Want to know what’s coming soon to digital and what to watch right now on FandangoNOW and Vudu? Here is your weekly guide to the latest releases:
What are the latest new releases to watch right now?
Anything for Jackson, which has the distinction of being one of the most acclaimed horror movies of the past year (Certified Fresh with 98% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes), is now available to rent and purchase digitally on FandangoNOW and Vudu. This darkly humorous and surprisingly heartfelt supernatural feature follows an elderly couple who dabble in Satanism as they kidnap a pregnant woman for nefarious but sort of well-intentioned purposes.
See, the older duo just wants to bring back their recently deceased grandson by awakening his spirit in the body of the unborn child. Of course, these schemes always wind up awakening greater evils. Oops! This is an exciting new effort from the writer and director team of Keith Cooper and Justin G. Dyck (who’ve been honing their skills the last decade making Christmas rom-coms for television) and shouldn’t be missed by genre movie fans.
What movies are great to pair with that new release?
If you’d like to pair Anything for Jackson with another horror movie involving old folks using a pregnant woman for a Satanic plot, the obvious choice for that double feature is Rosemary’s Baby. Or, if a pregnancy possession isn’t a necessary element, I recommend the original Pet Sematary, which shares the idea that resurrecting your dead loved one comes with devilish side effects. If you’re curious about Justin G. Dyck’s other work, and you’re in a festive and romantic mood, you can also pick up A Christmas Exchange.
Are there any other big movies coming out this week?
Siberia, the latest collaboration between cult filmmaker Abel Ferrara and actor Willem Dafoe arrives on digital for rental and purchase on FandangoNOW and Vudu this Friday, June 18. Inspired by the work of Carl Jung, the trippy psychological thriller casts Dafoe as a self-exiled bar owner in the titular region, where he doesn’t speak the language and either is suffering from hallucinations or is haunted by malevolent spirits. Or, maybe he’s just facing his personal demons in this surreal character-driven drama.
Let that new movie kick off a marathon of features pairing Ferrara and Dafoe. They first worked together on the 1998 sci-fi drama New Rose Hotel, which is currently available for free on Vudu (as are Ferrara’s earlier films China Girl, The King of New York and The Blackout). Ferrara and Dafoe more recently teamed up for the unconventional biopic Pasolini, in which Dafoe portrays Italian auteur Pier Paolo Pasolini, and the drama Tommaso, in which Dafoe plays another American expat, the one living in Rome.
What are some great Father’s Day movies to buy this month?
Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 20, and both FandangoNOW and Vudu are celebrating with huge deals on dad-movie favorites, such as Ford v Ferrari and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and classic films with paternal protagonists, like Paper Moon and There Will Be Blood. There are plenty with appropriate names: Big Daddy, Daddy’s Home, Father of the Bride, World’s Greatest Dad, Superdad. And let’s not forget the shows our fathers know best, like Vikings and Black Sails.
Start celebrating early: The Hitman’s Bodyguard is part of the sale, so you can watch that before going to see the follow-up, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, in theaters this week. Speaking of sequels, there are tons of franchise bundles that are 25% off, including Rambo (five movies), Rocky (six movies), Creed (two movies), Jack Ryan (five movies), The Godfather (three movies), and Indiana Jones (four movies, now all in 4K!). Plus there are bundles of your dad’s favorite actors, such as Bruce Willis, Jason Statham and, of course, John Wayne, John Wayne, John Wayne.
Here’s where I recommend some double features. Vudu’s Mix & Match Father’s Day sale helps, as you can get all these pairings for under $10: The Terminator with Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Interstellar with Aniara; Field of Dreams with Eight Men Out; Platoon with First Blood; Reservoir Dogs with The Usual Suspects; and Midnight Run with 3:10 to Yuma. Outside of that section, I also recommend pairing Commando with Taken; Vice Versa with Like Father Like Son; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Blackthorn; Good Will Hunting with The Pursuit of Happyness.
Are we celebrating any big movie anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 20th anniversaries of the video game adaptation Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the crime film Sexy Beast and the quirky comic book movie Ghost World. Also, the Jim Carrey comedy The Cable Guy and Bernardo Bertolucci’s romantic drama Stealing Beauty both turn 25 while the Kevin Costner-led adventure blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves turns 30. And the martial arts sequel The Karate Kid Part II, the Robert Redford-led lawyer comedy Legal Eagles and Denys Arcand’s The Decline of the American Empire all turn 35.
Going back further, the DC superhero sequel Superman II turns 40, the World War II movie Midway turns 45 and the rat-infested horror movie Willard and Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes both turn 50. Also, the TV sitcom spin-off Munster, Go Home! turns 55, Sergio Leone’s adventure film The Colossus of Rhodes turns 60, Billy Wilder’s media-skewering masterpiece Ace in the Hole turns 70, the romantic drama Anna and the King of Siam turns 75 and the Disney animated feature The Reluctant Dragon and the Marx Brothers comedy The Big Store both turn 80.
More recent movies with noteworthy anniversaries include The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the wrestling comedy Nacho Libre and the fantastical romantic drama The Lake House all turn 15, while the DC superhero movie Green Lantern, the Jim Carrey family film Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Ti West’s horror film The Innkeepers, and the documentaries Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Page One: Inside the New York Times all turn 10. Finally, the hit animated features Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets are both already five years old!
Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?
Vudu’s Month of Music spotlight has deals on movies starring recording artists and movies about the music industry this week. For the former, I recommend 9 to 5, Boyz N the Hood, Beaches and The Social Network. For the latter, I’d pair Straight Outta Compton with 8 Mile, The Buddy Holly Story with La Bamba and Ray with Get On Up, which are already bundled together.
Also, sort of overlapping into Father’s Day territory, Vudu has a sale right now on sports comedies, and there are a few original-meets-remake pairings already bundled together to check out, such as both versions of The Longest Yard and both versions of The Bad News Bears, plus the ‘70s classics Heaven Can Wait, North Dallas Forty, Semi-Tough and Slap Shot.
This week, Vudu’s Actor’s Spotlight has deals on select movies starring Maya Rudolph, Richard E. Grant, Helen Mirren and Jimmy Smits. Here are my recommendations for pairings of early gems from each: Chuck & Buck and A Prairie Home Companion for Rudolph; L.A. Story and The Player for Grant; Excalibur and 2010: The Year We Make Contact for Mirren; and Running Scared and The Believers for Smits. Also, since I’m already recommending a few Robert Altman movies and both Grant and Mirren are in this one, pick up Gosford Park as a bonus selection.
Which must-see movies are coming soon to FandangoNOW and Vudu?
It won't be available for Father’s Day this year, but Midnight in the Switchgrass stars dad-favorite actor Bruce Willis alongside Megan Fox as FBI agents and is set to arrive on digital next month, on July 23. Based on a true story, this Texas-set thriller also features Emile Hirsch, Lukas Haas and Colson Baker (a.k.a. Machine Gun Kelly). The plot follows a federal sex-trafficking investigation that runs up against a state-wide hunt for the dangerous mass murderer known as “The Truck Stop Killer.” Check out the exclusive new trailer for the movie below.
What are the 10 most popular new movies on FandangoNOW?
1. Wrath of Man
2. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
3. Nobody
4. Godzilla vs. Kong
5. Queen Bees
6. Rogue Hostage
7. Dream Horse
8. Mortal Kombat
9. Profile
10. The Unholy
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
1. Nobody
2. Wrath of Man
3. Spiral: From the Book of Saw
4. Godzilla vs. Kong
5. Tom & Jerry
6. Mortal Kombat
7. The Sandlot
8. Voyagers
9. The Marksman
10. Four Good Days
