at audiences who love Lovecraft-derived work, but don’t take him so seriously that they need to come away from every Lovecraft movie feeling depressed and oppressed. And they’re purposefully pouring this one out for every Stuart Gordon fan who worried no one else would ever make movies quite like he did. His legacy is in good hands.