It’s the last week of July, and you should be furious.
Well, not actually furious as in mad, but you should be watching Furious, Hulu’s acclaimed new thriller show starring Emmy Rossum as an FBI agent hunting a serial killer in New York City.
That’s just one of the shows and movies Watch With Us is recommending you stream before the month is over.
Reality TV gets a bigger spotlight this week than usual with the debut of two high-profile shows, House of Stassi on Hulu and The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare on Netflix.
Horror is big right now in movie theaters thanks to the success of Backrooms and Obsession, so we recommend you watch The Exorcism on Netflix and thank God or Oprah you’re not fighting the forces of darkness like lead star Russell Crowe does in the fright flick.
‘Furious’ Season 1 (Hulu) – Now Streaming
Emmy Rossum, Scoot McNairy in Furious. Sarah Shatz / ©Hulu/Disney / Courtesy Everett Collection
Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) is a mess. She’s also really good at her job, which involves apprehending people who do wicked things. She’s been an FBI agent for a while now, and her next case involves her first serial killer – Catherine (Lola Pettigrew), a human black widow who is systematically seducing and then murdering random men in Manhattan. Alice thinks these killings aren’t so random – they’re linked to the woman who is doing them, but how? And why? To answer those questions and put Catherine behind bars for good, Alice will have to get her personal life in order first, and that might be even more difficult than solving the case.
Furious doesn’t break new ground in the serial-killer genre, but it makes up for that in its superb writing, direction and overall production values. It’s a well-acted, well-written thriller series that creates a fully three-dimensional, flawed and fascinating heroine – and a worthy villain who isn’t all that different from the cop that’s pursuing her. As Alice, Rossum continues to prove she’s one of TV’s most underrated actresses. She may not have received an Emmy nomination for her brilliant work in Shameless, but that mistake better not happen again next year when Furious should be up for a slew of awards.
The first three episodes of Furious are now streaming on Hulu.
‘The Exorcism’ (Netflix) – July 28
Russell Crowe in The Exorcism. Fred Norris / © Vertical Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
Method acting takes on a darker meaning in the 2024 supernatural film The Exorcism. Russell Crowe stars as Anthony Miller, an out-of-work actor whose alcoholism has nearly cost his career and his relationship with his teenage daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins). He gets a shot at saving both when he steps in as a late-minute replacement playing a priest performing an exorcism in a low-budget horror flick, The Georgetown Project. But the production is plagued by bizarre accidents, including several mysterious deaths, and Anthony himself exhibits unusual behaviors that cause Lee to worry about her father’s sanity. Is Anthony just a Method actor devoted to his craft, or has he actually been possessed by a demon from Hell?
The Exorcism isn’t subtle in answering that question, but what it lacks in restraint it more than makes up for in giving the audience what it wants: several well-executed jump scares and a dedicated performance from Crowe. It’s a B-movie that gets an A for effort, if not for execution.
‘The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare’ (Netflix) – July 29
You probably know the story by now: On November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were brutally killed. A manhunt for the killer ensued, lasting six weeks until Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022. He later pleaded guilty to all four murder charges and is now serving life in prison.
The broad details of the crime and the identity of the killer are widely known, but a lot of the details about the incident have remained a mystery – until now. In Netflix’s three-episode docuseries, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, director Skye Borgman reconstructs the crime from the ground up, establishing the collegiate setting and each of the four victims before examining the crime itself and the frenzied aftermath, when the police raced to find the culprit under the ravenous spotlight of the press. Borgman uses real bodycam footage taken from police who arrived at the scene of the crime, where they discovered one dead body after another. At times touching, especially when the victims’ family members recollect on their loved ones, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare is absorbing to watch if difficult to take.
‘House of Stassi’ (Disney+ and Hulu) – July 30
Vanderpump Rules is a reality TV institution; even if you haven’t watched it, you’ve heard about it. One of the show’s breakout stars was Stassi Schroeder, who dropped some memorable bons mots like “I’m not sure what I’ve done to you, but I’ll take a Pinot Grigio,” and “I am the devil, and don’t you forget it.”
We haven’t, and neither will you after watching Stassi’s new show, House of Stassi. After leaving Vanderpump Rules and reality TV in 2020, she’s back with her own show, which chronicles her life as a mother of two as well as her burgeoning podcasting career. Two other VR vets, Katie Maloney and Beau Clark (who is also Stassi’s husband), also appear, but make no mistake – this is Stassi’s house, and she rules it like a character from Game of Thrones. House of Stassi’s first two episodes will air July 29 on Freeform, and then the entire season will be available to stream on July 30 on Disney+ and Hulu.
