The days of crime television being cozy police procedural entertainment where the heroic cops apprehend the criminals and make the world a safer place are long behind us. The emergence of prestige drama in the medium throughout the early part of the 21st century has imbued crime shows with a license to tackle more confronting and urgent subject matter through a lens of unflinching realism and bleak despair.
As such, many crime shows have come to be defined by the intensity of the viewing experience they craft, be it through piercing thematic insights into such issues of police corruption and gangland morality, graphic displays of violence and inhumanity, or complex and challenging examinations of the human condition. Some of these series follow disturbed and damaged cops, while some focus on the innate savagery and amorality of criminals. All of them are defining titles in crime television that elevate the genre with the heavy and harrowing nature of their stories.
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10
‘True Detective’ (2014–2024)
Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers and Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro in Episode 3 of True Detective: Night CountryImage via HBO
Typically, when people discuss the brilliance of True Detective, they refer solely to the atmospheric excellence, cinematic quality, and enrapturing storytelling of its first season. This is understandable. Season 1 is a trend-setting masterpiece of detective drama that marries a sinister and elaborate case with a powerful sense of human drama relating to the personal lives of its two protagonists. However, concerning the sense of thematic wrath and piercing subject matter, all four seasons of True Detective deserve praise for their conviction.
While Season 1 does strike a powerful heaviness with its investigation revolving around an occult serial killer with ties to a pedophilic ring of powerful people in Louisiana, Season 2 is similarly evocative with its story of wealth, corruption, and power in L.A., Season 3 compels with its more grounded focus on family trauma and the toll police work has on a cop’s family, and even Season 4 has some interesting and weighty ideas of intergenerational trauma, the environmental impact of industrialization, and the subjugation of Indigenous communities in modern-day America. Its quality may vary from season-to-season, but True Detective always wields a visceral thematic might that makes for heavy, hard-hitting viewing.
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9
‘Mare of Easttown’ (2021)
Kate Winslet as Mare looking off camera in Mare of EasttownImage via HBO
Mare of Easttown hits audiences with a grueling and bleak view of the world on all fronts. It captures a suffocating sense of small-town claustrophobia grounded in economic hardship and community despair. It depicts confronting issues like depression, trauma, drug addiction, domestic abuse, and the inescapable nature of poverty with dull hopelessness. It even presents the world with a weighted gloom, with its visual display comprised of dreary greys and cold blues that amplify the story’s thematic heaviness with a flattening atmospheric moodiness.
The story itself is just as grim, following Marion “Mare” Sheehan (Kate Winslet) as she investigates the brutal murder of a 17-year-old mother while still coming to terms with her own son’s recent suicide. Anchored by Winslet’s arresting performance, Mare of Easttown hits its mark as a harrowing murder mystery steeped in a palpable sense of aching defeat. There is a pressing feeling that the best days of every character are well behind them, conjuring an air of pessimism that makes every thematic note land that much harder. Given that the feeling of desolation only grows more pungent with every revelation in the case and every insight into Mare’s life, the HBO miniseries holds a sullen moodiness that is relentless across its seven-episode run, making for one of the heaviest miniseries of any genre.
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8
‘The Sopranos’ (1999–2007)
Tony Soprano (James Gandolini) in ‘The Sopranos’ episode “Made in America”Image via HBO
The Sopranos excels at a great many things. It is a landmark pioneer of prestige television drama. It is an absorbing character study of one of the most complex and compelling figures to have ever graced the small screen. It is a captivating immersion into the nature of the mafia in the 21st century. It is even a show of inspired comedic brilliance when it wants to be. However, the defining aspect of The Sopranos will always be its ability to deliver debilitating drama that marries the volatility and violence of organized crime with the peculiar humanity of its leading man, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).
An enthralling anti-hero, Tony is introduced as an integral member of a New Jersey crime syndicate, one who begins seeing a psychiatrist in secret when he experiences panic attacks due to his complicated work-life balance. The psychological depth the series invests in Tony alone makes it a heavy viewing experience, especially as he grapples with his own depression, his often-strained relationships with his family, and his drifting moral compass that is torn between cultural tradition and societal evolution. The presence and vulnerability of Gandolfini’s performance only heighten this sense of dramatic intensity, as does the ever-present threat of violence, the litany of issues the supporting characters are confronted with in their lives, and the air of realism that hangs over every element of the series. This piercing weight makes The Sopranos the enduring masterpiece of television that it is.
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7
‘Oz’ (1997–2003)
Warden Glynn, Kareem Said, Augustus Hill, and Tim McManus stand in front of prison bars in Oz.Image via HBO
A sentence in a maximum-security prison is a nightmare that nobody wants to face in life. Oz takes the terror of such an environment and realizes it in the most hellish and hostile way imaginable. Set in the Oswald Maximum Security Correctional Facility, it follows the inmates based in “Emerald City,” an experimental new ward designed to prioritize rehabilitation and reform over punishment. However, with gangland tensions running hot and personal feuds always erupting, the threat of violence, abuse, and dehumanizing humiliation never wavers.
With racial conflict, the power struggles of gangland warfare, the savage nature of survival, and the fine line between pure evil and complex immorality being key features of the story, Oz holds a visceral and often deeply disturbing might. The authenticity of its approach bolsters this distressing, stomach-churning intrigue significantly, with the series running less as a plot-fueled drama and more as a harrowing immersion into the chaos of the prison yard. It constantly questions the divide between one doing whatever is necessary to endure and losing all semblance of themselves and their morality in the process, delivering relentless turmoil that is as visually graphic as it is psychologically draining.
