Looking for some fresh movies to stream this month? Here are the best international movies on Showmax this month of August.
M3GAN | Stream from 21 August
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a lifelike doll that’s programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. When its designer, Gemma, becomes the unexpected caretaker of her eight-year-old niece, Cady, she pairs the girl with a M3GAN prototype – with terrifying consequences.
Named Best Horror Movie of 2023 at the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards, M3gan has a 93% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “M3GAN is the rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills.”
Critics Choice nominee Allison Williams (Get Out, Girls) stars as Gemma, with Young Artist nominee Violet McGraw (The Haunting of Hill House, Black Widow) as Cady, and Amie Donald (Sweet Tooth) nominated for a 2023 MTV Movie Award for Best Villain as M3gan.
M3gan is the brainchild of horror legend James Wan (Annabelle, Malignant and the Insidious, The Conjuring, and Saw franchises) and Black Reel-nominated scriptwriter Akela Cooper (Malignant, Luke Cage).
THE BLACK PHONE | Stream from 14 August
Set in the late 1970s, The Black Phone stars four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (The Northman, Before Midnight) in the most disturbing role of his career as a sadistic killer who kidnaps Finney, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy.
Trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use, Finney finds a lifeline when a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring and he discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims, who are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
Produced by Oscar-nominated horror legend Jason Blum (Get Out, The Invisible Man), The Black Phone was the third highest-grossing horror film of 2022, with an 83% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As Finney, Mason Thames won at this year’s Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, where his co-star Madeleine McGraw (young Hope in Ant-Man and the Wasp) beat Hawke for Best Supporting Performance.
Based on a short story by Stephen King’s son, award-winning author Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box), The Black Phone also won the 2023 Chainsaw Award for Best Wide-Release Film, as well as Best Screenplay for C. Robert Cargill and co-writer and director Scott Derrickson, the team behind Marvel’s Doctor Strange and the Sinister movies. The Black Phone was also nominated for 2023 Critics Choice Super Awards for Best Horror Movie and Best Actor in a Horror Movie (Hawke).
BODIES BODIES BODIES | Stream from 17 August
A group of rich 20-somethings, a remote family mansion, a hurricane, and one party gone very, very wrong…
Not released in South African cinemas, Bodies Bodies Bodies has an 86% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “Impeccably cast and smartly written, Bodies Bodies Bodies is an uncommonly well-done whodunit.” Entertainment Weekly calls the film, “Summer’s must-see horror comedy.”
Rachel Sennott (The Idol) was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards (Breakthrough Performance and Most Frightened Performance) and a 2023 Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Performance, while Teen Choice winner Amandla Stenberg (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) was nominated for a Queerty.
The ensemble cast also includes Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and the voice of Cosmo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), People’s Choice nominee Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island), Myha’la Herrold (Industry), and Emmy nominees Lee Pace (Ronin in Captain Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy, and Foundation’s Brother Day) and Conner O’Malley (Palm Springs).
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON | Stream from 31 August
Nominated for a 2023 Oscar, BAFTA and Critics Choice Award for Best Animated Feature Film, Marcel The Shell With Shoes On follows an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colourful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. But when a documentary filmmaker discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and new hope for finding his long-lost family.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On has won 37 awards, including three Annies this year, for Best Animated Independent Feature, Writing and Voice Acting (co-creator Jenny Slate, of Zootopia and The Secret Life of Pets fame).
Not released in South African cinemas, the mockumentary has a 98% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “Poignant, profound, and utterly heartwarming, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is animated entertainment with real heart.”
As Empire says, “Funny, profound, weird, sad, and gorgeously constructed — Marcel is a true original, liable to melt even the most cynical heart.”
VENGEANCE | Stream from 24 August
Vengeance is a darkly comic mystery about Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.
Vengeance is the feature directorial debut of writer and star B.J. Novak, a five-time Emmy-nominated writer and director on the US version of The Office, where he stars as Ryan Howard.
