Spooky season may have arrived early this year, but it's in full swing this October. This months sees the releases of new installments in two of the longest-running franchises in horror movie history: Halloween Ends, marking the 45-years-in-the-making final showdown between Laurie Stode and Michael Myers, and the latest reboot of the Hellraiser-verse. Plus, a new Stephen King adaptation and miore nightmare fuel from the mind of Henry Selick.
This October is also dominated by another season: festival season, with films that premiered in Cannes, Venice and Toronto finally arriving in theaters everywhere. This month's offerings include the Palme d'Or-winning Triangle of Sadness, as well as award-winners TÁR, The Banshees of Inisherin, and more.
Scroll on for more on all the movies hitting theaters and streaming platforms this October.
Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Based on the novella by Stephen King, Mr. Harrigan's Phone tells the story of a teenager, Craig (It and Knives Out's Jaeden Martell), who befriend an elderly man, Mr. Harrigan (Donald Sutherland). When Mr. Harrigan dies, Craig continues to message him for advice — a sweet gesture that turns supernatural when Mr. Harrigan starts responding. The film is from writer-director John Lee Hancock.
Watch: On Netflix streaming Oct. 5.
Hellraiser
Pinhead is back in Hellraiser, a new take on Clive Barker's 1987 horror classic. Directed by David Bruckner from a script by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, this reimagining of Hellraiser follows a trouble young woman who unknowingly summons the Cenobites (led by Jamie Clayton's Pinhead). Now, she will be forced to suffer the consequences.
Watch: On Hulu streaming Oct. 7.
TÁR
Three-time Oscar nominee Todd Field returns after 16 years with TÁR, which stars Cate Blanchett (herself a two-time Oscar winner) as the world-renowned conductor, Lydia Tár. The film premiered during the Venice Film Festival, where its star won the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress.
Watch: In select theaters on Oct. 7 and everywhere on Oct. 28.
Triangle of Sadness
After debuting at Cannes and winning the fest's top prize, Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund's satire of the rich and famous makes its way into theaters. The film follows the passengers and crew of a luxury cruise as they are forced to fight for survival when the ship sinks, starring Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Woody Harrelson, and Dolly De Leon.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 7.
Decision to Leave
Romance and murder are one and the same in Park Chan-wook's new thriller. After a man dies under suspicious circumstances, a detective (Park Hae-il) assigned to the case becomes caught up with the victim's widow (Tang Wei). Decision to Leave premiered at Cannes and has since screened at TIFF, Fantastic Fest and the New York Film Festival.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 14.
Halloween Ends
An ending 45 years in the making. Decades after Jamie Lee Curtis first starred as the ultimate final girl, Laurie Strode and Michael Myers will make their final showdown. The question is, will anyone survive? Halloween Ends also marks the culmination of David Gordon Green's reboot trilogy, which began with 2018's Halloween and continued with 2021's Halloween Kills.
Watch: In theaters and streaming on Peacock Oct. 14.
Stars at Noon
Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn star in director Claire Denis' romantic thriller, based on the novel by Denis Johnson. The film, which premiered at Cannes and won the Grand Prix, centers on an American journalist stranded in Nicaragua amid a time of political unrest, who begins an affair with an enigmatic Englishman.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 14 and on Hulu streaming Oct. 28.
Till
The tragic story of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, and his mother's fight for justice is at the center of this drama from director Chinonye Chukwu. Danielle Deadwyler stars as Mamie Till Mobley, with Jalyn Hall as Emmett. Whoopi Goldberg co-stars and serves as a producer.
Watch: In select theaters on Oct. 14 and everywhere on Oct. 28.
The School for Good and Evil
The bond between best friends Sophie (Sophia Anne Carusa) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) is tested when they enroll in the titular School of Good and Evil, and find themselves on opposite sides. Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington and Michelle Yeoh play their professors in this fantasy adventure from Paul Feig.
Watch: On Netflix streaming Oct. 19.
V/H/S/99
The horrors of home video continue with this newest addition to the V/S/S found footage franchise. The anthology movie is set in — you guessed it — the year 1999 and comprises five segments from directors Flying Lotus, Maggie Levin, Tyler MacIntyre, Johannes Roberts, and Joseph and Vanessa Winter.
Watch: On Shudder streaming Oct. 20.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh's first feature since 2017's Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri reunites the filmmaker with his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, playing longtime friends who inexplicably fall out — and only one of them knows why. The film had its premiere at Venice before screening in Toronto.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 21.
Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson makes his live-action superhero debut as Black Adam, an antihero with the power of the gods who has just been released from a 5,000 year imprisonment. Viola Davis co-stars, reprising her role as Amanda Waller, alongside Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Quintessa Swindell, and Pierce Brosnan as the Justice Society of America.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 21.
Ticket to Paradise
Our new age of rom-coms gets some major star power from George Clooney and Julia Roberts, reuniting onscreen as a divorced couple who join forces to stop their adult daughter from getting married. The duo have never done a proper romantic comedy together, despite proving their chemistry in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 21.
Armageddon Time
Directors are in their introspective eras: First was Kenneth Branagh, who mined his own childhood for last year's Belfast. Steven Spielberg is doing the same in the upcoming The Fabelmans. This is James Gray's movie memoir about growing up in 1980s Queens, starring newcomer Banks Repeta, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.
Watch: In theaters on Oct. 28.
Wendell & Wild
From Henry Selick, the visionary stop-motion director behind classics like The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Coraline (2009), arrives a spooky new story of a teen who must face her demons — literally. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele reunite to voice said demons, Wendell and Wild, alongside Angela Bassett, James Hong, and Ving Rhames.
Watch: On Netflix streaming Oct. 28.
ALSO OUT IN OCTOBER:
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (Shawn Mendes lends his singing voice to the titular reptile, in theaters Oct. 14)
Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever gets caught in a love triangle with Romeo and Juliet, on Hulu Oct. 14)
White Bird: A Wonder Story (a companion piece to 2017's Wonder, in theaters Oct. 14)
My Policeman (the queer love story starring Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, and David Dawson, in select theaters Oct. 21 and on Prime Video next month)
Raymond and Ray (Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor are estranged brothers with dad issues, on Apple TV+ Oct. 21)
The Good Nurse (Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne venture into true crime, on Netflix Oct. 26)
All Quiet on the Western Front (a new adaptation of the 1930 Best Picture winner, on Netflix Oct. 28)
Call Jane (Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver as '60s abortion activists, in theaters Oct. 28)
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues (Sacha Jenkins' doc about the musical legend, in theaters Oct. 28)
Prey for the Devil (A nun-turned-exorcist faces demonic possession, in theaters Oct. 28)
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