7 Must See Movies Coming to HBO in October 2026

Published Oct 1, 2026, 8:08 PM EDT

Ben Brewster is a filmmaker, critic, screenwriter, and actor whose work sits at the intersection of film culture, craft analysis, and storytelling.

He is a movie list contributing writer at Collider and a contributing writer for High on Films, where he covers contemporary cinema, independent film, and festival releases with an eye toward narrative structure, performance, and visual language. 

Ben is an active film festival participant, having worked with Newport Film, the Nantucket Film Festival and as a screener for the Austin, Boston & Woodstock film festivals. 

He brings to that work a programming instinct shaped by years of close engagement with independent and documentary cinema. This comes with a deep investment in the kinds of films that rarely find their way into the mainstream conversation without someone willing to advocate for them.

His background spans documentary and narrative filmmaking, film marketing, and production, including work with award-winning directors. This as well as developing his own indie production company, Lilac Creative Studio, through which he develops and produces original work across fiction and nonfiction forms. 

His debut documentary, Diamond in the Rust, is an examination of economic redevelopment and displacement in the Queens area of New York City. The film was recently accepted to the Unisphere Film Festival, the Defense of Democracy Film Festival, and the Urbanite Arts & Film Festival. This would mark his first festival recognition as a director. 

In addition to his writing and programming work, Ben hosts Beneath the Bloom, a film podcast exploring the work behind the scenes in cinema, and the struggles one can face to make a movie become a reality. The show reflects the same sensibility that runs through all of his work. A conviction that film is not merely entertainment but one of the most powerful tools human beings have for understanding each other.

Across mediums, his work is driven by a deep belief in film as a communal, transformative art form.

So, October is a great month to be an HBO subscriber. Yes, Lanterns may be ending on Sunday, but there are plenty of projects bound to make the average HBO viewer curious. Evil Dead Burn and The Housemaid, two of the more talked-about theatrical releases of recent memory, hit the service on October 2nd and October 9th respectively. Those two are followed by two other notable releases from earlier in the calendar year, the Hugh Jackman-led The Death of Robin Hood and the Olivia Wilde-directed drama The Invite. The former arrives on the 16th and the latter comes in on the 23rd. This all serves as proof that the HBO head honchos want some new and fresh movies hitting its library for their subscribers who couldn't catch its slate of prestigious October theatrical projects.

Then there are, of course, the festive Halloween additions to its catalog. Coraline and the live-action Scooby-Doo bring the seasonal family energy that makes October streaming stand out from the other eleven months. Meanwhile, Evil Dead Burn and The Housemaid provide horror faithfuls with something more current to sit through than the holiday staples. HBO has always been a platform that sees October as the programming opportunity that it is, and this year's lineup clearly demonstrates that.

Sitting apart from the Halloween selections and the newer releases are movies such as Steven Spielberg's The Post, which gives the cast of cinematic additions some historical and dramatic vitality. Between the A24 theatrical debuts, the holiday classics and a range of classical dramas and comedies, this is a rewarding month for any HBO loyalist. These are just seven of the myriad of entries entering the HBO stratosphere in the next few weeks likely to drum up the most fanfare.

7 'The Post' (2017)

Image via 20th Century Fox

Steven Spielberg's most enjoyable movies are, in fact, not his most spectacular films (see Disclosure Day). The ones that are the richest in flavor and emotion mainly revolve around ordinary rooms where rather remarkable things can occur thanks to the collective belief in a greater good. The people in them are often forced to make difficult decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. The Post seems to have very little to do with the rest of his filmography, but perhaps that's why it was met with such little excitement upon its initial release. It revolves around Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee, real people portrayed by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and their work surrounding the Pentagon Papers. These papers were supposed to be published despite the Pentagon's and the White House's demands that they should not be. Regardless of the premise, Spielberg refuses to romanticize their decisions and Streep and Hanks work off each other with the smooth chemistry of two well decorated actors. They portray the characters' internal struggles with an impressive believability.

