Topical documentaries and dramas headline our new streaming movie picks for this week. And if you’re screaming for some first-rate and fresh Halloween horror treats, we’ve got those, too.

“The Trial of the Chicago 7”: Writer/director Aaron Sorkin curbs his tendency to overwrite and the result is one of his best films. Sorkin permits characters’ actions to carry equal weight with his meaty words for a sensational reenactment from a stormy chapter in history.

Sorkin’s terrifically acted, scripted and directed Netflix drama taps what made his “West Wing” must-see TV: complicated characters, dicey moral dilemmas and crackling dialogue. It marks a step up from Sorkin’s lukewarm directorial debut, the wandersome “Molly’s Game” with Jessica Chastain.

Sorkin avoids cluttering up his story this time out, winnowing in on the fallout of the notorious 1968 Democratic convention. What was intended to be a united peaceful protest devolved into a violent clash between Vietnam War objectors and police and the National Guard. Sound familiar?

The ensuing bizarre trial of the various activists who made up the “Chicago 7” for their involvement in the protest makes up the majority of the film. The buffornery exhibited by the presiding judge (Frank Langella) is both hilarious and disturbing.

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” is loaded with awards-worthy performances from Sacha Baron Cohen (Abbie Hoffman), Eddie Redmayne (Tom Hayden), Langella, Michael Keaton (Ramsey Clark) and Yahya Abdul-Matten II (Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers).

Sorkin gives each of them juicy slabs of dialogue, and the result is a smart, angry movie. Details: 3½ stars, available Oct. 16 on Netflix.

“The Boy Behind the Door”: Screening as part of the American Film Institute Festival, David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s directorial debut couldn’t be more intense. It affords you nary one second to breath. An idyllic day for two inseparable young friends — one Black, the other White — turns into a nightmare when they’re abducted and then trapped in a hillbilly house of horrors. Stars Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey are flat-out amazing. “Boy” is one of the most terrifying films I’ve ever seen, but it refuses to be bleak or cruel, and winds up emerging as a testament to the power of friendship. What a killer directorial debut. Details: 4 stars; available Oct. 17-Oct. 22; $8; access the film here.

“The Mortuary Collection”: The problem plaguing 90 percent of horror anthologies is that there are rotten apples tossed in the basket. Not so with writer/director Ryan Spindell’s delicious quartet. Each short film can stack up to the very best of Stephen King. Horror regular Clancy Brown — also an executive producer — serves as the ghoulish guide, a freaky mortician who stitches these tales together while interviewing a potential replacement (Caitlin Custer). It’s the best Halloween film I’ve seen this year. Details: 3½ stars, available Oct. 15 on Shudder.

“Time”: Garrett Bradley takes a poetic approach toward telling her true story about a woman’s battle to get her husband — serving time for a bank robbery she was involved in — released from prison. Most directors would have been content to unspool it all in a traditional linear narrative. Not Bradley. She uses intimate B&W video to illustrate the lives of the wife, Fox Rich, as well as the husband, her sons and her mom. It’s one of the most beautiful stories about redemption you’ll ever see. Details: 4 stars; available Oct. 16 on Amazon Prime.

“The Lie”: Blumhouse Productions’ high-profile deal with Amazon Prime sent fans howling in approval on social media when it was announced. But this 2018 effort, one of the first BP films dropped on Amazon, drew a lukewarm response from critics and horror fans alike. Too bad, since this icy psychological thriller is a classy, well-acted production that is more O. Henry than Eli Roth. Writer/director Veena Su reworks the 2015 German film “Wir Monster” with a cast that includes Peter Sarsgaard and Mireille Enos playing desperate parents covering for a tragic act by their teen daughter (Joey King). Details: 3 stars, available now on Amazon Prime.

“Spontaneous”: A romantic horror-comedy about high school seniors spontaneously combusting sounds like it could be an awful mess. But writer/director Brian Duffield pulls it off, making an absurdly funny, gripping and moving film that boasts one of the best screenplays of the year. As two lovers realize their next embrace might well be their last, Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer couldn’t be more likeable. Duffield’s genre-bending films is one of the brightest surprises of 2020. Details: 3½ stars; available now on various platforms.

“Love and Monsters”: The prolific Brian Duffield (see above item) co-wrote but didn’t direct this ridiculously entertaining mashup of a classic Ray Harryhausen stop-motion movie and the classic horror flick “Them!” Even “Jaws” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” get a wink of approval here as Dylan O’Brien stars as a nebbish 20-year-old survivor of an asteroid attack that led to the mutant critters roaming the earth. He searches for his dear heart, from whom he was separated after the initial attack in Fairfield. Yes, that Fairfield — or rather Queensland, Australia, serving as the understudy. There’s a kicky spirit to the whole production and the effects are first-rate. Details: 3 stars, available Oct. 16 on various platforms.

“No Ordinary Man”: Billy Tipton’s death made salacious headlines in 1989 — and spawned plays, songs and books — when it was revealed that the 74-year-old jazz pianist and bandleader who had lived as a man was physically a female. Director Aisling Chin-Yee ignores the conventional in telling the story of Tipton and his lasting legacy, and how his family endured harsh judgement and questions. This excellent documentary is part of the AFI Film Festival, and can be be found on the festival website. It includes insights from actors who portray Tipton in line readings. Don’t miss it. Details: 3½ stars; $8; access the film here.

“Belly of the Beast”: San Francisco filmmaker Erika Cohn’s documentary demands to be seen, a shocking and topical advocacy feature about the unauthorized sterilization of female inmates in California. Providing the heart and the soul of this damning film are two fearless women: former inmate Kelli Dillon, who testified about her ordeal; and Oakland’s Cynthia Chandler, a tireless attorney dedicated to ensure that justice is served and these surgeries are stopped. Given the recent whistleblower’s claim that involuntary sterilizations are being done on ICE detainees, Cohn’s feature couldn’t be more relevant. Details: 3½ stars; begins streaming Oct. 16 as part of the Virtual Cinema series at the Smith Rafael Center. Access the film here.