Top Best Movies To Stream This October On Showmax; Pride Month Picks From Young, Gifted & Queer To A Nice Indian Boy
Pride Month pick A Nice Indian Boy & The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
PICK OF THE WEEK (1-5 OCTOBER)
A NICE INDIAN BOY
Stream from Thursday, 2 October on Showmax | Romcom movie
When Naveen brings his fiancé Jay home to meet his traditional Indian family, they must contend with accepting his white-orphan-artist boyfriend and helping them plan the Indian wedding of their dreams.
A Nice Indian Boy stars Karan Soni (Dopinder in the Deadpool movies) and Emmy nominee Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Mindhunter, the voice of Kristoff in Frozen), supported by the likes of Sunita Mani (GLOW, Mr. Robot) and comedian Zarna Garg.
Executive produced by Mindy Kaling (The Sex Lives of College Girls, Never Have I Ever), A Nice Indian Boy is Metacritic's best reviewed romcom of 2025, and seventh-best-reviewed movie from the first half of the year. Collider calls it, “One of the funniest, most heartfelt romcoms in years.”
Watch the trailer, which has over 8m views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
SPECIAL MENTION
YOUNG, GIFTED & QUEER
Stream from Thursday, 9 October on Showmax | Documentary feature
“As Black and queer people, we have this gift of just being cool, of knowing what’s hot, of knowing what’s gonna pop, and we’ve always done this,” says kwaai diva Umlilo in the trailer for Young, Gifted & Queer.
Umlilo is one of three trailblazers featured in the documentary, alongside Andiswa Dlamini, founder of Other Village People, and rapper S’bo Gyre. Also look out for queer icons like Dr Bev Ditsie, LeloWhatsGood, Keval Harie, Sibs Matiyela and Lulu Obida.
Described as “a powerful and unapologetic documentary celebrating Black queer voices at the forefront of Mzansi’s cultural revolution” by Joburg Film Festival, Young, Gifted & Queer is the second documentary from Renaldo Schwarp, who was also behind the award-winning Skeef.
Young, Gifted & Queer was up for the 2025 Inclusive Lens Award for Representation of LGBTQIA+: Non-Scripted Films. “Young, Gifted & Queer is recognised for its authentic and unapologetic portrayal of Black queer artists in South Africa,” said that citation. “By centring real voices over performative allyship, the film highlights resilience, creativity, and cultural impact – offering a bold, honest narrative that advances meaningful representation and visibility for the LGBTQ+ community in African media.”
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ALSO ON:
Wednesday, 1 October
Crawl, The Best Man Holiday, The Croods
Thursday, 2 October
Bean
Friday, 3 October
No Country for Old Men, No Hiding Here
Sunday, 5 October:
Sneaks
PICK OF THE WEEK (6-12 OCTOBER)
JERROD CARMICHAEL: DON’T BE GAY
First on Showmax | Stream from Thursday, 9 October | Stand-up comedy special
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael returns to the stage for his fourth HBO stand-up special, Don’t Be Gay, three years after he came out publicly in the Emmy-winning special Rothaniel.
“We’ve worked with Jerrod since his first special in 2014, and it’s truly been inspiring to see him grow and push boundaries at every turn,” says Nina Rosenstein, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, Late Night and Specials. “His last special, Rothaniel, was raw, intimate, and sparked a conversation about what a comedy special could be. He pushed that even further with Reality Series, a groundbreaking blend of verité and performance in which he delivered some of his most emotionally honest work yet. This new special continues to build on that impact with the same vulnerability and sharp wit that makes Jerrod’s voice so singular.”
Variety hails the “laugh-out loud” special from the “master storyteller” as “witty, brash, guttingly honest and slightly heartbreaking.”
Watch the trailer:
https://youtu.be/avium86YbP8
ALSO ON:
Monday, 6 October:
Alarum
Tuesday, 7 October:
Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Jack Reacher: Shadow Recruit
Thursday, 9 October:
Bagman
Friday, 10 October:
Mayfair, New Material, Shutter Island, World War
PICK OF THE WEEK (13-19 OCTOBER)
BLACK BAG
Stream from Monday, 13 October on Showmax | Spy movie
Metacritic’s eighth best-reviewed film from the first half of 2025, Black Bag is a gripping spy drama from Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh.
Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender and two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett co-star as legendary intelligence agents George Woodhouse and his beloved wife, Kathryn. When Kathryn is suspected of betraying the nation, George faces the ultimate test: loyalty to his marriage or his country.
Also look out for 2025 BAFTA winner Marisa Abel (Industry), Oscar nominee Naomie Harris (No Time To Die), Emmy nominee Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton), Gustav Skarsgård (Floki in Vikings), and Pierce Brosnan (James Bond in The World Is Not Enough).
Black Bag has a 96% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with ScreenDaily praising it as “highly entertaining from start to finish.”
Watch the trailer, which has over 14m views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
SPECIAL MENTIONS:
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
Stream from Sunday, 12 October on Showmax | Animated feature
Set 183 years before the events of the original films, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim follows the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and vengeful lord, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.
