Reel Truths & Twisted Tales: October’s Genre Feast

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich via www.pexels.com

Add in crime thrillers, mysteries, and a few truly terrifying horrors, and you’ve got a month where every screen pulses with tension, tenderness, and adrenaline. Whether you're craving love, legend, or something that lingers in the dark, October’s big-screen lineup delivers.

3 October

In anticipation of the release of James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash on 16 December, the re-release of Avatar: The Way of Water takes us back to Pandora, where Jake is now fully integrated into the Na’vi.

He and his family flee renewed human threats and seek refuge with the oceanic Metkayina clan on the lush exomoon. The rhythms of water reshape their fight for survival and belonging. The film blends action, adventure, fantasy, and science fiction into a visually stunning narrative. Read more.

In the romantic fantasy A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on an original, funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present…and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.

It is directed by Kogonada, a South Korean-born filmmaker celebrated for his contemplative visual style and philosophical approach to cinema. Read more.

From writer-director Benny Safdie comes The Smashing Machine, a new film about pioneering UFC Hall of Fame fighter Mark Kerr, at once a high-pressure sports biography and high-octane emotional spectacle, transporting viewers to the dawn of a new era as it follows the strongest fighter the sport had ever seen from the heights of fame to rock bottom and back again.

Dwayne Johnson — fully inhabiting the man and the machine at Kerr’s fighting peak — shows how the UFC legend dominated opponents inside the octagonal ring, while balancing his intensely devoted relationship with the love of his life, Dawn Staples-Kerr (Emily Blunt), as their arguments escalate into the kinds of fights that can be heard two houses away. Read more.

HIM lures audiences into the darkest recesses of professional athletics and designs a sinister fantasy version of that world, where the sacrifices required to become the greatest of all time are not just metaphorical but literal.

Former college wide receiver Tyriq Withers plays Cameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback who has devoted his life and identity to football. As the professional football league’s annual scouting Combine approaches, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma. Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound.

This psychological sports horror film is directed by Justin Tipping. Read more.

The 12th European Film Festival in South Africa is a cinematic journey in search of love, identity, family, and belonging. Ten contemporary European films reflect on the realities of Europe and its place in the world now. Their strong characters in unusual situations, carefully crafted stories, and breathtaking landscapes make these films a road trip for the heart and mind. The Festival takes place from 9 to 19 October. Read more.

10 October

Tron: Ares, the electrifying next chapter of Disney’s seminal TRON” franchise, expands upon the enduring legacy of its groundbreaking predecessors Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010).

In “Tron: Ares,” a highly sophisticated digital Program, Ares (Jared Leto), is sent into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first face-to-face encounter with artificial intelligence. As Ares experiences his surroundings and has his first brush with humanity, his consciousness – and conscience – start to evolve.

He finds an unexpected ally in the brilliant technologist, computer programmer and current ENCOM CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee), who is on her own journey to discover a critical code written by Kevin Flynn (Je Bridges).

Betraying orders and relentlessly pursued, the two fight not only for their survival but for a future where technology and humanity can intersect. The explosive action-adventure is directed by Joachim Rønning. Read more.

Hen, directed by South African filmmaker Nico Scheepers, is a psychological horror film set on a remote farm where a small family confronts isolation, trauma, and an encroaching darkness.

As a determined hen fights to raise her brood, a devastating human tragedy unfolds in the background—turning a simple tale of survival into a haunting allegory of innocence, resilience, and loss. Directed and written by Nico Scheepers, this South African drama blends pastoral beauty with emotional gravity. Read more.

17 October

In the high-concept comedy Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves plays well-meaning but inept angel Gabriel, who intervenes in the lives of Arj (Aziz Ansari), a struggling gig worker, and Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy venture capitalist. In an attempt to prove that money doesn’t solve everything, Gabriel swaps their lives—only to have the plan backfire spectacularly, costing him his wings and forcing him to live among humans.

