The It List: NXIVM cult saga continues in 'The Vow Part II,' Netflix's extreme paranormal experiment '28 Days Haunted' premieres, Taylor Swift drops 'Midnights' and all the best in pop culture the week of Oct. 17, 2022

The It List is Yahoo's weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for Oct. 17-23, including the best deals we could find for each. (Yahoo Entertainment may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page.)

STREAM IT: The Vow Part II continues the long, strange NXIVM story

Two years ago, HBO's docuseries The Vow became must-stream TV by taking viewers behind the headlines of Keith Raniere's NXIVM cult, which counted celebrities like Smallville star Allison Mack among its membership. The show ended with the group in shambles and Raniere himself in custody. Now, The Vow Part II picks up the story with the ensuing court cases against NXIVM's leaders, as former cult members try to pick up the pieces of their lives. (Mack and Raniere are both currently serving prison sentences.) Expect to see more unnerving footage and emotional interviews as the shockwaves of the case continue to be felt. — Ethan Alter

The Vow Part II premieres Monday, Oct. 17 on HBO and HBO Max.

STREAM IT: Dare to watch the terrifying reality series 28 Days Haunted

When it comes to Halloween-friendly fare, there are the silly (but enjoyable!) titles such as Hocus Pocus 2, and then there are the hardcore ones for those of us who like to be scared silly. This series is definitely the latter, documenting three teams of paranormal investigators as they spend, yes, 28 days in some of the most haunted locations in the country. Their mission is to conduct paranormal experiments based on the theories of late paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, whose work was depicted in films such as The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring and Annabelle. What happens — kitchen cabinets moving on their own, the presence of unexplained shadows and sounds and terrifying visions — is enough to frighten even the professional contestants. "I'm tapping out," one of them says on Day 13. "I'm done." You've been warned. — Raechal Shewfelt

28 Days Haunted premieres Friday, Oct. 21 on Netflix.

STREAM IT: Supermodel Chrissy Teigen presides over a third season of Chrissy's Court

All rise! Chrissy Teigen is back in the courtroom for Chrissy's Court, her Roku Channel (by way of Quibi) unscripted series. With her mother, Pepper Thai, serving as bailiff — and resident comedian — the supermodel gavels in a fresh docket of small claims cases ranging from vacation disputes to weddings gone wrong. This exclusive clip finds Chrissy and Pepper discussing the concept of a "godsister," which Teigen is apparently hearing about for the first time. "You have a regular sister, why do you want a godsister?" her mother replies. It won't be long before we get Pepper's Court. — E.A.

Chrissy's Court premieres Friday, Oct. 21 on The Roku Channel.

WATCH IT: Bullet Train blazes onto 4K Ultra HD

As producer Kelly McCormick tells it, action maestro David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2) was initially hesitant about taking on Bullet Train, considering the film’s claustrophobic setting could limit what he could do with stunts. “And I was like, ‘Isn’t that an opportunity?,’” she laughs in an exclusive clip from this week’s home entertainment release (watch above). The star-studded actioner with Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry and company that follows five assassins on a locomotive race to $238 million at the box office worldwide and now arrives on 4K Ultra HD stacked with bonus features. — Kevin Polowy

Bullet Train releases on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, Oct. 18 on Amazon.

STREAM IT: Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black pays tribute to his mother in Mama's Boy

Dustin Lance Black's life has always informed his art. Raised in a Mormon household, he later came out as gay, experiences that were felt in his Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk as well as the HBO series, Big Love. The new documentary Mama's Boy is expressly about Black's life, as the writer opens up about his relationship with his mother, Anne, who overcame numerous trials and tribulations — including a childhood case of polio and two abusive marriages — to be a loving and present parent. Filled with home movies and new interviews, the film is a sensitive portrayal of a difficult life well-lived. This exclusive clip features Black talking about Anne's emotional homecoming after an extended hospital stay. — E.A.

Mama's Boy premieres Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.

STREAM IT: George Takei heads up an all-star animated ensemble in Netflix's Oni: Thunder God's Tale

Oh my. Star Trek legend George Takei lends his voice to Netflix's lushly animated series Oni: Thunder God's Tale, inspired by classic Japanese mythology. The series follows Onari, the free-spirited daughter of an actual spirit who takes it upon herself to protect her village from the villainous Oni. Takei voices the winged Tengu, who the actor describes as a "bigger than life" character in this exclusive interview clip. "He can identify with the good side of humanity, as well as recognize the darker side of humanity," Takei says. — E.A.

Oni: Thunder God's Tale premieres Friday, Oct. 21 on Netflix.

HEAR IT: Taylor Swift is living after Midnights

Earlier this year on the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift made the surprise announcement that she was readying her 10th studio album (and first album since her 2020 pandemic LPs Folklore and Evermore), Midnights — pretty much breaking the internet in the process. Describing the record as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life,” Swift tweeted: “We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t — right this minute — about to make some fateful life-altering mistake. This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go search — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.” We know that Midnights finds Swift teaming once again with super-producer Jack Antonoff as well as dueting with Lana Del Rey on a track titled “Snow on the Beach,” but until the album drops on Friday, Swifties will be in internet-breaking overdrive as they seek more Midnights information, poring over the singer-songwriter’s charming TikTok series Midnights Mayhem With Me for her usual teasers, clues and Easter eggs. — Lyndsey Parker

Midnights by Taylor Swift is available Friday, Oct. 21 to download/stream on Apple Music.