Executive produced by Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, The War of the Rohirrim is directed by award-winning filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series). The animated epic’s voice cast is led by Emmy winner Brian Cox (Succession) as Helm Hammerhand and Miranda Otto as the narrator, reprising her award-winning role from the original trilogy as Éowyn.
Also listen out for Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (aka Pippin and Merry in original films) voicing the orcs Shank and Wrot, as well as Nigerian actor Jude Akuwudike (The Little Mermaid, Beasts of No Nation) as Lord Thorne.
Watch the trailer, which has over 23 million views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
NO ACCIDENT
Stream from Thursday, 16 October on Showmax | Documentary feature
No Accident chronicles the civil rights trial against organisers of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, USA, in 2017.
In real time and with intimate, behind-the-scenes access to the lawyers, their dedicated team and six of the brave plaintiffs, the HBO documentary chronicles the shocking turns over three years in this seminal trial, a legal battle between everyday citizens and white supremacists.
The documentary feature has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a 2024 News & Documentary Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. As Decider says, “This is a trial that is so much more than just a legal proceeding. No Accident documents nothing less than an early salvo in the war over information.”
Watch the trailer:
THE INSURRECTIONIST NEXT DOOR
Stream from Thursday, 16 October on Showmax | Documentary feature
In The Insurrectionist Next Door, multiple Emmy nominee Alexandra Pelosi turns her camera on some of the people who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Pelosi was inside the U.S. Capitol that day, witnessing the events first-hand. Through a series of candid interviews conducted over two years, she talks to several individuals charged with crimes for their participation, in the hopes of having open and unfiltered conversations about what brought them to Washington, D.C., from across the country. She also explores how their views may or may not have shifted since.
The HBO documentary feature has an 83% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the New York Times calling it “compulsively watchable”, and saying Pelosi’s “brisk emotional portraits of Americans are disarming, unpredictable, funny, sad, and, yes, at times enraging.”
Watch the trailer:
ALSO ON:
Tuesday, 14 October
10 Cloverfield Lane, Cloverfield
Thursday, 16 October
The Inspector Wears Skirts, The Radleys, Young Heroes of Chaotic Time
Friday, 17 October
Broken Promises 4 Ever, Kandasamys: The Wedding
PICK OF THE WEEK (20-26 OCTOBER)
FINDING OPTEL
Showmax Original | Stream from Friday, 24 October | Family movie
Teenager Claire Abrahams runs a lost and found service where she locates anything and everything that has been misplaced. When Optel, the community dog, goes missing, Claire must confront her brother’s painful disappearance in order to solve her biggest case yet.
Finding Optel will have its international premiere at The BFI London Film Festival on 18 October. The festival describes the family film as “heartwarming … a quirky detective story that skilfully tackles childhood grief.”
Directed by siblings Jesse and Mikayla Joy Brown, Finding Optel had its South African premiere at the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival in August, where the whimsical detective story received a standing ovation, a nomination for Paul Guyeu’s cinematography, and the Best Production Design award for Sumaya Wicomb.
Mikayla Joy stars as Claire, supported by an all-star cast that includes award winner Oscar Petersen (Joe Barber) as her father, SAFTA nominee Zenobia Kloppers (Fiela se Kind), Rodney “Rotas” Goliath and Sherman Pharo (both Arendsvlei), Maurice Carpede and Euodia Samson (both Summertide), Elton Landrew (Spinners, Carissa), and Omar Adams (Barakat, The Umbrella Men).
Award winners Quanita Adams and Dominique Jossie are producing through Blended Films, which won four Silwerskerm awards last year for Hier.Na.
Watch the trailer:
https://youtu.be/qqsRB5ap4OY
SPECIAL MENTIONS
CADDO LAKE
Stream from Thursday, 23 October on Showmax | Thriller movie
When an eight-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes, a series of past deaths and disappearances start to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history.
Produced by Oscar nominee M Night Shyamalan, the paranormal thriller stars multi-award-winner Eliza Scanlen (Old, Sharp Objects, Little Women) and Teen Choice winner Dylan O’Brien (Love and Monsters, The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf), whose performance in Caddo Lake earned him a nomination at the 2025 Gotham TV Awards. Emmy nominee Lauren Ambrose (Yellowjackets, Servant, Six Feet Under) and Critics' Choice nominee Eric Lange (Thunderbolts, Antebellum) co-star.
Forbes says: “Caddo Lake is an excellent genre-bender where its direction is almost impossible to predict. And once it reveals its true nature, it only gets more interesting from there.”
Watch the trailer, which has nearly two million views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
ALSO ON:
Monday, 20 October
Black Cat, Dragon Squad, Old Guy
Thursday, 23 October
AKA Mr. Chow, The Ones
Friday, 24 October
Baywatch, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, Witchboard
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX THIS OCTOBER
See everything coming to Showmax here:
https://stories.showmax.com/
October series highlights include:
• The Office spinoff The Paper
• IT: Welcome to Derry, just in time for Halloween
• Smash hit serial killer sequel Dexter: Resurrection
• Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in Guy Ritchie series MobLand
• Medical mockumentary St. Denis Medical, fresh from two Critics' Choice nominations
• New seasons of The Real Housewives of Potomac and Salt Lake City