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6
‘The Corner’ (2000)
Two people sitting on concrete steps and talking in The Corner.Image via HBO
David Simon is a genius of television. The Baltimore crime reporter has an outstanding ability to soak his series with a palpable sense of realism, whether he is exploring police corruption in We Own This City, the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Treme, the pitfalls of military bureaucracy and miscommunication in Generation Kill, or the all-encompassing rot of crime and institutional corrosion in The Wire. However, one of his best and most piercing projects is the sadly forgotten HBO miniseriesThe Corner, which follows a poverty-stricken family in West Baltimore as they try to live their lives in the midst of a rampaging drug war.
Based on Simon’s own nonfiction book, the six-part miniseries holds a devastating authenticity as it tackles the cyclical struggle of addiction and recovery, the way in which systemic issues impact ordinary people, the economic brutality many in America face, and the strain familial love endures amid the traumatizing circumstances of substance abuse. The fact that the series is based on the experiences of real people only makes it that much more heartbreaking, enshrining it as a masterpiece of television drama that is incredibly difficult to watch, given how it depicts the hope and humanity of family clashing with the grim reality of heroin addiction.
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5
‘When They See Us’ (2019)
Aunjanue Ellis and Ethan Herisse in When They See UsImage via Netflix
Another powerful miniseries that finds tremendous gravitas in its foundation on true events, When They See Us delivers a harrowing story of institutional failure in the legal system as it dramatizes the trial and wrongful conviction of the Central Park Five. When a woman is raped in Central Park in 1989, five Black and Latino youths from Harlem are arrested for the assault and coerced into giving false confessions that see them imprisoned. The acclaimed Netflix original miniseries examines their trial and their 13-year fight to gain exoneration.
Told with an emphasis on the psychological and emotional strain of not only the five incarcerated men but their families as well, When They See Us delivers a story of exceptional balance as it delves into the faults of the judicial system and the turmoil of trying to overturn a conviction. Its sense of injustice and tragedy is overwhelming, with director Ava DuVernay imbuing the story with a deft elegance even as she tackles issues of systemic racism and trauma with unflinching and ferocious ire.
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4
‘The Shield’ (2002–2008)
David Rees Snell as Ronnie, Michael Chiklis as Vic and Kenny Johnson as Lem in The ShieldImage via FX
Police corruption is always a heavy and hard-hitting theme to explore, one that comes with complex notions of power, immorality, and institutional rot as well as the damning inefficiency of consequence and accountability. No show has explored it with the insight and detail of The Shield, with the FX series’ seven-season run following the Strike Team, a small unit of LAPD officers operating out of a precinct in a district of L.A. marred by gang violence who, under the command of Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), use illegal and unethical methods to uphold the law while profiteering off the crime they fight.
Heavily inspired by the real-life Rampart Division CRASH scandal, the series’ brutality and cutthroat morality make for difficult viewing. However, The Shield isn’t merely a parade of police malpractice, with each of the officers in the Strike Team realized with a twisted though complex moral code and a compelling depth of personal drama, ranging from Julien’s (Michael Jace) agonizing clash of masculinity and closeted homosexuality to Shane’s (Walton Goggins) downward spiral of criminal opportunism, desperation, and self-destructive recklessness. Combining such rich character drama and a confronting thematic focus on police corruption, The Shield shines as a landmark achievement of crime television, but a bleak and brutal one.
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3
‘Adolescence’ (2025)
Owen Cooper sat back in his chair in ‘Adolescence’Image via Netflix
A defining title of television in 2025 that made an enormous cultural impact with its timely and urgent story of rampant misogyny in modern youth culture, the dangers of the internet, and the toll a crime takes on a family, Adolescence stands as one of Netflix’s most masterful and mighty original series. It also stands as one of the streaming platform’s heaviest, with its four-part story revolving around the murder of a schoolgirl by her classmate and, by extension, the impressionable nature of extreme internet subcultures on vulnerable youths.
Anchored by an incredible performance from young lead Owen Cooper, a brilliantly aware and thought-provoking screenplay from Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, and a richly immersive one-take approach to each episode, Adolescence manages to be completely enthralling while simultaneously being viscerally disturbing. It grapples with the horrors of the modern world of online interactivity and the spreading of toxic and dangerous ideas with sublime skill, capturing a chilling nightmare of violence, overloaded impulse, and hatred from a multitude of angles that showcases just how helpless parents are when it comes to sheltering their children from harmful ideologies, or even just having the opportunity to educate their kids on such matters. Compelling, commanding, and confronting, Adolescence is a harrowing call for awareness and action on one of the most topical issues of the modern day.
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2
‘Unbelievable’ (2019)
Image via Netflix
Another emotionally draining and venomously frustrating analysis of the inadequacies of the legal system that operates with a basis on true events, Unbelievable is a soul-crushing story of sexual abuse and injustice that should be essential viewing. The miniseries runs with a two-pronged story. It follows Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever), a sexual assault survivor who, after being convinced to recant her accusation, faces charges of false reporting, while also tracking detectives Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) and Karen Duvall (Merritt Weaver) in their investigation of a serial rapist.
It is a numbing descent into trauma, victim-blaming, and rampant injustice, one that highlights the many obstacles sexual assault survivors face in trying to bring their attackers to justice, while also exploring the way good police work is stifled in the modern world. Unbelievable is wise to offer a sense of cantharis, avoiding being a solely heartbreaking and bleak story with a quiet focus on empathy, understanding, recovery, and the power of humanity at the darkest of times. However, it is still a striking and deeply affecting viewing experience, one that epitomizes the devastating impact television drama is capable of.
