The one must-watch title on every major streamer this October
The one must-watch title on every major streamer this October
One great pick from each streamer, handpicked for spooky season and beyond.
October’s always good for streaming, and this month’s lineup doesn’t disappoint. With Halloween around the corner, a few spooky picks naturally made the list (including one terrifying clown from the mind of Stephen King), but there’s also a bunch of big-name shows making their return. Paramount+ is bringing back one of its grittiest dramas, Apple TV+ drops a frozen survival thriller with Jason Clarke, and Netflix is going full locked-room mystery aboard a luxury yacht. Whether you’re in the mood for horror, true crime, action, or just something that’ll keep you guessing, here’s one great title to watch on every major streamer this October.
Top title on each streamer for the month of October 2025:
‘Star Wars: Visions’ Volume 3 | Series | Disney+
If you’ve ever felt like the best Star Wars stories are the ones that don’t try to explain everything, this is the series to watch. “Star Wars: Visions” Volume 3 drops Wednesday, Oct. 29, and once again, it hands the galaxy’s keys over to some of the most daring animation studios in the world. The standout this time? A short called “BLACK” from David Productions, directed by the legendary Shinya Ohira (“Spirited Away”). It’s basically a psychedelic fever dream about a broken stormtrooper on the edge of death during a battle on the Death Star. There’s no exposition dump; just raw, emotional visuals, surreal music from Sakura Fujiwara, and a story that hits somewhere between myth, memory, and madness. I don’t know what it means yet. But I can’t wait to watch it.
Star Wars: Visions
This anthology of animated shorts from around the world celebrates the mythos of Star Wars through unique cultural lenses.
‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ | Series | HBO Max
I’ve been working my way through Stephen King’s original “It” novel recently, and honestly? It’s made me way more excited for “IT: Welcome to Derry,” which premieres Sunday, Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max. This isn’t just some spin-off for the sake of it. The show dives back into 1962 Derry, unpacking all those eerie flashbacks and unsolved tragedies King teased in the book, including the burning of The Black Spot and the Bradley Gang massacre. And since the Muschiettis are back directing after doing “It” and “It Chapter Two,” so it’s locked into the same world as the recent movies. If they pull it off, this could be the rare prequel that actually adds something big to the original.
IT: Welcome to Derry
In 1962, amid a spate of unexplained disappearances of local children, a group of misfit friends begin to suspect a long-buried ancient evil lurking. As the kids set out to determine what’s really going on, a rising unease prompts several townspeople to work together to restore peace – all while a U.S. military operation seeks to exploit Derry for its own objectives.
‘The Red King’ | Series | AMC+
Folk horror’s been making a comeback lately, and “The Red King” is one of the most intriguing takes I’ve seen in a while. New episodes drop every Thursday on AMC+, with the season finale set for Oct. 23. The show kicks off with a classic setup: a by-the-book sergeant gets “reassigned” to a remote island after reporting a fellow officer, but instead of playing it safe, the story quickly veers into cult territory. Secret rituals, missing kids, strange deaths… it’s all here. Anjli Mohindra holds it down as Grace, the only person on the island who seems to care what’s really going on. If you like your mysteries slow-burning, eerie, and full of secrets that shouldn’t be uncovered, this one’s worth the trip.
The Red King
After informing on fellow police officers for assaulting an alleged rapist, Grace Narayan is posted as a sergeant to the small Welsh island of St Jory, where she begins investigating the disappearance of a local boy named Cai. Along the way, Grace uncovers local secrets and suspects the involvement of a pagan cult named True Way, which the islanders claim no longer exists.
‘Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy’ | Limited Series | Peacock
True crime can be a tough genre to get right, especially when the subject is someone as horrifying as John Wayne Gacy. But “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy,” which drops all eight episodes Saturday, Oct. 18 on Peacock, looks like it’s doing something a lot more thoughtful than just retelling a gruesome story. Michael Chernus plays Gacy, but the focus is really on the victims, their families, and the detectives who had to piece it all together. No murder scenes. No glorification. Just a look at how something this awful was able to happen in plain sight. It’s based on Peacock’s earlier docuseries, but this version gives more room for the emotional weight, especially from Gabriel Luna as the lead detective. If you’re into prestige true crime that doesn’t flinch from hard questions, this one’s going to hit.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
When a teenager goes missing, it becomes clear that many young men and boys have disappeared at the hands of John Wayne Gacy, the prime suspect.