Now, The Post was made in a hurry, which actually reflected the urgency within which the historical events happened. It operates like a character study between Graham and her staff and how their own sociopolitical environment would influence their impactful choices. The decisions surrounding the papers' publication affect an array of journalistic principles that an audience may not expect upon first glance. It is fascinating to watch how this history-making moment influences everyday people. But nearly a decade out now, it's undeniable to say the film has mostly disappeared from the cinematic cultural zeitgeist. Seeing it added to a streaming service like HBO in 2026 will undoubtedly signal a new meaning behind it for viewers.

6 'The Internship' (2013)

The Internship is never going to show up on a most watched of the year list, and it's probably not the most commercially engrained Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson comedy out there by a good distance. Nobody is suggesting that the buddy comedy fits the prestige bill of the likes of works such as stop-motion feat Coraline or even the serious-tempered The Post mentioned just above this entry. But it does make up for that in a fun blend of a young ensemble supporting cast with two of the last remaining frat pack members — the comedic band of talented actors that dominated the box offices for the majority of the 2000s. The Internship offers what Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson doing what they did best well into their fifties. Backed by director Sean Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), its premise is simple but brilliant: two middle-aged men are hired by Google to participate in a training course with a young pack of millennials all hopeful of securing a position at Silicon Valley's leading organization. Vaughn and Wilson are ridiculous in their attempts to adapt to the ever-rapidly changing culture and shock of being around a social atmosphere with people that act and behave like nothing you have been familiar with your entire life. It is a lasting reminder that, outside of being one of the best comedies of its era, it was a signal to how seamlessly the two could move through comedic beats and dialogue together.

Much of the movie's humor may be outdated, yes, and some of the jokes fall flat. This is mainly a function of its early 2010s release and the movie's sharp attention to popular trends and sayings of the time. The movie finds much of its charm in the culture clash between old and young, with all the comedic potential being used from the intern's general ignorance of Vaughn and Wilson's existence. One of its most redeeming qualities is that it fully embraces its profile as a semi-junky comedy with no hidden meaning, depth or artistic intentions outside a spectacularly simple yet relevant premise. This is the kind of comfort watch made for a Friday night when one's looking to relax and take the edge off a bit.

5 'Scooby-Doo' (2002)

Image via Warner Bros.

James Gunn's script for the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo is smarter and more self-aware relative to almost anything else from the long-running franchise. It captures the spirit and enthusiasm of the original cartoon and still cuts confidently away from its perceived weaknesses and tropes. Yes, it is very easy to laugh at the CGI design of Scooby-Doo. The enhancements had a pretty lackluster reception at its theatrical marketing and release. Regardless, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini and Freddie Prinze Jr. are fantastic as the Mystery Gang building a dynamic between the bunch that made fans eager enough to develop a sequel. However, Matthew Lillard is the real star because of how committed he is to his role and the fact he has the most time opposite a CGI dog.

Any Scooby-Doo adaptation has to trade off its strangeness, and this project certainly is no different. The movie's special effects do feel a bit dated nearly twenty-five years later, but the movie has seemed to age incredibly well and reach a certain cult status. There's a sense of direct parody amongst everyone involved in this film, a perspective that allowed for the movie to embrace its identity fully and only furthered audiences' passion for its whacky universe. The Scooby-Doo villains have some pretty silly reveals, but the story still manages to feel fresh and modern enough to retain its charm and sense of wonder. October does seem like the only relevant month to watch a movie like Scooby-Doo, and it is always surprising how much this movie manages to capture that particular feeling.

4 'The Cat in the Hat' (2003)

Image via Universal

Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is so wildly ridiculous and bizarre compared to many of the movies coming out of the 2000s that it almost feels as though the film was made to fill out some outlandish set of requirements. Maybe that's why its caught a bit of a second wind in the cultural zeitgeist. To be honest though, who knows. Mike Myers spends the majority of the movie losing his mind in the Cat's skinsuit, attempting to convince the audience that this is all terribly funny. It plays more like some mixture of an Obsession, Backrooms and Buddy smoothie gone terribly wrong. It does make one wonder what could have gone wrong enough to think it was a good idea to green-light a $109 million project based on a Dr. Seuss book coming at it from this angle. 2003 audiences were not particularly pleased, a feeling shared by Dr. Seuss' estate.

