Women’s Month may be a South African-only celebration in August, but it’s a big week for global series debuts, particularly thrillers, centred on women. In fact, that descriptor can be applied to four of the five new shows premiering over the next seven days. Below you can find out more about them, and the movies fresh off their cinema runs and now available for streaming.
SERIES
Bad Sisters
Apple TV+ – 19 August
Mixing macabre comedy, drama and crime thriller, Bad Sisters follows the lives of the five Garvey sisters, who are bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect one another. All good and well until one of the sisters’ husbands dies and police suspicion falls on the close-knit band. The first two episodes of the 10-episode series, which bounces between London and Dublin, drop today.
Echoes
Netflix – 19 August
Delivering your trashy mystery thriller kicks, Echoes centres on identical twins Leni and Gina (both played by Michelle Monaghan), who share a dangerous secret. Since they were children, Leni and Gina have secretly swapped lives, culminating in a double life as adults: they share two homes, two husbands, and a child. Then everything in their perfectly choreographed world is thrown into disarray when one of the sisters goes missing. The full seven-episode first season of the show can be streamed from today.
The Girl in the Mirror
Netflix – 19 August
It’s a thriller heavy week, because also coming to audiences (out of Spain) is 10-episode The Girl in the Mirror, which sprinkles in some supernatural spice and psychological intrigue. After surviving a bus accident in which almost all her classmates die, Alma (Mireia Oriol) wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the incident… or her past. With the help of her parents and friends unknown to her, she will try to uncover the mystery surrounding the accident while struggling to recover her life and her identity, and overcome inexplicable visions.
Lost Ollie
Netflix – 24 August
In a reprieve from the week’s thriller dump, there’s hybrid animated/live-action miniseries Lost Ollie, which looks ready to toy with your heartstrings. The four-episode series is based on the 2016 children’s book Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce, in which a patchwork rabbit awakens in an unfamiliar place, and must embark on an epic journey to find his human best friend Billy. Featuring the voices of Jonathan Groff, Tim Blake Nelson, and Mary J. Blige. Jake Johnson, Gina Rodriguez, and Kesler Talbot star.
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin
Showmax – 25 August
Of all the series debuting this week, spin-off slasher Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is, perhaps surprisingly, the most acclaimed. Original Sin is the fourth television series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise, with a new setting and characters. Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in present day, a disparate group of teen girls — a brand-new set of Little Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin committed by their parents two decades ago… as well as their own.
MOVIES
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar
Netflix – 20 August
Five years after the 2017 live-action film, fans can watch the sci-fi fantasy sequel based on the manga of the same name. In Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar, the Elric brothers (Ed and Al) meet their toughest opponent yet — a lone serial killer who is targeting Alchemists. The Revenge of Scar will be followed by the release of epic finale The Final Alchemy next month. Viewed together, the three Japanese films form a “complete version,” telling the Fullmetal Alchemist story up until the end of the original manga.
Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee
Netflix – 24 August
Through raw, revealing footage and interviews with fugitive tech pioneer John McAfee (inventor of McAfee Anti-Virus), this feature-length documentary uncovers new layers of his wild years on the run. Running with the Devil was a decade in the making, chronicling the years that the larger-than-life figure was pursued by authorities after his neighbour was murdered. Included in the mad mix were multiple prison escapes, running for president and McAfee’s own suspicious suicide.
Top Gun: Maverick
GoogleTV/AppleTV+ (purchase) – 23 August
You really need to experience Top Gun: Maverick on the big screen, but as of this coming week, you can watch the crowdpleasing blockbuster at home though VOD. After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, perpetual rule-breaker Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) finds himself training a detachment of graduates for a special assignment. In the process, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past and his deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who fly it.