This week’s streaming picks will have you seeing double. Doppelgangers are inherently terrifying, or at the very least alarming, for a variety of reasons. In mythology, a doppelganger often acts as a foreboding harbinger of bad news or luck. On a biological level, there’s something unsettling about the discovery of an unrelated person or entity sharing your face.
Then there’s the matter of identity theft, something horror exploits when it comes to doppelgangers. It’s eerie enough to see what appears to be your clone in the wild, but it’s a whole new level of scary when they attempt to take over your entire existence as their own.
This week’s streaming picks highlight the perils of doppelgangers.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Body Snatchers – Criterion Channel
Abel Ferrara’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake shifted the story from its California setting in favor of a military base in Alabama, making for an interesting parallel between the structural army and the conformity of the alien invasion. It follows teen Marti Malone (Gabrielle Anwar), the daughter of an Environmental Protection agent studying the effects of the military on the ecosystem, as she uncovers a paranoid plot of aliens covertly taking over humanity. As in, they copy the humans while they sleep, taking on their appearance as their victim withers away. The impressive cast ensures this propulsive thriller maintains airtight suspense, but look for Meg Tilly to steal the movie with a bone-chilling monologue.
Cam – Netflix
Alice (Madeline Brewer) works as an online cam girl, and she’s obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. Determined to break into the top 50 and eventually make her way to the number 1 spot, Alice devises more and more daring ways to increase her popularity, including simulating slitting her own throat. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger. Cam uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in director Daniel Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
Possession – AMC+, Shudder
Andrzej Żuławski’s psychological horror film remains as captivating as it is confusing. A strangely told narrative about an international spy and his intense relationship with his wife, it’s a haunting dissection of the dissolution of a relationship and the strange love affair the wife develops with a tentacle creature. Eventually, doppelganger weirdness enters the already strange situation. Leads Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani devote every fiber of their being to their roles, and I don’t know that anyone has so fully committed themselves to their role as Adjani since. Disturbing and unnerving, Possession is more of an emotional experience than a linear narrative, and there’s nothing else like it.
The Similars – SCREAMBOX
Writer/Director Isaac Ezban’s sci-fi/horror feature emulates “The Twilight Zone” in tone and aesthetic, from a guiding narrator to soft monochrome visuals. The film follows eight people trapped in a bus station by a storm in 1968, but it quickly becomes clear that there’s something much stranger afoot. The retro experiment commits so firmly to the bit that it won’t be for everyone, but those willing to ride its wavelength will find a unique sci-fi horror movie that isn’t afraid to make you see double.
Us – Netflix (leaves December 30)
Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated follow-up to Get Out brought doppelganger horror back into the spotlight. A fun summer vacation for the Wilson family turns into a terrifying fight for survival when their doppelgangers show up to claim their lives as their own. Peele balances the humor with the scares, but above all, Us boasts a captivating, immeasurably talented cast. Lupita Nyong’o’s dual performance as Adelaide Wilson/Red is both heartbreaking and chilling, ensuring our wrath at her inevitable Oscar exclusion. Still, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex are all equally exceptional in the sophomore effort no one predicted.
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