Paramount+ doesn’t always have the great movie selection of its rivals, and it doesn’t help when many of its best films are reserved only for the premium tier, Paramount+ with Showtime. That’s why our picks for the three underrated movies on Paramount+ you need to watch in December are available on all tiers. It’s the only way that seems fair.
This month, our choices include films by director Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter, Sofia Coppola, as well as a rare natural horror film that uses actual creatures instead of inventing some supernatural threat. But if you’re looking for more options, check out our round-up of everything new on Paramount+ in December.
Crawl (2019)
If you’re scared of alligators, there’s a surefire way to avoid them: Stay out of the Southeastern states! Failing that, at least stay away from the water and swamps. That’s not an option for Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) in Crawl, as a Category 5 storm brings the water to her, along with some ravenous alligators.
Haley only wanted to save her father, Dave Keller (Barry Pepper), from being trapped in a flooded house. Now, it’s Haley who’s trapped and forced to defend herself by any means necessary. And if the alligators don’t get to Haley, then the rising flood waters might finish the job for them.
Watch Crawl on Paramount+.
The Rainmaker (1997)
John Grisham’s legal thrillers were all the rage in the ’90s, and The Rainmaker was director Francis Ford Coppola’s stab at the genre. This is also notably the first time that Matt Damon (Oppenheimer) had a leading role, which hit theaters only a month before his breakout performance in Good Will Hunting. Damon is also very good in this movie as Rudy Baylor, a rookie lawyer who finds himself way over his head when his boss, J. Lyman “Bruiser” Stone (Mickey Rourke), skips town under a cloud of scandal.
Rudy’s only true friend and ally is his former co-worker and new partner, Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito). But the odds are stacked against the duo in their first case when they agree to represent a family in court against an insurance company that denied a transplant that could have saved their son, Donny Ray Black (Johnny Whitworth), from leukemia. However, the insurance company and their high-priced litigators underestimate Rudy at their peril because he is an excellent lawyer.
Watch The Rainmaker on Paramount+.
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
It’s a Coppola family affair this month on Paramount+ since The Virgin Suicides is Sofia Coppola’s debut film and an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel of the same name. The story is about Lux Lisbon (Kirsten Dunst) and her four sisters: Mary (A.J. Cook), Cecilia (Hanna R. Hall), Therese (Leslie Hayman), and Bonnie (Chelse Swain). In the ’70s, all five of the Lisbon girls live under the strict rules of their parents, Mr. Lisbon (James Woods) and Mrs. Lisbon (Kathleen Turner).
When one of the siblings commits suicide, the Lisbons become even more overprotective of their daughters. This doesn’t deter Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett) from attempting to woo Lux and coaxing the Lisbons into letting their children have some semblance of a normal life. Trip gets what he wants, but his actions only set off a chain of events that lead to more tragedy for the Lisbon family.
Watch The Virgin Suicides on Paramount+.
