Now Streaming: FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN, BET, NINE PUZZLES

In the U.S., we're a week behind Canada, so this is our long weekend holiday, which means we have two big studio wide theatrical releases.

If you're not able to get out of the house and into a movie theater this weekend, however, you can watch the first seven films in the Mission: Impossible franchise, most in 4K, via the Paramount Plus streaming service, as well as the original TV series that inspired it.

Or you can watch the original Lilo & Stitch, gorgeously animated, via the Disney Plus streaming service, as well as the sequels and spin-off series that it spawned.

I know what you did four summers ago, though: you watched all three Fear Street horror thrillers on Netflix. Our own Shelagh Rowan-Legg quite enjoyed the first in the trilogy; Andrew Mack had reservations about the second, though he quite enjoyed the third.

As Mack pointed out back in February, the new chapter in the series picks up in 1988 -- a banner year for horror movies -- and appears to dispense with any supernatural elements, instead focusing on practical effects and a plethora of kill scenes of the slasher variety.

Directed by Matt Palmer, picking up the reins from Leigh Janiak, and scripted by Palmer and Donald McLeary, based on the R.L. Stine books, Fear Street: Prom Queen pays proper homage to films, posters, music, and magazines of that era -- hello, Fangoria! -- as well as the makeup and outfits. Character development is rudimentary, but it reintroduces many common tropes as shorthand and setup for the kill scenes, which are also quite familiar.

Running and screaming do not, in and of themselves, constitute 'building tension,' especially when there is not enough of the former and too much of the latter. Still, I appreciated that the story revolves around best friends Lori Granger (India Fowler) and Megan Rogers (Suzanna Son), and how their friendship has helped them survive the hellscape that is high school. Son, especially, stands out for her very strong performance.

Typical for a film of this budget, the leading players are up and coming actors, while the supporting roles provide opportunities for more experienced actors to chew up the scenery and juice things up. Here, the juice is provided by Lili Taylor as the religious Vice Principal, who storms around, and Katherine Waterston, almost buried by a bushel of hair, who makes her presence known in the third act. Nostalgia buffs will also appreciate the presence of Chris Klein, bless his heart, as a math teacher.

Fear Street fans will want to keep watching the credits for a mid-credits moment that may be significant; for now, it's just a fun little something.

If you've already satisfied your horror bug by catching up with all five Final Destination films on the Max streaming service, you may return to Netflix to watch a live-action adaptation of a manga that also inspired an anime series, Kakegurai.

The original manga's full title is Kakegurai -- Compulsive Gambler, and follows a new student at a prestigious high school in Japan. That's the basic setup in Bet, although this time it follows a Japanese-born student to the English-language school.

I watched the entirety of Kakegurai in 2019, and to say I didn't enjoy the experience is putting it mildly: "Wildly screeching on the edge of unwatchability, Kakegurui could fairly be described as 'anime on acid.'"

So, not to my taste. Netflix also featured a live-action version in Japanese, and could only get through one episode before abandoning it. I braved the new English-language version that just debuted, and could only get through about 20 minutes.

I can only take so much assault on my senses, but if it sounds like something that you want to watch, by all means, enjoy.

Much more sedate and much more to my taste, Nine Puzzles -- not to be confused with Nine Perfect Strangers, the second season of which also dropped on Hulu -- is a Korean-language murder mystery series with potential, though I've only watched the first episode so far.

The series starts 10 years ago, as a young woman arrives home to discover the dead body of her uncle. Or that's her story, anyway; a rookie detective has his doubts.

Fast forward to the present, and the young woman is now a profiler for the Seoul Police Department, where the suspicious-minded detective continues to investigate homicides. The first episode concludes with another piece of a jigsaw puzzle showing up, which fits with the puzzle piece that the woman discovered at the scene of the original crime.

The atmosphere is dark yet not oppressive, and the characters are weird and distinctive, with some wit and a general sense of disdain, so I've added Nine Puzzles to my watch list. It's available on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney Plus in Canada.