Hollywood is going to begin trotting out its major awards contenders this October, but the multiplex won't be your only option for great movie watching. Like clockwork, the beginning of the month brings with it an abundance of new streaming titles, all of which should not only keep you from stepping outside your house, but will also get you ready for Halloween. Although never fear—even if you're disinterested in scaring yourself silly ahead of the horrifying holiday, Netflix, Amazon and iTunes are once again making sure that just about every cinematic taste is satisfied.
Streaming on Netflix:
Before Midnight (Oct. 1) Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are now married, yet still chatting away about life, love, and happiness, in the third chapter of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy.
Boogie Nights (Oct. 1) One of the decade's best American films, Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 porno epic recounts the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), a SoCal kid with a gargantuan gift in his pants.
Eyes Wide Shut (Oct. 1) Stanley Kubrick's final film stars then-spouses Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a married couple whose unhappy union sends Cruise's husband on a journey through a nocturnal dreamscape NYC.
I Love You, Man (Oct. 1) On the eve of his wedding, Paul Rudd strikes up a bromantic friendship with Jason Segel in this unconventional rom-com from director John Hamburg.
Tommy Boy (Oct. 1) Chris Farley's crowning cinematic achievement is this 1995 comedy in which his doofus embarks on a road trip with David Spade in order to save the family auto parts company.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Oct. 6, Netflix Exclusive) One of the year's best documentaries (and films) is this moving portrait of the life and death of Marsha P. Johnson, a trans icon whose body was found in 1992 under mysterious circumstances.
Donnie Darko (Oct. 11) A young, phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal headlines this enduring 2002 cult classic from Richard Kelly about a teenager who's warned about the forthcoming apocalypse by a time-traveller in a rabbit costume.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Oct. 13) Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly partner up as NASCAR buffoons pitted against Sacha Baron Cohen's gay European champion in this thoroughly absurd (and politically satiric) comedy from director Adam McKay.
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Oct. 13, Netflix Exclusive, also in theaters) Adam Sandler turns in an phenomenal dramatic performance as one of three siblings back home to help organize a career retrospective for his artist father (Dustin Hoffman) in this Noah Baumbach-directed drama.
1922 (Oct. 20, Netflix Exclusive) The Stephen King adaptation train keeps on rolling, this time with a version of his novella about a farmer (Thomas Jane) who sets in motion a plan to kill his wife (Molly Parker)—to dreadful ends.
One of Us (Oct. 20, Netflix Exclusive, also in theaters) Jesus Camp directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady detail the plight of three young people struggling to escape their New York Hasidic Jewish community in this great, eye-opening documentary.
Wheelman (Oct. 20, Netflix Exclusive) In this action-thriller from director Jeremy Rush, a getaway driver (The Purge: Election Year's Frank Grillo) is double-crossed, and then must figure out who betrayed him in order to save his family.
The Hateful Eight (Oct. 25) Quentin Tarantino assembles yet another all-star cast—Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, and Michael Madsen—for this profane revisionist Western about a group of strangers trapped in a remote cabin following the Civil War.
Strange Weather (Oct. 26) Holly Hunter is a southern woman who sets out on a mission to confront the friend of her dead son—who stole his idea for a restaurant chain—in this poignant drama from director Katherine Dieckmann.
Premiering on Amazon Video:
Fargo (Oct. 1) Frances McDormand won a Best Actress Oscar for Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 neo-noir, about a police chief investigating a criminal mess that begins with a kidnapping scheme orchestrated by a car salesman (William H. Macy).
Ghost World (Oct. 1) Director Terry Zwigoff's 2001 black comedy concerns the close friendship between two outcasts (Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson), which is strained when one begins a budding relationship with an older man (Steve Buscemi).
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Oct. 1) One of the few remakes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its illustrious predecessor, this 1978 version of the pod-people saga stars Donald Sutherland as a San Francisco health inspector who thinks something out of this world is taking place in the city.
Margot at the Wedding (Oct. 1) All familial hell breaks loose when a writer (Nicole Kidman) crashes her sister's (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wedding—and then tries to convince her to not marry her fiancé (Jack Black)—in Noah Baumbach's bleak comedy.
Pet Sematary and Pet Sematary Two (Oct. 1) Feel free to skip the second, but Mary Lambert's 1989 adaptation of Stephen King's chilling novel—about a man who discovers an ancient burial ground that brings back the dead—has one of the most malevolent child performances in movie history.
Pi (Oct. 1) Long before he was driving audiences mad with mother!, director Darren Aronofsky was leaving them scratching their heads with his black-and-white 1998 debut, about a mathematician going crazy while trying to figure out the numerical code that governs the universe.
