October just became the month to fake sick and tell your friends you’re “super busy.” Netflix dropped two shows that are actually – and I don’t say this lightly – worth the hype. And honestly? I wasn’t expecting either of them to land this well.

Below Is Horror That Actually Has Something to Say

Look, I’m tired of jump-scare garbage that thinks loud noises equal terror. We’ve all sat through enough of those forgettable Netflix horror things that feel like they were assembled in a lab. But Below, starring Josh Hartnett (yes, that Josh Hartnett, and he’s great), is doing something different here. And if you're wondering why some horror translates so well to live-action while other stuff falls flat, it turns out Junji Ito's horror works better on screen than it ever did in anime.

The show’s got a menacing monster and plenty of moments that’ll make you jolt – don’t get me wrong, it delivers on the spooky season vibes just in time for Halloween. But what makes it actually stick is that it’s wrestling with real stuff: generational trauma, indigenous displacement, corporate greed swallowing up communities. It’s the kind of horror that sits with you after because it’s not just about what’s lurking in the dark. It’s about what we’ve already done to each other in broad daylight.

It’s Well-Made, Which Shouldn’t Be Rare But Is

The production quality here is noticeable. Like, someone actually cared about lighting and pacing and building dread instead of just throwing CGI at the screen and hoping we’d be too distracted to notice the script is thin. Hartnett brings this weathered intensity that works perfectly for a story about people carrying wounds they didn’t ask for. I’ve seen this guy in enough mediocre projects over the years – it’s kind of nice to watch him in something that actually uses him well.

Then There’s East of Eden, Which Might Wreck You

And then – because apparently Netflix decided to just go for it this month – we’ve got Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of East of Eden. Steinbeck adaptations are tricky. The book won awards for a reason, and turning that kind of sprawling, emotionally dense novel into something that works on screen is… well, most people fail at it. Speaking of literary adaptations that could've gone sideways, Alexander Skarsgård's twisted fairytale everyone's watching proves that weird source material can absolutely work when someone takes it seriously.

Kazan didn’t fail. The show’s got Florence Pugh, Mike Faist, and Christopher Abbott, and they’re all doing career-level work here. It’s emotionally rich in a way that feels earned, not manufactured. You know those shows that try really hard to make you cry and you can feel the manipulation? This isn’t that. This is just good storytelling about family dysfunction and moral struggle and people trying to figure out how to be decent in a world that doesn’t always reward decency.

“October isn’t usually a month that sees a lot of high-profile shows debut, but Netflix clearly had other plans.”

Why This Month Actually Matters

Here’s the thing – streaming services have been throwing so much content at us for so long that most of it just blurs together. How many times have you scrolled through Netflix for 20 minutes, given up, and rewatched The Office again? (No judgment, I’ve been there.)

But every once in a while, something breaks through. Two things breaking through in the same month? That’s rare. And both of them being genuinely well-crafted instead of just algorithmically optimized for maximum binge-ability? Even rarer.

Netflix has also apparently dropped new seasons of Party Down, The Gentlemen, and My Life With the Walter Boys this month, plus some other stuff including a Lizzie Borden series called Monster. I haven’t watched all of those yet (because, you know, there are only so many hours in a day and I do technically have a job), but the fact that they buried these two legitimately great shows in a pile of other releases is very on-brand for streaming services right now.

What You Should Actually Watch

If you’re into horror that respects your intelligence, start with Below. If you want something that’ll make you feel things and think about human nature and family dynamics – and you don’t mind sitting with some heavy emotional weight – East of Eden is right there waiting for you.

Both are worth canceling plans for. And I mean that literally – I’ve already told two friends I can’t make dinner this weekend because I’m “dealing with something.” That something is my couch and these shows. No regrets.