Max is piling on the week with a trio of comedy, horror and music culture: Smiling Friends breaks for more chaos; Vgly turns up its Mexico City rap drama; A24’s Bring Her Back introduces another nightmare from the creators of Talk to Me.
It’s a vivid snapshot of how Warner Bros. Discovery’s platform goes for buzzy originals alongside prestige genre swings — quick laughs, high-tension scares, character-forward storytelling, all at once.
Bring Her Back Raises The Stakes For A24 Horror
Bring Her Back comes with very good DNA. For their latest, directors Danny and Michael Philippou (the Australian siblings who exploded with Talk to Me) look away from post-millennial séance horror to something grimmer and more analog: haunted VHS tapes, gnawing paranoia, and a foster home that harbors a very bad secret. Sally Hawkins steels the film with a steely, unnerving stare; Abby Wong and Billy Barratt play step-siblings whose grief curdles into terror.
It’s a statistically rooted wager on the Philippou brothers. According to Box Office Mojo, Talk to Me grossed over $90 million worldwide on a reported budget south of $5 million, embedding itself into the A24 new-horror strategy: original concepts with practical effects and social-media-friendly chills. Early buzz on Bring Her Back indicates a tactile, VHS-era ambience more akin to found objects than found footage — less jump-scare factory, more slow dread crawling beneath your flesh.
If you’re horror-first, prioritize this play. It is R-rated for a reason — that’s to say I am hearing there will be occult imagery and body horror. Watch after dark and with excellent sound, too; the audio design is said to be as menacing as the visuals.
Smiling Friends Season 3 Shows Adult Animation Should Be Weird
Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends remains the weirdest, most elastic comedy on TV. Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel’s anything-goes series tracks Charlie and Pim, two hapless fixers at an oddball firm that ‘helps’ people who never knew they needed help. Its new season doubles down on visual whiplash — blink-and-you-miss-them background gags, sudden art style shifts and jokes that read as engineered to blow up into viral clips.
On an industry level, Smiling Friends is a case study in contemporary attention economics. Its bite-size runtime format makes it easy to sample and endlessly rewatchable; Adult Swim has long thrived on late-night discovery, and this show carries that sensibility over to streaming without sacrificing its surreal, DIY appeal. If what your queue needs is a serotonin quick reset between heavier binges, this is the one to drop in there.
Vgly Season 2: The Mexican Takeover of Mexico City’s Rap Scene
Vgly returns to follow a young rapper’s rise through Mexico City’s fractious hip-hop landscape. Anchored by Benny Emmanuel, the series treats beefs, betrayals and bars with documentary-style texture — studio sessions that are sweaty and real, street-level scenes that don’t mistake grit for glamour. It’s fashionable without dulling the sharp edges that make regional rap exciting.
The timing is right. Latin music, likewise, is one of the great streaming-era success stories; the Recording Industry Association of America recently announced that revenue derived from Latin recordings increased by double digits over recent years and IFPI has noted that Spanish-language genres’ global reach has been expanding. Against that backdrop, Vgly plays like entertainment and anthropology both, a mirror up to how clout, craft and community collide. Pro tip: keep subtitles on, even if you’re fluent — the show’s lyrical density will pay back close reading.
Also New On HBO Max This Week: Highlights to Stream Now
Finishing out the lineup, the platform also introduces Where We Call Home Season 4 for some lifestyle-based comfort viewing and a new installment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: It Doesn’t Have to Hurt, examining pain science and patient care. Food competition fan favorite Alex vs America is back for Season 5 while Baylen Out Loud delivers more stream-of-consciousness pop culture content. There is also One Day in October Season 1 if you are giving the docu-series itch a scratch.
It’s a varied slate: swings and genre stuff buffered by utility TV that’s both easy to sample and easier to just leave on. If you have a household to entertain, then consider this your détente menu: a horror night headliner, some late-night animation chasers and a music drama with the momentum to carry an entire weekend.
What to Watch First: A Quick Viewing Order to Try
For movie-quality thrills at home, begin with Bring Her Back. If you need something to cleanse your palate afterward, put on two or three episodes of Smiling Friends — the micro-dose format is perfect for a chaser after heavier fare. Then drop into Vgly for an episodic fix that goes with a good set of headphones. That sequencing maintains intensity and encourages you to keep your energy level up, while exhibiting the variety of what Max is programming for right now.
Big picture, this week illustrates a trend: streamers winning when they marry culture-driving originals (A24 horror, Adult Swim animated hit) with regionally authentic stories that reflect where viewers actually spend their listening hours outside the car. It’s a wise mix, and this one translates into a truly watchable week.