Netflix
Late Night with the Devil
Film, US, 2024 – out 18 October
This much-talked-about exorcism movie from Australian directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes is wickedly garish, with a great central location: the set of a late-night talkshow from the 1970s. Host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) is desperate for better ratings, so he has no problem bringing on to his program a creepy girl named Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), who is apparently possessed by a demon. Why not get that demon to say hello, live on air?
Employing the found footage style, the Cairnes brothers turn an initially campy mood into something that becomes increasingly unsettling, then intoxicatingly scary. Fun fact: on the Sunday during its opening weekend in the US, the film earned exactly $666,666.
Territory
TV, Australia, 2024 – out 24 October
It’s Succession, but in the outback. Expect every critic who reviews this show to make that point. The central setting is the fictional Marianne Station, the world’s largest cattle station, which is thrown into turmoil after the unexpected death of the man next in line to inherit it. Grumpy, Logan Roy-like patriarch Colin (Robert Taylor) isn’t happy with any of the other options, which include his alcoholic son Graham (Michael Dorman), Graham’s wife Emily (Anna Torv), and their two children Marshall (Sam Corlett) and Susie (Philippa Northeast). Expect lots of power jostling and stunning shots of Top End terrain.
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
TV, US, 2024 – out 10 October
This animated show version of the iconic video game franchise doesn’t waste any time indulging in, well, tomb raiding, with Lara Croft (voiced by Hayley Atwell) catapulting into various exotic jungle locations. In the first episode she finds a box that, legend has it, makes anybody who touches it wealthy, though locals say the box “will only bring death and destruction”. The lesson we’ve learned from a zillion other stories: listen to the locals! Indiana Jones-esque plotlines deploy lots of magical items and narrow escapes. It’s a bit boilerplate, but not badly made; my teenage self probably would’ve dug it.
Honourable mentions: Heartstopper season three (TV, 3 October), The Platform (film, 4 October), The Fabelmans (film, 5 October), The Menendez Brothers (film, 7 October), Lonely Planet (film, 11 October), Chucky season one (TV, 15 October), Time Cut (film, 30 October).
Stan
Of an Age
Film, Australia, 2022 – out 24 October
The Macedonian Australian film-maker Goran Stolevski has delivered an awesome one-two directorial debut, following up his spellbinding horror movie You Won’t Be Alone with this queer romance that’s sweet in a tough-hearted way, embracing romantic possibility rather than uniting two lovers forevermore. Adam (Thom Green) and Nikola (Elias Anton) meet and bond while racing across Melbourne to pick up Nikola’s dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook). The camerawork can be sharp and jittery but the film ultimately feels tender and gentle, the passage of time pushing the story into a melancholic “what might have been” space.
Carrie
Film, US, 1976 – out 23 October
Very few films about puberty and schoolyard bullying pack a punch like Brian De Palma’s horrific assault on the senses – a horror classic intensely focused on the tormented psyche of its titular character (unforgettably played by Sissy Spacek) who develops supernatural powers. She’s the victim of the cruelest treatment, mocked and belittled and terrorised by her peers, including and especially at her high school prom. This is the setting for a long, bloody, fire-filled stretch of carnage: once seen, never forgotten.
Honourable mentions: Joan (TV, 1 October), This is Going to Hurt (TV, 2 October), Lucky Country (film, 3 October), Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (film, 6 October), The Wedding Singer (film, 8 October), Seven (film, 10 October), Gayby Baby (film, 13 October), Thou Shalt Not Steal (TV, 17 October), Bad Boys 1-3 (film, 18 October), Child’s Play (film, 25 October).
SBS on Demand
So Long, Marianne
TV, Canada/Norway, 2024 – out 19 October
If, like me, you’re a Leonard Cohen fan, you’ll be intrigued by this eight-part series inspired by his song of the same name. It follows a young Cohen (Alex Wolff) as he arrives on the Greek island of Hydra, hanging out with cash-strapped artists and beatniks and meeting Marianne Ihlen (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), who’s in a volcanic relationship with the novelist Axel Jensen (Jonas Strand Gravli). I’ve only watched the first episode so far and I’m in two minds about it: the show jumps around a lot and I’m not entirely sold by Wolff’s impersonation of the great poet. But it grew on me as the runtime progressed, and I’m curious enough to keep watching.
Batman and Me
Film, Australia, 2020 – out 3 October
Society is full of potential addictions. Some of us get hooked on obviously addictive things, like crack and Iced VoVos, while others take to protein shakes, nutmeg, licking toads … even collecting Batman paraphernalia. When I spoke a few years ago to Darren “Dags” Maxwell, the subject of Michael Wayne’s documentary, he told me he didn’t even like the Batman merchandise he was addicted to buying: “I bought these items and I couldn’t stand them,” he said. “I hated them. I hate them today.” The film is low-fi but endearingly made, expanding into an exploration of pop culture collectibles.
Honourable mentions: Beyond Utopia (film, 1 October), The Old Man (TV, 1 October), Four Years Later (TV, 2 October), The Gone (TV, 31 October).
