Goosebumps — There is no question that Netflix has a horror problem. Despite a seemingly fine collection of genre films to choose from, the streaming service has been steadily losing its more frightening fare for months now. In their lead-up to Halloween, where most services stockpile as many spine-tinglers as possible, Netflix instead shed them at a rather alarming rate.
Of the few choice entries they have left, they’ve losing another one. Goosebumps, inspired by the iconic works of R.L. Stein and an exceedingly rare family-friendly horror movie, will be leaving Netflix in a matter of days. I guess if they can’t keep horror movies for the genre’s main event in October, there’s even less incentive to do so in November.
How I Met Your Mother, Seasons 1-9 — Even more than its movie selection, Netflix’s library of TV series is one of the main draws to the streaming service. From original content — like Stranger Things, House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black and The Punisher — to long-running Network series, they have played host to a massive swath of must-see TV over the years.
Now they lose one of the cornerstones of that otherwise impeccable lineup. Nine full seasons of one of TV’s best — not to mention funniest — series are being pulled from Netflix in November. And while it’s hardly enough time for the non-indoctrinated to burn through almost a decade worth of content, there is time enough for fans of the series to revisit a highlight reel of the series’ greatest hits.
The Matrix — Although it is leaving Netflix (again), fans of the Wachowskis’ seminal sci-fi film will doubtless not have to wait long for it to return. Like Jurassic Park and other genre mainstays, they seem to regularly pop up and fall off the streaming service. So if you missed out on it this time around, there’s always next month.
Although far from the quality of the original film, it warrants mentioning the its two sequels, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Reloaded are also quietly exiting this month. Neither of these stands even close to the near-perfect franchise debut, but they are fun, disposable and surprisingly inventive action films in their own right that don’t seem to get the due that they are owed for that. It’s nothing to write home about, of course, but between the Shadowcat-like programs fighting Neo on a crowded highway to the epic finale at the gates of Zion, there’s enough here to at least warrant a rainy day rewatch.
Sky High — Depending on who you ask, superheroes are pretty played out. Sure, Thor: Ragnarok is the best-reviewed superhero movie of all time, but movies like Justice League have pretty much everybody exasperated with DC’s shocking inability to make good movies on purpose anymore.
If that is the case for you, then perhaps it’s time to revisit some of the genre’s forgotten gems: movies that aren’t based on previously published comic books, that aren’t a part of some convoluted shared universe and don’t tie-in to a larger movie franchise. Sky High is easily the best of these: a Disney-produced superhero satire that plays out like a high-end Disney Channel Original movie and is a lot smarter than anybody ever seems to give it credit for. And with an acting lineup that includes the likes of Kurt Russell and Bruce Campbell, even genre burnouts will find something to have fun with.
V for Vendetta — Warner Bros has been getting a lot of slack lately for their on-again / off-again interest in distancing the DCEU from the shared universe model. After failing to get their ambitious mega-franchise off of the ground, they’ve instead promised to focus on non-canon DC movies: ones that don’t necessarily fit into nor follow the continuity of their mainline of movies.
While the backlash for that has been understandably severe, looking back into the movie catalog, that model has worked well for them in the past. Movies like Watchmen, stand-alone franchises like Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy and out of left field surprises like V for Vendetta all worked precisely because they weren’t concerned with what the others were doing. And while it may all seem perfectly antiquated as a business model in post-Avengers Hollywood, if it means more great movies like this one, it could conceivably work for them.
