HBO Max This Week: Must-See Shows and Movies Dropping Oct 27–Nov 2, 2025

HBO Max is doing that neat Halloween-to-holiday pivot this week, with a mix of survival TV, true-crime comfort food, a new A24 dark comedy, and then on Saturday... a firehose of movies that swings from classic noir to Santa season in one go. Here is what is actually worth noticing, then the full day-by-day drop.

What jumps out

On Monday, 'Naked and Afraid Brazil XL' Season 1 shows up, which is the 40-day version of the survival format. Same bare-bones approach, very little gear, now with a Brazil backdrop and a timeline that can break anyone.

Midweek brings 'American Monster' Season 13, the Investigation Discovery staple that digs into criminals hiding in plain sight — the neighbor, the friend, the relative — using home videos to make it feel uncomfortably close to home.

Thursday lands 'Sorry, Baby' from A24, a black comedy about a college literature professor whose life spirals after a deeply unsettling incident. It is pitched funny but also very much about mental health, so expect tonal whiplash by design.

And because HGTV refuses to be constrained by mortal numbering systems, Friday delivers 'House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 246.' Yes, that season count is real. If you need people arguing about open concept vs. a yard, they have you.

There is also a pair of HBO Original drops across the week: 'Country Doctor' on Tuesday and 'I Love LA' Season 1 on Sunday. CNN has a special on the Harvard admissions case with Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, and Saturday is an all-you-can-eat movie buffet that flips from horror ('House of 1000 Corpses', 'The Devil's Rejects'), to superhero-adjacent ('Hellboy' 2004), to holiday staples ('Elf', 'The Polar Express', 'A Christmas Story', 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'), plus a deep bench of old-school studio classics ('The Public Enemy', 'Out of the Past', 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' 1946, 'They Live by Night'). Wrap it on Sunday with 'Past Lives' (A24) and 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' if you are catching up.

HBO Max schedule: October 27 - November 2, 2025

• Monday, October 27: Naked and Afraid Brazil XL, Season 1 (discovery+)
• Tuesday, October 28: Country Doctor (HBO Original); The United States vs. Harvard, The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (CNN Originals)
• Wednesday, October 29: American Monster, Season 13 (ID); Survival of the Beast, Season 1 (Animal Planet)
• Thursday, October 30: Fatal Engineering, Season 1 (Science); Sorry, Baby (A24)
• Friday, October 31: House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 246 (HGTV); Jonathan Ross Haunted Homecoming, Season 1 (Travel); Old Home Stories, Season 1 (Magnolia Network)
• Saturday, November 1: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; A Christmas Carol (1938); A Christmas Story; A United Kingdom; A Woman's Face; Alex Cross (2012); Backfire; Beasts of the Southern Wild; Betrayed (1954); Brick Mansions; Crime Wave; Dangerous Liaisons; Deception (1946); Desperate; Destination Tokyo; Dillinger; Each Dawn I Die; Elf; Four Christmases; Happy Feet; Hellboy (2004); House of 1000 Corpses; I Was a Communist for the F.B.I.; Ice Age: Continental Drift; Invisible Stripes; Johnny Angel; Kingsman: The Golden Circle; Marine Raiders; Marked Woman; Monster-In-Law; Murder, My Sweet; National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation; Nocturne; Norm of the North; Objective, Burma!; Out of the Fog; Out of the Past; Puss In Boots; Red Light; Red Riding Hood; Roadblock; Screaming Eagles; Sucker Punch; The Bride of Frankenstein; The Devil's Rejects; The Devil's Rejects: Director's Cut; The Kitchen, Season 39 (Food Network); The Locket; The Man I Love; The Mask of Dimitrios; The Polar Express; The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946); The Public Enemy; The Roaring Twenties; The Set-Up; The Town; The Unsuspected; The Wolfman; The Women (1939); They Live by Night; They Were Expendable; Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo; This Woman Is Dangerous; Where Danger Lives
• Sunday, November 2: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; I Love LA, Season 1 (HBO Original); Paranormal Caught on Camera, Season 9 (Travel); Past Lives (A24); Unlocked: Family Secrets, Season 1 (OWN)