Not released in South African cinemas, Vengeance has an 81% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety calls it, “a one-of-a-kind movie that’s so wide awake and sharp-edged it marks the arrival of a potentially major filmmaker.”
The all-star support cast includes award winner Boyd Holbrook (Klaber in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Corinthian in The Sandman), Emmy-winning actress Dove Cameron (Schmigadoon!), Emmy nominee J. Smith-Cameron (Succession’s Gerri Kellman), People’s Choice winner Ashton Kutcher (That 70’s Show), and eight-time Emmy nominee Issa Rae (Insecure).
Triple Oscar nominee Jason Blum (BlacKkKlansman, Get Out, The Invisible Man) produces.
SHOTGUN WEDDING | Stream from 7 August
Shotgun Wedding stars Emmy nominee Jennifer Lopez (Marry Me, Hustlers) and Emmy winner Josh Duhamel (Bandit, The Thing About Pam) as Darcy and Tom, who gather their families for the ultimate destination wedding on a private island. But when the entire wedding party is taken hostage, the bride and groom must save their loved ones – if they don’t kill each other first.
Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus, American Pie) was nominated for a 2023 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance as Tom’s mother Carol, while Grammy-winning comedy legend Cheech Marin (of Cheech & Chong and Nash Bridges fame) plays Darcy’s wealthy father, Robert. Grammy record-breaker Lenny Kravitz (The Hunger Games, Precious) and Emmy nominees Sônia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and D’Arcy Carden (Barry, The Good Place) co-star.
From the producers of The Proposal, Shotgun Wedding is directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect), with Mashable describing it as “Die Hard at a destination wedding.”
AFTER EVER HAPPY | Stream from 10 August
The fourth film in the hit After franchise finds Tessa and Hardin at a crossroads. Does Tessa continue trying to save him and their relationship, or is it time to save herself?
Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin return in their Teen Choice-winning roles as Tessa and Hardin, with the likes of Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Mighty Aphrodite) and Teen Choice nominee Stephen Moyer (True Blood’s Bill Compton) among the cast.
The fifth movie, After Everything, is due out later this year. Until then, you can binge the full, four-movie box set on Showmax, including After, After We Collided and After We Fell. The movies are all based on Anna Todd’s bestselling After novels.
7 DAYS | Stream from 31 August
In 7 Days, Ravi and Rita find themselves on a pre-arranged date set up by their old-fashioned Indian parents. They’re just discovering that they have almost nothing in common when the COVID-19 lockdown traps them inside for a week… together.
Unreleased in South African cinemas, the romcom is led by Miracle Workers co-stars, Hollywood Critics Association Next Generation of Hollywood winner Geraldine Viswanathan and Karan Soni (Dopinder in Deadpool and the voice of Pavitr Prabhakar in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Soni co-wrote the screenplay with debut feature film director Roshan Sethi (co-creator and co-writer of The Resident), with Emmy winners Mark and Jay Duplass (Somebody Somewhere, Safety Not Guaranteed, Togetherness) producing.
7 Days won the 2022 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and has an 86% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Film Threat calling it, “An absolute joy,” and The Wrap saying, “Karan Soni and Geraldine Viswanatha are perfect.”
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN AUGUST 2023
To see everything on Showmax in August 2023, including the cancel culture Showmax Original documentary series, Unfollowed; the most nominated series in Black Reel history, The Best Man: The Final Chapters; and 2023 triple Emmy nominee A Black Lady Sketch Show, click here.
Second on my list of addictions is Movies.. the only thing I could possibly love more is my Dearest Waakye lol. Nothing else does a better job of reminding me that ANYTHING is possible with the right amount of effort. I have great eye for details and flaws in scripts. Shallow scripts bore me. I am an avid reader.
Your everyday Mr Nice guy. Always the last to speak in a room full of smart people. Half Human, half Martian but full MOVIE FREAK.
