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This May on Netflix: Five Genre Picks Set to Start the Fire and Entertain

Action, anime, K-drama, animation, sci-fi. May on Netflix is covering a lot of ground, and these five genre picks are the ones worth clearing your evening for.

Next month looks to be good on Netflix, especially for those curious about what The Duffer Brothers’ next project is. Although they are not helming the work, what’s offered in these five genre picks for May looks solid.

Whether you’re in the mood for a Thai action film with some serious John Wick energy, a slow-burn supernatural series from the team behind Stranger Things, or an anime adaptation manga readers have been waiting years to see, there’s real variety here. We’ve rounded up five picks worth circling on your calendar.

My Dearest Assassin

(Film) | Streaming May 7

My Dearest Assassin (Film) Thailand has been quietly building a reputation for punchy, emotionally grounded genre cinema, and this Netflix Original leans right into that. Lhan was born with a rare blood type that made her a target from childhood. After her parents are murdered, she’s taken in by House 89, a secretive assassin clan that becomes her found family. Years later, the man who killed her parents returns, and this time she’s not running.

The film blends close-quarters action choreography with a genuine romance between Lhan and Pran, the heir to House 89. Director Taweewat Wantha (Death Whisperer) brings a horror filmmaker’s instinct for tension to the fight sequences. One-time film drop, no waiting.

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Streaming Ne Zha 2 Isn’t Enough, Where’s the Blu-ray Release?

Despite breaking records as the highest-grossing animated film ever, Ne Zha 2 still has no Blu-ray or 4K release in sight. With streaming available but shelves empty, the question remains: where is this global hit hiding?

Ne Zha 2 Movie Poster Even though Ne Zha 2 is the highest-grossing animated movie in history and can already be streamed, there’s still no indication of when it will arrive on home video. This little hero is proving as elusive as White Snake 3 (aka Afloat). It’s a strange place to be in 2026, especially for a film that’s just over a year old. Merchandise is reportedly flying off the shelves, yet the movie itself has no physical release in sight.

This work hit Chinese theatres on January 29, 2025, and quickly lit up the global box office. The film grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide and now ranks among the highest-grossing films of all time, alongside Avengers: Endgame, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic. It’s more than an animated milestone, it’s a cultural moment. So why is the home video shelf still empty?

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The Fires Won’t Always Be Burning with Bat Out of Hell The Musical and a Varied Cast

A filmed version of Bat Out of Hell The Musical delivers all the bombast, noise, and mythic swagger Jim Steinman fans could want, but the attempt to shape his greatest hits into a coherent dystopian love story remains uneven.

Playing on BroadwayHD

Watching the streaming broadcast of Bat Out of Hell The Musical feels a bit like riding a phantom bike that needs to brake now and then. Jim Steinman’s work is as bombastic as expected, even though the story is essentially a dystopian remix of Streets of Fire. That connection is no accident, since Steinman also penned the anthems for that rock and roll fable.

While the songs from Meat Loaf’s landmark 1977 album remain thunderous and mythical, this filmed stage production shows how difficult it is to build a consistent narrative around music originally written as stand-alone set pieces.

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Like a Bat Out of Hell, Luc Besson’s Dracula is Flying Fast to VOD!

Luc Besson’s Dracula is arriving on VOD on March 10, 2026. Starring Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, and Zoë Bleu, this romantic reimagining of the vampire myth also stands as one of Vertical’s biggest theatrical successes to date.

Coming to Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, and YouTube

Straight out of theatres and into your home, Luc Besson’s Dracula is ready to strike beginning March 10, 2026. It is already listed on Prime Video, and is reported to be one of Vertical’s highest-grossing releases to date. This romantic reimagining stars Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, and Zoë Bleu, and offers a bold new take on the iconic vampire myth.

In my review, I noted that Dracula: A Love Tale reshapes the familiar myth into a sweeping gothic romance driven by loss, reincarnation, and pulp energy. Caleb Landry Jones leans hard into the Count’s theatrical menace, while Christoph Waltz gives Van Helsing a scene-stealing presence that helps keep the film lively. Though the digital effects can feel uneven, the film still lands as an entertaining and memorable take on the legend.

Although a Blu-ray and DVD release date has not yet been announced, seeing this vampire reincarnate around Easter would be rather ironic indeed.

Luc Besson’s Dracula Trailer

When Unhinged Pasts Are Revealed, What’s Diabolic (2026) Is Sure to Scare

Diabolic blends trauma, control, and the supernatural into a hallucinatory folk-horror trip. While the film leans heavily on its past timeline, Phillips’ visceral style shines once the weirdness bleeds into the present.

Diabolic (2025) Movie Poster Streaming on VOD (YouTube, Apple TV+)

Aussie-made films can sometimes lean on the outback, or curiosity about Indigenous culture, but Diabolic takes a different path. Though the story plays out in the proverbial outback of Utah, I couldn’t help wondering why foreign investors were more interested in helping Daniel J. Phillips make this film than backing local creators. It’s not a detail worth nitpicking since the movie was shot in the land down under, but it becomes noticeable when the landscape feels slightly wrong for its intended setting. Maybe that’s part of the hallucinatory effect Phillips is aiming for.

After Elise (Elizabeth Cullen, The Bureau of Magical Things) leaves The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she thinks she’s safe. She’s moved on, but the nightmares keep coming. Elise has PTSD, and that’s the terrain the film explores more than anything else. Thankfully, her boyfriend Adam (John Kim, The Librarians) and her adoptive sister Gwen (Mia Challis, Outer Banks) are understanding. Trouble starts when they take a camping trip to get away and bring drugs along, hoping to knock down the walls Elise has built so she can finally feel whole and free from her past.

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Stranger Things. The Full Series in Review

After a long rewatch of Stranger Things, I look at what worked and what did not when creating the threat that would manifest in the small town of Hawkins. Thankfully, for those in the know, no foothold was made, but is this truly the end?

When Stranger Things first arrived on Netflix, it began with something wonderfully small. It seemed to be simply about a group of kids playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons, and not expecting that world to manifest around them! After the sudden absence of Will (Noah Schnapp), they had to learn how to become heroes for real. Even though the adults didn’t believe what they’ve encountered is real, what they managed to do was the impossible: to show that dangers lurk in every corner. The shadows are alive, and the necrophagous shadows, well….

From that moment, the series evolved naturally from childhood rituals into becoming adults. As for the fantasy characters they wanted to become, all the visual motifs (including a garbage can lid modified to become a shield) came into place. And the monsters they had to face weren’t just creatures. They were metaphors to something greater shaped by the kids’ references to concepts and entities from this role playing world. Some worked, and others did not, but overall, unless the viewer was in the know, the tie-ins were more than surface level references.

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