Streaming
The best of what’s new streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more.
Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more.
Many recommendations are for new shows, while others are for under-the-radar releases you might have missed or classics that are about to depart a streaming service at the end of the month.
Have a new favorite movie or show you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments, or email [email protected]. Looking for even more great streaming options? Check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
Scary Movies Streaming
“The Shining”
Unfortunately, the newly released “Salem’s Lot” isn’t one of the better Stephen King movies. So instead of wasting your time, why not revisit the absolute best of the Maine author’s big-screen adaptations? King himself isn’t a fan, and if you read his novel, you can see why he might not love what Stanley Kubrick did with his haunting, psychologically taxing take on the material.
King wrote protagonist Jack Torrance as a worse version of himself, an author struggling with writer’s block who heads to a remote Colorado hotel for inspiration (all of which King did, in 1974). But where the book Torrance is a complex, albeit emotionally maladjusted figure, Kubrick’s Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is a sociopath from the jump, barely acknowledging the humanity of his wife and son even before he loses his mind. Basically, Kubrick took Torrance (a nightmare version of King) and made him 100 times worse, a decision that audiences have been thankful for since 1980.
How to watch: “The Shining” is streaming on HBO Max.
“The Sixth Sense”
You’ll have to wait until the end of October (Oct. 25 to be exact) to watch M. Night Shyamalan’s newest work of suspense, “Trap,” streaming on Max. Instead, jump back in time 25 years to revisit the film that put Shyamalan on the map, “The Sixth Sense.”
Even if you already know the twist ending that had everyone talking back in 1999, “The Sixth Sense” is still a bone-chilling watch. As a child who sees dead people, Haley Joel Osment gives one of the best child actor performances ever, and landed a fully-deserved Oscar nomination for the role. Toni Collette, playing his concerned but uncomprehending mother, is nearly as good. And don’t forget Bruce Willis, all furrowed brows and heavy sighs, as the child psychologist trying to find answers. Shyamalan’s career has been a rollercoaster ever since, in part because of the impossibility of living up to the standard of this film.
How to watch: “The Sixth Sense” is streaming on Hulu.
“The Witch”
The Salem Witch Trials get all the press when it comes to matters of Puritanical hysteria and the occult. In New Hampshire native Robert Eggers’ “The Witch,” set in an unnamed New England town 60 years before the 1692 Salem scare, evil forces have beset a Puritan family exiled during a religious dispute. After a witch steals their newborn baby, members of the family begin to point fingers at each other for bringing “bad spirits” to the farm, with most of the blame being heaped on teenage Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit”). “The Witch” doesn’t have as many jump-scares as your average horror movie, but Eggers nevertheless conjures a terrifying, atmospheric film that sets Taylor-Joy on a path to stardom.
How to watch: “The Witch” is streaming on Prime Video.
Scary TV Shows Streaming
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
In the past decade, Salem native Mike Flanagan has become one of the most exciting and talented horror directors in Hollywood, helming some of the best Stephen King movie adaptations in recent memory (“Gerald’s Game,” “Doctor Sleep”) as well as several fantastic shows for Netflix. The most recent, 2023’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” loosely takes its subject matter from the works of Edgar Allen Poe.
Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) shares his name with the character in Poe’s original short story, but little else. As the CEO of a shady pharmaceutical company, he and his family are a blight on society, and no one sheds a tear when a mysterious stranger (Carla Gugino) begins to pick off the Ushers one by one. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a strange beast, a gorefest set in a universe straight out of “Succession.” If you’re into that sort of thing, it’s a ton of fun.
“Midnight Mass”
For those whose tastes in horror run toward the occult, the supernatural, or the deeply Catholic, Flanagan’s “Midnight Mass” is the perfect Halloween treat. Building on the success of “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” Flanagan sets “Midnight Mass” on Crockett Island, a small island community that has strong New England vibes, though the show was filmed in Canada. When a charismatic new priest (Hamish Linklater) shows up and miracles begin to happen, the town, ravaged by economic hardship and personal loss, is overcome with religious fervor. Needless to say, not all is as it seems.
How to watch: “Midnight Mass” is streaming on Netflix.
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Kevin Slane