The Literary Film TV You Need to Stream in October

Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle.

To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. From our Fall Preview: Zoe Kazan’s limited series, based on Steinbeck’s masterpiece, is thee marquee literary adaptation of the season, starring Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, along with quite a few other hot people. Fun fact: Kazan’s grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 adaptation.

From our Fall Preview: Catherine Zeta-Jones—with her natural Welsh accent on full display for once!—stars as the gender-swapped Jackie Price, an art dealer with a past so checkered that no fewer than seven assassins are hired to kill her. Well, she’ll just have to kill them first, won’t she? From our Fall Preview: Mike Flanagan’s latest horror offering (and latest King adaptation) is a miniseries version of Carrie, the novel’s fourth screen adaptation, which reimagines the classic in a modern high school.

From our Fall Preview: Canadian playwright Kat Sandler has turned her 2019 play based on the legend of Baba Yaga into a television show for Canada’s Crave (the same platform that brought us Heated Rivalry). And yes, Hudson Williams is in it, along with Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, and Clark Backo. Looks deranged; I’ll watch it!

From our Fall Preview: Liev Schreiber stars as Jonah Lynn in this adaptation of the bestselling Swedish thrillers (written by husband and wife team Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril under the name Lars Kepler), a former homicide detective who relocates to a small town in Pennsylvania town, only to find its citizens being terrorized by a notorious serial killer Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham), despite the fact that he’s already behind bars. Finally Jonah must call on Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), his surrogate daughter, to try and get Jurek to talk before it’s too late. It’s October again, which means that all of my throwback recommendations this month will be spooky.

Why not start with a classic? I’d say “peak Jeff Goldblum” but the problem is, Jeff Goldblum is always peak. Not for the squeamish, though.