9 Best Movies to Watch on The Criterion Channel Right Now (October 2025)

In December of 2005, teenager Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) passed away, igniting a series of strange, supernatural events that began to plague her family — mom June (Rosie Traynor), dad Russell (David Pladger) and brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe). As the grieving family tries to understand what’s happening to them, they discover the second life their daughter had. Alice believed something bad was going to happen to her, and her family tries to figure out what.

Lake Mungo is an Australian mockumentary film, and the only film ever made by director Joel Anderson. The film combines interviews with the family, including archival documents such as news footage, home video and photos. Often hailed as one of the best found footage horror films ever, you will be shocked at how fast Lake Mungo gets under your skin. With realistic interviews, chilling footage and a creeping sense of dread, by the time the film climaxes, you won’t even see it coming — and you’ll be scared out of your mind.

A late-night television host named Angela (Manuela Velasco) is on the scene with her cameraman to document an emergency call to a local apartment building. But while the firefighters are there when they arrive, there is no fire — only an elderly woman, seemingly infected by a horrific virus that’s given her superhuman strength. As the night drags on, more residents become infected and the building is placed under quarantine. But will anyone make it out alive by morning?

While the American remake, Quarantine, was not nearly as well-received as its Spanish forebear, Rec is a masterwork of found footage filmmaking and handily one of the best horror films of the 2000s. With horrific imagery intensified by the shaky cam and darkened surroundings, you never know what’s going to pop up next. Not only are the jump scares effective, but Rec maintains a constant sense of fear and unease, and the mockumentary style gives the film a terrifying realism.

This iconic political drama is based on the real-life Watergate scandal that brought down then-President Richard Nixon, led by whistleblowing journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Portrayed by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, respectively, the engrossing film stands out as one of the defining works of Redford’s late career.

While working at the Washington Post, rival reporters Woodward and Bernstein begin researching the failed burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in 1972. Soon, with the help of a mysterious source, the duo discovers a direct connection between the incident and the White House, and exposing it may put their lives in danger.

Starring French actress Isabelle Adjani (The Perfect Couple) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Possession is an English-language film helmed by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski. A twisty, disorienting horror drama, the film was notorious upon its release for being dubbed a “video nasty” in England. It was subsequently banned in the U.K., while being heavily edited to 81 minutes for its American release, losing a full third of its runtime.

A contorted look at a deteriorating relationship between an international spy (Neill) and his wife (Adjani), the latter of whom asks her husband for a divorce. In the aftermath, the wife begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior, as both partners slowly seem to lose their sanity. The film is a maddeningly unhinged work of psychological and fantastical terror, as well as a dynamite acting showcase for both Neill and Adjani.

The Exorcist director William Friedkin took a stab at the 1950 French novel by Georges Arnaud, “Le Salaire de la peur.” It tells the story of four outcasted men who all find themselves forced to live in a small Central American village. Hard up for cash, they accept a mission to drive two trucks full of old dynamite that are leaking the deadly ingredient nitroglycerin and are liable to explode at any moment.

Starring Roy Scheider (Jaws), Sorcerer was a box office bomb upon release but has received significant reappraisal in the decades since, becoming an underrated classic. It’s a stylistic, tense, nail-biting thriller partnered with a gorgeous score by Tangerine Dream. In an iconic bridge sequence, you won’t be able to look away.

This infamous religious horror-drama was heavily censored upon release due to its graphic content that was intertwined with religion, and the film had actually received an X rating in both the United States and the United Kingdom. British director Ken Russell’s The Devils is frequently referred to as one of the most controversial films of all time.

The plot surrounds a convent in 17th-century France, whose nuns become fixated on the handsome Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) — most zealously so for one particular nun, Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). But a power-grabbing scheme soon takes root to paint Grandier as a Satanist. Dealing with themes of sexual repression and political corruption, The Devils is a sharp, provocative nightmare with visuals that will lodge themselves into your brain.

Minimalist director Kelly Reichardt weaves an affecting portrait of four unconnected women living in the American Northwest. Starring Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone, Certain Women is broken up into sections and based on a collection of short stories by Maile Meloy. It centers chiefly on the characters played by Dern, Williams and Stewart, each attempting, in their own way, to build their own ordinary lives.

Deeply empathetic and engrossing, Certain Women is a slow-burn that mesmerizes with its careful pacing and attention to detail. At the same time, its characters are rich yet understated, portrayed with care by all four actresses. It is difficult to watch the film and not see a little bit of oneself in each character, as scenarios depicted are specific yet universal. Certain Women warmly showcases the bittersweet, beautiful melancholy of life.

Starring Warren Beatty, The Parallax View centers on Beatty’s Joe Frady, a political reporter who starts to suspect that a shady organization may be behind the assassination of a presidential candidate. The deeper he goes, the more bodies begin to pile up, as Frady stops at nothing to uncover a conspiracy greater than he could have imagined.

Based on the novel of the same name by Loren Singer, The Parallax View is a triumphant work of political thriller cinema. It uses sharp editing tricks and stylish cinematography to elevate the film artistically and bolster the already compelling narrative. Blending charisma with deep paranoia, Beatty carries the film like the all-timer great that he is.

27-year-old dancer Frances (Greta Gerwig) is an apprentice at a dance company, but doesn’t really know what she’s doing. She struggles to make ends meet living in New York City — and struggles to have an apartment to live in, period. Navigating professional and personal setbacks, Frances tries to embrace the terrifying and wonderful possibilities of young adulthood.

Director Noah Baumbach‘s seminal adult coming-of-age comedy is captivating, full of life and a bit maddening, just like its titular protagonist. The spirit of the film captures the spirit of youth, but it doesn’t shy away from depicting the hardships that come with forging friendships, setting out on one’s own, and searching for success and happiness.

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