Explore strange new worlds on streaming this weekend. Fighters from Earth are drafted into an interdimensional tournament in Mortal Kombat 2, which carves a bloody path onto VOD. Mexico’s first stop-motion feature film I Am Frankelda follows an author who learns her characters exist in a parallel realm and has to go on a quest to help them. The dark musical is available to stream on Netflix.
Scarlet, an anime spin on Hamlet from Mirai writer-director Mamoru Hosoda, arrives on Netflix. You can also welcome the final film in The Strangers horror trilogy into your home by streaming it on Starz.
Here’s a rundown of the most notable new releases on streaming and VOD, including the biggest, best, and most popular new movies you can watch at home right now.
New on Netflix
I Am Frankelda
- Genre: Animated musical
- Run time: 1h 43m
- Director: Arturo and Roy Ambriz
- Cast: Mireya Mendoza, Arturo Mercado Jr., Luis Leonardo Suárez
The prequel to the dark stop-motion fantasy series Frankelda’s Book of Spooks tells the story of Frankelda (Mireya Mendoza), a horror writer in 19th-century Mexico trying to save the world she created with her imagination. Guillermo Del Toro helped bring Mexico’s full-length stop-motion movie to Netflix.
Scarlet
- Genre: Fantasy anime
- Run time: 1h 51m
- Director: Mamoru Hosoda
- Cast: Mana Ashida, Masaki Okada, Koji Yakusho
Mirai and Belle writer-director Mamoru Hosoda puts his spin on Hamlet with the story of Scarlet (Mana Ashida), a princess from 16th-century Denmark traveling through time and space to avenge her murdered father. Poisoned by her uncle, she wakes up in the underworld where she meets Hijiri (Masaki Okada), a paramedic from the modern day.
New on HBO Max
They Will Kill You
- Genre: Horror comedy
- Run time: 1h 34m
- Director: Kirill Sokolov
- Cast: Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph
Former convict Asia (Zazie Beetz) takes a job as a maid at The Virgil, a luxurious New York high-rise. Part of the cost of living there is making human sacrifices, and she’s meant to be the residents’ latest victim. Asia’s prepared to fight back against the demonic cult and escape the building’s deadly traps.
New on Shudder
Find Your Friends
- Genre: Thriller
- Run time: 1h 29m
- Director: Izabel Pakzad
- Cast: Helena Howard, Bella Thorne, Zión Moreno
When a group of college best friends living in L.A. takes a weekend girls’ trip to Joshua Tree, they quickly run into trouble. Their goal is to get drunk and do drugs in the desert, but they encounter frustrated locals who don’t want them using their home as a playground and leering men who won’t leave them alone.
New on Starz
The Strangers – Chapter 3
- Genre: Horror
- Run time: 1h 31m
- Director: Renny Harlin
- Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath
After surviving multiple attacks by masked strangers and killing one of the murderers, Maya (Madelaine Petsch) is recruited to join their group to replace the woman she killed. With the town’s sheriff working to cover up the strangers’ crimes, Maya will have to play along in order to get revenge and escape.
New to rent
Kraken
- Genre: Action horror
- Run time: 1h 40m
- Director: Pål Øie
- Cast: Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes
Fans of Troll will want to check out this new Norwegian creature feature. A marine biologist conducting research at a fish farm encounters several strange occurrences tied to a deep fjord. When two teenagers are found brutally killed, the culprit turns out to be an ancient sea monster.
Mārama
- Genre: Gothic horror
- Run time: 1h 23m
- Director: Taratoa Stappard
- Cast: Ariāna Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers
Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne), a young Māori woman, travels from New Zealand to England in hopes of learning about her heritage. While staying in the country home of Sir Nathaniel Cole (Toby Stephens), Mary begins experiencing disturbing visions and dreams about her supposed benefactor’s role in devastating her culture and family.
Mortal Kombat 2
- Genre: Martial arts fantasy
- Run time: 1h 56m
- Director: Simon McQuoid
- Cast: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee
Washed-up action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) is unwillingly recruited to represent Earth in a tournament that will determine the fate of humanity. He’ll have to battle aliens, zombies, and cyborgs in lethal fights across terrifying settings. Expect lots of gore and appearances from fan-favorite characters from the fighting game franchise.
From our review:
The majority of the movie is taken up by fight scenes, which are genuinely fun to watch if you don’t mind a few smashed skulls — McQuoid does an impressive job of recreating the games’ visceral gore. One fight even takes place on a narrow platform with acid on either side (seemingly inspired by the iconic Mortal Kombat level known as Dead Pool), which forces the characters to spar in the same 2D style seen in the games. That sounds silly, but it’s actually pretty badass, and sets a high bar that multiple other fight scenes in the movie easily clear.
Neglected
- Genre: Action thriller
- Run time: 1h 32m
- Director: David Lipper
- Cast: Josh Duhamel, Dylan Sprouse, Til Schweiger
Detective Shaw (Josh Duhamel) is about to retire to spend more time with his family when a serial killer known as The Kid (Dylan Sprouse) walks into his precinct and announces that he’s kidnapped Shaw’s son and buried him alive. Shaw has just nine hours to solve a series of crimes and learn his son’s location before he runs out of air.
Saccharine
- Genre: Body horror
- Run time: 1h 53m
- Director: Natalie Erika James
- Cast: Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Madeleine Madden
Medical student Hana (Midori Francis) is desperate to lose weight but keeps overeating. When Hana learns that a new diet pill is made from human ashes, she makes her own by cremating part of a training cadaver. Hana becomes distressingly skinny as she’s haunted by the ghost of the person she’s consuming.
