Movies & TV What to Watch The Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Movies and Shows Streaming This August I want to believe the director’s cut of the X-Files movie is actually good By Matthew Byrd | Published on July 30, 2026 Image credits: Village Roadshow Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; 20th Century Fox Comment 0 Share New Share Image credits: Village Roadshow Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures; 20th Century Fox Ah, August. The month when we all look at the calendar and wonder how to best get away with doing as little work as possible while the golden days of summer are still around. Ultimately, though, there will be times when rain, work, and circumstances will derail your most adventurous plans and keep you stuck indoors. Thankfully, there are quite a few great genre movies and shows being added to various streaming libraries this month. If you’re looking for upcoming TV series and films, we’ve got you covered elsewhere. But if you’re looking for the best recent releases, cult classics, hidden gems, and bona fide masterpieces coming to streaming this month, we’ve got you covered. From a Director’s Cut I’ve always wanted to see to “bad” movies I never get tired of defending, here are some of the best sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies and shows streaming this August. Pick of the Month: The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Director’s Cut) (Disney+/Hulu— August 14) The top recommendation for this month is also the most mysterious recommendation of the month. Nobody is entirely sure what to expect from this Director’s Cut. Chris Carter has said that it will restore some of the more horrifying elements of the film that the studio cut the first time around, but we really don’t know what we’re getting from this version of the film in terms of extra scenes or reworked narratives. However, the prospect of this long-discussed cut finally being available to stream is exciting enough on its own. Whether this version will redeem this previously maligned movie is anyone’s guess. We can’t wait to find out what it’s all about, though. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Paramount+ — August 1) If Disclosure Day left you feeling a little cold, consider giving one of Steven Spielberg’s sometimes overlooked sci-fi masterpieces a shot. Based on a short story from Brian Aldiss and picked up from a failed Stanley Kubrick project, A.I. sees Spielberg explore strange and sensitive material that both feels very much in his wheelhouse and like a welcome big swing. It’s a devastating film that is so much better than you probably expect if you grew up with its somewhat mixed reception, and somehow always better than you remember. Barbarian (HBO Max — August 1) Whether you’re trying to get a jump on director Zach Cregger’s next film (Resident Evil) or you’re playing a little catch up after checking out Weapons, there is really never a bad reason to watch Barbarian. At the time of its release, Barbarian was hailed as one of the most unexpectedly shocking and hilarious horror comedies in years. Even if you happen to know some of the film’s bigger twists (which is hopefully not the case), Barbarian remains an incredibly effective ride that actually boasts quite a few fascinating observations about how we arrived at this moment in America just below the surface. Blade Runner 2049 (Paramount+ — August 1) The first trailer for Prime Video’s Blade Runner series has stirred up a lot of feelings around Reactor HQ. Wherever you may land on what we’ve seen of the show, now feels like a pretty good time to catch up on the franchise thus far. So far as that goes, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 remains maybe the most fascinating example of how to revive a beloved story in a way that feels true to the spirit that fueled the original movie rather than an attempt to capitalize on how beloved it has become. It is also a stunningly beautiful movie. Escape Room/Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Peacock — August 1) It’s hard to find a reason to confess your love for movies as seemingly bland as the Escape Room series. While I’m not going to help these movies beat any of the allegations here, I will say that they are an almost perfect modern example of the kinds of movies that used to air on a lazy afternoon that you find yourself strangely drawn to for reasons you can’t entirely justify. They make no real sense (the sequel really suffers from some awful editing decisions), but there is actually quite a bit of design creativity to be found in these fundamentally watchable movies that will appeal to any begrudging fans of the Now You See Me franchise. Good Fortune (Prime Video — August 21) Good Fortune kind of came and went last year despite boasting an exceptional cast (Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Sandra Oh) and a fascinating premise (an angel struggles to improve lives in a world that makes less sense than ever). And while the movie doesn’t quite make the most of everything it has going for it, it boasts more than enough charms to justify spending 97 breezy minutes with it now that it’s finally available to stream. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Peacock — August 1) One of the best horror sequels ever is also the inspiration for an all-time great Key & Peele sketch. Yes, it’s impossible to talk about all of the things that happen in this movie without sounding like a toddler trying to describe their dreams. This is one of the wildest major films to ever escape the studio system. More than a testament to the true value of a blank check, though, Gremlins 2 is simply so much fun to watch regardless of whether you care about the first film or even the concept of what we typically consider a “traditional” movie. Jurassic Park III (Disney+/Hulu — August 1) One of my favorite local theaters runs a “Re-Consider This” series in which they play divisive/reclaimed films and ask audiences to leave cards about whether it’s a deserved flop or hidden masterpiece. They recently featured Jurassic Park III, which came as quite the surprise to this Joe Johnston fan who always just assumed everyone harbored at least a little love for this sequel. And while Jurassic Park III doesn’t come close to matching the brilliance of the original film, it is undoubtedly the best subsequent entry in a series that is seemingly determined to make us all eventually hate it. Practical Magic (HBO Max — August 1) Practical Magic II will (finally) be released in September, which means it’s just about time to re-watch (or watch) the original. I weirdly find that this is a movie that people around my age always seem to confuse with something else. But the actual Practical Magic is an infinitely charming film that deserves a sequel if for no other reason than our collective chance to right some incredible wrongs that were done to this movie the first time around. It is difficult to look at this movie’s cast, premise, and soundtrack and consider that it was quite a flop rather than the biggest movie of 1998. Source Code (Peacock— August 1) Speaking of movies that are easy to confuse with other titles, Source Code initially comes across like just another of any number of 2010s high-concept thrillers. But in the hands of director Duncan Jones (Moon), Source Code transcends its seemingly familiar time loop premise and delivers one of the most clever examinations of the mechanics of that storytelling concept. It’s a bit of a brain breaker, but it’s also a great time. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Prime Video— August 1) There’s a chance you’ve heard of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension but have never actually watched it. The movie has arguably become more popular for its title, cast (Jeff Goldblum, Peter Weller, John Lithgow, and Christopher Lloyd), and premise (a rockstar and his buddies take on aliens) than the film itself. That’s a shame, because this is a fundamentally cool film that manages to throw absolutely everything at you but keep it together just enough to remain functional. Maybe the most purely entertaining thing you’ll watch this month. Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order (Netflix— August 1) Talamasca: The Secret Order is one of those shows that came, went, and was canceled before many people seemingly knew it existed. That’s a shame. It’s hard to argue that the debut (and seemingly only) season of the show was good, but it boasted the kind of potential and premise that would have once been the basis of a series that got good eventually. Will watching this show on Netflix convince anyone to get it a second season? Probably not, but it’s an interesting look at what could have been. Where the Wild Things Are (Paramount+ — August 1) Director Spike Jonze really doesn’t miss. He’s four for four on feature films by many estimations, though Where the Wild Things Are tends to be his “forgotten” work compared to Her, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation. Oh to have your most forgotten film also be one of the loveliest and most emotionally impactful fantasy films for children and children at heart ever made. We’ve largely suffered through years of directors trying to recapture the glory of the ’80s movies they are so nostalgic for, but it’s Jonze who perfectly translated the fear, wonder, beauty, and heartache of those classic fantasy movies while incorporating a unique vision forged by modern sensibilities.[end-mark] The post The Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Movies and Shows Streaming This August appeared first on Reactor.