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1
‘The Wire’ (2002–2008)
Michael K. Williams as Omar Little sitting on a bench and staring ahead in The Wire.Image via HBO
A full-scale epic that examines both the hierarchy and complex morality of the drug trade and the institutional ineffectiveness across a city, The Wire is a defining masterpiece of crime television that still stands as the most substantial and relevant title in the genre. Across its outstanding five-season run, the HBO series explores every facet of drug-related crime, from street-level dealers to leaders calling the shots, while also serving as a deep dive into the culture and systemic failings of law enforcement, public education, city politics, and even the media.
Armed with a piercing realism courtesy of David Simon’s in-depth understanding of Baltimore’s criminal infrastructure and co-creator Ed Burns’s decades-long career as a BPD detective, the series can overwhelm viewers with its enormous scope as well as with its gritty brutality and the coarse values of its multitude of characters. The fact that so little has changed in the world regarding the inadequacy of so many integral societal institutions—and the detrimental effect such inadequacy has on the most vulnerable and in-need people in society—ensures The Wire remains just as hard-hitting today as it was when it was airing 20 years ago.
Ernest R. Dickerson, Ed Bianchi, Steve Shill, Clark Johnson, Daniel Attias, Agnieszka Holland, Tim Van Patten, Alex Zakrzewski, Anthony Hemingway, Brad Anderson, Clement Virgo, Elodie Keene, Peter Medak, Rob Bailey, Seith Mann, Christine Moore, David Platt, Dominic West, Gloria Muzio, Jim McKay, Leslie Libman, Milcho Manchevski, Robert F. Colesberry, Thomas J. Wright
Cody Fern in Foundation Season 3Image via Apple TV
Every streaming platform has plenty of sci-fi shows to offer, but it’s hard to beat Apple TV’s offering of original sci-fi programming. The platform got its start with more light-hearted hits like Ted Lasso, but it’s become more famous for shows like Severance, Invasion, and even Pluribus. Severance has aired two successful seasons to date, while Invasion recently wrapped up with its third and likely final season. Pluribus, which comes from creator Vince Gilligan, took the crown from Severance to become the most-watched Apple TV sci-fi show of all time. Apple did release a sci-fi misfire a few years ago with Constellation, which was one of the few shows to be canned after one season. This came despite praise from legendary author Stephen King.
Many would argue that the most underrated Apple TV sci-fi show is Foundation, which is a complex saga of humans living throughout the galaxy under the rule of the Galactic Empire. The series features big stars like Jared Harris and Lee Pace, and it recently aired its third season last summer. Apple TV renewed Foundation for a fourth season, but it’s still unclear at this time when the show will be released or when it plans to resume production. Although it’s been months since Foundation went off the air, the show is still hanging around in the Apple TV top 10 in several countries around the world. Foundation was written and created for TV by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, and it’s based on the series of novels by Isaac Asimov. The show holds scores of 87% from critics and 73% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
This week, X marks the spot. Eight conspiratorial questions to see if you’re a real X-Files fan… or if you’re an alien posing as an agent.
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What Else Is Streaming on Apple TV Right Now?
The most popular series on Apple TV is another of its wildly underrated sci-fi ventures, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The shows stars father-son duo Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell as young and old versions of the same character, and it’s directly connected to HBO’s MonsterVerse franchise. To reach the top spot, Monarch had to dethrone Hijack, the thriller show starring Idris Elba that just wrapped up its sophomore season. The most popular movie on Apple TV right now is F1, the Best Picture-nominated blockbuster starring Brad Pitt. It briefly lost the crown to Eternity (Elizabeth Olsen) before gaining it back last week.
Check out all three seasons of Foundation on Apple TV, and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and coverage of Season 4.
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Release Date
September 23, 2021
Network
Apple TV+
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Showrunner
David S. Goyer
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Directors
Alex Graves, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Phang, Mark Tonderai, Andrew Bernstein
Writers
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Jane Espenson, Leigh Dana Jackson, Liz Phang, Eric Carrasco, David Kob, Addie Manis, Marcus Gardley, Lauren Bello, Olivia Purnell
Martin Scorsese on the red carpetImage via Marion Curtis/Starpix for AppleTV+/INSTARimages
Whenever Martin Scorsese decides to stop making movies, he’ll be remembered in rarified air as one of the greatest to ever step behind the camera. It’s difficult to pinpoint what he’s best known for, considering he has so many classics, but it’s hard to leave out older hits like Taxi Driver (Robert De Niro) as some of the finest work of his career. More recently, he reunited with De Niro and teamed up with his long-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio for the ambitious crime epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, which has been streaming on Apple TV since its run in theaters. The film earned widespread critical acclaim and was even nominated for 10 Oscars, but it went home from the 2024 ceremonies empty-handed, mostly due to the overwhelming competition from Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Back in 2019, Scorsese teamed up with De Niro once more for one of his most underappreciated movies, The Irishman. The 3.5-hour epic crime saga tells the story of Frank Sheeran, a WWII veteran-turned-hit man for the Bufalino crime family. He ultimately assassinated his close friend Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) later in his career, which sent his life into a downward spiral. It’s been almost seven years since The Irishman arrived on Netflix — the film was released straight to streaming and did not receive a theatrical release — but it continues to age like fine wine. The Irishman is in the Netflix global top 10 in a few countries around the world, but its streaming resurgence hasn’t come out of nowhere. Fans are craving a new Martin Scorsese movie now that it’s been a few years since one of his pictures hit the big screen.