At any rate, some argue that The Cat in the Hat is a much more interesting movie watched in 2026 with the understanding that it captures the absurdity of Hollywood's ability to endorse such absurd plots and projects. It isn't difficult to realize upon watching the film that the production values were exceptional for the time. A scale and budget, a movie like this probably didn't deserve. But it does feel strange to see such an unnecessarily weird movie with such an extensive budget. The Cat in the Hat is an unmitigated disaster that somehow manages to be entertaining out of the effort and absurdity behind its entire creation. This one is best watched with friends who have no idea what they are getting into. October feels like a fitting month for a movie that had no place existing in the first place, and a project based off a children's book that plays more like a modern version of nostalgia horror bait.

3 'The Death of Robin Hood' (2026)

Image via A24

Michael Sarinoski's latest film is arguably his most ambitious and remarkable to date. In The Death of Robin Hood, he attempts to deconstruct one of the most recognizable myths in human history. It is ostensibly another origin story about the infamous outlaw, but it easy to forget that Sarnoski has been deeply invested in the subject long before the release of the trilogy. Pig was a surreal drama examining the consequences of revenge and grief that people hide behind and push down. A Quiet Place: Day One was a tense apocalyptic disaster film that capitalized off of the franchise's well-regarded reputation. This movie dissects the legacy of the outlaw, and doesn't focus at all on his origins.

Robin Hood has been portrayed on screen enough before that it was very unclear whether audiences would respond to another story surrounding him. Yet, Sarinoski has once again taken on the seemingly daunting task of telling a familiar story in a way that has never been seen before. In the past, it has been both a swashbuckler's adventure and a political drama, but The Death of Robin Hood is different in how it focuses on the end of the legendary outlaw. It emphasizes the physical toll and burden that Robin has taken from his exploits. Sarinoski's work has been rooted in the same philosophy that drives The Death of Robin Hood: asking uncomfortable questions. The film was received generally well by critics, although it didn't get the initial commercial response it was hoping for. Hugh Jackman's take on Robin Hood lands on HBO on October 16th for any who might have missed its theatrical run.

2 'Coraline' (2009)

Image via Focus Features

Henry Selick's stop-motion adaptation of Coraline manages to capture the charm and imagination of a typical children's movie while balancing the considerably darker themes and undertones. The Other Mother is one of the more frightening villains in the pantheon of American animation, primarily since her kindness never feels fully sincere. From the start, she treats Coraline like her ideal child and insists that she is much better than her real parents. Only later does it become increasingly apparent that the affection coming fro the Other Mother is her attempt at possessing Coraline. The stop-motion animation in Coraline has held up comparatively well over the years, especially considering how much technology has advanced since 2009.

The most impressive aspect of Coraline is that it does not hold back when it comes to material that exudes horror elements, even if it is designed for children. The project leaves lots up to interpretation for any viewer despite the scarier beats. Coraline fits on pretty much anyone's October movie list, not only as a quality picture but for its spooky Halloween vibes and eccentric dialogue and aesthetic. It's a film that can be enjoyed by all ages, and there is a good chance that any re-watchers will pick up on previously unseen details they might not have registered at the time.

1 'The Invite' (2026)

Image via Sundance

Olivia Wilde's The Invite is a social drama exploring the toxic dynamics of marriage through the lens of a dinner party with upstairs neighbors. This movie was built and anchored by an incredibly strong screenplay, with Wilde's direction leaving room for few distractions from the existential fear lurking behind the dinner party's banality. The social fear and self-consciousness exude from these characters, and feel completely earned in the context of the film's first act. The Invite breeds its suspense through the accumulation of strange incidents that happen during the get-together, gradually transforming a seemingly innocent encounter into something wildly funny and unpredictable.

By the time the dinner table's dynamics has fully revealed themselves, Wilde has created enough tension to effectively dismantle all the dinner's social pleasantries. The chaos is not just spawned through the mysterious neighbors portrayed by Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz, as the marriage at the core of the narrative is equally precarious and unpredictable. Wilde evokes discomfort by depicting the subtle ways in which the characters' interactions evolve throughout the evening. The Invite is a surprisingly good pick for this year's Halloween season, an ultra realistic version of normal people's daily terrors of middle-aged socializing. It arrives on HBO on October 23rd having been widely acclaimed by critics internationally.