Everyone’s favorite horror icon is hitting Prime Video this month. The little robot that could, M3GAN, written by Akela Cooper (Malignant) and directed by Gerard Johnstone (the criminally underrated Housebound), will be premiering on Prime Video at the end of the month. While that’s a ways to go, there’s no shortage of other sensational genre titles to keep the cinephiles occupied.
Here, as always, we’ll be looking at every horror and sci-fi title coming to Prime Video this June, highlighting five of the best with the full list available at the end (if you’d rather skip everything I have to say).
M3GAN
Obviously, the big hitter on Prime Video this month is M3GAN. Whatever happened between the trailer premiere and the film’s release (and some reports suggest a lot happened), M3GAN gamely became 2023’s cult favorite. Funny, frightening, and deliciously camp, M3GAN had more fun in its killer AI sandbox than it had any right to.
The Relic
Peter Hyams’ The Relic, based on Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s novel “Relic,” is one of the best nineties creature features around. A South American monster is set loose in the Field Museum of Natural History, gobbling up anyone unfortunate enough to come across it. Merging genuine horror with B-movie charm, The Relic is a sterling, well, relic from an era where studios would say, “Oh, you want to make a monster movie? Here’s $40 million.” What a time to be alive.
Reign of Fire
Speaking of big-budget monsters, Rob Bowman’s Reign of Fire has finally had the critical re-appraisal it so desperately needed. While it’s far from a masterpiece, it remains one of the few movies around that is content to simply be cool. A post-apocalyptic, fire-breathing banger, Reign of Fire follows the who’s-who of early aughts cinema as they contend with dragons accidentally awakened several years before. It’s a fervent, action-packed spectacle, and while many audiences missed it at release, I absolutely recommend streaming it on Prime Video this month.
There’s Something Wrong with the Children
The newest release on this list (it beats M3GAN by a few weeks), Roxanne Benjamin’s There’s Something Wrong with the Children looked to be another Blumhouse throwaway. Scary children have struggled to remain terrifying in recent years. Some, like Wake Wood, find fresh angles with familiar formulas, though most acquiesce to genre convention, doling out the same old scares without scruples. At first, There’s Something Wrong with the Children looks to be that, though nestled within is a compelling twist on paternal gaslighting.
Here, it’s Zach Gilford’s Ben who is made to believe—on account of his bipolar disorder—that none of the horrors he’s witnessed are actually happening. Audience reception remains mixed– There’s Something Wrong with the Children was the horror topic of January—and while I won’t discredit anyone’s perception, for me, There’s Something Wrong with the Children was an urgent and curative reaction to horror’s recurrent mismanagement of mental illness.
The Gift
Sam Raimi’s The Gift is undoubtedly one of his best movies ever. Cate Blanchett, always a marvel, has rarely been better than she is here. She stars as Annie, a psychic whose extrasensory perceptions gives her unique insight into a recent murder case. Putting the SG in Southern Gothic, The Gift melds horror and drama like no other, showing Raimi working in more restrained, though no less effective, territory.
While those are the highlights, plenty of other titles remain available to stream on Prime Video this month. Several old, Golden Age thrillers will debut, as will two-thirds of the Cornetto Trilogy. Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (the best sci-fi movie of the century) will make an appearance, as will the entirety of both Charmed and Wings (Wings isn’t horror, but it makes the perfect palate-cleanser). What do you plan to check out this month? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins, and don’t forget to check out the fill list below.
Every Genre Title coming to Prime Video in June
June 1
1984 (1985)
Arrival (2016)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
He Who Must Die (1958)
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
In Time (2011)
Lady Of Vengeance (1957)
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Machete (2010)
Man In The Net (1959)
No Escape (1994)
Reign of Fire (2002)
River’s Edge (1987)
Robocop (1987)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Sliver (1993)
Stargate (1994)
The Call (2020)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
The Gift (2000)
The Relic (1997)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
The Time Machine (2002)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
The World’s End (2013)
True Lies (1994)
Charmed S1-8 (1999)
June 6
TÁR (2022, it has Blair Witch homages)
June 11
Interstellar (2014)
June 16
Ender’s Game (2013)
There’s Something Wrong with The Children (2023)
June 26
Project Almanac (2015)
June 27
M3GAN (2023)
Tags: Prime Video
Categorized: Streaming Guides