The Screen Actors Guild doled out accolades eight nights ago. Is it fresh enough in your memory to survive this recap?
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What Do We Know About Martin Scorsese’s Next Movie?
Martin Scorsese’s next movie does not yet have an official release date, but it’s now in production and expected to premiere later this year. The film, titled What Happens at Night, stars Leonardo DiCaprio opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Mads Mikkelsen, and it follows an American married couple who visit a snowy European town to adopt. Scorsese is also attached to direct a new Hawaii-set crime thriller starring DiCaprio opposite Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. It’s likely to be his next movie once he wraps production on What Happens at Night.
Be sure to check out The Irishman on Netflix, and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and coverage of Scorsese’s future projects.
After redefining the Western with his explosive revenge saga Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino doubled down on the genre with an even darker and more experimental follow-up. Released in 2015, The Hateful Eight remains one of the director’s most unusual and polarizing films.
Nearly a decade later, the snowbound Western is finding new life online — with the film now streaming for free on Fawesome, giving audiences a chance to revisit Tarantino’s icy chamber drama. Set in post-Civil War Wyoming during a brutal winter storm, The Hateful Eight traps a group of strangers inside a remote stagecoach lodge as paranoia, secrets, and grudges begin to unravel.
The film centers on the definition of a stacked cast led by Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, Kurt Russell as John “The Hangman” Ruth, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue. The rest of the cabin is filled out by Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix, Demián Bichir as Bob, Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, Michael Madsen as Joe Gage, Bruce Dern as General Sandy Smithers, James Parks as O.B. Jackson, and Channing Tatum as Jody Domergue.
The Screen Actors Guild doled out accolades eight nights ago. Is it fresh enough in your memory to survive this recap?
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Is ‘The Hateful Eight’ Worth Watching?
The Hateful Eight – 2015 – Samuel L. Jackson smiles wickedly into cameraImage via The Weinstein Company
Collider’s review of the movie stated that The Hateful Eight did little to change entrenched opinions on Quentin Tarantino, but strongly rewarded those already attuned to his style. The film was described as a confident, deliberate Western that used confinement, dialogue, and escalating tension to interrogate race, violence, and power in post-Civil War America. While not a radical reinvention, it showcased Tarantino refining his craft through structure, ensemble work, and visual detail, particularly with the 65mm presentation. The review praised the explosive second half, razor-sharp performances — especially Jennifer Jason Leigh’s — and argued the film functioned as a dark, thematically rich companion piece to Django Unchained.
“The Hateful Eight may not be Tarantino’s ‘best’ film, but it doesn’t need to be. His return to the Western genre doesn’t feel like a retread of Django, but an essential exploration of themes that couldn’t be completely examined by just one movie, especially one that took place in the antebellum South. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call The Hateful Eight a spiritual sequel to Django, it’s definitely got the same weighty topics on its mind and Tarantino — ever loquacious, bratty, frustratingly brilliant, and shockingly witty — knows just what he wants to say. Hunker down and listen up.”
The Hateful Eight is streaming now on Fawesome.
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Release Date
December 25, 2015
Runtime
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188 minutes
Producers
Bob Weinstein, Georgia Kacandes, Harvey Weinstein, Richard N. Gladstein, Shannon McIntosh
Sci-fi TV shows have taken over the medium in the last few years, with every platform looking for its newest hit. Apple TV has plenty to hang its hat on between Severance, Silo, and Pluribus, while Netflix recently wrapped up its biggest sci-fi show of all time in Stranger Things. It’s certainly a tough genre to master — one could argue that there are far more misses than hits when it comes to sci-fi TV shows each year, but they all have one thing in common: a great writer. A cool world alone isn’t enough to make a compelling sci-fi show; there must be interesting characters and a layered plot for audiences to buy into.
Hulu has found a sci-fi show worth clinging to in Paradise, the gripping thriller led by Sterling K. Brown. The show starts as a simple murder mystery, but it’s evolved into something much greater as it continues to dive deeper into its ongoing Season 2. Aside from flashbacks with President Cal Bradford (James Marsden), the entirety of Paradise Season 1 takes place inside the bunker, but Season 2 sees Xavier Collins travel outside the bunker to search for his wife. He’s run into some trouble along the way, but so far, it’s nothing a former Secret Service agent can’t handle.
After a three-episode premiere just a few weeks ago, Paradise is already more than halfway through its eight-episode season. The sci-fi show is sitting handsomely at the top of Hulu streaming charts in America, and Disney+ streaming charts in international territories. Not all that surprising, considering the show holds a Certified Fresh 91% from critics on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. It’s eerily similar to Silo, the aforementioned Apple TV sci-fi show led by Rebecca Ferguson.
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Has ‘Paradise’ Been Renewed for Season 3?
Hulu has yet to pick up Paradise for a third season officially, but this is likely more a matter of when rather than if. The show is performing well in the viewership category, and creator Dan Fogelman has been open about his three-season plan for the series. Sterling K. Brown recently confirmed that filming for Paradise Season 3 will begin in just a few months and go through the end of the summer, so a renewal announcement is likely imminent. The show will not go beyond Season 3.
Check out the first five episodes of Paradise Season 2 on Hulu or Disney+, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage on the future of the show.
When was the last time you were scared while watching a horror movie?
And I mean really scared, the kind of freaked-out that stays with you long after the movie is over.