ABC iView
Plum
TV, Australia, 2024 – out 20 October
Brendan Cowell’s 2021 novel Plum provides a multidimensional, warts-and-all depiction of the retired rugby league footballer Peter Lum, who suffers from various health conditions – mostly related to concussions he experienced on the field. In terms of its form and structure, the book’s most impressive element is its long and naturalistic conversations, good dialogue being very difficult to nail in any artistic medium. This bodes well for its TV adaptation, which is created, written and produced by Cowell, who also stars as Plum, alongside cast members including Asher Keddie (who was terrific in the recent Fake), María Dupláa and Jemaine Clement.
Honourable mentions: Nolly (TV, 18 October), Fisk season three (TV, 20 October), A Bite To Eat With Alice (TV, 28 October).
Prime Video
The Office
TV, Australia, 2024 – out 18 October
I don’t think anybody in the world is saying, “Now’s the right time for another remake of The Office.” The makers of the new Australian version have their work cut out for them, the original show’s heavily templated mockumentary format having already spawned versions in more than a dozen countries. Felicity Ward leads the cast as Hannah Howard, the inevitably inept David Brent- or Michael Scott-esque manager of a Sydney-based packaging company.
Ward will be the first woman to lead any version of The Office, adding a little novelty. Although you could argue the show has already been (unofficially) remade, with a broadly similar leading character played by a woman – that show being the very similarly toned Parks and Recreation, led by a very funny Amy Poehler.
Challengers
Film, US, 2024 – out 1 October
The centrepiece scene in Luca Guadagnino’s love triangle drama is a tennis match between two personal and professional adversaries – Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) – which the director keeps cutting away from. Or perhaps you could say serving, smashing or volleying away from, given the film’s bouncy editing that audaciously attempts to reflect the sport’s rhythms.
This scattered approach comes together with surprising fluidity, as we gradually learn more details about the characters’ lives, Art and Patrick for instance previously being buddies who competed for the eye of another tennis player, Zendaya’s Tashi, who ultimately married Art. Tashi’s unpredictable behaviour is partly what keeps the drama spiky and spicy.
Honourable mentions: The Fighter (film, 1 October), House of Spoils (film, 3 October), A Simple Favour (film, 6 October) Citadel: Diana (TV, 10 October), Canary Black (film, 24 October).
Binge
Sweetpea
TV, UK, 2024 – out 10 October
This wickedly entertaining series about a woman fed up with being overlooked and underestimated has a volcanically dark and sassy energy. Ella Purnell’s protagonist Rhiannon Lewis, who works as an editorial assistant for a small newspaper, opens the show with a monologue about “people I’d love to kill”, kvetching about a range of people including manspreaders and “Donna at the mini market”. The first episode does a great job really putting her down, painting her as a person constantly ignored, even if it’s a bit cheeky to cast the magnetic Purnell as a dorky wallflower.
Created by Kirstie Swain and adapted from CJ Skuse’s book of the same name, the show is a wild take on standing up for yourself, flipping into sensational luridness when Rhiannon brutally stabs a bully to death, horrifically breaking bad. The pace is absolutely cracking and the humour as black as it comes. It’s very sharp and well made; I smashed through all six episodes in two evenings.
The Franchise
TV, UK, 2024 – out 7 October
I’m a big fan of Armando Iannucci, one of the executive producers of this zippily enjoyable behind-the-scenes comedy about blockbuster moviemaking. While the great satirist and film-maker didn’t create or write it, the show certainly feels Iannucci-esque. Dialogue flows thick and fast, with loads of bon mots and ripostes delivered in that wonderful dry British style.
Himesh Patel’s protagonist Daniel plays the first assistant director of a Marvel-like production, tasked with putting out countless spot fires and navigating all sorts of dramas and mishaps.
Honourable mentions: Salem’s Lot (film, 3 October), Mountain (film, 3 October), Brazen Hussies (film, 3 October), Teacup (TV, 10 October), Caddo Lake (film, 10 October), Man on Wire (film, 18 October), Hysteria! (TV, 18 October), Immaculate (film, 20 October), When We Were Kings (film, 21 October), Page One: Inside The New York Times (film, 23 October), The Color Purple (TV, 24 October), Stop Making Sense (film, 29 October), Spaceship Earth (film, 30 October), Frackman (film, 31 October).
Disney+
Last Days of the Space Age
TV, Australia, 2024 – out 2 October
Set in Perth in 1979, this original Australian period drama from the Big Mouse attempts to evoke an end-of-an-era mentality. But I didn’t buy it, emerging from the series feeling as though I’d watched a very middle-of-the-road vision of the past, history’s rough edges smoothed. The narrative spreads itself too thin, introducing about a dozen key characters, the most vivid and interesting being Radha Mitchell’s Judy, whose promotion to a managerial position at the local power plant places her in opposite to its striking employees, including her husband Tony (Jesse Spencer).
Honourable mentions: Hold Your Breath (film, 3 October), Rivals (TV, 18 October), Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (film, 25 October), Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (TV, 30 October).
Apple TV+
Disclaimer
TV, US/Australia/Mexico, 2024 – out 11 October
The combination of director Alfonso Cuarón and star Cate Blanchett should alone put this seven-part adaptation of Renée Knight’s 2015 novel on your watch list. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a revered documentarian who receives a novel that incorporates dark aspects of her own past. Deadline calls the show “gut-wrenching, beautiful and solidly conventional” while IndieWire describes it as an “astute, all-consuming thriller”.
Honourable mentions: The Last of the Sea Women (film, 11 October), Shrinking season two (TV, 16 October), Before (TV, 25 October).
