Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Have fun.

NEW:

Catherine Called Birdy

Stream it on: Prime Video, October 7
Literary bona fides: based on Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (1994)

Trust Lena Dunham to adapt one of the classic millennial childhood texts, which won a Newbery Honor in 1995. A medieval comedy with a plucky heroine, it’s kind of wild it’s taken this long for someone to give it the big screen treatment, but from the looks of things, Dunham has done it justice.

Interview with the Vampire

Stream it on: AMC, October 2
Literary bona fides: based on Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (1976)

AMC’s Anne Rice franchise push begins with a bonkers-looking modern tv adaptation of the novelist’s most famous work. Can Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights) improve on the cult classic 1994 adaptation starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst? My heart says no, but my brain says obviously—especially since it’s looking like this version will be a lot more queer (just as Rice intended).

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

Stream it on: Netflix, October 5
Literary bona fides: based on “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” a novella by Stephen King published in If It Bleeds (2020)

Another day, another Stephen King adaptation, this one of a novella (a cool 88 pages) directed by John Lee Hancock. It’s set in the early days of iPhones, which is frightening enough without what happens after one is buried with a billionaire.

Luckiest Girl Alive

Stream it on: Netflix, October 7
Literary bona fides: based on Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (2015)

Knoll wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of her 2015 thriller, in which a woman who has carefully papered over her childhood traumas finds them clawing their way to the surface.

The Midnight Club

Stream it on: Netflix, October 7
Literary bona fides: based on The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike (1994)

A group of terminally ill teens assemble every night to tell each other scary stories, and promise that the first one who dies will make contact with the rest from the other side. Looks perfect for Spooky Season.

Let the Right One In

Stream it on: Showtime, October 9
Literary bona fides: based on Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (2004)

Here’s another series based on a classic vampire novel that has already been made into a very good film (and an acceptable American remake); in it, a young boy befriends a new next-door neighbor, who turns out to be a vampire turned at the tender age of 12. One of the most human vampire stories in the canon.

Shantaram

Stream it on: Apple TV+, October 14
Literary bona fides: based on Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (2003)

The novel—a redemption story based in part on the author’s life—is beloved for, among other things, its evocative depictions of 1980s Bombay and its underworld; a glossy high profile adaptation could be just the ticket.

The School for Good and Evil

Stream it on: Netflix, October 19
Literary bona fides: based on The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (2013)

Children being whisked away to a magical school that looks like a castle? Could be a replacement for your kids’ problematic fave, especially with Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, and Michelle Yeoh in the mix.

The Peripheral

Stream it on: Prime Video, October 21
Literary bona fides: based on The Peripheral by William Gibson (2014)

The latest project from Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Flynne Fisher, “a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow’s America.” The trailer looks very cool . . . even to those of us who’ve been hurt by Nolan and Joy before.

The Good Nurse

Stream it on: Netflix, October 26
Literary bona fides: based on The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber (2013)

Based on the true crime book—which Janet Maslin compared to In Cold Blood—about Charles Cullen, a night nurse who may have, over the course of a 16year spree, secretly been the most prolific serial killer in history. Chastain stars as Amy Loughren, another nurse who begins looking into Cullen’s behavior.

Confess, Fletch

Stream it on: Showtime, October 28
Literary bona fides: based on Confess, Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald (1976)

Jon Hamm steps into Chevy Chase’s 33-year-old shoes as your new Fletch in this adaptation of the second book in Mcdonald’s popular comedy/mystery series. Plus, you’ve got to be charmed by the Hamm/Slattery reunion.

THROWBACK:

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Stream it on: HBO Max, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry (1975)

The cast (Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow!), the vibes, the many, many awards . . . it’s an iconic, bittersweet ’80s banger.

The Color Purple (1985)

Stream it on: Netflix, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

Another iconic (and heartrending) ’80s movie that’s worth revisiting, corny Spielberg flourishes and all.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Stream it on: Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988)

Hey, I hear cannibalism is in again!

The Age Of Innocence (1993)

Stream it on: Hulu, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920)

I still kind of can’t believe that Martin Scorsese adapted Edith Wharton’s novel of manners, but he did. “It was the spirit of it—the spirit of the exquisite romantic pain,” he once explained to Roger Ebert. “The idea that the mere touching of a woman’s hand would suffice. The idea that seeing her across the room would keep him alive for another year.” Hell, it works.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Stream it on: Paramount+, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on I Know What You Did Last Summer by Louis Duncan (1973)

Yes, the ur-90s-teen-slasher-flick is based on a novel, though barely—in fact, Duncan hated the final product, for very good reasons. Still, a good, stupid watch for anyone feeling a little nostalgic for the three-named-heartthrob era.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Stream it on: Hulu, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Homer’s The Odyssey

Not a top tier Coen brothers movie, perhaps, but a pretty smooth way to spend some time.

Mean Girls (2004)

Stream it on: Paramount+, October 3
Literary bona fides: based on Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman (2002)

Why yes, Mean Girls is technically a literary adaptation. Now you can feel better about rewatching it this weekend—as if you felt bad at all.

For Colored Girls (2010)

Stream it on: Prime Video, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (1975)

The incredible cast—Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Thandiwe Newton, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, Macy Gray—doesn’t quite ease the rocky transition from iconic play to film here. But even if this movie isn’t more than the sum of its parts, a lot of those parts are pretty powerful.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Stream it on: Hulu, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (2005)

Rooney Mara is astoundingly good in David Fincher’s inky adaptation of Larsson’s posthumous bestseller—her performance alone is worth the price of admission.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Stream it on: HBO Max, Netflix, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (2007)

A wonderful, enjoyable, and very literary film, not least because of the way it, almost by magic, manages to translate all of the novel’s furious interiority. Definitely something to watch as the weather gets cold and you need a little infusion of (sad, aching) sunlight.

All My Puny Sorrows (2021)

Stream it on: Hulu, October 1
Literary bona fides: based on All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews (2014)

Alison Pill is exceptional in this muted adaptation of Toews semi-autobiographical novel about two sisters, one of whom is intent on killing herself. It’s not a romp, but then, it shouldn’t be.