Aliens, Bugs, And Film Legends: Everything Coming To Streaming In October
October is the perfect month to re-watch 'The X-Files'.
Of course, given we live in the peak age of streaming, there’s always something to watch. But this October, Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Hayu and SBS On Demand are all really stepping up their game.
It always goes this way towards the end of the year. Nobody has any money left, everybody’s tired and worn out, and the only solution is to snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and a loved one, and watch the hell outta some content.
We’re also poking our little heads into the start of awards season, which means not only more content, but bigger names attached to it too. Basically, no matter what you’re into, October on streaming has you covered.
Here then is our guide to everything coming to Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Hayu and SBS On Demand this October.
Looking For Alaska
There might not be a novelist alive who better captures the Gen Z condition than John Green, and none of his books might be more moving and beautiful than Looking for Alaska. So, the fact that the novel is getting a small screen makeover is cause for considerable consideration.
The story of a kooky young man obsessed with the last words of famous people, Alaska touches on love, alienation, and coming-of-age. It’s a romance, basically, but one with more wit, intelligence and melancholy than you’d ever be led to expect.
It’s also perfectly fit for the TV, one of those stories that slowly but surely unfurls its way into your heart. The new series has one helluva cast going for it, boasting everyone from Boardwalk Empire‘s Charlie Plummer to The Society‘s Kristine Froseth. Add the fact that one of the showrunners, Stephanie Savage, cut her teeth on Gossip Girl, and this one is must-see television.
Where you can watch it: Stan
When you can watch it: October 19
Modern Love
Every week, The New York Times runs a ‘Modern Love’ column. Frequently heartbreaking, always moving, the column invites readers to send in their own stories of love and loss. The result? One of the most popular and highly-read features of one of the world’s most beloved papers.
Now, that column is being spun into its very own TV series. Modern Love takes the stories from the pages of the Times and transforms them into moving paeans to romantic entanglements. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes keenly felt, always deeply watchable, this is anthology television at its sharpest.
Oh, and check out the cast, which includes Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Get Out‘s Catherine Keener, and so many more.
Where you can watch it: Amazon Prime Video:
When you can watch it: October 18
The Purge: Season Two
Is there a horror series better suited to our times than The Purge? Originally a series of increasingly inventive and enjoyable movies about a future where crime is legalized for one single, bloody, cathartic night, the franchise has now taken the leap over to television.
But that’s not the only way things have changed, either. While the films introduced characters only to off them in the very next scene, the series takes more time with its cruelty, setting up its characters like fleshy chess pieces. This is intelligent, surprisingly mature television, and one of the single most clear-eyed depictions of our uniquely fucked-up times.
Where you can watch it: Amazon Prime Video
When you can watch it: October 18
The X-Files
Nothing kills the enjoyability of content more than being overhyped for it, and one should always be suspicious of hyperbole. That said, The X-Files is one of the greatest single pieces of television in the history of the medium. If the little grey men came down from their spaceships, demanded we present one piece of content and be judged on our worth as a species by it, then I elect we sling those fuckers a big ole boxset of the adventures of Mulder and Scully.
If you’ve never watched the landmark sci-fi/horror show before, now is your opportunity. And hell, even if you have, SBS is dropping the series’ golden age — seasons 1 to 5 — putting you in a perfect position for a full-scale rewatch.
Where you can watch it: SBS On Demand
When you can watch it: October 24
Dolemite Is My Name
It’s been too long since we’ve properly had Eddie Murphy on our screens. After becoming one of Hollywood’s top stars in the ’90s and early thousands, the man starred in a string of flops (chief among them The Adventures of Pluto Nash), eventually taking a break from the industry altogether.
Given all that Dolemite Is My Name is something of a comeback vehicle. In it, Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian who became a Blaxploitation star after starring in a string of movies under the moniker Dolemite. Early critical notices have been extremely good, meaning that this has the potential to bag Murphy another Oscar nomination. Our fingers are very crossed.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
When you can watch it: October 25
Wounds
Picture this: you’re a bartender. One day, cleaning up after a shift, you spot a mobile phone lying on one of the tables. You take it home, trying to work out who it belongs to. And then, slowly, it tears your entire life and mind apart.
That’s the central premise of Wounds, a particularly grisly horror film starring Armie Hammer and from the director of the acclaimed Under The Shadow. The trailer doesn’t explicate much more than that, although it is extremely heavy on cockroaches, goop, and Lovecraftian dread.
