15 Gripping Films and TV Shows to Watch in October 2025

October is here, and with it comes a brand-new selection of small-screen offerings to look forward to for the coming weeks. From the highly anticipated prequel series of Pennywise’s origin in It: Welcome to Derry to a zombie outbreak in The Elixir, there’s plenty of bone-chilling content for the month of spooks. But if horror isn’t your thing, fret not, as romantic comedies and blockbuster action thrillers also await. 

Ahead, here are 15 of the best films and TV shows to watch in October 2025.

Play Dirty

When and where: 1 October 2025 on Prime Video 

Watch if: You believe in big risks, big rewards

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar 

In this action-packed thriller, an expert thief attempts the biggest heist of his life. Together with a ragtag crew, they stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.

Watch here.

Genie, Make a Wish

When and where: 3 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You love the main couple’s chemistry 

Starring: Kim Woo-bin, Bae Suzy, Kim Me-kyung

After a millennium, a genie meets his match in a stoic woman and returns to grant her wishes. Can his magic bring love and wonder to her routine-bound world? 

Watch here.

The Lost Bus

When and where: 3 October 2025 on AppleTV+

Watch if: You’re looking for a white-knuckled ride to sweat through

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vazquez, Ashlie Atkinson, Spencer Watson

A wayward school bus driver and a dedicated school teacher navigate through one of America’s deadliest wildfires as they battle to save 22 children from the terrifying inferno.

Watch here.

Steve

When and where: 3 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You like character-driven narratives

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Tracey Ullman, Jay Lycurgo

Told over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures and mental health issues of his own. 

Watch here.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story

When and where: 3 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You want to know how one man inspired the horror genre

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Suzanna Son, Tom Hollander, Laurie Metcalf, Tyler Jacob Moore

The third season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster follows notorious convicted murderer, graverobber, and suspected serial killer Ed Gein and how his grisly actions inspired a whole new era of horror in modern Hollywood.

Watch here.

The Resurrected

When and where: 9 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You don’t mind delving into the darkest corners of human nature

Starring: Shu Qi, Sinje Lee, Fu Meng-po

Set in the aftermath of a high-stakes fraud and kidnapping case, two grieving mothers defy fate by resurrecting a notorious scam kingpin who was sentenced to death, embarking on a harrowing journey of vengeance and redemption as painful truths emerge.

Watch here.

Would You Marry Me?

When and where: 10 October 2025 on Disney+

Watch if: The fake dating trope is your favourite

Starring: Choi Woo Shik, Jung So Min, Seo Bum June, Shin Seul Ki, and Bae Na Ra

When Meri finds out she has won a newlywed lottery for a luxury townhouse she signed up for with her former fiancé, she must work together with Wooju, a man who shares the same name as her ex, to prove to the lottery board that she’s happily married and eligible to claim the house. Will their plan work?

Watch here.

The Woman in Cabin 10

When and where: 10 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You always gravitate to murder mysteries

Starring: Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, Hannah Waddingham, David Ajala, Art Malik, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kaya Scodelario, David Morrissey, Daniel Ings, Gitte Witt

A travel writer is assigned to cover a lavish yacht cruise that is attended by some of the country’s most elite. Things take a turn when she sees a passenger go overboard one night. When no one believes her, she risks her life to uncover the truth and stumbles upon a gruesome secret.

Watch here.

Culpa Nuestra (Our Fault)

When and where: 16 October 2025 on Prime Video 

Watch if: 

Starring: Nicole Wallace, Gabriel, Guevara, Gabriela Andrada, Marta Hazas, Eva Ruiz, Victor Varona

Jenna and Lion’s wedding sets the stage for the long-awaited reunion between Noah and Nick, some time after their breakup. Both try to resist rekindling the flame that still smoulders within them. With their paths crossed again, will love prove stronger than resentment?

Watch here.

The Elixir

When and where: 23 October 2025 on Netflix 

Watch if: You want to get spooked this Halloween

Starring: Mikha Tambayong, Eva Celia, Donny Damara

Set in a remote village near Yogyakarta, the search for a breakthrough in achieving longevity triggers an unexpected zombie outbreak, and a family at odds with one another must unite and fight to survive as their hometown is ravaged by a horde of the undead. 

Watch here.

Nobody Wants This Season 2

When and where: 23 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: Their relationship dynamic is refreshing to you

Starring: Kristen Bell, Adam Brody, Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons

An agnostic sex podcaster and a newly single rabbi fall in love despite their wildly different lifestyles and beliefs. After capturing the haze of the lovebirds falling for each other in the first season, the second instalment will explore how their relationship deepens amidst meddling families and external pressures.

Watch here.

A House of Dynamite

When and where: 24 October 2025 on Netflix

Watch if: You want a mix of action and political intrigue 

Starring: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, Gabriel Basso

Radars at Fort Greely, Alaska, detect a nuclear missile coming their way. The president and his entourage must race against time to shoot down the missile before it reaches Chicago.

Watch here.

It: Welcome to Derry

When and where: 27 October 2025 on HBO Max

Watch if: You’re dying to find out Pennywise’s origin

Starring: Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, Rudy Mancuso, Bill Skarsgård

Set in the world of Stephen King’s It universe, this prequel series expands on the vision established by director Andy Muschietti’s It and It Chapter Two films, and reveals how the demon clown Pennywise came to be in the small town of Derry.

Watch here.

Hedda

When and where: 29 October 2025 on Prime Video

Watch if: You support female rights (and wrongs)

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman

In this modern reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play, Hedda finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt—pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal. 

Watch here.

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3

When and where: 29 October 2025 on Disney+

Watch if: You love all things Star Wars 

The award-winning anthology of animated short films returns to celebrate the Star Wars mythology through unique cultural lenses. Delve into nine shorts from nine different anime studios that further demonstrate the diversity and creativity of Japanese animation for one of the world’s most beloved IPs.

Watch here.

For more ideas on what to watch, head here.