+34
Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video and others bring new shows and films to Australia in October, led by a seven-part East of Eden series, killer garden gnomes, a Ben Affleck kidnapping thriller and a new Marvel show.
Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video and other services are bringing a packed slate of TV shows and movies to Australia in October. Highlights include a glitzy East of Eden adaptation, killer garden gnomes, yet another Marvel show and one of cinema's wildest rides.
East of Eden and New Film Highlights
East of Eden is a TV series from the US, arriving in 2026 and out now. John Steinbeck's long and sprawling novel has been brought to the screen before, with James Dean starring in a classic 1955 film directed by the legendary Elia Kazan. Kazan's granddaughter, Zoe Kazan, created and wrote Netflix's new seven-part series. The adaptation has a more accommodating run time and puts the famously complex character of Cathy Ames, played by Florence Pugh, at its centre.
Set in California's Salinas Valley, this multigenerational narrative weaves together the stories of the Trask family and explores tangled bonds between parents and children, essentially reworking the story of Cain and Abel. A new film from the US arrives on 8 October in 2026. Directed and co-written by Ben Affleck, it stars Affleck as Mark Kimball, a politician running for mayor of LA whose life is thrown into turmoil when his son is kidnapped.
The supporting cast includes Gillian Anderson as a mysterious fixer who delivers awfully important-sounding dialogue such as, Power creates leverage, and leverage dictates outcomes. Affleck has described the film as being essentially about marriage: What it means to attach yourself to someone, the bargains and exchanges. Adam Elliot's latest work is an Australian film from 2024, out on 15 October.
Few artists have a signature aesthetic as distinctive and recognisable as Elliot, the great claymation auteur whose second feature, following Mary and Max, is a sublimely humane, albeit at times breathtakingly sad, work. The story follows Grace, voiced by Charlotte Belsey and Sarah Snook, an orphaned girl from the suburbs who is separated from her twin brother and grows into a lonely, snail-obsessed woman, her life marked by a series of hardships.
Garden Gnomes, Butterflies and October Releases
Among the honourable mentions, The Silence of the Lambs is a film out now, while Schumacher '94 - The Birth of a Legend is a film arriving on 2 October. Ice Age is a film out on 4 October, Below is a TV show out on 8 October, and How to Train Your Dragon is a film arriving on 11 October.
It 1 and 2 are films out on 15 October, The Addams Family is a film out on 23 October, and Lupin: Part 4 is a TV show out on 23 October. Annabelle and The Conjuring are films out on 28 October. A new Australian TV series arrives on 8 October in 2026. Are you like me and sometimes walk past a garden gnome, wondering whether it might've moved?
They certainly get up and about in this comedy-horror series set in a small, quiet town, disrupted by an ancient evil force that, no doubt for very scientific and logical reasons, results in a horde of evil garden gnomes attacking. Poor old Luke McGregor gets minced in the trailer, and presumably he'll be far from the only victim of a Gnome-apocalypse.
Written by comedian Tegan Higginbotham and broadcaster Paul F Verhoeven, the tone has been pitched as Gremlins meets Hot Fuzz. The Butterfly Effect is a film from the US, released in 2004, out on 6 October. Some scenes from this immensely bold and audacious sci-fi film have never left my head after I first saw it in the cinema a couple of decades ago. I revisited it two years ago.
Ashton Kutcher stars as a man who uses his personal journals to traverse the temporal continuum. No, there's no logic to this, but boy do you feel it, each of his attempts to correct a traumatic event producing another, often more terrible consequence, the script taking a tremendously grim perspective on chaos theory. Other honourable mentions include Seinfeld seasons 1-9, a TV show out now, and Looking for Alibrandi, a film out now.
Kill Jackie is a TV show out on 2 October, My Girl is a film out on 2 October, and The Order is a film out on 3 October. Seven is a film out on 12 October, A Quiet Place Part II is a film out on 15 October, The Town is a film out on 17 October, and The Wild Robot is a film out on 18 October.
70 Up and More Cult Favourites
Elysium is a film out on 20 October, Zodiac is a film out on 24 October, Hostel 1 and 2 are films out on 27 October, Blue Lights season 3 is a TV show out on 28 October, and The Watchers is a film out on 30 October. 70 Up is a TV series from the UK arriving in 2026, out on 3 October. Official synopses for movies and TV shows are filled with self-aggrandising scuttlebutt, but it's absolutely true that the 7 Up series constitutes unique, groundbreaking television.
Kicking off in 1964, when its subjects were children, the series has checked back in on their lives every seven years, and now launches its final instalment. It describes 70 Up as having a more reflective and elegiac tone than in previous years, as well as an additional, meta-ish layer, with the subjects commenting on the series and the approach undertaken by film-maker Michael Apted, who was its key creative force.
The Holy Mountain is a film from Mexico, released in 1973, out on 15 October. If you've never taken LSD and are curious about what a bad trip feels like, you can procure something broadly comparable by watching Chilean French film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky's notorious cult classic, stuffed to the gills with moments that defy description.
Dead End Drive-In and Australian Cult Cinema
Surreal, deranged and steeped in creepy religious imagery, the film features Jodorowsky himself as a black-clad spiritual guru who leads a group on a pilgrimage to the titular location. Its reputation for being one of cinema's wildest rides is well deserved; you don't bat an eyelid when you hear lines like Rub your clitoris against the mountain! Dead End Drive-In is an Australian film from 1986, out on 14 October. Dead End Drive-In, how I love thee.
Brian Trenchard-Smith's Ozploitation classic has a great and truly strange premise, set in a dystopian world where a drive-in cinema has become a kind of concentration camp, as well as a microcosm of society, with its own economy and political factions. A young fitness enthusiast, Jimmy (Ned Manning), finds himself stranded there with his girlfriend Carmen (Natalie McCurry) and is determined to bust out, culminating in a triumphantly explosive ending.
Other titles available now include The Lowdown, a TV show, plus Drag Me to Hell, Kill Bill 1 & 2, Late Night with the Devil, Talk to Me and Every Little Thing, all films. Arriving on 9 October are Jackie Brown, Razorback, The Grudge 1 & 2 and The Toxic Avenger.
East Of Eden Netflix Series Killer Garden Gnomes Series Ben Affleck Kidnapping Thriller 70 Up Final Instalment
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Asparagus peaks and pineapple picks up: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for OctoberIt’s a great month for vegetables, with snow peas coming in and whole heads of cauliflower and cabbage at low prices – but watermelons are looking worse for wear
Read more »
Victoria braces for up to 150mm rain as storms target south-east AustraliaParts of Victoria could receive up to 150mm of rain, equivalent to three months worth, as thunderstorms and damaging winds hit the south-east, while Sydney and Canberra face storms on Saturday before clearing for the NRL grand final.
Read more »
Card Surcharge Ban Begins October 1 Across AustraliaFrom October 1, Australian merchants can no longer add surcharges to card payments after the Reserve Bank changed rules, but some businesses may still apply them as they adjust.
Read more »
Royal Commission into AI launched in South Australia | SBS News in Easy English 1 October 2026A five minute bulletin for English language learners
Read more »