Yes, it’s that time again, the weekend, and time to review the best new movies and television shows added online this week, to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. And there are some exciting new adds this week, so let’s get started.
HULU
Hulu has few big titles added this week, except for Goosebumps: The Vanishing the 2025 horror series. In this 2nd season of Goosebumps, fraternal twins Devin (Sam McCarthy) and Cece (Jayden Bartels) go stay with their dad, Anthony (David Schwimmer!) in Brooklyn, for the summer . And Anthony is welcoming, except for one caveat- stay out of the basement- and, no, he’s not a mad scientist, but investigating the disappearance of his brother 30 years ago. And when he receives his brother’s last effects, he finds something malignant in them, that might infect him,and bring ruin to his whole family-or the world- if it spreads. Ana Ortiz, Elijah M. Cooper, Francesca Noel, and Galilea La Salvia also star, and there are 8 episodes available now. and this series gets a on IMDb, and Joel Keller of the Decider says to stream it, adding it “has an interesting, scary mystery at its center, as well as good performances from Schwimmer, McCarthy and Bartels.” Hulu also offers American Star, a 2024 thriller. Ian McShane(!) stars, here, as Wilson, a hitman who travels to Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands. But his target isn’t at home; instead, he meets a young French women(Nora Arnezeder), who came to use the house’s pool. As the woman befriends him, he learns her name is Gloria, and she takes him to see the sights on the island, like the beached ship, American Star. But soon, Wilson gets a foreboding that he is wrong about the target, that he’ll have to kill his new friend. And when his handler, Ryan(Adam Nagaitis) comes to check on him, confirms his suspicion, and tells Wilson he will carry out the job, if he doesn’t. Oscar Coleman, Fanny Ardant and Sabela Arán also star, and Gonzalo López-Gallego directs. And this movie gets a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Leslie Felperin of the Guardian says “although the script is a bit formulaic and fairly predictable, the treat here is seeing McShane do what he does best, which is to project a lively mind ticking away under the placid surface of a snake-like visage.” So I’m watching. Hulu also offers Fall, a 2022 thriller. Here, Youtuber Hunter(Virginia Gardner) convinces her grieving best friend Becky(Grace Caroline Currey) to join her n scaling an abandoned (huge) TV tower, but Becky has just been through a climbing disaster, and isn’t too sure. Finally, Hunter talks her into it. and so the friends set off into the desert and start their climb, not knowing that the ladder at the tower is going to crumble under their weight, and leave them stranded, hanging from the tower, with no help in sight. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding and Julia Pace Mitchell also star, and Scott Mann directed. And this movie gets a surprising 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Noel Murray of L.A. Times said it “does what the best survival movies do, by carefully enumerating the resources the heroes have at their disposal so that we can enjoy watching them figure out how to deploy these pieces wisely — or wince as they waste chances.” You decide. Hulu also has Stopmotion, a 2023 British horror flick. This movie finds Ella Blake(Aisling Franciosi), unhappily living with her abusive, artist mom, Suzanne (Stella Gonet), until she is sent to the hospital. Ella begins frantically developing her own(gross) stop motion picture, following the suggestions of a mysterious little girl, about the Ash Man, using meat and dead animal. But soon Ella gets drawn into her film, herself, and having difficulty distinguishing fiction from reality. And as she becomes delusional, Ella risks becoming a victim of her own creation, the Ash Man. Tom York, Caoilinn Springall and Therica Wilson-Read also star, and Robert Morgan directed. And this movie was nominated for multiple awards in 2023 and went on to win the Special Jury Prize at the Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival, and Best Director at the Fantastic Fest. And it gets an impressive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Noah Berlatsky of the Chicago Reader calls it “a strange, disturbing, exhilaratingly perverse film, which, like stop-motion itself, brings dead objects to life, and vice versa.” So you know I’m not watching.
NETFLIX
Netflix has an exciting add this week with American Primeval, a 2025 limited western drama series. This series tells a grim and much more realistic story of survival in the American west of the 1847, with the Utah war, between the Mormons and the U.S. Army beginning. Add to the mix the Native Americans , who want to protect what they can of their land, and violence and chaos become widespread. So when a lone woman , Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin), and her son Devin (Preston Mota), arrive in Ft. Bridger, Utah from Philadelphia, they are aghast at the primitive accommodations, and lack of order. But they’re determined to find Devin’s father in California. With no one wanting to escort them through the warring factions, they finally find Issac Reed (Taylor Kitsch), a loner living outside of Ft. Bridger, who reluctantly agrees to escort them, but even he will be little protection in the wild. Jai Courtney, Saura Lightfoot-Leon and Shawnee Pourier also star, and there are 6 episodes available now, all directed by Peter Berg. And this fascinating series gets an astonishing 7.9/10 on IMDb, and Aramide Tinubu of Variety calls it “a brutal, fascinating depiction of a culture and a country that has yet to overcome its most violent predilections.” And I am definitely watching, but there is violence and despair aplenty here, so gird your loins. Netflix also offers Hound’s Hill, a 2025 Polish crime thriller series. This finds a famous writer Mikolaj Glowacki( Mateusz Kościukiewicz) being blackmailed for one of his crime novels(about his girlfriend’s murder), and so, returns to his hometown of Zybork, with his wife, Justyna(Jaśmina Polak). But they are hardly welcome, and as they prepare to leave, they find a body, that leads them to investigate a series of murders in Zybork. But that threatens to bring even more ugly secrets out into the open, and maybe get the couple killed, to boot. Robert Więckiewicz, Jan Dravnel, Andrzej Konopka and