The best thing newly added to the ARROW streaming channel this month is the Japanese *Wicked Priest* series — films one through five, starting with the 1968 original — which ARROW announced on 24 September 2026 in its own monthly releases post. ARROW (the subscription service from cult-film distributor Arrow Video) tags that batch for subscribers in Great Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada, so most readers of this site can start watching it today. Everything else worth queueing comes from the standing library rather than the October additions. That distinction matters more on ARROW than on a mainstream service, because the catalogue is curated by hand and rotates monthly, and because Arrow's heavily promoted October activity is happening on disc, not on the channel.
Table of Contents
- Start with the five *Wicked Priest* films
- Why "right now" is the only honest way to describe an ARROW list
- What the subscription costs, and which numbers to trust
- Arrow's big October push is discs, not streaming
- Building the rest of your October queue
- Frequently Asked Questions
Start with the five *Wicked Priest* films
Watch them in order, starting with the 1968 first film. Series like this were made fast and in sequence, and the later entries assume you already know the character's reputation and his relationship to the criminal world around him.
Arrow lists the batch with per-country tags — GB, IE, US and CA — so availability is territory-by-territory rather than global. If you are outside those four markets, check the title in the player before planning an evening around it.
- Wicked Priest* (Japanese title *Gokuaku bozu*) is a late-1960s Japanese programme picture series built around a hard-drinking, hard-fighting Buddhist monk who solves problems with his fists. It is exactly the kind of genre run that rarely reaches legal streaming in English-speaking territories at all, which is why five entries landing at once is the month's real event.
Why "right now" is the only honest way to describe an ARROW list
ARROW states plainly that every film on the channel is hand-picked by its own team, with new titles added every month. That is a different model from a licensing-driven service that keeps thousands of titles sitting still. On ARROW, the roster you see genuinely depends on the week you look.
The practical consequence: treat any ARROW "best of" list, including this one, as a starting point and confirm each title yourself. The channel's own listings carry country tags, so a film a US subscriber sees may not appear for a UK subscriber, and the reverse. A reliable routine takes about a minute:.
- Open the title in the ARROW player and confirm it plays in your territory, not just that a page exists for it.
- Check whether it is a recent addition or a long-standing library title — additions are the ones most likely to vanish on rotation.
- Build a short watchlist in the app rather than relying on a list you read elsewhere last month.
What the subscription costs, and which numbers to trust
ARROW charges £4.99 a month in the UK and $6.99 a month in the US and Canada, and offers a 7-day free trial on its own sign-up page. That is the authoritative figure, because it is the company quoting its own price. Third-party coverage adds detail the sign-up page does not foreground.
The Streamable puts the US annual plan at $69.99 — roughly a 17% saving against paying monthly — and says the service allows up to three concurrent streams. Those same third-party write-ups disagree on the trial, with 7, 14 and 30 days all appearing in circulation. Go by the official page's 7 days when you plan your trial, and assume a week is what you have to sample the catalogue. If you only want the *Wicked Priest* films, a single trial week is enough to finish all five.
Arrow's big October push is discs, not streaming
This is the trap worth naming, because Arrow's loudest October marketing has nothing to do with the channel. Shocktober 2026 runs from 14 October to 2 November 2026 with up to 50% off hundreds of 4K and Blu-ray titles — a physical-media store sale. Nothing in that promotion becomes watchable on your subscription through the offer. The same applies to Arrow's October disc slate.
*The Monster Squad* and *Cujo* arrive on 4K, *The Last Boy Scout* gets a global 4K debut, *Futureworld* follows, and Peter Jackson's *The Frighteners* comes as a three-disc Limited Edition, as covered by HorrorCultFilms. These are purchases, not channel additions. Dates on those releases vary by region and by outlet — *The Monster Squad* is listed as both 5 and 12 October, and *The Frighteners* as both 26 and 27 October, across Arrow Video's own Letterboxd list and the trade coverage. If you are ordering, check your local storefront's date rather than a date in an article.
Building the rest of your October queue
Because the verified October streaming additions are the five *Wicked Priest* films, the rest of a month's viewing has to be assembled from the library. The most efficient approach is to pick a lane the curators clearly favour — Japanese genre cinema, Italian giallo, 1980s American horror, martial arts — and work through one lane rather than skipping across the catalogue. Pair the new arrivals with that approach and the *Wicked Priest* run becomes a jumping-off point: five films in one week, then a related Japanese strand for the rest of the month.
That gives you a coherent viewing block instead of a scattered list, and it keeps you inside the part of the catalogue you have already confirmed plays in your territory. Before you commit a monthly subscription to it, open the player during the 7-day trial and count how many titles in your chosen lane are actually tagged for your country. That number, not the headline catalogue size, is what you are paying £4.99 or $6.99 a month for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Shocktober discount titles available to stream on ARROW?
No. Shocktober 2026 runs 14 October to 2 November 2026 as a disc store sale on 4K and Blu-ray titles, and the discount gives you no streaming access on the channel.
How many people can watch on one ARROW subscription?
The Streamable reports the service allows up to three concurrent streams, which covers a household watching separately on different devices.
Is the annual plan worth it?
At $69.99 against $6.99 a month, the US annual plan saves roughly 17%. Because the catalogue is curated and rotates monthly, use the 7-day trial to confirm the library suits you before committing for a year.