Streaming guide to the best movies, documentaries and TV shows

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October traditionally brings scary stuff on screens big and small, and 2024 is no exception. This can be clearly seen in both sequels Smile 2 and about recurring series like American horror storieswhich returns for another season on Hulu. There's even the final season of the hilarious series What we do in the shadows (which isn't really scary, but vampires exist).

The popular returning favorites now include a new season of Apple TV+ shrinkage and one last attempt for Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+. Here are some of October's most promising offerings, scary or otherwise. And yes, there's even a Bruce Springsteen documentary.

What to Watch: Movies and Shows in October 2024

Out of Joker: Folie à Deux To Saturday eveningthese are the films, documentaries and series that should be on your radar this month.

Joker: Folie à Deux (Cinemas, Oct. 4)

Todd Phillips' 2019 film joker Starring Joaquin Phoenix, the Batman villain has been reimagined through the filter of some Martin Scorsese films. So who do you pay homage to in a sequel? Classic musicals, apparently. Lady Gaga joins the cast as Harleen Quinzel (hence the “à deux” of the title) in a film that picks up the action several years after the events of the original. Get tickets on Fandango

The franchise (HBO/Max, Oct. 6)

What happens behind the scenes of a big-budget superhero movie? Chaos, if this show is to be believed. With a creative team that includes Sam Mendes, Armando Iannucci and Jon Brown, and a cast that includes Himesh Patel, Aya Cash and Jessica Hynes, the series follows the troubled production of a franchise entry that seemingly never makes it to the screen . View on Max

Teacup (Peacock, Oct. 10)

“Teacup” doesn’t sound like the name of a scary show, but don’t be fooled. James Wan serves as executive producer on a series set in rural Georgia, where a cast including Yvonne Strahovski and Scott Speedman must compete against something. The details of the exact threat they face remain unclear. Maybe it's just a creepy teacup? (Probably not.) Watch on Peacock

piece by piece (Cinemas, Oct. 11)

Morgan Neville has a filmography full of documentaries about famous subjects, including Anthony Bourdain, Mister Rogers and Steve Martin. Neville's latest work focuses on Pharrell Williams and uses a novel medium to narrate the musician's life: Lego. It's unexpected, but given the subject matter, it kind of makes sense. Get tickets on Fandango

Saturday evening (Cinemas, Oct. 11)

SNL has been an institution for so long that many of its viewers can't remember a world where it didn't exist. Jason Reitman's latest dramatizes the staging of the show's very first episode, when it sometimes seemed like the series wouldn't last until a second episode, let alone five decades. Get tickets on Fandango

Disclaimer (Apple TV+, Oct. 11)

Alfonso Cuarón often goes years between projects, which makes it even more of an event when the Gravity And Roma The director takes over one. Cuarón hasn't worked on television in over a decade, and never more extensively than on this 2015 miniseries adaptation of Renée Knight's novel of the same name. Disclaimer. Cate Blanchett plays a journalist with a secret alongside Kevin Kline and Sacha Baron Cohen. Cuarón is the writer and director of all seven episodes. Watch on Apple TV+

The apprentice (Cinemas, Oct. 11)

Who taught Donald Trump to be the man he became? By most accounts, Trump's father Fred was instrumental, but so was Roy Cohn, the New York lawyer who became famous for his support of the notorious Joseph McCarthy. Kind of an origin story, Ali Abbas film The apprentice depicts the relationship between the two men in Trump's early years, with Sebastian Stan starring as Trump alongside Jeremy Strong as Cohn. Get tickets on Fandango

Anora (Cinemas, Oct. 18)

The subject of The apprentice helped make it one of the most talked-about films to play at Cannes, but Palme D'Or was dedicated to a different kind of New York story, Anora. In the latest from Sean Baker (Red rocket), Mikey Madison plays an exotic dancer whose life takes an unexpected turn (and then another and another) after she meets Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the young son of a Russian oligarch. Get tickets on Fandango

Goodrich (Cinemas, Oct. 18)

It's been a big year for Michael Keaton so far, thanks to the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. While that film was an obvious step backwards, Keaton's other 2024 work sounds a bit like a return to one of his earliest hits: Mr. Mom. In writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer's second film (Back home), Keaton plays an art dealer who has to figure out how to be a parent when his younger wife goes into rehab. He advises: his daughter, played by Mila Kunis. Get tickets on Fandango

Hysteria! (Peacock, Oct. 18)

When a soccer player disappears under mysterious, possibly occult circumstances, a local band decides to make money by going completely evil. Unfortunately, her decision may have unleashed forces beyond her control, including the paranoia of those around her. Starring Julie Bowen and Bruce Campbell, the story of the new series is set against the backdrop of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, when many thought Satan could be lurking around every corner. Watch on Peacock

conclave (Cinemas, Oct. 25)

Adaptation of a novel by Robert Harris, the latest from Things are quiet on the Western Front Director Edward Berger stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with facilitating the process of electing a new pope. However, there is a problem: the old pope seems to have secrets that could thwart his plans. Get tickets on Fandango

Venom: The Last Dance (Theatrical release Oct. 25)

One of the few bright spots in Sony's attempts to create superhero films Spider-Man's supporting cast, the Poison Movies have wisely made star Tom Hardy indulge in the absurdity of the body-sharing premise. The third part is considered the final part of the series (we'll see) and was written and directed by Kelly Marcel, who also served as screenwriter on the previous part Poison Films. Get tickets on Fandango

Nickel Boys (Cinemas, Oct. 25)

Based on an upsetting true story, Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning book focuses on the friendship between two boys sentenced to an abusive Florida reformatory in the 1960s. In this adaptation, newcomers Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson play boys Elwood and Turner, along with Daveed Diggs, Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater and others. It is the narrative film debut of RaMell Ross, who made the remarkable documentary Hale County this morning, this evening. Get tickets on Fandango

Before (Apple TV+, Oct. 25)

Billy Crystal takes on a rare dramatic role in this series, playing Eli, a child psychiatrist still haunted by the recent death of his wife. (Perhaps literally: Judith Light plays her in flashbacks and in ghost form.) A distraction comes in the form of a mysterious new patient named Noah (Jacobi Jupe), until Noah's case begins to connect with Eli's own past. Watch on Apple TV+

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Hulu / Disney+, Oct. 25)

Springsteen fans haven't suffered from a lack of documentaries and concert films in recent years, but who's complaining? The latest follows Bruce and the band as they prepare for and perform in Tampa for the 2023 tour. Watch on Hulu