Film Opinion South Africa

Get ready for a spooky October with these film releases!

Get ready for a chilling month filled with overwhelming terror, bloody horror, profound true stories, historical drama, and a singing crocodile.

7 October

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain in Smile.

As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.

“I wanted to make a movie that felt like a sustained panic attack from start to finish,” says writer-director Parker Finn.

Medieval is a historical drama film directed by Petr Jákl. It is about the life of Jan Žižka, a Bohemian military commander who never lost a battle.

The film is set prior to the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), when Žižka was young. It tells the story of how Žižka became a famous military commander. The brave hero is young Jan Žižka (Ben Foster), a knight and mercenary, future leader of the Hussite army.

Rosenberg had almost all his family killed and Žižka wants revenge. and has to choose between two alternatives: give up the fight for justice and receive a higher rank at the royal court, or keep fighting, though alone and abandoned. It also stars Michael Caine,
Til Schweiger, William Moseley, Matthew Goode, Sophie Lowe.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a historical comedy-drama film directed and produced by Anthony Fabian.

In 1957 London, Mrs. Ada Harris, a widowed cleaning lady, becomes obsessed with one client's haute couture Dior dress; it inspires her to buy her own Dior dress. After suddenly receiving a war widow's pension, she travels to Paris to do so.

She stumbles into a showing of Dior's 10th-anniversary collection and is befriended by André, the Dior accountant, and Natasha, a Dior model. However, the Dior director, Claudine, resents Ada's intrusion into the exclusive world of haute couture.

The film stars Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson.

14 October

Four years after the events of last year's Halloween Kills, Laurie is living with her granddaughter Allyson and is finishing writing her memoir. Michael Myers hasn't been seen since his last brutal rampage.

Laurie, after allowing the spectre of Michael to determine and drive her reality for decades, has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man, Corey Cunningham, is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can't control, once and for all.

Halloween Ends stars Jamie Lee Curtis, James Jude Courtney, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Kyle Richards

Barbarian is a horror written and directed by Zach Cregger, starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long.

Arnon Milchan, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules, and J.D. Lifshitz produced the film, which follows a young woman who finds out that the house she rented is accidentally double-booked with a man and learns a dark secret within the home.

21 October

The superhero actioner Black Adam is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. After nearly five thousand years of imprisonment, Black Adam, an antihero from the ancient city of Kahndaq, is unleashed into modern times.

His brute tactics and way of justice attract the attention of the Justice Society of America, who tries to stop his rampage, teach him how to be a hero more than a villain, and must team up to stop a force more powerful than Adam himself.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film stars Dwayne Johnson as the title character alongside Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, and Pierce Brosnan.

In Detective Knight: Rogue, Bruce Willis stars as veteran Detective James Knight, dedicated to navigating the demanding streets of Los Angeles, in this thrilling first of a trilogy of films.

As the city prepares for Halloween, mask-wearing armed robbers critically wound Knight’s partner in a shootout following a heist. With Knight in hot pursuit, the bandits flee L.A. for New York, where the detective’s dark past collides with his present case and threatens to tear his world apart…unless redemption can claim Knight first.

It is directed by Edward Drake and stars Trevor Gretzky and Beau Mirchoff.

28 October

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a live-action/animated musical comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon. It is an adaptation of the children's story of the same name by Bernard Waber.

When the Primm family (Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, Winslow Fegley) moves to New York City, their young son Josh struggles to adapt to his new school and new friends. All of that changes when he discovers Lyle - a singing crocodile (Shawn Mendes) who loves baths, caviar and great music-living in the attic of his new home.

Inspired by true events, Call Jane (28 Oct) captures the essence of late-Sixties social change via one woman’s quest to get a safe and legal abortion.

Joy’s (Elizabeth Banks) journey for a solution leads her to Virginia (Sigourney Weaver), an independent visionary fiercely committed to women’s health, and Gwen (Wunmi Mosaku), an activist who dreams of a day when all women will have access to abortion, regardless of their ability to pay.

Joy is so inspired by their work, she decides to join forces with them, putting every aspect of her life on the line. Directed by Phyllis Nagy.

The Devil’s Light is a supernatural horror about demonic possession. The exorcist at the heart of the film is a young nun, Sister Ann, who believes that performing exorcisms is her calling.

The church attempts to shut down this desire, as only priests are allowed to perform exorcisms, but Sister Ann is unswayed. She continues her pursuit, observing exorcisms and eventually trying to prove herself once she encounters a disturbed patient who she believes she can save.

Directed by Daniel Stamm, it stars Jacqueline Byers and Virginia Madsen.

In Ruben Östlund's wickedly funny Palme d'Or winner Triangle of Sadness (28 Oct) , social hierarchy is turned upside down, revealing the tawdry relationship between power and beauty.

Celebrity model couple, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson).

What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival.

Jack Absolute Flies Again is a rollicking new comedy by Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors) and Oliver Chris (Twelfth Night).

Set in 1940s pastoral Britain, the show is a hilarious wartime farce, with plenty of heart. After an aerial dog fight, Pilot Officer Jack Absolute flies home to win the heart of his old flame, Lydia Languish.

Back on British soil, Jack’s advances soon turn to anarchy when the young heiress demands to be loved on her own, very particular, terms. Emily Burns directs this spectacularly entertaining National Theatre production, featuring a cast including Caroline Quentin, Laurie Davidson, Natalie Simpson and Kelvin Fletcher.

Read more about the latest and upcoming films here.

About Daniel Dercksen

Daniel Dercksen has been a contributor for Lifestyle since 2012. As the driving force behind the successful independent training initiative The Writing Studio and a published film and theatre journalist of 40 years, teaching workshops in creative writing, playwriting and screenwriting throughout South Africa and internationally the past 22 years. Visit www.writingstudio.co.za
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