A pair of recent horror hits in Heretic and MaXXXine lead this week’s streaming releases alongside the return of The Wheel of Time, the hotly anticipated new season of Drive to Survive, local sports drama Breekpunt, and more.

SERIES

Formula 1: Drive to Survive

7 March 2025 – Netflix

It’s not often we’ll feature a show’s seventh season here on Stream Scene, but it’s also not often a show – a sports documentary show, at that – will have the global impact of Drive to Survive. Netflix’s exclusive in-depth behind-the-scenes coverage of Formula 1 racing has helped to boost the sport to unprecedented levels of popularity worldwide. It’s biggest criticism in the past has been using sneaky editing to sensationalize the previous year’s events for more on-screen drama. That won’t be needed this time. The 2024 F1 season was arguably the most absurdly drama filled year of F1 since the sport’s very inception. Shocking driver exits, unreal crashes, incredible underdog victories, historic weather conditions, breakout rookie performances, off-track personal controversies, the most race winners per season for ages, and much, much more. So much more that fans are really not sure how Netflix managed to cram it all into the normal ten-episode allotment. We’ll find out this weekend.

Breekpunt S1

10 March 2025 – Showmax

Keeping things sporty and dramatic, Breekpunt is a new local Afrikaans drama series set in the world of tennis. Chelsea Thomas stars as Ashleigh, a gutsy teenager fighting for the chance to compete on the international tennis stage despite her humble surroundings. The challenges she must overcome are not only on the tennis court, and what she gains is so much more than a trophy. The show sees Thomas reunite with her Cantona James who co-starred with her in the award-winning Spinners. Also look out for SAFTA winner Lorcia Cooper-Kumalo (Red Ink, Lockdown) and Sherman Faro (Thys Cupido in Arendsvlei) as her parents.

The Wheel of Time S3

13 March 2025 – Prime Video

I’ve never been somebody who feels that adaptations should stick to their respective source material verbatim, but sometimes changes can go too far. That’s how a lot of fans felt about the first season of Wheel of Time, Prime Video’s big budget adaptation of Robert Jordan’s long-running fantasy book series. While I thought there were some great bits in it, the show made some massive changes – like even changing who the lead character was – which did not sit well with many. As a result, the second season saw a way more muted response from audiences as lots of people bowed out. And that’s also why the upcoming third season has snuck up on us a bit with not much in the way of fanfare before its release this coming Thursday. For what it’s worth, in Season 3, as threats against the Light are multiplying, Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) and Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) embark on a perilous journey to the Aiel Waste to uncover the true fate of the Dragon Reborn. With the Forsaken in hot pursuit and Rand’s corrupted power growing stronger, Moraine must prevent the Dragon from turning Dark… no matter the cost.

Adolescence S1

13 March 2025 – Netflix

Stephen Graham is a very busy man. The fan-favourite British actor is currently co-leading Steven Knight’s A Thousand Blows on Disney+, but he’s also starring in a new four-part limited series on Netflix. At the heart of Adolescence is a simple premise: “What would you do if your teenage son was accused of murder?”. What sets this show apart from its peers though is that each episode not only plays out in real time but is filmed in a single continuous shot. That level of ambitious filmmaking alone is enough to make me want to check this one out.

MOVIES

Delicious

7 March 2025 – Netflix

If you loved the award-winning Parasite, you may want to check out Delicious, a new German/English production that touches on very similar themes of classism, privilege, and envy, but with a seemingly very off-kilter twist. Delicious follows a wealthy German family on vacation in the French countryside who befriend a desperate young hotel worker. Eager to assist the impoverished young woman, the family welcomes her into their home, only to slowly discover that she may be harboring sinister intentions.

Arcadian

10 March 2025 – Showmax

We don’t get Shudder here in SA, but I wish we did as the horror-focused streamer has been putting out a lot of seemingly good movies as of late. One of these released last year is the Nic Cage-led Arcadian, which I admittedly had not been paying attention to because… well, have you seen Nic Cage’s filmography as of late?! You never what you’re getting with him. It’s either award-winning dramas like Dream Scenario, or absolute stinky garbage like Jiu Jitsu. Based on the brief synopsis I had seen for Arcadian – post-apocalyptic thriller where monsters attack at night – I expected more of the latter. However, instead of some cheap D-grade schlock, reviews indicated that Arcadian was a surprisingly solid creature feature that boasted both potent chills and familial drama as it followed a father (Cage) and his two teenage sons (Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins) who must overcome their personal difficulties in order to survive a horrific attack after their normally meticulous safety measures on their isolated farmhouse go wrong. Up until now, Arcadian has only been available locally via digital rental, but it’s finally hitting local streaming platforms this week.

Heretic

13 March 2025 – Showmax

Boasting arguably the greatest performance of Hugh Grant’s lengthy career (which earned him Golden Globe, BAFTA and Critics Choice Awards nominations), Heretic is a pot-boiler of note. This may come as a surprise as for most of its runtime, it’s merely three people sitting around discussing religion. Said three people being Grant’s mysterious Mr. Reed, who is visited by two young Mormon missionaries, played by Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and Chloe East (The Fabelmans) with some breakout performances. As Noelle noted in her 8/10 review though, the film’s constant unpredictability turns a rather mundane premise into a white-knuckled suspense rollercoaster as Mr. Reed drills sisters Barnes and Paxton on their beliefs and they in turn slowly realize that something is very wrong in his house.

O’Dessa

13 March 2025 – Disney+

And now for something completely different. And I mean completely different! O’Dessa is billed as a post-apocalyptic musical sci-fi fantasy adventure. Yes, they have all the genres here! The film stars Stranger Things breakout Sadie Sink as the titular heroine, a farm girl with musical talent who sets out from her humble home, crossing the wastelands to recover a cherished family heirloom. Along the way she travels to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love and gets embroiled in an uprising against the evil enslaving the city’s inhabitants. This “epic rock opera” is written and directed by Geremy Jasper and co-stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Regina Hall and Murray Bartlett.

VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES

The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:

MaXXXine

Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R182

Rental: Apple TV – R45 / Google Play Movies – R46

Following prequel/spinoff Pearl, Ti West’s X slasher trilogy comes to a close with MaXXXine. First introduced in 2022’s X, Mia Goth’s aspiring porn actress/serial killer survivor Maxine Mink is finally getting her big break in the 1980s adult entertainment industry. But once again, she finds herself surrounded by death as a mysterious killer begins stalking various Hollywood starlets, including Maxine, threatening to end her dream early and in the bloodiest way.

Marked Men: Rule + Shaw

Purchase: Apple TV – R160 / Google Play Movies – R161

Rental: Apple TV – R45 / Google Play Movies – R50

I had to include this film on today’s list purely for one reason. I can’t recall when last I’ve seen a title more misleading than Marked Men: Rule + Shaw, which totally sounds like it should be the latest action blockbuster spinoff in the Fast & Furious franchise, or maybe some ambitious franchise starter about two mob assassins. But no, it’s none of those things. Instead, Marked Men is your typical mushy teen romantic drama full of impossibly beautiful people, secret loves, dramatic fallouts, and a poppy soundtrack. For the record, the synopsis says that “Shaw has loved Rule since she saw him, but Rule doesn’t see her as a suitable match, but a night of drinking and secrets leads them to question if they can be together without ruining their relationship… or each other.”