This weekend’s playlist includes three types of movies, so you can choose whatever you’re in the mood for. We have a bunch of hidden gems on Amazon Prime Video that deserve your attention.
There’s Michael Caine’s fun revenge thriller not to be missed, a low-budget 1950s sci-fi mystery that thrives on atmosphere and dialogue. For horror fans, we have a hospice nurse whose faith extends to something very dangerous that gets under your 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 expectations will work against you. What it really is is a deeply sad psychological portrait of a young nurse named Maud, a late Catholic who is dangerously determined to save the life of her terminally ill patient through increasingly disturbing methods.
Morfydd Clark’s performance is the engine of the whole thing, straddling the delicate, terrifying line between holiness and paranoia throughout. I really like how the film gets under your skin without ever fully explaining itself. You end up feeling like you saw something you shouldn’t have seen, and that feeling doesn’t go away quickly.
You can watch Saint Maud on Amazon Prime Video
Harry Brown (2009)
If you have a soft spot for steamy British crime dramas, Harry Brown is the movie you need to watch this weekend. Michael Caine plays the title character, a widowed, retired veteran of the Royal Marines who lives in a decaying South London neighborhood plagued by gang violence. When his only friend is killed, Harry stops looking the other way.
What makes this film work so well is the way it refuses to gloss over what’s next. Harry is not an action hero. It is an old man suffering from emphysema who stumbles while being chased and falls into the path of a canal.
I really like how the film capitalizes on every moment of tension because it keeps Harry vulnerable and the world around him genuinely threatening. Caine is truly amazing here, and there are sequences in this film that will make you forget you’re watching a 77-year-old man.
You can watch Harry Brown on Amazon Prime Video
Vast of Night (2019)
Have you accidentally turned on a late night radio broadcast and failed to turn it off? Well, The Vast of Night is exactly that kind of sci-fi movie.
Set in one night in small-town 1950s New Mexico, the film follows Fay, a teenage switchboard operator, and Everett, a fast-talking local DJ, as they discover a mysterious sound frequency that sends them down a strange and increasingly terrifying rabbit hole.
No big chunks or random attacks. The tension is built almost entirely through dialogue, long unbroken camera takes, and incredibly accurate sound design that makes the night feel alive and visible.
What I love most about this movie is the way it makes silence sound intense. A long phone call, a quiet street, a booming voice, and somehow everything keeps you trapped inside. For a film made on a low budget, The Vast of Night makes for an entertaining watch.
You can watch The Vast of Night on Amazon Prime Video
