Carnage at the Continental, ‘Pet Sematary’ Prequel, For Love or Money in ‘Fair Play,’ Austin City Limits Festival

Season Finale

Things go boom with such regularity in the explosive climax to the three-part John Wick prequel you may wonder if there will even be a hotel still standing once the smoke clears and the blood is mopped up. The feature-length finale pits Winston Scott (Colin Woodell as a younger version of the Ian McShane character) against sadistic current proprietor Cormac O’Connor (a blustery Mel Gibson) for control of the legendary Continental hotel, a refuge for assassins. Once the assault begins, and a red-light alarm lets all of the guests take up arms, the carnage never ends. Stealing the show: Ray McKinnon (Sons of Anarchy) as a courtly sniper who almost never loses his cool while everyone else goes berserk.

Halloween comes early with a prequel to Stephen King’s unsettling (and twice-filmed) horror yarn about a Maine cemetery where the dead, human and pets alike, don’t stay dead, with grisly results. Jackson White stars as Jud Crandell, a younger version of the role previously played by John Lithgow in 2019 and Fred Gwynne in 1989, who in 1969 yearns to leave rural Ludlow, Maine, but long-buried secrets of the town’s spooky past trap him in a waking nightmare. Co-stars include Henry Thomas (from the upcoming The Fall of the House of Usher), Pam Grier and The X-Files’ David Duchovny as the dad of Jud’s Vietnam vet buddy, who has returned from the war not quite right.

Movie Premiere

“This job, it’s killing us,” laments Emily (Phoebe Dynevor), who may be on to something in writer-director Chloe Domont’s debut feature, an erotic thriller already earning critical buzz. Dynevor, a world away from Bridgerton, plays an ambitious financial analyst at a cutthroat hedge fund who’s breaking house rules by carrying on a passionate affair with her co-worker and secret fiancé Luke (Solo’s Alden Ehrenreich). The power dynamic in their relationship shifts ominously when Emily gets the promotion he was expecting, essentially making her his boss in a climate of toxic masculinity. Ray Donovan’s Eddie Marsan co-stars as their calculating boss.

Special

With two live feeds available through Sunday, the annual music festival from Austin’s Zilker Park will be livestreamed for the second year. Headliners include Foo Fighters, Alanis Morissette, Kendrick Lamar, Shania Twain, Mumford & Sons, Hozier, The Lumineers, Maggie Rogers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many more.

Season Premiere

9/8c

The indefatigable William Shatner returns as host and executive producer for the sixth season of a show that digs into the world’s most inexplicable mysteries—quite literally in the opener, which looks at “The World Beneath Our Feet,” seeking mysteries beneath the Earth’s surface in caves and under layers of rock. Followed by the Season 4 premiere of The Proof Is Out There (10/9c), with host Tony Harris examining “The Bigfoot Files.”

Only in this outrageous college-set spinoff of The Boys are you likely to hear dialogue like, “You have a piece of eardrum on your shoulder.” The mayhem at Goldolkin University escalates once the troubled Sam (Asa Germann) escapes his prison in “The Woods” with the help of Emma “Little Cricket” (Lizze Broadway), and TV muckraker Tek Knight (Derek Wilson), also a Supe, arrives on campus to snoop into recent events, clashing with Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn). True to form for this series, there’s an over-the-top sight gag likely to make viewers cringe, gag and laugh in equal measure.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• Power Book IV: Force (8/7c, Starz): In the volatile crime drama, Tommy (Joseph Sikora) and Diamond (Isaac Keys) recruit Vic (Shane Harper) and Jenard (Kris D. Lofton) into the CBI (Chicago Brothers Incorporated) just in time for the Serbs to declare war against the crew.
• True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) features co-anchor Deborah Roberts’ report on the 2022 escape of murder suspect Casey White from an Alabama jail, engineered by corrections officer Vicky White (no relation). Dateline NBC (9/8c) explores the 2020 death of Emily Noble in Ohio, found hanging in the woods and leading to speculation of murder or suicide. Dennis Murphy interviews her husband, Matt Moore. Oxygen’s Real Murders of Los Angeles (9/8c) expands the Real Murders franchise to the City of Angels, opening with the murder of the proprietor of a silent movie theater, gunned down in the lobby.
• A Zest for Death: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (9/8c, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries): Alison Sweeney returns as the baker and amateur sleuth in a new cozy mystery involving the death of a frequent customer at The Cookie Jar whose body is found by her mom (Barbara Niven) while house-hunting. What are the odds Hannah discovers the culprit before detective Mike Kingston (Cameron Mathison)?
• Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (9/8c, PBS): American Masters profiles the bebop percussionist whose music echoed the politics of the civil rights movement.

ON THE STREAM:

• The Wheel of Time (streaming on Prime Video): Reunited with her powers, Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) hits the road with her warder Lan (Daniel Henney) and Rand (Josha Stradowski), the Dragon Reborn, in the Season 2 finale of the epic dark fantasy.
• Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe (streaming on Prime Video): A three-part true crime docuseries, based on a Vanity Fair investigation, explores the online love cult Twin Flames Universe and the manipulative practices of its leaders, Jeff and Shaleia Divine. (Netflix has its own docuseries on the scandalous operation planned for November.)
• Chad (streaming on The Roku Channel): The first season of the offbeat comedy, starring Saturday Night Live’s Nasim Pedrad as an awkward Persian-American teenage boy, begins streaming in advance of Season 2 (date to be announced), which was picked up by the streamer after TBS canceled it.
• Frasier: Inside the Series (streaming on Paramount+): Before the reboot of the classic sitcom begins streaming next week, a half-hour special (hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier) goes behind the scenes. Some CBS stations will air this on Saturday (check local schedules).
• Still Up (streaming on Apple TV+): Ironically, I watched this episode of the quirky British comedy—about two insomniacs who keep each other up with phone calls—on a sleepless night, worrying I’d wake my significant other with laughter. While Lisa (The Good Doctor’s Antonia Thomas) endures a camping trip with her partner Veggie’s (Blake Harrison) cheerfully passive-aggressive family, housebound Danny (Craig Roberts) can’t get rid of the bathroom repairman who’s having a personal crisis.
• Totally Killer (streaming on Prime Video): Chilling Adventure of Sabrina’s Kiernan Shipka stars in a comedic thriller as a teen who accidentally zaps back in time to 1987, where she sets out to stop the murder spree of the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” before it starts.
• V/H/S/85 (streaming on Shudder): More 1980s vibes in a new installment of the found-footage horror anthology, with its mashup of terrifying home videos, gnarly newscasts and snuff footage.