If you were expecting the last full week before Halloween to be stuffed full of horror, you’d be… wrong. There’s paranormal chills, to be sure, but also true crime, tear-jerking romance, sci-fi and prestige family drama. And almost all of them are dropping today.
Also notable is that the latest seasons of Grey’s Anatomy (Season 19) and Station 19 (Season 6) are arriving on Disney+ this coming week, both on 26 October. Previously they would have debuted and screened exclusively on DSTV, so times are a changing.
MOVIES
The Good Nurse
Netflix – 26 October
Real life can be more chilling than any horror film. Case in point, thriller The Good Nurse, which is based on a disturbing true crime tale. An overburdened ICU nurse (Jessica Chastain) leans on her selfless new colleague (Eddie Redmayne) at work and at home — until a patient’s unexpected death casts him in a suspicious light, and other inexplicable deaths under his watch come to light.
Raymond & Ray
Apple TV+ – 21 October
Half brothers Raymond and Ray reunite when their estranged father dies—and discover that his final wish was for them to dig his grave. Together, they process who they’ve become as men, both because of their father and in spite of him. Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor star.
SERIES
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Netflix – 25 October
Cabinet of Curiosities is being marketed as “the horror event of the season,” and it seems like a fair claim. This star-studded horror anthology series consists of eight stories (two written by Del Toro himself), told by some of today’s most respected horror creators – including the directors of The Babadook, Splice, and Mandy. Look out for the likes of Andrew Lincoln, Essie Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Crispin Glover, Ben Barnes, Peter Weller, Sofia Boutella and Rupert Grint. Unusually, two episodes premiere every night from 25 to 28 October.
From Scratch
Netflix – 21 October
Inspired by the New York Times Best-Selling Memoir, From Scratch is an eight-episode limited series starring Zoe Saldaña as Amy and Eugenio Mastrandrea as Lino, an American artist and Italian chef respectively, who embark on “a love story for the ages.”
The Peripheral
Prime Video – 21 October
This science fiction mystery-thriller comes with some serious pedigree. Based on the novel by William Gibson, The Peripheral’s executive producers include Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. In terms of plot, this eight-episode series is set in the near future when technology has subtly altered society, and what is supposed to be experimental VR exposes a woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) to a disturbing future.
28 Days Haunted
Netflix – 21 October
If you ever wanted a ghost hunting reality show, here you go. Teams of paranormal investigators must try to last 28 days in some of America’s most haunted locations for an intense paranormal experiment based on the theories of Ed and Lorraine Warren.