STREAM IT: Chloë Grace Moretz stars in sci-fi series The Peripheral

Prime Video's adaptation of William Gibson's mind-bending 2014 novel, The Peripheral, features Kick-Ass alum Chloë Grace Moretz in her first starring role in a series. The show takes place in the future where technology has subtly altered society. Moretz's Flynne Fisher lives in a small Appalachian town but through an advanced video game, she finds a connection into a virtual reality that transports her to future London. Though at first she's attracted to the game's adventure and glamour, Flynne soon finds out that her and her family could be in real danger outside of the titular peripheral.

The Peripheral premieres Friday, Oct. 21 on Prime Video.

READ IT: Get a terrifying peek inside Clive Barker’s Dark Worlds

With Halloween around the corner and a new Hellraiser on Hulu, it’s the perfect time to get up close and personal with Clive Barker. Curated by his archivists, Phil and Sarah Stokes, Dark World delves deep into the multihyphenate master of the macabre responsible for such iconic movie monsters as Candyman and Pinhead, as well as the cult classic Nightbreed. Chock full of Barker’s artwork, notebook entries, posters, comic covers and behind-the scenes photographs, this lovingly assembled collection is the creepiest coffee-table book for the scariest of seasons. — Marcus Errico

Clive Barker’s Dark Worlds is available Tuesday, Oct. 18 at Amazon and other booksellers.

HEAR IT: Arctic Monkeys enjoy another smooth ride

The seventh studio album by Britrock titans Arctic Monkeys, The Car, is a mellow sophistipop affair — more in line with its polarizing predecessor, 2018’s loungey Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, than with the band’s breakout 2013 monster record, AM. (In May 2022, drummer Matt Helders said in an interview that The Car “picks up where the other [album] left off musically” and that it's “never gonna be like [the AM single] 'R U Mine?' again.”) But frontmen Alex Turner, now age 36, is still one of the cleverest rock lyricists working today on haunting tunes like “There'd Better Be a Mirrorball” and “Jet Skis on the Moat,” and there’s a cinematic, sweeping quality to many of The Car’s tracks — so much so, it wouldn’t be surprising if Turner and company were hired to record the next James Bond theme. — L.P.

The Car by Arctic Monkeys is available Friday, Oct. 21 to download/stream on Apple Music.

STREAM IT: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks tells the civil rights icon's true story

While she's most famous for refusing to give her seat to a white man on a bus in segregated Birmingham, Ala., in 1955, helping to inspire the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Parks had a lifelong history of activism, recounted in this documentary. Based on Jeanne Theoharis's biography of the same name, this new film, which is produced by journalist Soledad O'Brien, recounts what really happened before, during and after that fraught, iconic moment. Footage of her is included. Interviews with activists, academics and, most importantly, family members are part of it, too. They recall what Parks, who died in 2005, actually did during her lifetime, which was much more than the actions she took on any one day. — R.S.

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks premieres Wednesday, Oct. 19 on Peacock.

HEAR IT: Carly Rae Jepsen doesn’t phone it in

Carly Rae Jepsen’s sixth studio album, The Loneliest Time, finds the heart-on-sequined-sleeve pop princess teaming with love balladeer Rufus Wainwright on the title track and exploring everything from ‘70s folk, funk and disco to ‘80s new wave — but it all still sounds unmistakably Carly. Far from a “Call Me Maybe” one-hit wonder, Jepsen is one of the most interesting pop stylists of her generation, as The Loneliest Time proves. — L.P.

The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen is available Friday, Oct. 21 to download/stream on Apple Music.

HEAR IT: Tegan and Sara cry it out

Twenty years into their career, identical powerpop twins Tegan and Sara Quin — whose memoir High School was just adapted into an Amazon Freevee TV show of the same name — are back and re-energized on their 10th studio album, Crybaby — with Sara stepping up in her role as a producer alongside co-producer John Congleton (Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, Future Islands). “One of the major themes on this record is the empowerment that comes with being vulnerable and accepting your feelings. The word ‘crybaby’ seems sweet and innocent and youthful, but there's also this other energy to it — like when you're in the airport, and you see a 3-year-old throw themselves down on the ground and cry. … As adults, we suppress all of that tension, anxiety, sadness, disappointment and we're just a mess. So there's something powerful about ‘crybaby,’ because it’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna be a f****** disaster, and that’s great,’” Tegan said in a statement. Expect confessional Crybaby tracks like “I Can't Grow Up,” “F***ing Up What Matters,” “Smoking Weed Alone” and “Pretty Shitty Time” to be the perfect songs for when you’re feeling like releasing some pent-up emotions. — L.P.

Crybaby by Tegan and Sara is available Friday, Oct. 21 to download/stream on Apple Music.

WATCH IT: It's the end of the world as we know it in Station Eleven, now on Blu-ray and DVD

Stop us if you've heard this one: The outbreak of a global pandemic brings the world to a standstill. Luckily, our reality didn't become the post-virus reality depicted in Station Eleven, HBO Max's acclaimed adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's post-apocalyptic novel. Moving back and forth in time before and after this near-extinction event, the series follows some of the survivors — played by Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel and David Cross, among others — as their lives intersect in surprising and emotional ways. CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment are bringing all ten episodes of Station Eleven to Blu-ray and DVD alongside exclusive deleted scenes. — E.A.

Station Eleven is available Tuesday, Oct. 18 on Blu-ray and DVD at most major retailers, including Amazon.

— Video produced by Kyle Moss and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick