The summer season is almost officially here, but you don’t have to wait to watch a good thriller or three.
Major streamers like Netflix, Peacock and Tubi have already replenished their libraries with some of the best movies the genre has to offer.
Netflix is now streaming Hot Summer Nights, a movie you’ve never heard of featuring a young star, Timothée Chalamet, you definitely know.
Peacock subscribers can watch Chinatown, one of the best movies in any genre ever made, while Tubi fans can cheer Halle Berry on as she hunts down a serial killer in The Call.
‘Hot Summer Nights’ (2017) – Netflix
You can’t call yourself a Timothée Chalamet fan unless you’ve seen everything he’s been in, and chances are you haven’t seen Hot Summer Nights. Released around the time the young star hit it big with Call Me by Your Name, the neo-noir got so-so reviews and little attention, but now that it’s on Netflix, it should receive the appreciative audience it deserves.
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Taking place across several hot summer nights in 1991, the crime-thriller stars Chalamet as Daniel, a gawky teen forced to spend the season in Cape Cod with his aunt. He soon finds all the excitement he can handle when he befriends Hunter Strawberry (Alex Roe), the local bad boy who ropes Daniel into selling pot to townies. Business is good, but love gets in the way when Daniel falls for Hunter’s sister, McKayla (Longlegs‘ Maika Monroe). Hunter absolutely forbids the relationship, which only stokes the lovers’ fire. But will Daniel get burned by his summertime romance? Or will this affair be one to remember for all involved?
The main drawback to Hot Summer Nights is that it tries way too hard to be better than it is. It wants to be a coming-of-age classic, but it keeps throwing unnecessary subplots and characters at a thin narrative that can’t support so much weight – and ambition. Still, at least it tries, and even with subpar material, Chalamet shows he’s the star he eventually came to be in hits like the Dune films and Marty Supreme.
‘Chinatown’ (1974) – Peacock
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” That’s the last line spoken in the influential 1974 film Chinatown, and it’s one of the most famous closing lines in movie history. You’ve probably heard it even if you haven’t seen it, so if that’s you, relax – I’m giving nothing away by quoting that line. The “Jake” mentioned in that line is Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), a low-rent L.A. private investigator who makes his living being hired by worried wives who want to spy on their cheating husbands. He thinks that’s what Evelyn Mulwray (Diane Ladd) wants from him when she hires him, but when she turns up dead and the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) appears, he realizes something far more sinister is at play.
Who killed the fake Evelyn, whose real name is Ida Sessions? What secret is the real Evelyn hiding? And what does any of this have to do with a drought that’s crippling Southern California at the time? The genius behind Robert Towne’s note-perfect screenplay is that it somehow ties all these disparate things together and makes it palatable and exciting. But Chinatown is more than a great thriller – it’s also a great tragedy about how power corrupts everything it touches, including family. Nicholson is fantastic as a private eye who is in way over his head, while Dunaway is haunting as a woman whose beautiful facade covers up some pretty ugly things from her checkered past.
‘The Call’ (2013) – Tubi
One of the most famous wigs in modern movie history is the one worn by Halle Berry in the action-thriller, The Call. The actress herself has poked fun at it on social media, but it fits nicely into the film’s slightly over-the-top vibe.
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Berry stars as Jordan Turner, a workaholic 9-1-1 operator who hasn’t recovered from the murder of one of her callers who died while she was trying to save her. She gets a second chance at redemption when a kidnapped girl, Casey (Abigail Breslin), calls from the trunk of a speeding car asking for her help. Only Jordan can save her, but as she pieces together where Casey is, she realizes this case has a disturbing connection to the one that still haunts her in the present.
The Call is a gleefully absurd thriller with seemingly intentional lapses in logic. You’d be tempted to laugh, but let’s give credit where credit’s due – this film works. It’s suspenseful enough to keep you guessing and provides Berry with just enough material to make Jordan a worthwhile heroine to root for. Just don’t ask her about her wig.
