All the entertainment you'll need for the month of May, on the small and big screens, books to lose yourself in and new albums to rock out to.

Bingewatching on the small screen

Stranger Things Season 4

If we had Eggos here in Aotearoa, we’d definitely be stocking up on them for a serious bingewatch of Stranger Things’ fourth season. It picks up six months after the end of the third season, and we’ll get to see how the characters are dealing with the aftermath. Whether Eleven will get her full powers back, what exactly the Soviets are planning, and what really happened to Hopper are questions we can expect no doubt thrilling and terrifying answers to over the course of the season.

Anatomy of a Scandal

A courtroom drama miniseries based on the bestselling novel by Sarah Vaughan. The life of Sophie Whitehouse (Sienna Miller) spins out of control when her British MP husband James (Rupert Friend) is publicly outed for having an affair. Then if things weren’t bad enough, James is put in front of a jury for a shocking crime, shaking Sophie’s entire understanding of her husband.

All of Us Are Dead

South Korea does zombie apocalypse entertainment right. In this gripping new series, a teenager contracts a bite that leaves a high school in blood-soaked chaos and an outbreak of the undead spreading fast. Imaginative, gruesome and addictively entertaining, the show centres on a group of students from different social circles who find themselves banding together to survive – kind of like The Breakfast Club, but with zombies.

Viewing on the big screen

The Innocents

A group of children playing together on a bright summer’s day takes on a sinister and violent turn when the kids start exhibiting mysterious powers. Taking a disturbing look at the darker side of innocence, this chilling thriller sends a lasting shiver up your spine like only Nordic cinema can.

Our Father

After taking an at-home DNA test, a woman discovers she has multiple half-siblings she never knew existed. She ends up on an unsettling path that leads to Donald Cline, a fertility doctor in Indianapolis who had been replacing donor sperm with his own for decades. A true-crime story that plays like a real-life horror, Our Father will keep you hooked with all the morbid fascination of watching a train wreck unfold.

How to Please a Woman

Gina thinks she’s finally got it made when she starts a groundbreaking business in her small seaside town: a team of well-built, all-male housecleaners acting as both household help and eye candy for her clientele. But she must confront her own ideas of female pleasure when clients start to increasingly request a more thorough service, turning her simple business into an enterprise all about intimacy, and how people can struggle to get it right.

Reading only the good stuff

The Patient by Jane Shemilt

A domestic suspense novel following Rachel Goodchild, a once-respected doctor who now sits in a jail cell. Through Rachel’s retelling of the events leading up to her imprisonment, a twisty tale emerges of her affair with a patient, her strained relationship with her husband and daughter, and her suspicion that someone might be following her every move.

Mean Baby by Selma Blair

Selma Blair, an icon of the early 2000s through her roles in films such as Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde, recounts her own coming-of-age in this autobiography, including her notorious scowl as an infant, her relationship with her mother, substance abuse, and her multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz

An inventive and darkly witty novel that manages to make jokes about the afterlife while simultaneously raising deep existential questions, Here Goes Nothing is told through factory worker Angus Mooney’s eyes as he watches his old life from the beyond – namely, watching his killer seduce his pregnant wife.

Listening to the latest albums

Arcade Fire - WE

Canadian indie-rock collective Arcade Fire were one of the most enduring bands of the 2000s, and now all former or current punk-rocking millennials have reason to get excited, with the release of the band’s first album in five years. It’s a heartfelt, melodious and sublime return to form that will connect with fans both new and old.

The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention

A supergroup consisting of members from Radiohead and Sons of Kemet, The Smile are already generating serious buzz. Their debut album definitely comes with Radiohead undertones, especially lead by Thom Yorke’s vocals, but will also be a beast all its own, with a full brass section and strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

It’s finally here. The hotly anticipated follow up to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy Award-winning 2017 album DAMN. is set to be one of the most exciting album releases of 2022. It will be a double LP and will no doubt be gracing as many high-profile award lists as its predecessor.