New to streaming, ranked (October 11, 2024)

Hulu. Netflix. Max. Disney+. Apple TV+. Prime Video. Shudder. Paramount+. Peacock. When it comes to streaming options, the list goes on and on, and it can be overwhelming. So, we offer watch guides for all of the above, broken down by genre: comedy, thriller, horror, documentary, animation, and more. But maybe you don’t know what you want beyond something new and entertaining. No worries. 

Mashable’s Entertainment Team has scoured the streaming services to highlight the most buzzed-about releases of the week and ranked them by least to most watchable. 

Want to know what’s worth your time? We’ve got you. 

5. Teacup

Don’t be fooled by the innocuous title. Teacup is a twisted horror series that’s likely to brew nightmares. Yellowstone producer/writer Ian McCulloch adapts Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger across eight 30-ish-minute episodes, unfurling a claustrophobic tale of terror. Yvonne Strahovski and Scott Speedman star as Maggie and James Chenoweth, a married couple at odds who live on a rural farm with two kids and a pot-smoking grandma (Kathy Baker). Tensions are rising in the house before a gas-masked stranger turns up, warning them — and their visiting neighbors — that leaving the farm will have horrendous consequences. 

McCulloch offers a slow-burn approach, sprinkling creepy elements like a muttering intruder, animals enacting confounding self-harm, and a little boy who hears voices. But by the end of the second episode now streaming, Teacup gets cooking, revealing the eye-popping consequences for crossing the line established by the aforementioned and mysterious stranger. With two new episodes airing each Thursday, this series — executive-produced by James Wan — could deliver chills all through spooky season. 

Starring: Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, Chaske Spencer, Kathy Baker, Boris McGiver, Caleb Dolden, Emilie Bierre, and Luciano Leroux 

How to watch: Teacup is now streaming, with two new episodes weekly.

4. Caddo Lake

Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Caddo Lake is a mind-bending thriller spiked with strange twists and a bonkers ending. Co-writers/directors Logan George and Celine Held carve out an original vision of grief and heroics by following two strangers, whose lives are changed forever by their separate searches for a missing 8-year-old girl. 

On the surface, surly teen Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) and haunted twentysomething Paris (Dylan O’Brien) have a lot in common: Both live on the edge of a dense swamp, and lost a parent at an early age through unexplained disappearances. Could it be something in the swamp? When Ellie’s stepsister goes missing, efforts to find her unlock secrets from the past and a shocking new reality. If you’re seeking something freshly creepy and a bit confounding, check out Caddo Lake. And if you need some help making sense of that climax, check out our ending explainer.  

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Eliza Scanlen, Lauren Ambrose, Eric Lange, Sam Hennings, and Diana Hopper 

How to watch: Caddo Lake is streaming now on Max.

3. Mr. Crocket

What if Mr. Rogers were magic and evil? That’s basically the pitch for Mr. Crocket, a Hulu original about a kids’ show host who takes his devotion to his fans way too far. Written by Carl Reid and Brandon Espy, Mr. Crocket introduces home-viewing audiences to an enchanted VHS tape called Mr. Crocket’s World. Featuring fluffy puppets, jaunty songs, and a jovial host wearing a big smile and a bowtie, the kids’ show seems the perfect escape for children enduring trouble at home. But if Mr. Crocket feels he’d be a better caretaker of a kid than the parents, he’ll creep right out of that VCR for some home-invasion horror. When one recently widowed mom (Jerrika Hinton) realizes her son (Ayden Gavin) is at risk of being snatched by Mr. Crocket, she’ll do whatever it takes to save him. 

Full of lurid colors, grisly surprises, and a plotline that feels appropriate for Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Mr. Crocket seems designed for Gen X or millennials who remember the solace of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and the horror of stranger-danger hysteria. The tone is broad, relishing in creepy practical effects and Freddy Krueger-style showmanship. All in all, a solid pastiche of throwback influences with some fresh kills and thrills. 

Starring: Jerrkia Hinton, Elvis Nolasco, Ayden Gavin, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Alex Akpobome

How to watch: Mr. Crocket is now streaming on Hulu.

2. The Last of the Sea Women

Produced by Malala Yousafzai, The Last of the Sea Women is an intriguing documentary about an extraordinary but dying tradition. On the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island, elderly women gather in diving suits to plunge into the depths and harvest seafood for sale. They are known as the haenyeo divers, often compared to mermaids for their ease in the water and their rejection of oxygen tanks. Director Sue Kim gets close to this compelling club, who share their stories, worries, and personalities with candor. Their ways are largely being lost, though Kim finds a pair of young haenyeo divers who have made their mark online by sharing videos of their dives. However, the greatest battle they have to fight is against the rampant pollution that risks their health and the lives of the sea creatures they hunt but cherish.

Gorgeously captured, The Last of the Sea Women easily greatestows upon the viewer the majesty of the sea in which the haenyeo divers swim. Kim’s curiosity invites us into this wondrous world of hard work and sisterhood. While the film has a clear and powerful message about preservation and the power of activism, it’s also a heart-warming portrait of community and bold, charismatic women as enchanting as the sea life that is their calling. Beautiful and moving, The Last of the Sea Women is a trip across the world you can take from the comfort of your couch. 

How to watch: The Last of the Sea Women is now streaming on Apple TV+

1. Disclaimer 

Five-time Academy Award–winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón teams with two-time Academy Award–winning actress Cate Blanchett for a seven-part thriller sure to get your blood pumping. Written and directed by Cuarón, Disclaimer stars Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a revered journalist who has built her career on unearthing the sordid secrets of others. However, her life is thrown into spin when an unsolicited novel shows up on her doorstep, its pages spilling out the skeletons within her own closet. 

In her review for Mashable, Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards writes, “The overall effect of Disclaimer is one of intrigue and of questioning the layers of narrative you see before you. With its commitment to formal changeups and a brutal knockout of a finale, Disclaimer is a puzzle that gets under your skin and refuses to leave.”

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George and Hoyeon 

How to watch: Disclaimer‘s first two episodes are streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes each Friday.

For more viewing suggestions check out Mashable’s Watch Guides for the latest and greatest films and TV shows now streaming.