The Nerd's Watch: The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Streaming in December 

You can get comprehensive lists of everything coming to streaming services anywhere. But half of those titles you don’t care about, and the other half are terrible. Where’s the good stuff? io9 is here to help.

Below you’ll find what we deem to be the best sci-fi and fantasy movies and TV coming to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu in December.

Netflix

Available December 1

Bride of Chucky - There are a good number of films about everyone’s favorite killer doll Chucky, but only one in which his human love Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) also transforms into a doll. Some people even think this is the best entry in the series and we wouldn’t argue.

Christine - Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name and directed by the great John Carpenter, this horror film about a killer car isn’t the best work by either genius. And yet, it’s still a team-up between the two and that alone makes it worthwhile.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Before they made Legos into movies, took us to Jump Street, or almost made a Solo, Phil Lord and Chris Miller made this highly underrated, hilarious, and excellent animated movie. If you’ve never seen it, we highly recommend it.

Hellboy - No, we won’t get to see a third Hellboy film from Guillermo del Toro, but we had two, and that started with this film, an excellent, entertaining adaptation of the classic Mike Mignola comic book character.

Meet Joe Black - If you’re like me and only went to see this fantasy film to watch the trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, you can now finally finish the movie 20 years later. From director Martin Brest and starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, it has its fans.

Shaun of the Dead - You’ve almost certainly seen this landmark of the zombie genre from director Edgar Wright that stars Simon Pegg (who also co-wrote with Wright) and Nick Frost. Doesn’t matter. Watch it again and again and again. It’s a bona fide masterpiece.

The Last Dragon - I don’t think I’ve been as excited for a movie to come to streaming since I started this column as I am this 1985 cult classic. It’s one of those martial arts movies that anyone who grew up on the 1980s saw, and anyone who grew up in another time can’t believe exists. Sho’nuff!

Available December 2

The Lobster - Yorgos Lanthimos’s unforgettable vision of a future world where single people are literally turned into animals, starring Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell, needs to be seen to be believed.

Available December 4

District 9 - One of the best sci-fi films in recent memory is this team-up between director Neill Blomkamp, producer Peter Jackson, and star Sharlto Copley about an alien occupation in South Africa. It’s shocking, exciting, and amazingly poignant.

Available December 7

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle - Director Andy Serkis assembled a dynamite voice cast (Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Freida Pinto, Matthew Rhys, and Naomie Harris) for this unique spin on the classic Jungle Book story—and then saw the film sold by Warner Bros. to Netflix. Does that mean it’s bad? Maybe. But finally, we can find out for ourselves.

Available December 14

Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season 8 - We’re huge fans of Voltron and are very excited that it’s coming back. What more needs to be said?

Available December 21

3Below: Tales of Arcadia - The new animated Netflix original is described thusly: “After crash-landing in Arcadia, two royal teen aliens struggle to blend in as they evade intergalactic bounty hunters.” Sounds good, right? It gets even better when you add this: “Created by Guillermo del Toro.”

Bird Box - Sandra Bullock stars in this post-apocalyptic film about a mother who tries to save her kids by taking a dangerous trip down a river. It’s been described as A Quiet Place with seeing instead of hearing and we can’t wait.

Available December 25

Avengers: Infinity War - Anyone heard anything about this one? Apparently few people saw it and liked it. Has something of a large cast? Read this after you watch.

Available December 25

The Autopsy of Jane Doe - Ring in the new year with this underrated recent horror movie starring Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox as a father and son doing a very mysterious autopsy.

Amazon

Available December 1

A Clockwork Orange - The first time I saw Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece I literally threw up. Granted, I was sick at the time—but the film is so shocking, intense, brilliant, and fascinating that I like to think that it helped a little bit.

Event Horizon - Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1997 sci-fi film wasn’t a hit upon its release but, thanks to great effects, an excellent story, and an outstanding cast (including Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, and Jason Isaacs, just to name a few) it has since developed a strong cult following. Definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it.

Groundhog Day - Bill Murray stars as a man forced to live the same day over and over and over again. Though it’s both a brilliant and hilarious comedy, it’s also one of the best genre films in the past few decades. I watch it any and every time it’s on.

Mars Attacks! - Ack ack ack! Tim Burton’s dark comedy about an alien invasion is like a fine wine. It just keeps getting better with age.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The original 1990 version. The good one. Not the shitty 2014 one.

The Dark Crystal - Honestly, I’m not someone with a huge affinity for this 1982 Jim Henson/Frank Oz collaboration, but I know I’m in the minority there. This fantasy classic is sure to get a lot of streams.

Wild Wild West - Wild Wild West is one of those movies that I revisit, even if it’s just in my head, every few years and think “It’s not as bad as I remember, right? It had such potential.” Well, if you are like me, now you can do that on streaming. (But, I think the answer, unfortunately, is...yes, it is.)

Available December 27

Hereditary - Did you miss one of, if not the, best genre movie of 2018 in theaters? Well, it’s coming to streaming at the end of the month and you do not want to miss it.

Hulu

Available December 1

Apollo 13 - Ron Howard’s exhilarating historical drama-slash-space movie is coming to streaming; it stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, and the late, great, Bill Paxton.

The Exorcist - There aren’t a lot of great genre films coming to Hulu in December but having arguably the best genre movie ever is quite nice. If you haven’t seen The Exorcist, I mean, have you been really living?

Halloween: Resurrection - The last Halloween movie before the Rob Zombie and recent reboots is, arguably, the worst of the bunch. But anytime a big-time horror sequel is streaming it rules, simply because they are fun to laugh at and cheer for our anti-heroes like Michael Myers.

Requiem for a Dream - Darren Aronofsky’s landmark 2000 film isn’t technically a horror film, but I’ve never seen a scarier movie in my entire life. You’d be hard pressed to see a more visceral, disturbing, brilliant film to stream.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Tim Burton directs this excellent adaptation of the iconic Stephen Sondheim musical about a killer barber and his disturbing business. Most people don’t talk about it these days but it’s one of his better recent films.

Available December 21

Marvel’s Runaways Season 2 - We never got that Runaways movie that was always rumored, but now going into season two, that’s like, 10 movies or something, so it’s not a bad trade-off.

Available December 25

Iron Man 2 - Even the worst Marvel movie, which I think this is, is notable because it adds something to the overall universe: notably Don Cheadle as War Machine, along with a few other wrinkles. (Also on Amazon.)

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