Sounds perfect.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
When you can watch it: October 18
The Godfather Trilogy
Sometimes, the worst thing that can happen to a film is that it gets canonised. As soon as a movie is adored by the bearded and stern critical establishment, it becomes like wallpaper; a work of art that’s obviously great, and thus generates little in the way of further attention.
But the masterpieces of cinema are masterpieces for a reason, and it’s always good to remind yourself of what makes the classics so classic. To that end, when Francis Ford Coppola’s legendary Godfather trilogy lands on Stan, take this as an opportunity to remind yourself of just how good a film can be. Even after all these years, and all those endless critical notices, those first two films are still unbeatable; crackling, dark magic. Watch it and weep.
Where you can watch it: Stan
When you can watch it: October 9
Antiviral
Antiviral starts with a deliciously unpleasant premise: imagine a future society where celebrity obsession is so rampant that punters will pay to be injected with viruses that have been harvested from their favourite person. From there, things quickly get even weirder, as the film explicates a black market for diseases, secret societies, and particularly squishy infections.
In a phrase, it’s perfect Halloween viewing.
Where you can watch it: SBS On Demand
When you can watch it: October 18
None of that quite hitting the spot for you? No worries: we’ve got you. Here’s the full list of everything that we know is coming to Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Stan, and Foxtel in October 2019.
What’s On Netflix In October:
- Nikki Glaser: Bangin’ — October 1
- Living Undocumented — October 2
- In The Tall Grass — October 4
- My Country: The New Age — October 4
- Raising Dion — October 4
- Rotten — October 4
- Deon Cole: Cole Hearted — October 8
- Rhythm + Flow — October 9
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie — October 11
- Fractured — October 11
- Insatiable — October 11
- Plan Couer — October 11
- The Forest of Love — October 11
- Ghosts of Sugar Land — October 16
- Baby — October 18
- Eli — October 18
- Living With Yourself — October 18
- Tell Me Who I Am — October 18
- Wounds — October 18
- The Laundromat — October 18
- Jenny Slate: Stage Fright — October 22
- Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner — October 23
- Daybreak — October 24
- Brotherhood — October 25
- Dolemite Is My Name — October 25
- Rattlesnake — October 25
- The Kominsky Method — October 25
- Arsenio Hall: Smart and Classy — October 29
What’s On Amazon Prime Video
- Frida — October 1
- Goliath — October 4
- One Mic Stand — October 17
- Modern Love — October 18
- The Purge — October 18
- Bosch — October 18
- Peterloo — October 18
What’s On Hayu
- Below Deck — October 8
- Keeping Up With The Kardashians — October 3
- Made In Chelsea — October 3
- Relentless with Kate Snow — October 5
- The DNA of Murder — October 13
What’s On Stan
- The Godfather of Harlem — October 1
- The Amazing World of Gumball — October 1
- Rango — October 1
- The Rugrats Movie — October 1
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy — October 1
- Ru Paul’s Drag Race — October 4
- Anchorman — October 4
- Anchorman 2 — October 4
- Old School — October 4
- Blades of Glory — October 4
- Get Shorty — October 7
- All American — October 8
- Nowhere Boys — October 8
- The Godfather Trilogy — October 9
- The Flash — October 10
- Team America: World Police — October 15
- Cowboys and Aliens — October 17
- Dr Who — October 18
- Looking for Alaska — October 19
- Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit — October 24
- Patriot Games — October 24
- Clear and Present Danger — October 24
- The Sum of All Fears — October 24
- The Hunt for Red October — October 24
- Hairspray — October 26
- Dreamgirls — October 26
- Flight — October 28
- The Addams Family — October 31
What’s On SBS On Demand
- New Girl — October 1
- She Killed In Ecstasy — October 1
- Vampyros Lesbos — October 1
- The Angels’ Share — October 1
- Daguerrotype — October 2
- Amra And The Second Marriage — October 3
- Breathe — October 4
- The Name Of The Rose — October 3
- Public Enemy — October 3
- Struggle Street — October 9
- Harlots — October 11
- Amistad — October 11
- Borg vs. McEnroe — October 12
- Letterkenny — October 15
- Wisting — October 17
- Madame Bovary — October 17
- Devil’s Candy — October 18
- Cabin Fever — October 18
- Antiviral — October 18
- Medici: The Magnificent — October 24
- The X-Files — October 24
- Vanilla Sky — October 25
- Pros and Cons — October 31