A24’s new horror movie, Undertone, does just that. The Canadian film, out now in theaters nationwide, achieves what few other films in the genre accomplish — it projects real menace and suggests evil is lurking right behind you.
It’s 2026’s scariest film to date and joins recent films like Hereditary and Skinamarink as superior examples of elevated horror. But how did first-time feature film director Ian Tuason make a scary movie for the ages? And why is The Sopranos, HBO’s classic mob series that is definitely not scary, a key influence?
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What Is ‘Undertone’ About?
Undertone centers around Evy (The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Nina Kiri), a young Canadian woman who produces a popular supernatural podcast with remote co-host Justin (The White Lotus‘Adam DiMarco) from her quiet Toronto home. With her mother in the last stages of an unnamed terminal illness upstairs, Evy wants nothing more than to focus on her work rather than deal with her mother’s inevitable death. But when Justin finds 10 tapes that document a young couple’s haunting, Evy soon realizes she can’t avoid the ghosts of her past, present and uncertain future.
If that plot description is a little vague, that’s on purpose. Part of the pleasure of watching Undertone is letting Tuason slowly reveal what it’s all about — and what it all means.
The Origins of ‘Undertone’: From Radio to a One-of-a-Kind Horror Film Experience
“[Undertone] started as a radio play. I used to listen to a lot of narrative podcasts like Mark Phillips’ Homecoming, which was later adapted into a Prime Video show starring Julia Roberts. I was big into The Black Tapes [by Paul Mae and Terry Miles], too. I was writing the part with Justin and Evy investigating these hidden messages in these audio files when COVID hit, and then my parents got sick. I moved back into their home [to take care of them], which coincidentally is where we shot Undertone.”
It’s going to take a lot for the horror movies of 2026 to match last year’s epic films like Weapons and the Oscar-nominated Sinners. In the meantime, horror fans can enjoy most of the best horror movies of 2025, including the recent release Black Phone 2. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters […]
“The Exorcist really freaked me out and traumatized me as a kid because it took something in your home that’s safe and weaponized it. What would happen if something similar happened to me when I was taking care of my mom? That feeling of your home safety being weaponized against you?”
“That was my answer to the next question I had: What does Evy do in between recording her podcasts? Oh, she’s taking care of her dying mom. Next thing I know, we’re filming.”
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The Sounds of Terror
Undertone differs from most horror movies in that it relies more on sound to tell its story and generate its scares.
“The original script had more sound direction than camera direction,” Tuason admits. “I specifically wrote ‘the baby cries to the rear right’ in the script, and you hear that. I related everything to the frame. It’s easier for the sound editor to know what I’m thinking [and what I want].”
“I was heavily involved in the sound mix, so I just started pointing in different directions and advised them to put a bang [at a key moment in the story]. I got that idea from my background in virtual reality. I made a lot of VR content, which requires you to create a 3D soundscape. In VR, there isn’t a frame, there’s just a space.”
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Nina Kiri in Undertone.A24 /Courtesy Everett Collection
Undertone is a horror movie that plays with ambiguity. For the bulk of the movie, you’re not sure what’s happening to Evy. Is she imagining things? Or is she really experiencing an actual haunting, something she’s always been skeptical of believing in?
“That was intentional,’ Tuason confesses. “I wanted to maintain a feeling [of uncertainty.] What’s happening in the movie? [What Evy goes through] may or may not be paranormal, and you don’t know for sure because a faucet could turn on by itself, right? That sound she hears upstairs could be the wood expanding in the floorboards. Even when the lights turn off, and Evy sees a figure in the dark, it’s brief, and then the lights turn back on, and the figure is gone. I couldn’t write something and put it in there unless it could be plausibly explained.”
How ‘Undertone’ Elevates Horror — and Drew Inspiration from ‘The Sopranos’
The result is a scary movie like no other. Eschewing blood, guts and any need for a clear explanation, Undertone marinates in the terror of ambiguity. You can even call it “elevated horror,” even though that term has some negative connotations among genre fans.
“I just discovered that ‘elevated horror’ was an offensive term to some people. That surprised me. There’s no agreed-upon definition of what it actually means. Some people take it like ‘my horror is better than yours.’ And I can’t really define it either, but I know it when I see it, like Hereditary or The Babadook. Those movies were made by filmmakers who are experts in their craft.”
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“When I was writing Undertone, I was taking ideas from different things that weren’t even in the horror genre. I took a lot from The Sopranos because I liked certain shots. I mean, some of Tony’s (James Gandolfini) dream sequences are really scary! Ultimately, I tried to make the best movie I could by making Undertone the scariest it could be.”
Following the release of Christina Applegate‘s memoir, Sebastian Bach has issued an apology over the love triangle involving the actress and Brad Pitt. Reflecting on his younger days in the whirlwind world of rock ‘n’ roll, Bach acknowledged the past and apologized to anyone he may have hurt with his actions.
Sebastian Bach Apologizes Over 1989 Incident
Applegate’s memoir, “You with the Sad Eyes,” was released on March 3, and soon afterward, the media highlighted one anecdote in which she ditched Pitt for Bach in 1989.
At that time, Applegate was best known for her role as Kelly Bundy on the sitcom “Married… with Children,” while Pitt was a lesser-known actor at the beginning of his acting career. Bach, meanwhile, was the frontman for the heavy metal band Skid Row.
On March 12, Bach spoke with Billboard and addressed the story, saying he was “very surprised when that all hit.” The rock star then issued an apology to all those he may have hurt in the past.
