The Heartbreaking Reason This Recent Action Horror Gem Is Surging on Streaming Charts
Horror movies find new audiences in all kinds of ways. Sometimes a legend in the genre, like Stephen King or John Carpenter, drops a recommendation. Or a much-hyped new physical media release spurs new appreciation. And sometimes, things just go viral.
Earlier this month, a 2025 horror film jumped up the streaming charts again for a more unusual reason. It wasn’t exactly a recommendation, but one of the year’s most exciting streaming releases got a fresh boost because a major star compared its plot to her experience with grief.
The Gorge, directed by horror auteur Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Black Phone), already hit the top of Apple TV+’s streaming charts once. Back in February it launched as major hit for the streamer, and horror fans loved it too. In her review, Dread Central’s Mary Beth McAndrews said the film “works as a fascinating melding of action, horror, science-fiction, and romance in a film perfect to watch curled up with your Valentine.”
So, what propelled The Gorge back to the top of Apple’s streaming charts this month? Aubrey Plaza, who’s been out promoting her new film Honey Don’t! Earlier in August, Plaza appeared on her Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, for a wide-ranging conversation. Among the topics was how Plaza is dealing with her grief following the death of her husband, director Jeff Baena, who passed back in January. In an unexpected, and unexpectedly funny, moment, Plaza compared her own grief to the imagery of The Gorge.
“In the movie, there’s a cliff on one side and there’s a cliff on the other side, then there’s a gorge in between, and it’s filled with all these like monster people that are trying to get them,” Plaza said. “I swear, when I watched it, I was like, that feels like what my grief is like… or what grief could be like, where at all times, there’s a giant ocean of awfulness, that’s, like, right there, and I can see it. Sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just be in it. Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But it’s always there.”
The Gorge stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as two special operatives who’ve been assigned to monitor opposite sides of the same mysterious gorge. As their mission wears on, they start to communicate, fall in love, and dig deeper into the secrets of the gorge itself. It’s not a film about grief necessarily, but it is a movie about combatting profound loneliness and alienation. It’s also, at the same time, a really fun monster picture.
The Gorge is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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