The Best Streaming Releases You Didn't Watch In October 2024

(Welcome to Under the Radar, a column where we spotlight specific movies, shows, trends, performances, or scenes that caught our eye and deserved more attention ... but otherwise flew under the radar. In this edition: Netflix's "The Diplomat" season 2, the Sam Raimi-produced thriller "Don't Move," and the genre-bending "It's What's Inside.")

Oops, all Netflix! Nobody would dispute that the mega-streaming platform easily leads the pack in terms of total subscribers, brand awareness, and catchy slogans. (Don't tell me that Prime Video and Disney+ haven't been trying to chase the coattails of "Netflix and chill" ever since they first debuted.) Netflix has also thoroughly disrupted the film industry and its conventional reliance on theaters worldwide, taking smash-hit franchises like the "Knives Out" movies and snatching them right out from under Lionsgate's nose ... though it might have met its match with Greta Gerwig insisting on a theatrical release for "The Chronicles of Narnia." It's even made inroads on awards season, convincing many of our greatest living directors to take their talents to the streaming space in a bid to claim the Academy Awards' top prizes for itself.

By all accounts, Netflix ought to be poised and ready to take over filmmaking as we know it — too bad it hardly bothers to market its own originals and high-profile acquisitions with any sense of consistency. We've beat this drum many times before and, yeah, we're going to do it again. It's not for lack of means or opportunity on the streamer's part, especially since its all-knowing algorithm tends to reward whichever titles stand the best chance of vacuuming up those fuzzy-sounding viewership metrics and cracking that semi-reliable top 10 website. So, in a quirk of scheduling, this month's edition of "Under the Radar" happens to focus on three Netflix titles that might've ended up lost in the streaming current.

Forget inflation — the biggest issue facing the general populace these days has to be the dearth of gimmicky thrillers that make full use of their high-concept premises. Thank goodness the spirit of Sam Raimi remains alive and well in our current generation of filmmakers, courtesy of a horror flick produced by, well, Sam Raimi. "Don't Move" has made waves in critical circles and it's hardly a surprise why. As a staunch supporter of movies that come in at a brisk 90 minutes or so and never once overstay their welcome, I can't recommend this enough as the movie night pick most deserving of your time. Directed by Brian Netto and Adam Schindler, their newest flick stars "Yellowstone" alum Kelsey Asbille as Iris, a mother still grieving the death of her young child from a tragic accident. When she comes face to face with a charming and seemingly empathetic man who reveals himself to be a serial killer (Finn Wittrock), she's injected with a paralytic agent that starts a ticking clock that largely plays out in real time. Her only chance of escape? Battle both her captor and time itself before her body shuts down completely.

The deceptively clever script by T.J. Cimfel and David White soon becomes an exercise in stress management, progressively throwing tougher and tougher obstacles in Iris' path in a plot that plays out not too dissimilarly from "Strange Darling." Rather than opting for a nonchronological timeline and a dark exploration of BDSM and kink, however, "Don't Move" remains in relatively more straightforward waters in terms of subject matter — though that's not to say this movie pulls its punches. Driven entirely by two committed performances, relentless pacing, and a (literally) killer premise, this thriller is a breath of fresh air.

"Don't Move" is currently streaming on Netflix.

For all the handwringing about the state of moviemaking these days and the slow yet steady exit of our honored old guard (like Clint Eastwood, whose latest and possibly final film "Juror #2" has been unceremoniously buried by Warner Bros.), maybe the kids really are alright. Writer/director Greg Jardin is hardly a "kid," but his Gen Z-flavored "It's What's Inside" sure feels like the injection of energy, creativity, and ambition that we need these days ... even if the film went straight to streaming rather than the theatrical run a twisted crowd-pleaser like this truly deserves. The genre-bending mashup movie focuses on a group of old college buddies who reunite for a party on the eve of one of their friends' wedding. As with any friends group, these characters are made up of a tangled web of insecurities, jealousies, and complicated past histories — all of which have been further exacerbated by our social media-obsessed lives. When an unexpected familiar face (David Thompson) from the past then reappears with a party trick that turns this story into a literal body-swap narrative, viewers are treated to an anxiety-inducing and hilarious rollercoaster ride into just what it takes to feel comfortable in our own skin.

Everyone gets their time to shine in "It's What's Inside," from the sprawling ensemble cast (of which everyone gets a chance to flex their acting muscles and effortlessly portray, well, everybody else in the cast without missing a single beat) to the candy-colored production design to the snappy, maximalist editing. But it's Brittany O'Grady as the insecure Shelby and James Morosini as her terminally obnoxious boyfriend Cyrus, the key dynamic upon which the rest of the movie unfolds, that keeps this runaway train on the tracks at all times. Take "Bodies Bodies Bodies" and add a dash of the sci-fi hijinks of "Coherence," and you'll come somewhere close to the identity crisis at the heart of "It's What's Inside."

"It's What's Inside" is now streaming on Netflix.

Great news, my fellow "The Americans" stans: Keri Russell is starring in another political thriller as an operative of the state making her way through the world of espionage and scheming. While nothing could ever reach the heights of the original FX series that remains one of the very best of the 2010s, "The Diplomat" certainly feels cut from the same cloth — and not just because it's another spy show that doubles as a sneaky relationship drama. Rather than a husband and wife team of Russian agents on American soil during the height of the Cold War, this Netflix series follows Russell's Kate Wyler and her estranged beau Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), her far more accomplished counterpart who ends up in the role reversal of a lifetime when the American government comes knocking on Kate's door and earmarks her as a potential candidate for the second most powerful position in the world: the Vice Presidency of the United States.

Far from a simple redux of "The Americans," however, "The Diplomat" charts its own course from the faraway halls of British Parliament through the corridors of the White House itself. Created by "The West Wing" and "Homeland" veteran Debora Cahn, season 1 kicked off with a terrorist attack on a UK warship, setting in motion a chain of events that brought Kate and her allies (an excellent supporting cast made up of David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, Ato Essandoh, and Michael McKean) to the very doorstep of war with the Russians. But the twists just keep coming in season 2, challenging viewers to stay one step ahead of the breakneck plot and its many, many complications. As smart, sexy, and foul-mouthed as anything viewers could hope for (Russell curses up a storm like she was born to do it), "The Diplomat" is the binge-watch you've been waiting for.

"The Diplomat" season 2 is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.