Max has a ton of great TV shows and movies. It’s why it’s currently the best streaming service out there. But to make room for new shows and movies it needs to get rid of some. And unfortunately, that means some really good movies are about to leave Max at the end of October.
In fitting fashion, a lot of the best movies leaving Max this month have some horror or thriller elements. But you'll also find classics like Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, a prestigious drama well worth watching. Here are the seven best movies that are leaving Max this month.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Not to be confused with the 2010 movie of the same name, the 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street is definitely in the horror movie Pantheon. Also in the horror movie Pantheon is its iconic villain Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), who probably ranks alongside Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees as one of the three most iconic horror villains of all time.
In the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, teens start seeing a mysterious disfigured man who turns their dreams into nightmares. After one teen dies, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) has a near-death brush with the villainous figure. She realizes then that she must stay awake if she wants to survive. You’ll have no trouble staying awake watching this movie though. If anything, you’ll have trouble falling asleep once you’ve seen it.
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Two movies into the best movies leaving Max and we already have two movies that will leave you unable to sleep ever again. In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a parasitic alien race looking to colonize Earth has arrived. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), a laboratory scientist at the San Francisco Health Department realizes that her partner has become cold and distant. Eventually, she and her colleague Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) start to figure out what is happening, but by then it might already be too late.
This 1978 adaptation of Jack Finney’s 1955 novel is actually the second attempt at an Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie. The 1956 film is actually considered quite good in its own right, but this remake is probably the more well-known of the two today. That’s in no small part due to an excellent cast that includes Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy in addition to Adams and Sutherland. Both versions are worth watching, but make sure to catch this one before it's gone from Max at the end of the month.
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The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods may be my favorite horror movie of all time. If it’s not, it’s certainly in my top three easily. While it starts out feeling like a fairly conventional horror movie, by the end it is anything but. Instead, you get a brilliant satire on the slasher genre and a twist that is one of my favorites in any movie.
The Cabin in the Woods stars Kristen Connolly as Dana Polk, Anna Hutchinson as Jules Louden, Chris Hemsworth as Curt Vaughan, Jesse Williams as Holden McCrea, and Fran Kranz as Marty Mikalski, who all go out for what they think will be a fun weekend in the woods away from college. Meanwhile, you have Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford as Gary and Steve, two technicians at an underground facility where things just aren’t right. As good as some of the college kids are — Williams in particular is excellent — it’s this pairing of Jenkins and Whitford who really shine. I definitely recommend you don’t skip this one before it’s gone at the end of the month.
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Raging Bull
To most people, Rocky is probably the greatest boxing movie of all time. But I bet you if you polled a room of 100 people, at least one would tell you it’s Raging Bull. Starring Robert De Niro as real-life boxer Jake LaMotta, the movie actually bears some similarities to Rocky in how the main character overcomes struggles to get to the top, but these are very different movies. While Rocky dabbles in having a mobster storyline, organized crime is central to the tale of Raging Bull.
The lead characters could also not be more different, aside from their Italian-American roots. While Stallone’s Rocky takes a more conventional “started from the bottom now we’re at the top” hero’s journey, often De Niro’s LaMotta is far from heroic — arguably villainous. But regardless of the morality of the character, De Niro’s portrayal of LaMotta is incredible, and earned De Niro his second Best Actor win. Don’t miss this acclaimed Scorsese movie before it’s gone from Max, possibly for good.
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No Way Out
Apparently, when one acclaimed Gene Hackman drama gets added to Max, another must leave to make room for it. That may not actually be an official rule, but it's certainly an interesting coincidence that as The French Connection gets added to Max this month, No Way Out is leaving.
Starring Kevin Costner as Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell and Hackman as Secretary of Defense David Brice, No Way Out is a brilliant political thriller. Fans of Jack Ryan will definitely want to watch this before it’s gone from Max, as well as fans of another Hackman political thriller — Enemy of the State. The story will have your attention from start to finish, and the twist ending is a true shocker.
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Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Okay, back to the horror movies, and we’re ending with two excellent comedic horror films. First up? Little Shop of Horrors. Based on the off-Broadway play based on the 1960 film, this 1986 comedy movie follows the tale of an unusual flower shop with an even more unusual plant. Starring Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, a florist at Mushnik’s flower shop and Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II, a villainous carnivorous plant that thirsts for blood, Little Shop of Horrors is loaded with comedic talent — the film also stars Steve Martin and features John Candy and Bill Murray.
There is one catch. Little Shop of Horrors is a musical. So if musicals are a no-go for you, then you’ll probably end up skipping this one. But I encourage you to give it a chance, if for nothing else than to see Steve Martin give Bill Murray “a long slow root canal.” Seriously though, Little Shop of Horrors is comedic gold and well worth the 94 minutes it takes to watch. Even if there is a lot of singing from plants and humans alike.
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Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice only came to Max at the beginning of the month but it seems that its appearance on Max was just a spooky season special. And it won’t come back even if you say “Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse.” Which is a shame because this ghoulish comedy is hilarious.
Starring Michael Keaton as the titular Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), this movie is loaded with acting talent. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play Adam and Barbara Maitland, a recently deceased couple forced to spend the next 125 years haunting their country home in Winter River, Connecticut. So when Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) and Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) suddenly move in and start changing everything, the Maitlands call on Betelgeuse to rid them of the Deetzes.
Watch on Max
Every movie leaving Max at the end of this month
- 13 Going on 30 (2004)
- 3 Godfathers (1948)
- 9 to 5 (1980)
- Alpha Dog (2006)
- Arthur (1981)
- Beetlejuice (1988)
- Belfast (2021)
- Blame It on Rio (1984)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
- Cadillac Man (1990)
- Calvary (2014)
- Cat People (1942)
- City by the Sea (2002)
- Clean and Sober (1998)
- Cloudy with a Chance Of Meatballs (2009)
- Come and Find Me (2016)
- Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
- Dark Blue (2003)
- Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
- Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
- Equals (2016)
- Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
- The Exorcist (1973)
- Extortion (2017)
- The Eye (2008)
- The Fly II (1989)
- The Fly (1958)
- Friday (1995)
- From Hell (2001)
- Garfield (2004)
- Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)
- The Getaway (1972)
- The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013)
- I am Wrath (2016)
- The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- It (2017)
- It: Chapter Two (2019)
- Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
- Knock Knock (2015)
- Leatherface (2017)
- Legion (2010)
- The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
- Line of Duty (2013)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
- The Long Riders (1980)
- Marked for Death (1990)
- Martin: The Reunion (2022)
- The Meg (2018)
- Mirrors (2008)
- Morris from America (2016)
- My Best Friend's Girl (2008)
- Mystic Pizza (1988)
- Neighbors (2014)
- Never Goin' Back (2018)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- No Way Out (1987)
- Ocean's Eight (2018)
- The Omega Man (1971)
- A Prayer Before Dawn (2018)
- Pump Up the Volume (1990)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- The Replacements (2000)
- Rock Dog (2017)
- Slice (2018)
- Sliding Doors (1998)
- Sorority Row (2009)
- This Is Elvis (1981)
- THX 1138 (1971)
- Time After Time (1979)
- The Time Machine (1960)
- Transcendence (2014)
- Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
- Whiteboyz (1999)
- Wild Wild West (1999)
- Windtalkers (2002)
- Wolf (2021)
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