Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. Features
  4. Streaming Guides

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The best new shows and movies to stream: ‘Mindhunter,’ ‘Lore,’ and more

By

Best new shows and movies to stream Mindhunter
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Online streaming is bigger than ever, and with so many streaming services adding new shows and movies every week, it can be nearly impossible to sort through the good and the bad. If you need something to watch and don’t want to wade through the digital muck that washes up on the internet’s shores, follow our picks below for the best new shows and movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon, and other services.

On the list this week: David Fincher’s latest project, a new horror-comedy, and more.

Recommended Videos

‘Mindhunter’ season 1

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Director David Fincher has visited the subject of serial killers multiple times in his career — Seven and Zodiac in particular are among the best crime thrillers in recent decades. Now, with the new Netflix series Mindhunter, he dives once more into the genre, this time in a serialized format. Drawing on the memoir by FBI special agent John E. Douglas, Mindhunter follows two FBI agents, Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), fictional pioneers of criminal profiling who interview serial killers in prison, trying to figure out what drove them to commit their vile crimes. As they dig into the darkness of their subjects’ minds, they butt heads with their superiors and try to avoid sinking. Fincher’s highly composed style gives the show a prestigious look.

Netflix

‘The Babysitter’

Image used with permission by copyright holder

A throwback to the campy, gory horror films of the 1980s, McG’s The Babysitter begins innocently enough. Teenager Cole (Judah Lewis) has a crush on his babysitter, Bee (Samara Weaving), so when his parents leave for the weekend, he’s excited to learn that she plans to have a party in his house. Unfortunately for Cole, Bee and her friends are cultists, and the party involves less spin-the-bottle and more ritualistic human sacrifice. A shameless “horror-comedy,” The Babysitter isn’t afraid to go big with spurts of blood and slapstick humor. It’s probably not an instant classic, but a worthwhile addition to any Halloween horror playlist.

Netflix

‘Lore’ season 1

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The popular podcast Lore explores the darker, creepier side of history, with a focus on folklore, superstition, and how humanity’s macabre tales have factual roots. It’s a compelling, if unsettling podcast, and the subject matter will hopefully translate well to the screen in Amazon’s Lore TV series, with host Aaron Mahnke guiding viewers through stories both bizarre and enlightening. The first season includes investigations into werewolves, changelings, and even creepy dolls.

Amazon

‘Spielberg’

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Few directors have sustained such massive success for so long as Steven Spielberg. Beginning with a gig directing a segment of Night Gallery, Spielberg went on to create the summer blockbuster with Jaws, and in the ensuing decades has found success in a variety of genres, including sci-fi (E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind), pulpy adventures (Raiders of the Lost Ark), and war dramas (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List). Spielberg is a titan of American cinema, and HBO’s eponymous documentary examines his life and the ways it shaped his creative output. Interviews with other directors and movie stars yield opinions and anecdotes that supplement the biographical details. Spielberg isn’t a challenging documentary — it doesn’t really engage critically with the subject’s art — but it is a trove of background information for those who love his films.

HBO GO

‘Pi’

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Obsession is a recurring theme in the films of Darren Aronofsky. In films like Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream, he has zeroed in on characters fixated on external goals, whether it be getting high or creating sublime art. His preoccupation with madness goes all the way back to his debut, 1998’s Pi, which follows a mathematician, Max Cohen (Sean Gullette), who believes that all of the universe can be broken down into mathematical formulae. He pores over programs and data, fixated on finding the key to everything, and even delves into mysticism. Filmed in black and white, and shot in a frantic style, Pi is an intense thriller, where the conflict comes not from spies or terrorists but the human mind.

Amazon Prime

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Will Nicol
Will Nicol
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
The most surprising horror movie of the decade is streaming now on Hulu
Georgina Campbell stands in an Airbnb in Barbarian.

It's hard to genuinely surprise moviegoers these days. Many of them have seen too many movies. They know the ropes too well. That has especially become the case with certain horror genres. How does someone even try to reinvent the slasher thriller in the year 2024? Or the haunted house movie? There are too many well-known tropes now, and a lot of movies understandably try to focus less on surprising their viewers and more on exceeding their expectations in different ways.

But then there are films that still make unpredictability look shockingly easy. Perhaps no movie of the 2020s so far has done that as well as Barbarian. The horror film from writer-director Zach Cregger came seemingly out of nowhere in the late summer of 2022 and quickly garnered a reputation for being a thriller that you should go into knowing as little about as possible. That's because Barbarian is, to put it incredibly simply, a wild ride unlike any other horror movie in recent memory.

Read more
This might be Netflix’s most disturbing movie. Here’s why it’s still so effective
Two men look down in The Platform.

In 2019, The Platform premiered in theaters and became one of Netflix's most-watched original films the next year. Directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, this Spanish dystopian thriller follows people imprisoned in a "Vertical Self-Management Center," a tower in which a platform provides food to people on each floor once a day, starting at the top, creating desperation and conflict among the inmates. The film specifically focuses on Goreng (Iván Massagué), who voluntarily admits himself to this prison in exchange for a college degree only to start a revolution from within.
Following the film's tremendous success on streaming during the pandemic, The Platform has returned to the spotlight with a sequel premiering on October 4. Now that this exciting follow-up has descended onto Netflix, here's why audiences should catch up on the original film to prepare for the next course.

Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
The characters are compelling

Read more
Apple TV+’s best show needs to be your next TV binge
Jack Lowden stands in a doorway with his hands raised in Slow Horses season 4.

It's hard to tell what is a hit TV show and what isn't these days. The absence of conventional TV ratings and the lack of anything even resembling a monoculture has made it impossible to know which shows "everyone" is watching and — even more importantly — which are actually pulling in big enough numbers to be considered genuine hits. This has only become harder now that tech companies like Apple and Amazon have essentially taken over Hollywood and displayed a surprising indifference regarding how much money their film and TV originals make.

If there is one thing that is abundantly clear in today's confusing, ever-shifting television landscape, though, it's that not nearly enough people are watching Slow Horses. The low-level spy series has been a joy to watch ever since it premiered on Apple TV+ in early 2022. Late last year, however, the series' third season made a great case for it being — along with The Bear and perhaps Industry — the best ongoing show on TV, period. Now in its fourth season, Slow Horses hasn't lost an ounce of its sweaty charm or its sharp wit.

Read more