The gifts are unwrapped, the family has left, the present have been returned and exchanged for in-store credit because nobody suspected you might need a gift receipt, and now you are ready to sit down and enjoy some alone time with your favorite Netflix ready device. Fortunately, I keep a constant eye on what is being added each week and I have selected some of the best for you. Pickings are slim as Netflix prepares 100s of new titles for New Year's. This weekend I'm recommending a Canadian vampire musical, a mostly overlooked action gem, and PREDATOR gone urban.

SUCK

The Winners are a Canadian rock band, endlessly touring the provinces as well at the northernmost US states. Their manager Joey (Dave Foley) and healthy doses of jealousy and in-fighting do little to help boost their success. One night, though, bassist Jennifer goes home with a man she believes is a drug dealer only to be bitten and turned into a vampire. As is the case with vampires, she becomes instantly sexually irresistible which begins the band's ascent to stardom. Of course things spiral out of control as more members succumb to the seductive allure of vampirism, bodies pile up and a vampire hunter by the name of Eddie Van Helsing (Malcom McDowell) begins to catch up with them. SUCK does many things right - it is frequently funny, there's a bevy of rock legend cameos (Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins) and some of the music is great (if not all that catchy). There's a certain something it is lacking, though, that prevents it from becoming the cult film it so desperately yearns to be. Still, writer/director/actor/musician Rob Stefaniuk's indie vampire musical has enough gusto and wit (vampirism as a drug isn't new, but in the context of sex, drugs and rock and roll it feels original) to keep you entertained even if you won't be humming any of its tunes after the credits have rolled. (Available in HD)

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT

Samantha (Geena Davis) appears to be an average soccer mom/schoolteacher. However, she is actually a super deadly government assassin with amnesia named Charly Baltimore. When Samantha gets a good bump on the noggin, though, Charly begins to poke through (breaking a deer's neck, performing hair-raising knife stunts in the kitchen before supper) surprising everyone around her including her daughter and her fiancé.  She hires a shady private investigator played by Samuel L. Jackson to dig up clues to her past and eventually discovers her old enemies as well as her once-friends want her dead. It is completely ludicrous but it makes for a brilliantly fun action film with little filler - it's all setup, payoff, rinse and repeat. Renny Harlin performs some of his best direction from a playful Shane Black (LETHAL WEAPON, THE LAST BOY SCOUT) script. Capped off by an explosion scene that should be included in any candidate list for best of all-time, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT is simple, honest-to-goodness fun.

PREDATOR 2

There is a turf war going on in L.A. between the gangs of the Jamaican and Columbian drug lords. Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his partner Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton) have been told to stay out of the way of the escalating bloodshed by a Federal agent played by Gary Busey, but Mike has a hunch that there's something else going on. He's right. A Predator is loose in L.A. collecting skulls for trophies. Taking matters into his own hands, Harrigan stalks to the alien creature through the city. Few people are going to make the argument that this is a particularly good film, but the assessment that it is, at very least, entertaining seems to be rather popular. It certainly holds some over-the-top humor value (with Glover's performance being particularly spastic and hilarious) and the Predator attacks are gleefully violent. While all mystery present in the original film is sadly absent, the action set-pieces are, at least on a technical level and in terms of sheer scale, sometimes superior. PREDATOR 2 knows it has everything going against it and simply exists to place the creature in a more familiar setting and let it loose with some typical Joel Silver-style pizazz. It mostly works and you should find yourself enjoying it more than you suspect before hitting 'Play'.

The Wildcard - ARN: THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR

Each week I look for something that I have not seen in the new additions and make a blind recommendation. If you have seen it or end up watching it, please feel free to warn or encourage others in the comments section.

Normally a movie based in the Crusades era about a expert swordsman-cum-monk who is sent to battle as penance for impregnating his lady friend wouldn't appeal to me. But this is a Swedish film and even if there's nothing particularly compelling in the plot synopsis, at the least the different cultural perspective should be interesting. Most importantly, though, this movie has Stellan Skarsgård and I'm in for anything with him on the cast list. Looks to have the potential to be a sprawling epic with some much-desired attention to character usually sorely lacking in these types of adventures.

If you're looking for more...

If I didn't have the sneaking suspicion you'd be, in turns, tired and hungover this weekend and unable to give it your full attention, my very first recommendation this week would have been ROSEMARY'S BABY - queue it for later, it's every bit as brilliant as you've heard. The surprisingly good CHICAGO has frolicked onto the Instant lineup. The Jonathan Demme helmed black comedy SOMETHING WILD will fill your Melanie Griffith/Jeff Daniels/Ray Liotta quota for the weekend and it's an '80s classic. If you're curious to see how far down Edward Furlong has spiraled, the NIGHT OF THE DEMONS remake has become available to stream. In it, Furlong looks as if he passed out at a bus stop after an all night bender and the producers put him on set without his knowing he was in a movie. Those looks of fear are real. It absolutely pales in comparison to the original and its only recommended to the morbidly curious. Finally, I haven't seen it yet but I plan on finding out if CITY ISLAND is an indie gem or yet another indie film that give critics continued reason to use that annoying 'q' word.

Netflix is adding 200+ titles on New Year's Day so be ready for a flood of suggestions next week. Carl Weathers will be in there somewhere, I promise!