April is a month filled with holidays in South Africa, and Halo episodes are only dropping on Showmax on Fridays, so you have a bit more time than usual to check out series, movies, documentaries and animated fare on the streaming service.
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Here is a complete breakdown of this month’s release calendar, while below is all the new content that stood out for us.
P.S. in terms of returning favourites, look out for Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 (from 8 April), local telenovela Gomora S3 (from 25 April), and Ray Donovan: The Movie (out now), which caps off the popular series.
Series
Equal parts survival, horror and coming-of-age drama, the acclaimed Yellowjackets (which has a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes) tells the story of a group of high school girl soccer stars who, in 1996, survive a plane crash in the remote northern wilderness. They’re left to fend for themselves for months before being rescued – and let’s just say that things get very Lord of the Flies.
A parallel-running timeline looks at the lives of the survivors in the present day, with Melanie Lynsky, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci and Tawny Cypress playing the now-adult survivors, forever scarred by what happened. Watch the full first season of Yellowjackets now.
Bel-Air is a dramatic reimagining of Will Smith’s star-making sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, about a West Philadelphia teen sent to California to live with his wealthy relatives in order to escape gang-police violence. Smith himself executive produces this series, which stars newcomer Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes (Arrow, Supernatural), Cassandra Freeman (Inside Man), singer-songwriter Coco Jones, and Olly Sholotan (Run Hide Fight). Episodes are 60 minutes long and dial up the socio-political commentary. Binge Bel-Air now.
Fans of morally-grey Breaking Bad should definitely check out crime drama The Cleaning Lady. Starring Elodie Yung – Elektra from Netflix’s Daredevil and The Defenders – The Cleaning Lady is based on Argentine series La Chica que Limpia, and follows a Cambodian-Filipino doctor forced to work as a cleaner in the US when her visa expires. She’s in the country for medical treatment to save her son, and when the system fails her, she accepts a high-paying but dangerous job cleaning up crime scenes for the mob. Watch The Cleaning Lady now.
Documentaries
HBO’s two-part documentary Phoenix Rising follows the true story of Emmy-nominated actress and activist Evan Rachel Wood, a survivor of domestic violence, as she moves toward naming her infamous abuser (Marilyn Manson) for the first time and advocates for The Phoenix Act, extending the statute of limitations in California for domestic violence felonies. Don’t expect this one to be an easy watch, but it is a necessary one. Stream Phoenix Rising now.
If you don’t have a fear of heights, and love the idea of getting away from it all, there’s festival darling The Alpinist, a documentary feature on Canadian rock climber, alpinist, free solo legend and untamed spirit Marc-André Leclerc. Facing the most severe of consequences, Leclerc still climbs alone, scaling some of the toughest alpine faces with no rope or other support. Watch The Alpinist from 8 April.
Movies
Showmax is particularly good for unearthing little-known moviemgems and bringing them to local audiences for the first time. One of these is apparently The Boy Behind the Door, an edge-of-your-seat thriller about two boys (Lonnie Chavis, Ezra Dewey) who are kidnapped and taken to a labyrinthine house in the middle of nowhere. The friends’ only chance of survival is sticking together. Watch it from 21 April.
In what looks like something for fans of Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, there’s Mayday, about a young waitress, Ana (Grace Van Patten), who suddenly finds herself on a strange island embroiled in a never-ending war. There she joins an army of girls who delight in luring men to their death. Also with Mia Goth, Soko and Juliette Lewis. Watch from 7 April.
The Reckoning has not earned good reviews at all, but it’s directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent, and two of the best Game of the Thrones episodes), plus it has an intriguing premise. If you can endure the relentless graphic torture, you’ll dive into the story of Grace (Charlotte Kirk), a young widow accused of witchcraft while the Black Death rages in London in 1665. Stream from 14 April.