This weekend’s watchlist includes three different film genres, so you can choose whatever you’re in the mood for. We’ve got a trio of hidden gems on Amazon Prime Video that deserve a lot more attention.
There’s a dark revenge thriller from Michael Caine that you shouldn’t miss, a small-budget 1950s sci-fi crime thriller that thrives on atmosphere and dialogue. For horror fans, we have a psychological horror film about a hospice nurse whose faith turns into something far more dangerous that penetrates the skin.
We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best free movies, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.
Saint Maud (2019)
“Saint Maud” is not a horror film in the traditional sense, and assuming it is will have a negative impact. In reality, it is a deeply disturbing psychological portrait of a young hospice nurse named Maud, a recent Catholic convert, who becomes dangerously focused on saving the soul of her terminally ill patient and becomes increasingly disturbing in the process.
Morfydd Clark’s performance is the driving force of the whole thing, maintaining a fragile, frightening line between piety and paranoia throughout. I really like how the film gets under your skin without ever fully explaining itself. In the end, you feel like you’ve witnessed something you weren’t supposed to see, and that feeling doesn’t go away anytime soon.
You can watch Saint Maud on Amazon Prime Video
Harry Brown (2009)
If you have a penchant for slow-paced British crime thrillers, Harry Brown is the film you should definitely watch this weekend. Michael Caine plays the title character, a widowed, retired Royal Marines veteran living in a run-down South London housing estate plagued by gang violence. When his only friend is murdered, Harry stops looking the other way.
What makes this film so good is the fact that it refuses to glamorize what follows. Harry is not an action hero. He is an old man with emphysema who stumbles during a chase and collapses on a canal path.
I really like how the film earns every moment of suspense because it makes Harry vulnerable and the world around him genuinely threatening. Caine is absolutely exceptional here and there are sequences in this film that make you forget you are watching a 77 year old man.
You can watch Harry Brown on Amazon Prime Video
The Vast of Night (2019)
Have you accidentally turned on a late-night radio show and couldn’t bring yourself to turn it off? Well, The Vast of Night is exactly that kind of sci-fi film.
Set over a single evening in small-town New Mexico in the 1950s, the film follows Fay, a teenage telephone operator, and Everett, a fast-talking local radio DJ, as they encounter a mysterious audio frequency that sends them down a strange and increasingly sinister rabbit hole.
There are no major set pieces or alien invasions. The tension arises almost exclusively through dialogue, long, uninterrupted camera shots and an incredibly precise sound design that makes the evening seem lively and vivid.
What I really love about this film is how it makes the silence feel tense. A long phone call, a quiet street, a voice crackling through static, and somehow it all holds you completely captive. For a film made on a low budget, The Vast of Night is an entertaining watch.
You can watch The Vast of Night on Amazon Prime Video
