Each month, several films and TV shows leave Netflix’s catalogue. We provide a list of departing titles and recommend a few standouts so you can watch them before they’re gone forever (or are just available on a different site). For more comprehensive coverage of the best titles available on Netflix and elsewhere, check out Vulture’s What to Stream Now hub, which is updated throughout the month.
If you don’t need to sleep tonight: A Nightmare on Elm Street
There are lots of reasons why Wes Craven’s dive into our collective dreamscape has become the gold standard of ’80s horror. There’s the visual invention of the dream deaths themselves; the unhinged performance of Robert Englund as supernatural night stalker Freddy Krueger; and the buried themes of the film’s story, the vulnerability of being attacked in your sleep, along with the uncertainty of what’s truly a dream and what’s something far worse. (Nightmare was also one of the only teen slasher movies to devote screen time to mourning its victims, adding more weight to an otherwise unbelievable story.) Netflix is losing several horror classics just two months before Halloween, so you’ll have to speed up your spook times in order to keep that coffeepot by your bedside. Leaving September 1.
For a smart story about faith and resilience: Philomena
If this 2009 biopic of an Irish woman whose born-out-of-wedlock son was taken from her by the Catholic Church and given up for adoption in America is one thing, it’s a great conversation-starter about the limits of turning to faith in moments of suffering. If it’s two things, it’s also a fantastic showcase for Judi Dench as the simple, plainspoken Philomena Lee, who’s searching for her son 50 years after an Irish convent took him away. Controlled and purposeful, yet fighting back a deep sadness, Dench gives this woman the kind of heroism that the best cinema can elevate in ordinary people. Leaving September 22.
For fans of the Weird Disney era: The Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch
With Disney on the verge of a Netflix breakup, there’s limited time left to gorge on their throwback offerings. This month, two under-the-radar gems from their 2-D-animation late period leave the service: one a Tex Avery–style slapstick machine with a vaguely Mayan aesthetic and David Spade as a smart-aleck llama, the other a delightfully oddball merger of Hawaiian flavor, sci-fi comedy, and Elvis. Shortly after making The Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch, Disney buttoned up again and went back to making the storybook musicals that sell. Both leaving September 5.
Noteworthy selections in bold.
TV
Leaving September 1
The Batman: Seasons 1 – 5
Better Off Ted: Season 2
The Deep End: Season 1
Wilfred: Seasons 1 – 2
Leaving September 10
Army Wives: Seasons 1 – 7
Leaving September 11
Terra Nova: Season 1
Leaving September 19
Persons Unknown: Season 1
Leaving September 20
Raising Hope: Season 1
Leaving September 26
A Gifted Man: Season 1
Sons of Tucson: Season 1
CSI: Miami: Seasons 1 – 10
Leaving September 30
Last Man Standing: Seasons 1 – 5
MOVIES
Leaving September 1
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Do Not Disturb
Frailty
Hope Floats
Jackass: The Movie
Julia
LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu: King of Shadows
LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu: Way of the Ninja
The Omen
RV
Something’s Gotta Give
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tears of the Sun
Scream
Leaving September 3
Drumline: A New Beat
Leaving September 4
The A-List
Leaving September 5
The Emperor’s New Groove
Lilo & Stitch
Leaving September 9
Teen Beach 2
Leaving September 15
Katt Williams: Kattpacalypse
Leaving September 16
Jackass 3.5: The Unrated Movie
One Day
Leaving September 20
Bombay Velvet
Finding Fanny
Leaving September 22
Philomena
Leaving September 24
Déjà Vu
