Looking at the July release schedule for African streamer Showmax – which notably includes high-profile sports documentaries, the Godfather film series, and all 17 Afrikaans-language shorts from the 2022 Silwerskerm Film Festival – it’s an especially strong month for movie additions to the service. Below are the new series and films that we’re most excited for, while you can check out the full calendar of releases here.
P.S. Don’t forget that episodes of Westworld Season 4 (read our advance review) are dropping every Monday on Showmax through July.
Series
Standing out from the crime series crowd, Ragdoll is a serial killer show with a wicked sense of humour. Based on the novel by Daniel Cole, an international collective of detectives come together to investigate the grotesque case of six people murdered and sewn together in one body. No surprises: as the investigation advances, the killer begins to taunt them. Ragdoll stars Lucy Hale, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Thalissa Teixeira. Watch Ragdoll in its entirety now.
Created by Mindy Kaling and Brooklyn Nine-Nine writer Justin Noble, The Sex Lives of College Girls is a raunchy comedy that follows the highs and lows of four first-year roommates (Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Renee Rapp, and Alya Chanelle Scott) at the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Already renewed for Season 2, the series has been acclaimed for its sense of humour and authentic depiction of teens tasting freedom for the first time. As a heads up, though – this one is a hard 18 for sexual content. Watch Season 1 of The Sex Lives of College Girls in full now.
If you’re in the mood for something more series, check out Time, the BBC miniseries which won in its category at the 2022 BAFTAs. Sean Bean and Stephen Graham star in this prison drama about two men on the edge. Mark Cobden (Bean) is newly imprisoned, consumed by guilt for his crime, and way out of his depth; while Eric McNally (Graham) is a prison officer doing his best to protect those in his charge. He’s also hiding a secret that could destroy him and his family. Watch the three-part Time now.
Films
Daniel Craig’s stint as iconic British secret agent James Bond concludes with No Time To Die, the 25th film in the action espionage franchise. Continuing the story from Spectre, Bond comes out of retirement to infiltrate the sinister SPECTRE organisation, and face off against terrorist Safin (Rami Malek). Also starring are Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright and Ralph Fiennes. Watch No Time to Die from 4 July.
Writer-director John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II follows the events of the Oscar-nominated post-apocalyptic horror hit from 2018. This time the Abbott family, headed by Emily Blunt’s matriarch, must venture out from their destroyed home to look for other survivors. This time, though, it’s not just the deadly aliens, who hunt by sound, that the Abbotts face. Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou join the cast for Part II. A Quiet Place Part II hits Showmax on 14 July.
Over-the-top action movie Gunpowder Milkshake delivers the amazing leading lady team-up of Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, and Angela Bassett. When she defies her handlers to protect an eight-year-old-girl, assassin Sam (Gillan) is forced to turn to her estranged hitwoman mother (Headey) and her lethal colleagues, the Librarians, to survive. Watch Gunpowder Milkshake from 11 July.
Continuing the theme of tough action heroines (protecting kids), there’s Those Who Wish Me Dead, starring Angelina Jolie as a guilt-plagued smoke jumper stationed in a firewatch tower in the Montana wilderness. She’s forced to act when a young boy is targeted by a pair of ruthless assassins. This 90s-style thriller also stars Nicholas Hoult, Jon Bernthal, Aidan Gillen and Tyler Perry. Watch Those Who Wish Me Dead from 18 July.
Finally, there’s The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, the most recent entry in the hit horror film series – based on the cases of real-life paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Devil Made Me Do It is easily the weakest of the three Conjuring films (read our review), but it’s always great to spend time with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as the Warrens. This entry is based on a 1981 murder trial, where demonic possession was used as a defence. Stream The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It from 28 July, and watch the other two Conjuring films, which are also on Showmax, right now.