Snake Eyes (Oct. 1) Nicolas Cage is an Atlantic City detective trying to solve a murder that's just taken place during a heavyweight boxing fight in director Brian De Palma's formally daring 1998 thriller.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II (Oct. 1) Operating at the opposite end of the tonal spectrum as its predecessor, Tobe Hooper's sequel delivers serious horror-comedy laughs via its story about a psycho Texas Marshall (Dennis Hopper) on the trail of Leatherface and his cannibalistic clan.
The Machinist (Oct. 1) Christian Bale becomes an emaciated shell of his former self—literally—as a man wracked by post-traumatic delusions in this psychological thriller co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Ironside.
Song to Song (Oct. 2) Terrence Malick continues to indulge his elliptical, poetic impulses with this fragmented portrait of men and women coming together—and apart—in and around the Austin, Texas music scene.
Blair Witch (Oct. 7) In search of his sister, a man and his friends venture into Maryland's Black Hills Forest, only to come face-to-face with the Blair Witch, in this found-footage sequel from Death Note's Adam Wingard.
Meagan Leavey (Oct. 7) This based-on-a-true story drama stars Kate Mara as a soldier who develops an unshakeable bond with her canine partner.
City of Ghosts (Oct. 13, Amazon Original) Matthew Heineman's latest documentary—one of the year's best—focuses on Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered, a group of Syrian "citizen journalists" dedicated to publicizing the atrocities committed by ISIS.
The Wall (Oct. 20, Amazon Original) Two soldiers (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena) find themselves pinned down by an Iraqi sniper in this lean thriller from American Made director Doug Liman.
Arrival (Oct. 28) Before he set to work on Blade Runner 2049, director Denis Villeneuve delivered this sterling 2016 sci-fi drama about a linguist (Amy Adams) tasked with figuring out a way to communicate with aliens who've mysterious landed on Earth.
Debuting on iTunes:
Lady Macbeth (Oct. 3) William Oldroyd's period-drama—about a young 19th-century Englishwoman (Florence Pugh) who rebels against her miserable arranged-marriage fate—is our current choice for film of the year. So see it!
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (Oct. 3) Errol Morris' latest documentary gem (one of our picks for best of the year) focuses on Elsa Dorfman, a Massachusetts photographer known for taking gigantic portraits with her now-discontinued 20x24 Polaroid camera.
Super Dark Times (Oct. 3, available in 4K) After a horrible accident, a group of friends tries to keep their story straight—and their lives in order—in this thrilling Stand by Me–style debut from director Kevin Phillips.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Oct. 6) Al Gore isn't done trying to save the planet from ruin—courtesy of its inhabitants—in this sequel to his 2006 documentary.
War for the Planet of the Apes (Oct. 10) Man and ape once again take up arms against each other in Matt Reeves' grim, thrilling third installment in the rebooted sci-fi franchise.
Menashe (Oct. 10) Joshua Z. Weinstein's indie not only concerns an iconoclastic Hasidic Jewish man's efforts to fit into his straight-laced Williamsburg, Brooklyn community; it was shot on-location there as well.
78/52 (Oct. 13, also in theaters) Alexandre O. Philippe takes a look at the famous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho—from a wealth of incisive angles—in this film criticism-style documentary.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (Oct. 13, also in theaters) For his follow-up to Bone Tomahawk, writer/director S. Craig Zahler brings the pain via this story about a former boxer (Vince Vaughn) who, after a drug deal gone awry, winds up having to do horrible things in prison in order to protect his wife and unborn child.
Leatherface (Oct. 20, also in theaters) Inside directors Julie Maury and Alexandre Bustillo give everyone's favorite chainsaw-wielding lunatic a true origin story with this down-and-dirty prequel.
Ingrid Goes West (Oct. 24) Aubrey Plaza heads to California to befriend Elizabeth Olsen's social-media celebrity in this send-up of our online infatuations from director Matt Spicer.
Atomic Blonde (Oct. 24) Charlize Theron is nothing short of mesmerizing as a covert agent wrapped up in Cold War intrigue—which she often has to punch and kick her way out of—in this superlative action-espionage film from Deadpool 2 director David Leitch.
Wind River (Oct. 31) Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen team up to solve a murder that's taken place on a Native American reservation in this grim thriller from Hell or High Water writer Taylor Sheridan.
Logan Lucky (Oct. 31) Steven Soderbergh assembles an all-star cast—Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Hilary Swank, and more—for this southern-friend heist film about two brothers scheming to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
