Neon continues to bring in a convoy of quality shows and films. See our handpicked highlights below followed by the full release schedule.
Top picks: TV
The Franchise: Season 1 (October 7)
If you’re sick to death of superhero sludge in cinemas, this acerbic comedy has your back. It’s made by a supergroup of satiric talents from Succession and Veep plus executive producer Sam Mendes, and scathingly depicts the behind-the-scenes havoc of a generic blockbuster’s production. The cast is packed with oh-hey-I-love-them character actors: Daniel Brühl, Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Lolly Adefope and Billy Magnussen have each individually been the strongest part of comic projects they’ve appeared in, so seeing them struggling on one disastrous set will be gold.
How does the cinematic sausage get made? Gather ’round for a biting BBQ of pop culture critique.
Sweetpea: Miniseries (October 10)
“Even a worm will turn,” goes an old English expression. Ella Purnell is that worm, we suppose, in this (very) dark comedy about a meek woman pushed to the absolute brink by the callousness of every single person in her life. After an onslaught of family deaths, workplace humiliations and resurfacing grudges, Purnell’s Rhiannon totally snaps, surprising herself when it turns out that frenzied murder might be her best shot at empowerment.
The show has an addictive, acidic tone, fleshing out its dinky British setting with nagging details that’ll have you rooting for an outright serial killer to tear it all down. Episode one is one long build to Purnell’s explosive reaction, but her endless misery can be tough to witness before then, so make sure you watch on to see where her released rage will lead.
Funny Woman: Season 2 (October 16)
A bunch of well-liked TV shows return this month, from Netflix’s cute queer romance Heartstopper to raunchy D&D animated series The Legend of Vox Machina on Prime Video. We’re highlighting this one, though, a period comedy about comedy with Gemma Arterton as a fictionalised 1960s stand-up determined to stand on her own two, high-heeled feet.
In her column Show of the Week, Clarisse Loughrey described the series as “a reminder that, as cynical as it’s easy to be about the current state of television, so much has been achieved by the women who have worked tirelessly to be seen and heard.” If you’ve been missing Mrs Maisel or are just craving some solid giggles from the UK, make sure you’re caught up on Arterton’s rise to the top.
What We Do In The Shadows: Season 6 (October 23)
The vampires of Staten Island (and now their familiar Guillermo!) might be immortal, but TV shows aren’t meant to last forever—and so it’s with a heavy heart that we plunge the final nail into this brilliant horror-comedy’s coffin. In the sixth and final instalment of the Taika Waititi adaptation, the bloodsucking housemates from hell must arrive at some kind of happy eternity, with Guillermo and his former master Nandor hopefully finally shacking up and energy vampire Colin Robinson presumably being awful until the end of time.
As much as we’d like to tune in for the vamp family’s surreal stupidity every week until then, it makes sense for the show to end here. Vampires don’t age, obviously, and you wouldn’t want to notice Nadja and Laszlo appearing more human than they did in season one.
Top picks: Movies
Friday the 13th (October 11)
Ki-ki-ki! Ma-ma-ma! If you don’t have any big plans for the spooky season, why not indulge in an extended trip to Camp Crystal Lake, where the masked Jason Voorhees and his somewhat unstable mum have been hacking up horny camp counsellors since 1980? Of course, as trueheads know, you won’t see the big hockey bloke in this franchise-starting first chapter…but you do get a baby Kevin Bacon, with an arrow pierced cruelly through his soon-to-be-famous throat. The groundbreaking slasher’s best scares and big twists have been ruined through decades of cultural osmosis and copycatting, so your only choice is to follow it up with the nutty sequels: the best being when Jason takes a jaunt to space, the worst his ill-advised holiday in Manhattan.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (October 13)
A drama of naval corruption and intrigue saddled with a wordy mouthful of a title, this is not the typical kind of movie I’d be keen to stream as soon as it’s released. But, being the final work of the late master director William Friedkin, I’m obliged to check it out. The story was a Pulitzer-winning novel and then a Broadway play, before being adapted into an Oscar-winning Humphrey Bogart film and now this latest incarnation, so there’s clearly something vital and fascinating to its tale of an officer who overrides his captain’s dangerous commands. Kiefer Sutherland and Lance Reddick, tragically also taken from the film world too soon, star in what’s been praised as a morally weighty and thought-provoking chamber piece.
Immaculate (October 20)
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Sydney Sweeney: we’ve been praying for some good religious horror, and our salvation was two-fold, with this eerie convent-set thriller and the excellent The First Omen arriving in cinemas simultaneously.
In his review of the former freaky film, Steve Newall commented on the unusual connections between the plot and star Sweeney’s public image: she’s been besieged by pervy comments about her looks ever since attaining fame. “I can’t wait to see how that crowd reacts to Immaculate, in which Sweeney’s devout young nun finds her own body being treated as a means to an end by controlling forces”, Newall said. Thankfully, she’s given plenty of meaty acting moments here to prove she’s far more than just a pretty face.
Everything Coming to Neon this October
October 1
Call The Midwife: Seasons 1-11
DCI Banks: Seasons 1-5
Madagascar
Sanditon: Seasons 1-3
October 2
Brilliant Minds: Season 1
October 3
The Piper
October 4
American Made
Logan Lucky
Sherwood: Season 1
October 5
Trolls
October 6
The Diplomat: Season 1
The Great Escaper
October 7
Billy Joel: The 100th Live at Madison Square Garden
The Franchise: Season 1
October 8
An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th
Found: Season 2
Smother: Season 1
October 9
Along Came A Spider
October 10
The Irrational: Season 2
Sweetpea: Season 1
World War Z
October 11
All The Old Knives
Friday the 13th (1980)
October 12
Semi-Pro
October 13
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
October 14
One True Loves
October 15
All American: Homecoming: Season 3
October 16
Funny Woman: Season 2
In The Line of Fire
October 17
FBI: Season 7
FBI: Most Wanted: Season 6
The Talented Mr Ripley
October 18
Being the Ricardos
October 20
Immaculate
October 21
Going The Distance
October 22
Playing With Fire
October 23
What We Do In The Shadows: Season 6
You, Me and Dupree
October 24
The Color Purple
October 25
Peppermint
October 26
Monkey Man
October 27
One Night in Miami…
October 29
Somebody Somewhere: Season 3
October 30
Inglourious Basterds
October 31
Mercy