“I apologize if I hurt her… if I hurt anybody. When you’re young you get thrown into the whirlwind of rock ‘n’ roll, meeting a lot of people and you better hold on tight. It’s like being on a roller coaster… It was a long time ago. If I hurt anybody, I apologize for it.” Bach said.
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Christina Applegate Shared Details In Her Memoir
In Applegate’s memoir, she wrote how she and Pitt had been “platonic” friends for a long time before she asked him to be her date at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.
However, Bach caught the 17-year-old actress’ attention at the ceremony. Applegate wrote, “Brad back then was still making his way as an actor, and he wasn’t yet THE Brad Pitt, the man of so many people’s dreams.” That night, she ended up leaving with Bach, while Pitt drove her mother home.
As the actress shared, she and Pitt didn’t speak for a long time after the incident, but had made amends years later. She wrote in her book that Pitt “deserved much better.” Later, Applegate discovered that Bach was in a relationship and had a baby.
The Actress Spoke About The Incident In 2015
Jen Lowery/MEGA
In 2015, Applegate was a guest on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” and in the game Plead the Fifth, the actress was asked about leaving Pitt mid-date in 1989.
Cohen’s question was: “Who was the guy that you ditched Brad Pitt for?” Applegate took a moment before asking how many plead the fifths she had. At that point, she had already used up all her passes. Still, she refused to name the person.
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Cohen asked her questions, such as whether the person was famous or an actor. “Was he known to the public?” the host asked, to which Applegate replied, “Mmm hmm.” Applegate remained tight-lipped throughout the questions and didn’t drop a name.
Sebastian Bach Wrote About The Actress In His Book
In 2016, Bach was on a radio show when he revealed that he was the guy Applegate ditched Pitt for. In his memoir, “18 and Life on Skid Row,” released that same year, he wrote that he and the actress “hit it off” in an instant. He said Applegate was “very nice, very beautiful, and very famous,” and part of why he pursued her was he thought it would be “good for the band.”
He was in a relationship with a woman named Maria back then, but in his mind, he thought, “No rings? No strings.” Although he said he pursued Applegate, he revealed that they did not sleep together, adding that he was “attached” to Maria, and Applegate was so young.
“So there was a time on this earth when Sebastian Bach was, like, a hotter lay than Brad Pitt. Of course, that’s going in the book! I’ve gotta tell somebody that,” Bach said in the radio show.
Sebastian Bach Wanted A Skid Row Reunion
Skid Row formed in 1986 in New Jersey and rose to fame in the late ’80s, releasing multi-platinum albums and songs, such as “18 and Life,” “I Remember You,” and “Youth Gone Wild.”
Bach joined the band as the frontman in 1987, helping define Skid Row’s sound with his stage presence and powerful vocal chops. He left the band in late 1996 due to disagreements over the band’s direction.
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In February, Bach said he had wanted to reunite with his former bandmates to perform as Skid Row once again, but it seemed unlikely. “The more I keep saying yes, yes, yes, but they don’t do anything, then I’m like, well, I mean, at some point, it’s like beating my head against a wall,” he noted.
Fans of Dolly Parton had grown increasingly concerned after the country music icon missed some scheduled appearances in recent months due to health concerns. Now, the singer has made her first major public appearance, offering reassurance to supporters who had been worried about her health.
Dolly Parton Explained Her Absence From Public Events
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On March 13, Parton attended the opening day celebration of Dollywood’s 41st season, delivering the keynote address to the large crowd. The Queen of Country co-owns Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, that opened in the ’80s.
It was Parton’s first major appearance since revealing some health issues last year. Addressing the crowd, the singer shared the reasons why she hadn’t been seen in public the past several months. “I’ve had a few little health issues, and we’re taking good care of them. I just kind of got worn down and worn out, grieving over Carl and a lot of other little things going on,” she explained.
Parton said that she needed the time to regroup “spiritually, emotionally, and physically,” adding, “All is good. It didn’t slow me down.”
The Singer’s Husband Died In March 2025
For six decades, Parton shared a loving and devoted marriage with Carl Thomas Dean, who famously preferred to remain out of the public eye.
The two met outside a laundromat in Nashville in 1964 when Parton was 18 and Dean was 21. Two years later, they married in an intimate ceremony. The couple renewed their wedding vows for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2016, and Dean recalled the moment he first saw Parton.
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“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.’ My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin’. And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth,” Dean stated, per ET Online.
Dean passed away in March 2025 after a long illness. In an interview with The Independent after her husband’s passing, Parton said, “Part of me was at peace that he was at peace and not suffering anymore. But that still doesn’t make up for the loss and the loneliness of it.”
Dolly Parton Had A Kidney Stone Infection
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In September 2025, Parton skipped a Dollywood event, instead sending a video telling the crowd the reason for her non-appearance. She had a kidney stone that turned into an infection, and was advised by her doctor not to travel. “Don’t worry about me, I’m gonna be okay. Just can’t do it today,” she assured her fans.
That same month, the “Jolene” singer made an announcement postponing her December Las Vegas residency, citing health issues. Although she didn’t provide details about her health, she did say that she had to undergo “a few procedures.” Parton assured her fans that she won’t be “quitting the business” but needed some time to recuperate and put together a show that her fans deserved.
Parton also missed an event where she was inducted into the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame and skipped the Academy Governors Awards, where she was awarded an honorary Oscar.
