New anime, yet another Korean drama, and a horror series that critics are freaking out about (in a good way) are just a few of the Netflix releases that will be available to stream over the next few days as we enter the second week of October. To be sure, this is a very light stretch in terms of home-run releases from the streaming behemoth — but, thankfully, there are a few gems worth adding to your watch lists over the next several days.
We’ll go through it all in our newest week-ahead snapshot, which is part of our continuous coverage of the service designed to help you decide what to watch next.
5 new Netflix releases to add to your watch list
The Netflix releases listed below are not in any particular order, and we’ll begin with a top-rated new series from Mike Flanagan that’s practically Succession meets Edgar-Allan-Poe.
The Fall of the House of Usher (Oct. 12)
Flanagan’s new eight-episode series The Fall of the House of Usher is a modern adaption of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 short story of the same name. Furthermore, to emphasize the Poe link, each episode of this Netflix series is called after a Poe short tale or poem, such as the first and last episodes, which are supposedly titled A Midnight Dreary and The Raven, respectively.
As for the plot, it’s a “bat-s**t crazy” (cast member Carla Gugino’s words, not mine) horror thriller in which unscrupulous pharmaceutical CEO Roderick Usher (played by Bruce Greenwood) is forced to confront his murky past when his children start dying in weird and terrible ways.
Meanwhile, Roderick and Madeline Usher are vicious siblings who have grown Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into a wealthy and powerful company. However, everything begins to fall apart when a strange woman from their past begins killing off the heirs to the Usher fortune one by one.
“Even if it takes on a slasher-like predictability by pushing characters toward inventive kills, one by one, Usher also grows darker and more somber as it progresses and reckons with the real-world offenses mirrored in the Usher story,” raved a TV Guide critic on Rotten Tomatoes.
That score makes Flagan’s latest series the best-reviewed of all of his past shows available on the streaming service, which include:
- The Haunting of Hill House
- The Haunting of Bly Manor
- The Midnight Club
- and Midnight Mass.
Fair Play (now streaming)
Despite having directed some of the most sleek and captivating TV in recent years, including episodes of shows like Ballers and Billions, Chloe Domont has only recently made her feature film directorial debut – and it’s now available on Netflix.
Fair Play is a workplace drama starring Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton and Alden Ehrenreich from Han Solo as a recently engaged pair working at a competitive hedge fund. They portray an ambitious power couple in a romantic thriller with sexual politics at the forefront.
Emily and Luke, the central couple of Fair Play, are two financial analysts who are in a forbidden relationship with their employers. When one of them is promoted, it strains their relationship. Overall, it’s a sexy, tight thriller with a superb ensemble cast that’s already wowed reviewers and audiences (it now has an 87% critics’ score and a 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes).
Strong Girl Nam-soon (now streaming)
Regarding some of the other biggest and best Netflix releases coming up in the coming days, Korean content is one of Netflix’s biggest growth drivers — so much so that the company announced earlier this year that it planned to spend $2.5 billion in South Korea over the next four years to pay for everything from new K-dramas to Korean reality shows.
We’re seeing new byproducts of that dedication to the country every week. This weekend, for example, a new Korean comedy series will premiere: Strong Girl Nam-Soon, a 16-episode dramedy about a young lady with superhuman strength who returns to Korea to find her birth family. There, she becomes involved in a narcotics case, which puts her skills to the test.
If you enjoy Netflix’s ever-expanding slate of Korean programming, put Strong Girl Nam-Soon on your watch list, and also check out our entire guide to the greatest Korean titles on Netflix right now.
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Good Night World (Oct. 12)
In terms of Netflix anime releases, the streamer has had a busy few weeks, having just conducted its first DROP 01 genre animation showcase, which featured trailers, teases, and announcements for numerous new series. We also heard that animated series based on Devil May Cry and Tomb Raider are in the works, in addition to receiving sneak glimpses at upcoming titles like Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (which I cannot wait for).
Meanwhile, Netflix’s anime version of the hit manga Good Night World will premiere this week.
It is described as “a shut-in older brother.” A successful younger brother. A father who is despised by his children. A mother who ignores her own family. This is a fractured family, and none of its members are aware that they are all participants in an online game.”
More particular, the four wretched members of this dysfunctional household are unaware that they have built a happy family unit in an immersive VR game with each other.
Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (Oct. 11)
Last but not least, Netflix isn’t slowing down on the new documentary and docuseries front, with its next title due out on Oct. 11 and promising an in-depth look at e-cigarette producer Juul.
Based on Time magazine health correspondent Jamie Ducharme’s book Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul, Netflix’s Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul is a four-part series that tells the story of the vaping device that became a household name, the original parent company of which was once worth $28 billion. It had all the makings of a blazing business success story, until people realized Juul’s success was a cautionary one.
“In this docuseries,” according to Netflix, “a scrappy electronic cigarette startup becomes a multibillion-dollar company until an epidemic causes its success to go up in smoke.”
In February 2020, 39 US states stated that they were investing in the marketing and sale of Juul’s vaping products, with an emphasis on whether Juul specifically targeted young people in its operations and whether it made misleading representations concerning nicotine in its products.
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