6 Best New Movies to Stream This Weekend (May 15-17): ‘Goat,’ ‘Lurker,’ ‘Abraham’s Boys’ and More

Will Harris (Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin) is already the goat — literally, he’s a talking and walking goat who wants to be a great roarball (basketball) player like his idol, the black panther Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). He gets his chance when a viral video of him showing off his r-ball skills gets him a spot on the Vineland Thorns team. Now that Will’s in the big leagues, can he show he has what it takes to impress Jett and win the roarball championship trophy?

Goat was what Space Jam 2 should’ve been but wasn’t — a colorful underdog sports movie filled with just the right mixture of basketball and comedian vocal talents. You’ll hear basketball icons Stephen Curry, Kevin Love and Angel Reese alongside funny people Nick Kroll and Patton Oswalt, resulting in a broadly appealing animated movie that will make the kids laugh and entertain the grown-ups. Goat doesn’t aim to be a classic, but its modest-sized ambitions are just about perfect for a casual afternoon streaming session.

The boomer classic Fatal Attraction gets a Gen Z update in the new thriller Lurker. Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) lives an ordinary life working at a clothing shop in Los Angeles, which is why he’s shocked to see rising musician Oliver (Archie Madekwe) among his customers. The two men instantly bond, and Matthew soon finds himself filming a behind-the-scenes documentary about Oliver’s tour. walks into his clothing store one day. Matthew loves his new life as Oliver’s close friend, and he’ll do anything to keep it — anything.

Lurker isn’t your typical suspense story, so don’t expect any boiled rabbits or artfully chopped-up corpses. Instead, it’s a probing look at male friendship that turns toxic on both sides. It’s a psychological thriller that’s surprisingly realistic, with Matthew being portrayed less as a psycho and more like a lonely dude who wants his dreams to come true. Every dream has a price, though, and Lurker’s ending includes a winking nod to All About Eve that is the perfect capper to Matthew’s odd journey from a nobody to a somebody.

Dracula is dead — so what now? That’s the central thesis behind Abraham’s Boys, a flawed but fascinating sequel to Bram Stoker’s horror classic. In this follow-up, Van Helsing (Titus Welliver) has married Mina Murray (Jocelin Donahue) and moved to California to raise their two sons, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey). But even though the Lord of the Undead is, well, dead, his vampire children roam the earth, and they may have found the guy who slayed their master. Van Helsing is no longer a young man, but he still has what it takes to fight the forces of darkness.

Adapted from a short story by modern horror master Joe Hill, Abraham’s Boys chronicles the aftermath of Dracula’s reign of terror by focusing on the story’s most famous survivors. This film could’ve been a straightforward horror sequel, but instead it includes an interesting twist — what if there were no vampires? Is Van Helsing the vampire-vanquishing hero he claims to be, or is he murdering his human neighbors because they don’t behave the way he wants them to? This ambiguity makes Abraham’s Boys absorbing to watch, even if its execution — pardon the pun — isn’t as good as you’d like it to be.

Since Y tu mamá también, Gael García Bernal has been killing it, and he has his most daunting role yet in Magellan. He plays the legendary Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to sail across the Pacific Ocean. That’s easier said than done, especially in the 16th century, when there was no Google Maps or even electricity. All Magellan had was a ship, a dream and the backing of Spain to discover and conquer new territory. 

Magellan is a historical epic that strives for accuracy, so it’s not exactly pleasant to watch Magellan and his shipmates suffer endlessly while they sail across the unforgiving Pacific. Disease and disloyalty cut their numbers in half, and the film doesn’t shy away from showing just how arduous the journey was. As the title character, Bernal plays the man rather than the legend, resulting in a biopic that’s honest about its subject’s flaws. Magellan can be punishing to watch at times, but it’s a rewarding experience for history enthusiasts eager to go back in time to see what it was really like to explore the then-unknown world.

To paraphrase Alien’s famous tagline, “In high school, no one can hear you … whistle.” And if they do, watch out — your life is probably about to end. That’s the not-so-high concept behind Whistle, a new horror film that shamelessly rips off Final Destination’s central conceit. When a group of teens in detention discovers an ancient whistle, they quickly find out that whoever plays it is killed by an apparition of their future demise. The only way to stop the curse is to transfer it to someone else by marking them with their blood. Sound familiar?

Whistle works because of its execution — it’s shot well, and the death scenes are appropriately gruesome. If you’re a fan of horror, it shouldn’t be a surprise who lives and who dies, but the movie’s predictability is part of its pleasure. Edgar Wright’s best bud Nick Frost shows up as a teacher, and you can accurately guess what happens to him.

A lot of people don’t like their bosses, so imagine a scenario where you’re stuck on a deserted island with them. What would you do? That’s the predicament low-level employee Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) finds herself in at the beginning of Send Help, an entertaining new horror-comedy from the twisted mind of director Sam Raimi. Linda is usually a pushover, but she has the skills necessary to survive without the modern conveniences of plumbing or DoorDash. Her boss, the egotistical Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), doesn’t like being subservient to anyone, but he has no choice. But when he suspects Linda is deliberately stranding them in the middle of nowhere, he takes matters into his own hands and the results aren’t pretty.

Send Help is like Survivor on steroids — it’s brutal, funny and at times scary. What else would you expect from the man who gave birth to the Evil Dead franchise? It’s a hoot to see McAdams battle O’Brien, even if you have to occasionally close your eyes at all the horrible things they do to each other. With McAdams again flexing her comedic chops, can we finally see the actress reprise Regina George in a Mean Girls sequel?