The spooky season is well and truly upon us, but this week's streaming selection isn't as packed with frightening films and scary shows as we'd expect for this time of year.
There are a couple of new horrifying series to keep you up at night, though, including a Mike Flanagan horror offering on Netflix, which leads this week's must-see streaming content. If you don't want to spend your weekend hiding behind a cushion, there are some fascinating flicks and TV shows to watch on Prime Video and Max, too.
So, from new movies to the final seasons of criminally underrated TV shows, these are the seven things worth watching this weekend.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
The final Netflix project from horror icon Mike Flanagan (he recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios), The Fall of the House of Usher looks like a horror-tinged version of hit Max series Succession – and that's a gothic-laced description to convince us it's worth watching.
Flanagan's frequent collaborators Carla Gugino and Rahul Kohli lead a starry cast that also includes Star Wars legend Mark Hamill in a series based on Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story of the same name. In this TV adaptation, the CEO (Bruce Greenwood) of a corrupt pharmaceutical company is forced to confront his questionable past when a mysterious woman (Gugino) seemingly starts murdering his family in brutal ways.
Many of Flanagan's previous works for the world's best streaming service have made their way onto our best Netflix shows list, and The Fall of the House of Usher should follow suit. Early reviews have called it a "masterpiece", "infectious", "bluntly entertaining", and "horribly good fun". Sign us up.
The Fall of the House of Usher is available to stream in full now.
The Burial (Prime Video)
Jamie Foxx (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Tommy Lee Jones (Men In Black) star in one of 2023's new Prime Video movies that looks as fun as it is dramatic.
Based on true events, The Burial tells the story of unconventional personal injury lawyer Willie E. Gary, who takes up the case of Jeremiah O'Keeffe, a funeral home owner involved in a messy contractual dispute with the Loewen Group. Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey), Mamoudou Athie (Elemental), and Bill Camp (Lincoln) also star.
Reviews have been largely positive for this legal comedy-drama, so expect it to work its way onto our best Prime Video movies article soon.
Available to watch now on Prime Video.
Doom Patrol season 4 part 2 (Max)
Everyone's favorite dysfunctional superhero family (aside from Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, anyway) is back for its final outing on Max.
That's right, Doom Patrol season 4 part 2 is finally out on Warner Bros. Discovery's main streaming platform. Following its mid-season break, the hit superhero show's final entries find the reluctant heroes "meeting old friends and foes as they race to defeat Immortus and get back their longevities".
It doesn't have a spot on our best Max shows list, but we'll be rectifying that now that Doom Patrol is back on our screens. With a hugely underrated, but no less starry, cast that includes Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Michelle Gomez (Doctor Who), plus its completely bizarre tone and vibe, this is one series that wasn't *ahem* doomed to fail.
Season 4 part 2's first two episodes are out now on Max. New episodes air weekly until the finale on November 9.
Goosebumps (Disney Plus/Hulu)
After the mixed reception to Sony's movie adaptations of R.L. Stine's famous teen-oriented horror works, Disney is trying its hand at converting Goosebumps into a more enjoyable series (in collaboration with Sony's TV division, mind you) for its Disney Plus and Hulu streaming services.
The 10-part TV show follows "a group of five high schoolers as they embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle — while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents’ past". Justin Long, Ana Yi Puig, Miles McKenna, Will Price, and Zack Morris star.
Goosebumps, which has been described as a lighter version of Stranger Things, has been positively received by critics ahead of release, so it might scare its way into our best Disney Plus shows and/or best Hulu shows guides if it's lucky. Or, you know, if Slappy the Dummy forces us to add it.
Goosebumps' first five episodes are available to stream now. New episodes air weekly.
Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV Plus)
Before she returns to the MCU for The Marvels, the follow-up to 2019's Captain Marvel, Brie Larson stars in this Apple TV Plus miniseries that's been met with critical acclaim.
Set in the 1950s and 1960s, Larson portrays Elizabeth Zott, a female scientist who becomes the hugely popular host of a new TV cooking show – 'Supper at Six' – after being fired from her former job. Initially hesitant about her newfound fame, Zott soon puts her background to good use as she starts teaching housewives about science-based topics. Lewis Pullman, Kevin Sussman, and Aja Naomi King are among the supporting cast.
Lessons in Chemistry seems like it'll be a shoo-in for our best Apple TV Plus shows guide once it's released, so don't sleep on it.
Lessons in Chemistry's first two episodes are out now, with new entries released weekly.
John Carpenter's Suburban Screams (Peacock)
From the mind of legendary horror writer, director, and producer John Carpenter, this Peacock anthology series takes a frightful trip into the bowels of America to explore some truly bone-chilling real-life tales.
Across six weeks, each episode contains first-hand accounts of real people who lived through various spook-filled scenarios in a number of seemingly perfect US hometowns. According to Peacock, the documented cases will be accompanied by "premium cinematic scene-work, news clips, home photos, and archival footage", which the streamer claims will add to the unsettling nature of each of Suburban Screams' stories.
All six episodes of John Carpenter's Suburban Screams are available now.
Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (Netflix)
Rounding out this week's streaming selection is Big Vape, the latest documentary from Netflix that explores the shady goings-on at a big start-up company.
The four-part docuseries, based on TIME correspondent Jamie Ducharme's book 'Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul', charts the remarkable rise and fall of the fastest-growing e-cigarette company in the US in the mid-2010s. With first-hand accounts of what went on within the start-up, Big Vape aims to shine a light on the massive success Juul experienced before it imploded as quickly as it rose to prominence. One to add to our best Netflix documentaries guide in the near future.
Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul is available in full now.
For more streaming-based coverage, check out our new Netflix movies, new Max movies, and new Disney Plus movies guides.
