Welcome to Stream And Stream Again, a monthly column highlighting films and TV series new to streaming catalogs that are of special interest to The A.V. Club’s staff—and hopefully to you, our readers. Here are five new titles streaming this April.
Seven (Netflix, April 1)
David Fincher fans devastated by the departure of Zodiac from Netflix can find cooly composed, fluorescent-lit solace in the return of another of Fincher’s serial-killer classics, 1995's Seven, to the service. If you aren’t already familiar with the disturbing descent into unadulterated evil embarked upon by detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) in the film, prepare to be unnerved—and to finally get the joke behind Gwyneth Paltrow’s Halloween costume last year.
In A Lonely Place (Filmstruck, April 1)
You can draw a straight line from Fincher’s Seven to the haunted detectives and deep shadows of classic film noir. And while it’s not nearly as grisly—burst abdomens and bladed dildos would never have passed the Hayes Code—In A Lonely Place (1950) is just as existentially bleak. Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame star in this essential entry into the genre, which debuts this month on Filmstruck’s Criterion Collection channel with commentary from hardboiled crime novelist Megan Abbott.
Cold Hell (Shudder, March 15)
It’s been available on horror-specific streaming service Shudder for a couple of weeks now, but fans of sleazy B-thrillers will find a hidden gem in Cold Hell (2017). Starring Violetta Schurawlow as a Turkish-German cab driver who refuses to become a victim after witnessing a sadistic serial killer at work, the film puts a fresh spin on the trope of the religiously motivated psycho. It also features brutal action, including a thrilling smash-’em-up car chase through the streets of Berlin with our intractable antiheroine behind the wheel.
The King Of Comedy (Amazon Prime, April 1)
Calling it noir would be a stretch, but The King Of Comedy, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s fifth film together as director and star, still features one of the most fascinating (and underrated) portrayals of a deranged mind in cinema history. De Niro set aside the macho image he nurtured in films like Raging Bull and Taxi Driver for his role as the pathetic, obnoxious Rupert Pupkin, who kidnaps talk-show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) in a desperate last-ditch attempt at comedy fame.
Speed Racer (Netflix, April 1)
To crib a line from Monty Python: And now for something completely different. The Wachowskis’ 2008 big-screen adaptation of the charmingly stilted 1960s anime was a career-threatening flop for the filmmaking duo, trashed by critics (including The A.V. Club’s Scott Tobias) and met with indifference by audiences worldwide. In the decade since, the film has been subject to revisionist takes from fans who praise it as an ahead-of-its-time blend of kinetic retro-cyberpunk aesthetics and subversive political commentary. Now it’s on Netflix, so you can decide for yourself if it’s an unsung masterpiece or a migraine-inducing mess.
For an exhaustive look at this month’s comings and goings on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go/Now, and Amazon Prime, follow the provided links.