Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.
10. Terrifier 2 – Bloody Disgusting film streaming on Freevee
This killer clown’s third outing obliterated that other joker clown and has already smashed the Terrifier 3 budget multiple times over, so naturally, the second entry in this gross-out saga is seeing people catch up at home before heading out to multiplexes, and this isn’t simply happening because it’s October. Horror knows how to deliver full-on experiences while keeping budgets low and margins high, and there’s no moviegoing experience quite like gripping seat handles in a room full of fellow patrons who are doing the same.
9. Strange Darling – Magenta Light Studios film on VOD & Amazon Prime
This film has been highlighted by our own Josh Kurp as one of the best horror flicks of 2024 for solid reason, and even though this movie is on VOD and not part of a streaming service’s “free” package yet, audiences are finding it worth their while to order up another stellar turn from the underappreciated Willa Fitzgerald, who helped Reacher find footing as a series before low-key stealing The Fall Of The House Of Usher. As for Strange Darling, you’re in for a complex, serial-killing ride with endless layers.
8. Caddo Lake – Max film
It wouldn’t be October without some M. Night Shyamalan involved. The Village and Signs director produces this movie that will go over well with as little advance description as possible. The plot involves a missing eight-year-old girl, whose disappearance connects to several other disappearances, and as always, expect some twisting to go down where M. Night’s influence is present.
7. Teacup – Peacock series
James Wan must not believe that he has enough on his plate because he added this Peacock horror series to his revolving door of tasks. This horror series stars Yvonne Stahovski and Scott Speedman and according to the synopsis, “follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive.” The story is based upon Robert McCammon’s Bram Stoker Award-nominated Stinger with a more minimalistic, stripped down take that Strahovski might have found more stressful than her entire Handmaid’s Tale run.
6. Nobody Wants This – Netflix series
A second season is coming, surely to stir up a bit more controversy and otherwise attempt a crowd-pleasing continuation to the romance between Kristen Bell’s sex-friendly podcaster and Adam Brody’s hot and single rabbi. There’s some Sex and the City influence in there somewhere, but creator Erin Foster was inspired by her own real-life marriage (including her adult conversion to Judaism for marriage) while making the series. Perhaps there will be some sequel-winks toward the haters, too, but the leading couple has such believable chemistry that maybe the Internet detractors will move on to something else.
5. Sweetpea – Starz series
Ella Purnell has made her recent acting bones by portraying survivors, so she has headed to Opposite Land in this “coming of rage” story that blends Heathers and American Psycho vibes with some Bridget Jones for good measure. The darkly comedic series is based upon C.J. Skuse’s same-named novel about Purnell’s Rhiannon, who received her name (from the writer, anyway) due to influence from the witchy Fleetwood Mac song. The plot sees Rhiannon, after being ignored in life too long, abandoning her wallflower self in favor of an intoxicating but horrifying hew persona.
4. The Penguin – Max series
Come for Colin Farrell in prosthetics, and stay for the liberal use of Pepsi-Bismol and Cristin Milioti periodically stealing the spotlight as Sofia Falcone. Matt Reeves’ The Batman sits outside the DCU, as does this spin off show with Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot navigating the Gotham underworld’s power vacuum and finding exactly where he fits in after the murder of mob boss Carmine Falcone by Paul Dano’s The Riddler. Farrell wasn’t thrilled to wear the extensive prosthetics that this role requires, but this series has been so much better received than other WBD comic-book efforts that it’s hard to imagine a second season not happening.
3. Alien: Romulus – 20th Century Studios film on VOD & Amazon Prime
Fede Álvarez isn’t becoming known as the horror revival king for nothing. This interquel movie isn’t streaming on Hulu yet, but that hasn’t stopped it from flying into space via VOD platforms. Following this facehugging-good time for an unfortunate group of space scavengers, FX will unleash its Hulu-bound Alien: Earth streaming series (from Fargo and Legion showrunner Noah Hawley) that will star Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, and Timothy Olyphant. Everything is coming up Xenomorphs, y’all.
2. Yellowjackets – Showtime series streaming on Paramount+
Another Showtime series (waves to Dexter) is flying high on Netflix, which is boosting interest before the show’s third season surfaces next year, hopefully with the second season streaming on Netflix soon, too. If you haven’t watched this series yet, do not eat before you start binging, and that’s not only because of the cannibalism that eventually ends up being on display. My main takeaways from this series (because the “mystery” got teased too long, imo) is that Sophie Thatcher should be in more projects, that Melanie Lynskey is a national treasure, and that the rise of Ella Purnell should continue unabated. Very scientific takes for sure, but also, Christina Ricci seems to be having the time of her life, and her antagonistic era also includes the first Wednesday season on Netflix, so while you’re waiting for more Yellowjackets, there’s more Villain Ricci to enjoy on the same streaming service.
1. Outer Banks – Netflix series
Pogues are Poguing again, but one Pogue ends the first half of the fourth season with knowledge that will rattle his Pogue-self down to its very core. Also, the hunt for Blackbeard’s treasure is officially on, which leads the group to abandon their attempt at being “normal” while running a tourist-centered business. Not even the El Dorado gold discovery could top their current hunt, and this season also sees them face off with dangerous new forces, including a character portrayed by Pollyanna McIntosh of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live fame. It’s not quite a Jadis crossover but still unsettling.
