The final week of October is shaping up to be a fantastic week for new streaming content across platforms.
The debuts of numerous new movies and shows (including premieres of returning seasons and streaming originals) are gonna make for a busy Halloweekened if you’re looking to stay in and ditch the parties.
Watch With Us’s picks this week include the premiere of a new Colin Farrell film called Ballad of a Small Player, the streaming debut of this summer’s Jurassic World Rebirth and the return of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in It: Welcome to Derry.
‘Ballad of a Small Player’ (2025)
Colin Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a high-stakes gambler currently lying low in Macau as he finds himself forced to outrun his fast-encroaching debts. He spends his time drinking heavily and gambling away what little of his money remains, until he is offered a way out by a mysterious casino employee named Dao Ming (Fala Chen). Meanwhile, he’s got a private investigator (Tilda Swinton) after him to ensure his past does catch up to him.
Farrell is booked and busy at the moment, with not one but two films out this year (including the recent bomb A Big Bold Beautiful Journey). However, Ballad of the Small Player is the one that’s the most on our radar. Critics have already praised the film for Farrell’s committed performance and the stunning visuals.
Stream Ballad of a Small Player on October 29 on Netflix.
‘Down Cemetery Road’ Season 1
This new British crime drama stars Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson as the pair investigates a scandal that has rocked their sleepy neighborhood. Private detective Zoë Boehm (Thompson) is hired by Sarah Tucker (Wilson) to uncover the mystery of a house explosion and the immediate disappearance of a little girl. As the two dig deeper into the incident, a complex government conspiracy emerges and chaos ensues in South Oxford.
Marking a rare television turn for Ms. Thompson, Down Cemetery Road sees the actress in fine form in this sharp, intriguing mystery-thriller that blends black humor with anxiety-inducing slow-burn suspense. The series is the second book-to-TV adaptation for Mick Herron, whose novel Slow Horses was also adapted as a series for Apple TV.
Stream Down Cemetery Road on October 29 on Apple TV.
‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ (2025)
Ten years after the Jurassic World disaster of 2015, Earth’s climate has proved too inhospitable for the remaining dinosaurs, and only a small handful exist within equatorial regions that are strictly forbidden to humans. Of course, that’s exactly where a group of them needs to get to retrieve life-saving genetic material from three specific dinosaurs, and it’s in the ruins of an old park facility that they make a terrifying discovery.
The fourth film in the Jurassic World franchise (and seventh film in the originating, overarching Jurassic Park series) stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey and Rupert Friend as the team of operatives descending on the dino-zone and risking their lives. While still not as quality as Steven Spielberg’s first film, Jurassic World Rebirth has plenty of dinosaur fun to be had.
Stream Jurassic World Rebirth on October 30 on Peacock.
‘The Woman in the Yard’ (2025)
Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) becomes widowed and disabled after a horrific car accident that kills her husband, leaving her to care for her two children alone. At their rural farmhouse, Ramona begins experiencing visions of a woman dressed in black who delivers her a foreboding warning. As the spectral presence progressively gets closer and closer to the house, Ramona does everything she can to protect her children from it.
Critics praised The Woman in the Yard for its chilling visuals and spooky atmosphere, making it a perfect watch in the week leading up to Halloween. The film was also praised for its directorial style courtesy of Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) and a fantastic lead performance from Deadwyler.
Stream The Woman in the Yard on October 31 on Amazon Prime Video.
‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Season 1
After six years, Pennywise the Dancing Clown returns to haunt audiences everywhere, but this time on the small screen of HBO Max. It: Welcome to Derry takes viewers back to 1962, about twenty years predating the Losers’ Club of the previous two It films. A couple moves to Derry, Maine, when a young local boy named Matt mysteriously disappears, and his friends begin searching for him. As they do, strange and unsettling things begin to happen in their small town.
The series was developed by the original team behind It (2017) and It: Chapter 2 (2019) of Andy and Barbara Muschietti, and the first handful of episodes are directed by Muschietti himself. It: Welcome to Derry is off to a good start, opening the film with a gruesome set piece that plays to Muschietti’s directing and visual strengths from the It films. Plus, Bill Skärsgard returns to thrill us all as Pennywise. We can’t wait to see what else this show has in store.
Stream It: Welcome to Derry now on HBO Max.