Mirosława Lombardo also star, and there are 5 episodes available now. And though it gets only a 5.8/10 on IMDb, it also gets great reviews, from critics like Archi Sengupta of LeisureByte.com, who calls it a “devastating watch that leaves an impression on viewers, especially towards the end of the runtime.” So I’m watching. Netflix has also added Ad Vitam, a 2025 French thriller. Here, Franck(Guillaume Canet) survive an attempted murder at work, but he is clearly still troubled afterward. Then, armed attackers storm his apartment late at night, and abduct his heavily pregnant wife, Léo (Stéphane Caillard). And she will only survive if Franck figures out who the kidnappers are and what they want, but the possibilities are endless. Franck and his wife were both in the French Elite Intervention Squad (GIGN), with Franck fired after a mishap. Meanwhile, while finding his kidnappers and saving his wife, Franck also has to evade the police, who suspect him of murder. Jamel Blissat, Rayan Bouazza, Zita Hanrot and Maurice Chan also star, while Rodolphe Lauga directs. And this movie gets a 6.1/10 on IMDb, and Pramit Chatterjee of Digital Mafia Talkies says “Canet has given Tom Cruise a run for his money via the action sequences in Ad Vitam.” So its on my list. Netflix also has added Subteran, a 2025 Romanian crime drama series. This follows Cami, played by Ana Ularu , a tech specialist in Bucharest, who witnesses the murder of her fiancé, police officer Luca Voinea(Conrad Mericoffer) on Zoom .As Ana is given Luca‘s belongings, including his flash drive but the police don’t solve the case, she decides to investigate, and get revenge on the people who killed him. But that means infiltrating the dangerous underworld of Bucharest, while Luca‘s murderers want the flash drive, that Ana has. Vladimir Andriescu, lorin Piersic Jr., Cristian Popa and Adriana Trandafir also star, and there are 6 episodes available now. And this series gets a 6.4/10 on IMDb, and Anjali Sharma of the Midgard Times calls it “a noteworthy addition to the crime drama genre. Its engaging storyline, strong performances, and authentic portrayal of Bucharest‘s underworld make it a series worth watching.” So I’m watching. And, finally, Netflix has Asura, a 2025 Japanese drama series. This takes place in Tokyo in 1979, where Kotaro(Jun Kunimura) lives with his wife, and family. But when one of his 4 grown daughters,Takiko (Yu Aoi) (Rie Miyazawa) , discovers an awful secret about him, through an investigator, everything is blown apart. As Kotaro admits his indiscretions to his daughters, the women are left with the dilemma of whether or not they should tell their mother. And the question of whether their own honor was ever what they thought it was. Kisetsu Fujiwara, Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Masahiro Motoki and Keiko Matsuzaka also star, and all 7 episodes were written and directed by master Hirokazu Kore-eda(Shoplifters!!). And this series gets an outstanding 8.3/10 on IMDb, and Nick Shraeger of the Daily Beast says “this is the year’s first great new TV series..about a family’s tangle of tumult and affairs, is destined to be your next Netflix binge-watch.” And I agree, I’m definitely tuning in.
AMAZON
Amazon has just one notable title added this week with On Call, a 2025 police procedural series. This follows training officer Traci Harmon(Troian Bellisario) as she’s paired with rookie Alex Diaz(Brandon Larracuente), in the Long Beach P.D. . But there’s more to deal with for the pair, than just the average crimes, because officer Delgado(Monica Raymund) was recently shot, with the shooter never found. And Traci Harmon was a close friend, so her determination to catch the culprit dogs her every step, while Diaz makes an error that lets him slip through their fingers. Eriq LaSalle, Lori Laughlin and Rich Ting also star, and there are 8 episodes available now. And though this series gets a 7.6/10 on IMDb, it gets only a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Aramide Tinubu of Variety says “instead of offering a compelling viewpoint, the series is stressful and often mechanical. Viewers are never let off the job, so there is limited motivation to clock in for the next episode.” I’m not watching. You decide. And that’s it for the new adds this week, but luckily, Amazon also offers Beat, a 2018 German series. Here, Robert “Beat” Schlag (Jannis Niewöhner) is a leading party promoter in Berlin, where he co-owns the techno Club Sonar, with his friend Paul (Hanno Koffler). He knows everything going on in the city, legal and illegal, and that’s why an agent from the European Secret Intelligence, Emilia (Karoline Herfurth), approaches him to work for them. Beat is reluctant to work for them, but when two bodies are found at his club, he feels he has no choice. Especially because he has been noticing some strange characters, like Jasper (Kostja Ullmann),hanging around. And he has his own suspicions about the identity of the murderer. Svenja Jung, Claudia Michelsen and Alexander Fehling also star, and there are 7 episodes available now. And it gets an 7.3/10 on IMDb, and John Anderson of the Wall Street Journal calls it “baroquely entertaining and binge-able.” You decide. Just remember to opt for subtitles, if you don’t mind them, as the dubbing, as always, is super bad. And, finally, Amazon has Prisma, a 2022 Italian dramedy series. This explores the lives of two identical twins, Marco and Andrea, both played by Mattia Carrano, whose personalities are anything but similar. Marco has anger issues, and isn’t as popular as Andrea, but Andrea wears a public facade that hides his gender issues, that he can’t express that publicly. So they help each other, when they can. Caterina Forza, Chiara Bordi and Asia Patrignani also star, and there are 8 episodes available now. And this series has won a couple of awards in Italy, including Best Actor in a Series for Carrano at the 2024 Kineo Awards, and named Best Dramedy Series by the 2023 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. And it gets an incredible 7.8/10 on IMDb, and Radhika Menon of the Decider said “the show is aided by naturalistic performances from the entire cast and does a good job of setting up the complicated relationships that exist in high schools across the world.” So I’m tuning in.
So sit back and binge this weekend, on classics, old and new, on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
Grownups Guide to Streaming 