July is shaping up to be one of HBO Max’s strongest months for movies in a long time, three brand-new A24 films just made their streaming debut, and the library additions are genuinely worth your time. Here are 10 confirmed picks across horror, dark comedy, romance, thriller, and drama, all streaming on HBO Max right now.
1. Undertone (A24/Horror)
A podcaster starts receiving terrifying paranormal audio recordings from her listeners, and then the voices start following her off-screen. Shot almost entirely with one actor on screen, Undertone is an exercise in sustained dread that gets under your skin without ever showing you the obvious. It’s the kind of horror that relies on what you hear rather than what you see, and it’s deeply unsettling for it.
Best for- horror fans who prefer psychological slow-burn over gore.
2. How to Make a Killing (A24/Dark Comedy Thriller)
Glen Powell plays Becket Redfellow, a blue-collar man disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family who will stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance, no matter how many relatives stand in his way. Written and directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal), it’s darker and funnier than anything Powell has done before, with Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris, and Bill Camp rounding out a knockout cast.
Best for- viewers who like their black comedies with real bite, think Succession energy packed into a film.
3. Pillion (A24/Romance)
Harry Melling plays a timid man swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker (Alexander Skarsgård) takes him on as his submissive. Adapted from the novel Box Hill, Pillion is a queer romance that goes places most films in the genre don’t dare, raw, provocative, and surprisingly tender all at once.
Best for- viewers after something genuinely daring and unlike anything else on the platform right now.
4. The Moment (A24/Mockumentary)
Charli XCX satirizes fame and fortune through a digital lens in this mockumentary that became the third-biggest limited opening of the last five years despite making just shy of $5 million at the global box office. Sharp, self-aware, and laugh-out-loud funny, it captures something true about celebrity culture that very few films manage.
Best for- anyone who loved This Is Spinal Tap, and anyone who has ever been very online.
5. Midsommar (Horror)
Ari Aster’s 2019 horror film sees a couple on the rocks heading to a remote Swedish village for a midsummer festival, but this once-in-a-lifetime getaway soon takes a very dark turn. Florence Pugh delivers one of the decade’s great horror performances in a film that is as beautiful as it is deeply disturbing.
Best for- fans of folk horror and elevated dread who don’t mind being unsettled for days afterward.
6. The Substance (Body Horror/Satire)
Demi Moore plays an aging Hollywood star who takes an experimental drug to regain some youthful looks, and things get very gross from there. Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Substance is a sharp, savage critique of beauty standards wrapped in some of the most outrageous body horror in recent cinema history. Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid also star.
Best for- viewers with a strong stomach who want their satire to hit hard.
7. Bring Her Back (Horror)
From the directors of Talk to Me comes another very scary movie. Bring Her Back follows two orphaned step-siblings sent to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins, in a ferociously demented performance), a strange woman trying to resurrect her dead daughter. The Philippou brothers are quickly becoming one of horror’s most exciting directing duos.
Best for- anyone who loved Talk to Me and wants more from the same creative team.
8. Hell or High Water (Crime Thriller)
Two brothers rob a series of Texas banks to save their family ranch, and a weathered Texas Ranger races to catch them before they finish the job. One of the best American crime films of the last decade, Hell or High Water never telegraphs its punches and leaves you thinking about it long after it ends.
Best for- viewers who like their crime films grounded, character-driven, and morally ambiguous.
9. Room (Drama)
Brie Larson won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Ma, a woman held captive in a 10-by-10-foot space for years with her young son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who eventually mounts a risky escape out into the real world. Lenny Abrahamson’s film is devastating and life-affirming in equal measure, one of the most emotionally powerful dramas of the 2010s.
Best for- when you want something that genuinely moves you.
10. Isle of Dogs (Animated/Drama)
Wes Anderson’s 2018 stop-motion adventure sees all of a fictional Japanese city’s dogs banished to Trash Island by the mayor, and a 12-year-old boy (voiced by Koyu Rankin) who heads to the island in search of his own dog, setting off a journey that might change the fate of the entire Prefecture. Meticulous, funny, and strange in the best possible way.
Best for- Wes Anderson fans, animation lovers, and anyone who needs a palette cleanser after all that horror above.