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The Queen Of Country Skipped Her Birthday Celebration
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On January 19, Parton celebrated her 80th birthday. The Grand Ole Opry House hosted a birthday weekend celebration for the country icon. However, as The Blast previously reported, Parton wasn’t able to attend the festivities.
Parton expressed her deep gratitude to the Opry in a video and said she wished she could be there. The singer didn’t give a reason for her absence, but she appeared happy and healthy.
Fans sent birthday greetings to Parton, while some were concerned about her health. One commented, “What’s wrong with Dolly, is she still under the weather as in sick or she’s got other things going on? I’m starting to get worried about her.”
Another user wrote, “Let her get some rest. She hasn’t had the time to get over her precious husband, Carl.”
“God bless her and keep her safe. She’s such a treasure,” one commented.
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Dollywood’s New Attraction
Dollywood kicks off its 41st season with the “I Will Always Love You Festival,” a celebration of Parton’s hit songs, which will run through April 12.
In addition, the theme park has a brand new attraction, the NightFlight Expedition. The $50 million roller coaster features immersive elements, and according to Dollywood President Eugene Naughton, it will be the longest ride in the park at 5.5 minutes long.
“We have half a million gallons of water that’s going to rush by you as you’re riding NightFlight Expedition, and you’re going to get a chance to really, truly feel what it’s like to whitewater raft,” Naughton teased.
With the new attraction, they are hoping to attract more visitors and eventually have Dollywood open all-year-round. Dollywood’s 41st season will close in January 3, 2027.
Leonardo DiCaprioand Robert De Nirohave often been associated with one another because of their shared connection with Martin Scorsese. Due to the consistent quality of DiCaprio’s current output, he is considered to be the “De Niro” of his generation. Both men have been highly awarded by the Oscars; De Niro has a total of nine nominations (including Best Picture as a producer on The Irishman) and two wins, and DiCaprio has eight nominations (including Best Picture as a producer on The Wolf of Wall Street) and one single victory in the Best Actor category for The Revenant. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that both DiCaprio and De Niro have been in twelve films that were nominated for Best Picture. De Niro first appeared in a Best Picture-nominated film with The Godfather: Part II (for which he also won Best Supporting Actor), and DiCaprio was in Titanic, which tied the record for the most wins with eleven (alongside Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), even though he was not personally nominated.
De Niro and DiCaprio are not the only actors to have picked up significant attention from the Academy; Jack Nicholson has been in ten Best Picture nominees, earned the most nominations of any male actor with twelve, and tied the record for most individual wins for a male actor (alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Penn). Other actors with a significant number of appearances in Best Picture nominees include Tom Hanks (nine), Brad Pitt (nine), Gregory Peck (eight), Harrison Ford (eight), and, curiously enough, Jesse Plemons with seven, including his role alongside De Niro and DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. However, DiCaprio and De Niro have shown a consistent interest in working with great directors, which explains why they’ve been in so many classics.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro Have Impressive Filmographies
De Niro has the benefit of being older than DiCaprio, and has been appearing in great films for over half a century. His filmography is not nearly as consistent as he has certainly been in disasters like Righteous Kill and Dirty Grandpa, but De Niro has evolved as a star who has been relevant in every generation. Some of his contemporaries, such as Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino, started their careers off very strong, but didn’t appear in as many acclaimed films in the latter half of their resumes in the 21st century. De Niro has never failed to do interesting work, and hasn’t cared about the size of his role; his performance in the Best Picture nominee American Hustle was little more than a cameo. De Niro’s name is enough to signify that the Academy should take notice, given that his Oscar-winning role in the Best Picture winnerThe Godfather: Part II was also his breakout. Playing a younger version of Marlon Brando’s character from the original The Godfather seemed like an impossible task, but De Niro pulled it off, making Vito Corleone the first character to be portrayed in two Oscar-winning performances (a record that would be tied by the Joker and West Side Story’s Maria).
DiCaprio is great in dramatic roles, but some of his best performances show another aspect of his talents.
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DiCaprio has a slightly more complicated history with the Academy, given that he was nominated for his breakthrough child performance in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, but would be snubbed for over ten years for his excellent roles in Titanic, The Basketball Diaries, Catch Me if You Can, and Gangs of New York. While the Internet took an interest in the fact that he hadn’t won, DiCaprio’s physical transformation in The Revenantwas impossible to ignore. Since winning the Oscar, DiCaprio has only been more selective in his roles, as the last film he was in that didn’t get a Best Picture nomination was The Great Gatsby thirteen years ago.
De Niro and DiCaprio Have Been in 3 Films Together
Although they both developed longstanding partnerships with Scorsese, DiCaprio and De Niro finally shared the screen in Killers of the Flower Moon, an epic which earned an impressive ten nominations, despite zero wins. It was a major comeback for De Niro, who received his first acting nomination since Silver Linings Playbook for one of the most terrifying roles of his entire career. While DiCaprio was unfortunately snubbed in a tight Best Actor race, his efforts to promote the film certainly helped it perform better at the box office and allowed for a breakout moment for Lily Gladstone, who stole the film with her heartbreaking performance. Now that it has finally been issued on physical media with the Criterion 4K, Killers of the Flower Moon is being more broadly accepted as the modern masterpiece that it is.
