Our weekly guide to new and noteworthy indie and international genre fare, beginning with a Norwegian creature-feature sequel.
Troll 2
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Official synopsis: "A new troll has awakened! Join Nora, Andreas, and Captain Kris as they embark on their most dangerous adventure yet. With the clock ticking and chaos spreading, they'll need new allies and ancient secrets to stop the rampage. Can they save Norway before it's too late?"
Reflection in a Dead Diamond
The film is now streaming on Shudder.
Directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. Those names should be enough to spur streaming.
Official synopsis: "When the mysterious woman in the room next door disappears, a debonair 70-year-old ex-spy living in a luxury hotel on the Côte d'Azur is confronted by the demons and darlings of a lurid past in which moviemaking, memories and madness collide. "
Our review by Martin Kudlac: "Merges the aesthetics of Eurospy cinema with the existential unease and the sadism of exploitation fare."
The Haunted Season: The Occupant of the Room
The film is now streaming on Shudder.
Official synopsis: "From renowned author and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror), The Haunted Season is a series of chilling horror tales following the classic tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas.
"The new film in the horror anthology series, The Occupant of the Room is based on the classic chiller of the same name by Algernon Blackwood about a schoolteacher whose late-night arrival at a hotel in the Alps without a reservation leaves him with no option but to accept the room of a missing hotel guest - leading to a sleepless night full of strange and uncanny occurrences.
"The Occupant of the Room marks the second film in The Haunted Season anthology. A new episode will premiere each December on Shudder in the tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas. The first film, To Fire You Come At Last (2024), is currently streaming on Shudder."
Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning
The film is now streaming on Paramount Plus.
Tom Cruise stars. Christopher McQuarrie directed.
Our review by Rob Hunter: "The back half of The Final Reckoning, and really, much of the franchise as a whole, is movie magic uninterested in tricking viewers with effects and editing alone. This is a purer kind of magic, filmmaking that creates spectacle built on intricately crafted stunts, set pieces with scope, and action sequences that leave us spent and smiling."
Spartacus: House of Ashur
The first two episodes are now streaming on Starz. Subsequent episodes will debut every Friday.
Ask your parents before watching this series. Fans of the original series, your jam has returned.
Official synopsis: "What if Ashur lived, rewarded with the gladiator school where he once bled? With Achillia, a gladiatrix, he sparks spectacles that defy Roman elite."
Caught Stealing
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Darren Aronofsky directs; Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Regina King, and David Tennant star.
Official synopsis: "When cat-sitting for his loudmouth punk neighbor goes horribly wrong, bartender and baseball lover Hank must dodge New York City's most unruly gangsters."
Our review by Kyle Logan: "Never gets near the best of its genre or its director's earlier work, but there's something to be said for watching great actors light up a screen. Oh, and there's a really good cat."
The Family McMullen
The film is now streaming on HBO Max.
Remember when Edward Burns showed promise?
Official synopsis: "In the sequel to the indie hit The Brothers McMullen, the Long Island family faces love, loss, and new beginnings."
Architecton
The film is now streaming on HBO Max.
As an HBO Max subscriber, I love that A24 Films supplies a steady supply of their films to the service this year. The future of the service? We may know more in the coming days, as the spectre of Netflix ownership looms. For now, I'm gonna watch as much A24 as I can.
Official synopsis: "A hypnotic, propulsive odyssey through the foundations of the modern world--concrete & stone--that questions how we might inhabit the world of tomorrow."
Jay Kelly
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Burned-out George Clooney is an actor! Adam Sandler is his agent! (Seriously.)
Official synopsis: "Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron. Poignant and humor-filled, pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories."
The Abandons
All seven episodes are now streaming on Netflix.
Official synopsis: "A tale of two families. Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson go head-to-head in this gritty and cinematic storytelling of the haves and have nots."
Mad Men
The series debuts this week in 4K on HBO Max, while continuing to stream on AMC Plus.
Just type "HBO Max Mad Men" into your browser, and you'll see a bunch of news stories about the problems that a remastered into 4K version of the classic series has engendered.
As a reminder, you can avoid all that mess by watching in non-4K on AMC Plus, a streaming service that doesn't get as much love as it deserves -- it also includes Shudder and Sundance Now.
Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.