‘The Last Frontier’ | Series | Apple TV+
Jason Clarke is in full rugged survival mode in “The Last Frontier,” which premieres Friday, Oct. 10 on Apple TV+. He plays Frank Remnick, a U.S. Marshal stationed in the middle of nowhere, Alaska, just trying to finish out his career in peace… until a prison transport plane crashes in the wilderness and unleashes dozens of violent inmates. And that’s just the start. Between the frozen terrain, the high-stakes manhunt, and the slow drip of government secrets, this one’s got big “Con Air” meets “The Fugitive” energy, but colder. First two episodes drop at once, then it’s weekly drops through Dec. 5. If you’re into lone-wolf thrillers with serious grit, this one’s got you covered.
The Last Frontier
When a prison transport plane crashes in the remote Alaskan wilderness—freeing dozens of violent inmates—the region’s lone marshal must protect the town he’s vowed to keep safe.
‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’ | Limited Series | Hulu
You don’t need to know every detail of the real-life case to get pulled into this one. “Murdaugh: Death in the Family” premieres Wednesday, Oct. 15 on Hulu, and it’s a fictionalized take on the infamous Lowcountry scandal that rocked South Carolina. Jason Clarke and Patricia Arquette play Alex and Maggie Murdaugh, the heads of a powerful legal dynasty unraveling after their son dies in a boat crash. From there, the story only gets darker: secrets, deaths, cover-ups, and a family legacy in freefall. The series is based on the hit “Murdaugh Murders Podcast,” and with Erin Lee Carr behind it, I’m expecting something sharp, messy, and genuinely hard to look away from.
Murdaugh: Death in the Family
Maggie and Alex enjoy a lavish life of privilege as members of one of South Carolina’s most powerful legal dynasties. But when their son Paul is involved in a deadly boat crash, the family is faced with a test unlike any they’ve ever encountered. As details come to light and new challenges emerge, the family’s connections to several mysterious deaths raise questions which threaten everything Maggie and Alex hold dear.
‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ | Movie | Netflix
I love a good locked-room murder mystery, and “The Woman in Cabin 10” is exactly that, except the room is a luxury yacht in the middle of nowhere. Keira Knightley stars as a travel journalist who thinks she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard… but when she reports it, no one believes her. All passengers are accounted for. Nothing to see here. It drops Thursday, Oct. 10 on Netflix, and between the claustrophobic setting and that creeping feeling of “am I losing my mind?,” it’s already giving big “Gone Girl” and “The Girl on the Train” energy. Plus, Ruth Ware’s novel is a legit page-turner. I’m in.
The Woman in Cabin 10
On a lavish yacht for an assignment, a journalist sees a passenger go overboard. But when no one believes her, she risks her life to uncover the truth.
‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Season 4 | Series | Paramount+
Jeremy Renner is back. Tie knotted, face bruised, and ready to drag Kingstown through another season of chaos. “Mayor of Kingstown” returns Sunday, Oct. 26 on Paramount+, and if the Season 4 teaser is anything to go by, things aren’t just escalating… they’re detonating. With the Russians out of the picture, everyone else is fighting for power, and Mike McLusky’s the only one trying to hold it all together. But now there’s a new warden in town (played by Edie Falco), and she’s not backing down. This show’s always walked the line between crime thriller and character study, and I’m here for another round of Mike refusing to run, no matter what it costs him.
Mayor of Kingstown
In a small Michigan town where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry, the McClusky family are the power brokers between the police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians in a city completely dependent on prisons and the prisoners they contain.
‘Play Dirty’ | Movie | Prime Video
Shane Black doing a gritty New York heist movie? Yeah, I’m in. “Play Dirty” drops Wednesday, Oct. 1 on Prime Video, and it stars Mark Wahlberg as Parker, a career thief pulling off the biggest job of his life… right in the middle of a mob-controlled NYC. He’s joined by LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, and Tony Shalhoub, which is a lineup I didn’t know I needed. But one thing’s for sure, it’ll have that Shane Black bite: sharp dialogue, dry humor, and a crew of criminals who might actually be likable. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels, this feels like my kind of action thriller.
Play Dirty
With Internal Affairs coming down on him, a corrupt cop must take out the competition of the crime boss he moonlights for if he wants to survive long enough to get out of town first.