DiCaprio and De Niro also appeared in two other films together that haven’t received as much fanfare, although both are quite good. This Boy’s Life was a powerful domestic drama featuring DiCaprio as a young boy and De Niro as his abusive stepfather, and has held up as a great coming-of-age story; they also appeared together in the generational family melodrama Marvin’s Room, which earned Diane Keaton a nomination for Best Actress. It’s not clear yet if they will be reuniting anytime soon, as DiCaprio is currently filming the new Scorsese film What Happens At Night with Jennifer Lawrence, and De Niro will next be seen in the comedy sequel Focker-In-Law. However, DiCaprio does appear to be fulfilling a different part of the De Niro legacy because of his involvement in the new Michael Mann film Heat 2, where it is strongly rumored that he will be playing Neil, the character that De Niro played in the 1995 classic. The original Heat was snubbed by the Oscars, but DiCaprio’s involvement might be enough to generate more awards attention for the sequel.
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Killers of the Flower Moon is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
It’s been nearly six months since the Putman family tragically lost three relatives in a deadly crash and Blake Putman can still recall the accident as if it happened yesterday.
“I remember the entire thing,” Blake, 37, who was driving the car when it was struck by a semi-truck in September 2025, told People on Friday, March 13. “I remember the car hitting us. I remember being on the road. I remember a lot of scenes inside the vehicle.”
The Meet the Putmans star recalled, “He hit my door, and how God allowed me to be where I am today, I’m not really sure.”
Blake was driving one of three cars carrying the Putman family — who gained fame while starring on TLC’s Meet the Putmans in 2017 — as they headed home from watching Blake’s 15-year-old son Noah play football. Tragedy struck when they were about one mile from their house in Caro, Michigan, on September 26, 2025.
The Putman family is sharing an update on their injured relatives after several family members were involved in a fatal car accident. “We wanted to share an update and continue asking for prayers for Noah, Gia and our entire family,” a statement shared via the family’s Growing Up Putmans Instagram account read on Wednesday, October […]
Blake’s vehicle was transporting eight family members, including his parents, Bill “Papa” Putman and Barb “Neenee” Putman, his wife, Megan Putman, Blake and Megan’s son Noah and daughters Lulu, 13, and Alena, 11. Blake’s brother Brandon Putman’s daughter Gia, 11, was also in the car when the semi-truck collided with it.
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Papa and Neenee, who were both 65, died in the crash, as did Blake’s wife, Megan, who was 37.
“Megan had her arms around me when he hit us, and my dad was sleeping,” Blake recalled on Friday. “My mom and dad and Megan, they died on the scene. The autopsy said that they were immediately gone. There was no saving them.”
Blake, for his part, said he suffered a “couple broken bones” in his neck as well as a broken nose and some lacerations.
The Putman Family in January 2026.Courtesy of Growing Up Putman/Instagram
Brandon, 39, and his wife, Kacie Putman, were in one of the other two cars when the accident played out in front of them. (Blake, Brandon and their other two siblings, Billy and Blair, all live in one house with their spouses and children. Their late parents also lived with them prior to their deaths.)
“There’s only one thing that could come out of my mouth, and it was, ‘Dear God, save my kids,’” Kacie told People. “He did that. He saved every one of our kids.”
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While all four kids in the struck vehicle did survive, they sustained injuries. Lulu had a pelvic fracture and Alena suffered a clavicle fracture. Noah and Gia had traumatic brain injuries.
“I remember pulling Noah out of the car, and I didn’t think he’d be the same as he is,” Brandon explained of his nephew. “The way he’s bounced back and is stronger in almost every facet than he was before in a short amount of time is amazing. Gia, the same thing.”
Noah spent two weeks in the ICU and underwent two months in rehab, but the family said he is now back at school, playing football and wrestling.
Gia has had a harder road after being airlifted to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery, which her father, Brandon, said saved her life.
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“If she would’ve went by ambulance, she wouldn’t have made it,” Brandon revealed. “Her spleen went through her diaphragm and up into the left side of her chest. She broke her clavicle and broke her left humerus, which is not very funny — I got to throw a little bit of dad jokes in there — but it’s a miracle.”
After 10 brain surgeries and three months in the hospital, Gia returned home in January, but she still has a tracheostomy to help with breathing. (A tracheostomy is a surgically created opening in the neck that establishes an airway and ventilation, according to Mayo Clinic.)
As everyone continues to heal medically, the family said they are still navigating how to emotionally move forward from their losses.
The Putman family members have been making a name for themselves since starring on TLC’s Meet the Putmans in 2017. The reality series followed the Putman family — Bill Putman and Barbara Putman, their four children, Billy Putman, Brandon Putman, Blake Putman and Blair Putman, their respective spouses and, at the time, 15 grandchildren — […]
“Megan is my soulmate,” Blake told the outlet, noting he still refers to his late wife in the present tense. “I remember telling her that I know that heaven exists, and she kind of looked at me like, ‘Okay, why are you telling me this?’ We were holding each other in bed, and I told her, ‘Because I can’t love someone as much as I love you, and this be it.’” (The couple celebrated their 18-year anniversary just weeks before Megan’s death.)
Brandon noted that they have leaned on each other to get through the tough season.
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“But this family, we circle each other, and when one person’s weak, we pick them up,” he said. “God bless my dad for having the vision to bring us together like that and to teach us these principles to live by.”
In December 2025, the driver responsible for the crash, Pavel Schukin, pleaded no contest to three counts of a moving violation causing death, which is a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to one year and jail and at the sentencing the Putman brothers gave him a Bible and forgave him.
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“At the funeral, a lot of people came up to us, like, ‘Wow. To see how you guys responded to the driver by gifting him a Bible and giving him forgiveness, that strengthened my faith,’” Brandon said on Wednesday. “Well, the feeling’s mutual. That was our goal when we had our show.”
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