New Movies on Streaming This Weekend

A string of great new movies are streaming this weekend, and we’ve got your guide to the recently released films that deserve your attention as you unwind and kick back over the next few days.

We say Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are for movies, but if you’re not in the mood to trek out to your local theater, you can always heat up a bag of microwave popcorn, curl up on the couch in your PJs and hit “play” from the comfort of your own home.

This weekend you can already watch Black Phone 2 at home if you’re feeling a horror vibe and not quite ready to move on from Halloween just yet, even though jollier holidays are right around the corner. There’s also Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on Netflix, plus a new comedy starring Keanu Reeves as a guardian angel who bites off more than he can chew when the willful human he’s tasked to guide has other plans.

Below, here are the five best new movies you can watch at home this weekend, either on VOD or streaming for free. Happy viewing!

Black Phone 2 (VOD)

In the sequel to 2021’s excellent supernatural horror slasher The Black Phone, Finney Blake, now a troubled teen due to the trauma he endured in the first film, is tormented once again by the Grabber—this time terrorizing his victims, including Finney’s younger sister Gwen, from beyond the grave.

The chilling follow-up takes place at a snow-covered mountain sleepaway camp as Finney and Gwen team up to solve the Grabber’s first murder spree. Black Phone 2 marks a slight tonal shift from the more psychological, subtle scares of the first movie to something more akin to the Nightmare on Elm Street series, with Ethan Hawke’s killer now a Freddy Krueger-esque figure.

Black Phone 2 is available for rent or purchase on VOD, including Amazon Prime.

Frankenstein (Netflix)

Guillermo del Toro is a master of gothic filmmaking, and his latest labor of love, Frankenstein, fits in perfectly with his celebrated, oft-macabre filmography.

Based on Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel, del Toro’s atmospheric Frankenstein focuses on the titular mad scientist (Oscar Isaac), whose unrelenting ego leads to tragic consequences when his monstrous creation (Jacob Elordi) is rejected and condemned to a lonely existence.

Frankenstein is streaming exclusively on Netflix.

The Smashing Machine (VOD)

In a transformational role that earned critical praise, Dwayne Johnson stars as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie’s biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine.

The film tells the real-life story of former MMA and UFC legend Mark Kerr, whose obsession with perfection nearly destroys him as he navigates substance abuse, the pressures of the spotlight, a volatile relationship and the heavy physical toll of fighting.

The Smashing Machine is available to rent or purchase via VOD.

Good Fortune (VOD)

Written and directed by Aziz Ansari, and starring Ansari, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Sandra Oh, and Keke Palmer, Good Fortune is a supernatural, socially minded comedy of (literally) heavenly proportions that tackles the economic divide.

When a well-meaning guardian angel (Reeves) swaps a struggling Los Angeles-based gig-worker into the body of a wealthy investor to prove that money doesn’t solve all problems, he risks losing his wings and being forced to live as a human when the poorer man refuses to switch back.

Good Fortune is available to rent or purchase via VOD, including Amazon Prime.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Disney+)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first official Fantastic Four film sees family unit-turned-superhero team Reed Richards (AKA Mister Fantastic), Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm face off against the giant planet-consuming Galactus, who really, really wants Reed and Sue’s newborn baby for a reason we won’t spoil here.

Set in the 1960s on an alternate version of Earth, the retro-futuristic movie is packed with both action and heart as the quartet of heroes resolve to save the world using their greatest strength of all: the power of family.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is streaming for free on Disney+.