It’s the last weekend of summer, and what better way to celebrate than by staying at home and seeing what streamers like Netflix, Hulu and Shudder have to offer?
Netflix just dropped the wildly entertaining Best of the Best, a dance comedy featuring stars from Never Have I Ever, Freakier Friday and The Pitt.
On Hulu, the 2025 fantasy 100 Nights of Hero will make you wish you’re in another world being romanced by Nicholas Galitzine’s dashing suitor.
Shudder is the home of all things horror, and the 2026 film Goody Goody brings all the scares with its twisted tale of a home birth that goes horribly wrong.
‘100 Nights of Hero’ (2025) — Hulu
Jerome (Amir El-Masry) and Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) are longtime friends who strike a friendly if bizarre wager: if Manfred can seduce Jerome’s wife, Cherry (Maika Monroe), in 100 days while he’s away, he can have his mansion and all the possessions in it. If he fails, he has to father a child and give it to Jerome as his heir. Manfred thinks he’ll easily win this bet, but he’s surprised at Cherry’s resistance and her maid Hero’s (Emma Corrin) dedication to preserving her mistress’s reputation. Cherry loves her husband, but he has yet to consummate their marriage, and Manfred looks more appealing as days drag on. Will Manfred succeed? Or will Cherry remain faithful to a partner who callously used her as a bet for his own amusement?
Based on Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel The One Hundred Nights of Hero, this 2025 fantasy film has some fun with its far-out premise. The film takes a turn after the bet is over, and Hero emerges as a more important character than she was in the first part. Writer-director Julia Jackman doesn’t shy away from the story’s blunt metaphors; the hero of the story, after all, is literally named Hero, which should indicate the lack of subtlety at play here. But 100 Nights of Hero is an imaginative fable that throws a lot of different elements into its castle walls to see if they’ll stick and enough to make it a fantasy flick worth checking out.
‘Best of the Best’ (2026) — Netflix
Bring It On meets Bollywood in Best of the Best, an energetic dance comedy that brings South Asian flavor to a subgenre that’s largely been dormant since the late 2000s. The film follows two childhood besties, Maya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Anjali (Priyanka Kedia), who begin their freshman year at UCLA by pursuing their two passions: getting good grades and breaking down some nasty beats on the dance floor. They join the university’s competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team and quickly realize this dance squad takes their craft seriously. The squad wants to win the U.S. college dance championship, but they’ll have to beat top-ranked schools who will do anything to win.
Part of the pleasure of watching Best of the Best is knowing exactly where the story goes and how it gets there. Two best friends who overcome a conflict and reaffirm their love for each other? Check? An inspirational teacher who gives them the pep talk they need to. Check. A rival team whose dance moves are as nasty as their attitude? Check, check and check. Best of the Best doesn’t rewrite the dance movie playbook so much as it highlights it with its infectious dance sequences (someone give the film’s choreographer a bonus) and well-placed humor. It’s a fun and frothy film to watch, especially in the final weekend before summer officially ends.
‘Goody Goody’ (2026) — Shudder
There are plenty of horror movies about expecting a baby, but precious few that focus on the potential terrors of delivering a baby at home. That’s the central conceit behind Goody Goody, a claustrophobic chiller with a four-person cast. Expectant mother Goody (Samantha Robinson) is determined to have a natural home birth in a remote forest cabin. Midwife Sarah (Colleen Foy) isn’t so sure, but Goody’s husband, Jayson (Colby Hollman), doesn’t see the harm. When a blizzard traps them inside and the house loses power, things begin to spiral out of control — and that includes Goody, who acts odder with each passing minute. Goody is dead-set on having her baby away from civilization, but everyone else begins to wonder who — or what — exactly is about to be delivered into this world.
Goody Goody is a low-budget horror flick that works primarily due to its intriguing premise. Real-life home births can be disturbing to witness, and the film exploits this scenario by infusing it with a paranoia that makes you feel a little unsettled while watching it. The third act takes a turn straight into cosmic horror, but to even hint at what it is would spoil all the fun.
Read the full article here
