4 movies and TV series to teach and traumatise you this week

2022 has been quite the year already, hasn't it? Political scandals, Wordle, licence fees, epic nostalgia emo fests... it's all too much to take. So why not sit back and relax with some nice comfort TV? Or, if you're like us, watch something really tense and weird like the pics below. From haunting house histories to mysterious conmen, there's more than enough to keep you unsettled.

Or, for something more wholesome, you can always watch Jeff Goldblum living his best life.

Jeff Goldblum is, frankly, a wonderful human being. Even if you ignore his movie credentials – from the guy who somehow managed to hack into an alien spaceship WHILE IN SPACE, to the guy who somehow got spliced with an actual fly, to the guy whose bare chest stole an entire scene in a movie about dinosaurs coming to life – he’s still an absolute joy to watch onscreen. In his new doc series that investigates everything from fireworks to magic, we find the impeccably-voiced man in his best role yet: the teacher we wish we had.

Out now on Disney+.

Ah, true crime; the always reliable source of entertainment that leaves you scratching your head and typing in caps in group chats about how fucked up the world actually is. In Netflix’s latest three-parter (produced by the same people who made Don’t F**k With Cats), we follow the story of master con artist Robert Freegard, how he managed to charm his way into the lives of men and women to the tune of almost £1 million, and how those affected are still hunting him down. Get your theories ready.

Out now on Netflix.

From a real-life conman to a fictional one, this star-studded psychological thriller from Guillermo del Toro takes us back to 1940s New York. Having ‘learned’ how to mind-read and tell the future, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) uses his new talents to cheat wealthy people out of their money by conversing with the dead. As you might expect, however, he soon bites off more than he can chew by trying to swindle the wrong guy, and shit gets very real. He should’ve seen it coming, really.

In cinemas from January 21.

To many people, the idea of stop-motion animation conjures images of penguins with rubber gloves on their heads, chickens breaking free from demonic farmers and a robotic killer sheepdog. In the surreal world of The House, however, we find three twisted tales that most definitely aren’t family viewing, taking you deep into the minds of three different directors who should probably lay off the cheese at night. It’s a trio of haunting stories all revolving around the same house at different times; some involving dancing beetles, some involving an apocalyptic flood, all of it mesmerising.

Out now on Netflix.