Start streaming purple! HBO Max, with its royally-hued interface, is one of our best, new streaming services, full of excellent content to watch. And if you're looking to have a chill night on the couch with the service, but are unsure what to pick, we've got your back to the max!

September 2021 brought a variety of titles to HBO Max, — many of which are welcomely in the autumnal, spooky zone — and we've sorted through them all to bring you the cream of the crop. With a cascade of stars, tones, and film eras, here are the seven best new movies to HBO Max this September 2021. Happy watching!

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Dead Again

Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson as Roman and Margaret in Dead Again
Image via Paramount Pictures

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Writer: Scott Frank

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi, Hanna Schygulla, Emma Thompson

Grandiose, theatrical, and brimming with emotion, Dead Again is not a subtle movie. Director/star Kenneth Branagh has crafted himself a classical-feeling mystery thriller, with bold evocations of noir, romance, and high concept time-hopping fantasy for good measure. Murders and love affairs rocket across the screen and echo events from forty years prior, with Branagh's hard-boiled private eye and Emma Thompson's ever-shifting moll tracking us to and fro traumas past and present with aplomb (plus, we love a sneaky supporting serious Robin Williams). This is the pitch-perfect movie to start your fall season with, a big, stormy piece of entertainment served perfect with snuggling under a blanket.

Event Horizon

Laurence Fishburne in Event Horizon
Image via Paramount Pictures

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer: Philip Eisner

Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson

It may not be the mythological, ultraviolent director's cut, but Event Horizon is still a slice of wild sci-fi horror more than worth your time. Playing a little like Alien meets Hellraiser, the film follows a spaceship crew sent to rescue a missing ship, only to discover the terrible truth that they seem to have discovered the unimaginable, grotesque portal to Hell — and now our new voyagers may be next. Paul W.S. Anderson lenses this film with a sense of brutal beauty, its practical production design and widescreen compositions doing wonder for its tactile atmosphere. Sam Neill gives an all-time performance of madness and villainy. And when the surreal, gory visions start intruding upon everyone, look out!

Evil Dead 2

evil-dead-2-bruce-campbell
Image via Renaissance Pictures

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley, Richard Domeier

If you haven't seen the original Evil Dead, worry not: Evil Dead 2 opens with a Looney Tunes-feeling, fast-forward remake of the entire thing, before blasting into its own wild heightening and ideas. Evil Dead 2 is an essential text in the horror-comedy canon, a powerful jolt of movie star charisma from Bruce Campbell, and an absolute playground for the kinetic wonders of Sam Raimi. It's such a goddamn fun motion picture.

Malignant

malignant-annabelle-wallis-bed
Image via Warner Bros.

Director: James Wan

Writers: Akela Cooper, Ingrid Bisu, James Wan

Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michole Briana White

Ah, Malignant, you beautiful weirdo, you. To an extent, you should not know a thing about Malignant; the better to discover its abject audaciousness in real time; the better to go "What?!" as organically as possible. But if you desire some context, here's what I'll tell you: It's the new horror film from James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring). It stars Annabelle Wallis as a woman already dealing with traumas when a serial killer starts picking people off near her. And... I think that's about all I want to say. Malignant takes some swings that would make Joaquin Phoenix in Signs blush. Its twists and turns demand you to invite friends over and yell at the screen in utter delight. You won't be able to stop thinking about it, I promise.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Lulu Wilson holding a Ouija planchette over her eye in Ouija: Origin of Evil
Image via Universal Pictures.

Director: Mike Flanagan

Writers: Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard

Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas

A horror movie based on a silly board game has no business being this good. But Mike Flanagan simply has no room for such limitations; as such, his Ouija: Origin of Evil is a sneaky little masterpiece of craft, emotion, and surprising nastiness. Set in the 1960s, the film does, indeed, present the origins of the Ouija board as an accidental conduit to the evil spirit world, possessing a wondrous Lulu Wilson in the process. Flanagan lets his '60s setting inform his filmmaking techniques, making a work that's handsome, retro, and fundamental in its effective scares. Let him do 13 Dead End Drive next!

Paulie

Hallie Kate Eisenberg in Paulie
Image via DreamWorks

Director: John Roberts

Writer: Laurie Craig

Cast: Gena Rowlands, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Hallie Eisenberg, Bruce Davison, Jay Mohr

Jay Mohr stars as the title role in Paulie, and I must inform you that Paulie is, in fact, a talking bird. But Paulie isn't your average, hackneyed talking animal family film. It's surprisingly mature, heartfelt, emotional, and intelligent. Episodic in nature, though with a wonderful framing device anchored by the wonderful Tony Shalhoub, the film finds Paulie flying his way through the lives of many who need him, featuring sensitive, endearing performances from Gena Rowlands and Cheech Marin. If there isn't a #PaulieHive, I'm starting one; and now that it's streaming on HBO Max, we'd love to have you join the flock.

Promising Young Woman

Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman
Image via Focus Features

Director/Writer: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Connie Britton

Blending a variety of tones and statements, Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman is a powerhouse of provocation, endlessly suspenseful, funny, cynical, and somehow inspiring. Carey Mulligan is out for a kind of cosmic sense of revenge, pretending to be drunk to get a slew of "nice guys" to drop their guard and attempt to assault her before revealing she is fully, vividly functional. But what happens when she meets an actual nice guy, in the form of Bo Burnham? Is her life better served making a new future or staying stuck in this feedback loop of righting the past? Promising Young Woman digs into all of these questions while asking many more, all the while providing smart, entertaining thrills.

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