It is written, directed by, and starring Aziz Ansari in his feature directorial debut. Read more.

Black Phone 2 is the chilling sequel to Scott Derrickson’s 2022 horror hit and continues the terrifying legacy of The Grabber. Four years after escaping his abductor, Finney (Mason Thames) is now 17 and grappling with trauma and fame as the sole survivor. Meanwhile, his younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) begins receiving eerie calls in her dreams from the black phone and visions of boys being stalked at a winter camp called Alpine Lake.

As Gwen and Finney investigate, they uncover a disturbing link between the camp and their family’s past—suggesting that The Grabber’s (Ethan Hawke) evil transcends death. Read more.

Shell, directed by Max Minghella, is a darkly stylised blend of body horror, comedy, and thriller. It follows Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss), a struggling actress who is drawn into the seductive world of a high-end wellness company run by the enigmatic Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson). As patients begin to vanish, Samantha uncovers a monstrous secret lurking beneath the glossy façade. Read more.

24 October

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is a powerful biographical drama that chronicles the haunting, intimate creation of Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album when he was a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggling to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.

Recorded on a 4-track recorder in Springsteen’s New Jersey bedroom, the album marked a pivotal time in his life and is considered one of his most enduring works—a raw, haunted acoustic record populated by lost souls searching for a reason to believe.

The film stars Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen and performs many of the songs live, adding emotional authenticity to the role. It is directed and written by Scott Cooper, based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes. Read more.

A woman named Mia’s obsessive search for her missing sister leads her into a terrifying mystery at the hands of an unknown evil in Shelby Oaks, a singular horror experience seamlessly blending found footage, faux-documentary realism, and traditional narrative storytelling, defying genre conventions and delivering a uniquely immersive and terrifying journey.

For a new generation of horror fans, it’s a theatrical event that feels both familiar and entirely new. As Mia digs deeper, she uncovers eerie footage, unsettling clues, and a chilling entity known as “The Oaks”—a childhood demon that may not be imaginary after all. Read more.

The re-release of Wicked Part 1 tells the untold story of the witches of Oz, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is a young woman misunderstood because of her unusual green skin who has yet to discover her true power. Glinda (Ariana Grande), a popular young woman gilded by privilege and ambition, has yet to discover her true heart.

The highly anticipated sequel Wicked: For Good releases in cinemas on 21 November. Read more.

In the animated adventure Stitch Head, the maddest of all mad professors awakens his monstrous creations in a gothic castle. When a ramshackle freak show comes to town one day, they seem to have found their new attraction in Stitch Head - the professor’s first ever creation.

Based on Guy Bass’s beloved children’s books, the film blends quirky horror with heartfelt charm. It is directed by Steve Hudson. Read more.

In Roofman, Channing Tatum stars as a charming ex-Army Ranger turned rooftop burglar, whose bizarre true story unfolds in Derek Cianfrance’s crime comedy about love, deception, and living undetected inside a Toys “R” Us.

The film features Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn, and LaKeith Stanfield in a wild ensemble. It’s based on Manchester’s real-life spree of robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting through their roofs. Read more.

31 October

In Bugonia, two conspiracy-obsessed misfits kidnap a powerful CEO, convinced she’s an alien bent on Earth’s destruction, in Yorgos Lanthimos’s surreal sci-fi black comedy remake of Save the Green Planet!. Directed by Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, and Alicia Silverstone, this English-language reimagining blends absurdity, paranoia, and cosmic dread. Read more.

After a tragic accident shatters their family, a mother and daughter must navigate grief, buried secrets, and the fragile path to forgiveness in Regretting You, an emotional adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Directed by Josh Boone and starring Allison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco, and Scott Eastwood. Read more.

In Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Denji’s fleeting romance with a mysterious café girl explodes into betrayal and bloodshed as Reze reveals her true form: the Bomb Devil. Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara and animated by MAPPA, this dark fantasy film adapts one of the manga’s most emotional arcs. Read more.

Read more about the latest and upcoming films.