A Supernatural Slasher, Snyder’s Zombiology and More, Now Available to Stream

Stepping outside lately feels like being stuck in a Western — and not just because of the irresponsible attitude toward permitless handgun carrying from our state “leaders.” Obstinacy has become the dominant characteristic for dealing with, well, everyone. So it’s back to genre this week, finding comfort in fake murder, skillfully executed surprises, and no-nonsense lesbian energy. As always, look back at past issues of the Scene for more recommendations on what to stream: March 26, April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7, May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11, June 18, June 25, July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30, Aug. 6, Aug. 13, Aug. 20, Aug. 27, Sept. 3, Sept. 10, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 5, Nov. 11, Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Dec. 17, Jan. 6, Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 4, Feb. 11, Feb. 18, Feb. 25, March 11, March 18, March 25, April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29, May 13.

Seance via video on demand

There are certain states of being that might as well be death sentences in mainstream cinema. It could be the authority figure who’s just a few days away from retirement, the model working in any capacity in the 1970s, the family pet lurking in the background of shots for the first couple of reels or the person who teaches a main character a valuable lesson that will help them improve their life. But worse off than any of those are the poor souls who attend remote boarding schools where we never see anything of the outside world and mysterious rumors encircle the very land. Seance is a film about a girls’ school with a body count, and it delivers on the title immediately — serving up a second séance within the first 10 minutes, which is the right kind of cup-runneth-over attitude to have here.

If you want a traditional supernatural slasher, Seance more or less delivers that. Writer-director Simon Barrett (he wrote You’re Next, The Guest, Blair Witch and A Horrible Way to Die) knows the movies you know, and finds interesting ways in and around the material. There’s a girlfight that feels like it popped in from a Tony Jaa movie, a dancer’s rehearsal that dialogues with the superlative Cassandra sequence from Scream 2, and a moment of gorgeous violence that feels like a shout-out to the recently deceased master of Italian splatter Gianetto De Rossi. There are also some nice touches that help the genre as a whole move in interesting new pathways. A future slumber-party classic.

The Woman in the Window on Netflix

The starting point of The Woman in the Window is a bestselling novel ankle-deep in real-life mysteries of all sorts (including a pathological-liar author). The end point is a compromised film that got sold off to Netflix and has wrangled a sizable audience of people starved for suspense and tension that has nothing to do with things in the news. And in the middle is a sometimes effective, sometimes ludicrous, but never boring gumbo of every imaginable kind of thriller. To put it another way: Any film with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and Jennifer Jason Leigh in it is worthy of your attention. The Woman in the Window is the kind of messy adaptation that benefits from a nice box of wine and a powerful air conditioner. It doesn’t hurt that it’s periodically exquisitely directed (by Joe Wright), with set pieces that shake up the soul, even as sometimes it gets really, really stupid in what feel like studio-mandated reshoots.

Anna (Adams) is an agoraphobic child psychologist in the middle of a separation from her husband (Anthony Mackie) and daughter following a suicide attempt. She haunts her gorgeous Harlem brownstone, deriving joy and chaos from casks of wine, old movies and shifting adventures in pharmacology. But then some new neighbors with a weird teen son (Fred Hechinger giving off some serious Emory Cohen-on-Smash vibes) move in across the street, and before you know it, it’s snowing inside, there’s been a murder, and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julianne Moore seem to be the same person — or are they?

What I first thought was a shambly reshoot was actually apparently how the book ended, so this one is full of surprises. Surprises like how much haterade has been dumped on it, because what’s good in it certainly outweighs what’s dumb. A lot will depend on how much joy you derive from unhinged actressing and soaking in mystery upon mystery. More so, there’s a second-act reveal that shouldn’t work at all, yet it sticks the landing in a way that keeps you on board no matter how bat-shit crazy things go (and, oh, do they). As far as airport-bestseller adaptations go, this one is something distinctive.

Army of the Dead on Netflix

Truthfully, if Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead was the story that the involved parties wanted to tell, it could have been done in a less derivative fashion — or at least a shorter one. At two-and-a-half hours, this film shouldn’t have as many loose strands hanging all about. And if you let the kitten of your subconscious start batting at one or two of them, it all starts unraveling. I honestly can’t say if the situation is improved or laid bare by the online community embracing time-loop theories to explain some of the particularly egregious choices, as well as balance the forthcoming prequel and animated series. Army of the Dead is a great launch for a media empire, because there’s already an infrastructure for Snyderians on the internet — and who wouldn’t want to at least take a glance at Las Vegas overrun by the voracious undead, laid out in a consistently shallow depth of field that does work on the nerves?

But comparing this film to Snyder’s 2004 breakthrough remake of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead compels a viewer to appreciate the contributions of James Gunn, whose screenplay for that film remains the best that Snyder has worked with. On the plus side, we do get Dave Bautista wearing tiny glasses, which is never not captivating, and a pleasant-enough pinch-hitter performance from Sarah Silverman Program alumna Tig Notaro, digitally composited in to replace alleged sexual predator Chris D’Elia. There’s an abundance of gore, and some intriguing evolutions in zombiology (as well as some deeply silly ones) involving possible alien DNA and mechanisms. But there’s also a shameless cribbing from plot points and even dialogue from Aliens, as well as a character who may as well be billed as Vasquez 2.0. Considering how rewarding the Snyder Cut of Justice League was when unleashed ages ago (actually, in March), I expected more than this.