Most Anticipated Films Of October 2022!

September flew by pretty quickly so now we are reaching the home stretch! October is my favorite month of the year and like previous years this month has a lot of good stuff to look forward to! As usual I’ll go over the movies I’ve already seen that I recommend and then we will get into the list.

Piggy – October 7th (Theaters I believe) and October 14th (VOD) – A Disturbing little movie Spanish and French horror movie that I saw back at Sundance 2022, it has some pretty neat commentary on bullying and some effective atmosphere!

Bitch Ass – October 14th (VOD) – Bitch Ass is one of those it’s so bad it’s hilarious movies, I gave it a 6/10 simply because I had such a fun time with it because it understands how to have fun. It’s a fun little slasher movie that I recommend watching with friends.

Slash/Back – October 21st (VOD) A simple but decent little sci-fi movie it has a lot of Attack The Block vibes to it so this is one to check out if you liked that one.

Now on to the list!

29. Bring It On: Cheer Or Die – October 8th (Syfy Channel) – Yes you read that right the Bring It On series is taking a new direction and going into the horror genre. This will be the seventh installment in the series (I have yet to see any but the first movie might check the series out this week) I don’t expect this movie to be good since it is going to premiere on the Syfy channel, but this is a case of my curiosity being very interested.

28. Spirit Of Halloween: The Movie – October 11th (VOD) – I appreciate these types of horror movies still being a thing, you know the kid friendly horror (although it is rated PG-13 the trailer has a Goosebumps like feel to it) I’m also a bit interested to see how they use the premise!

27. Old Man – October 14th (VOD)

26. Black Adam – October 21st (Theaters) – The only reason why I’m excited is because I like the whole premise of a film focusing on an Anti-Hero and fighting the heroes, the very least I hope Black Adam is a fun time as a lot of the comic book films this year have been a mess in terms of quality.

25. Rosaline – October 14th (Hulu)

24. Lyle Lyle Crocodile – October 7th (Theaters) – Potentially could be a lot of fun, I’m also very into the idea of Shawn Mendes voicing a crocodile.

23. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone – October 5th (Netflix) – Another Stephen King adaption, hopefully this one is better than the last one we got this year (Firestarter 2022)

22. Werewolf By Night – October 7th (Disney+) – One of the few things Marvel has coming up that I’m actually interested in, the trailer was a lot of fun and felt a bit campy here’s to hoping the same can be said for the movie.

21. Dark Glasses – October 13th (Shudder)

20. Wendell & Wild – October 28th (Netflix)

19. Run Sweetheart Run – October 28th (Amazon Prime Video)

18. Significant Other – October 7th (Paramount+) – Maika Monroe has already hit it out of the park with Watcher which released a back in June, the trailer seems promising with this one!

17. Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind – October 11th (VOD) – So far the animated Mortal Kombat movies have been quite fun Scorpion’s Revenge (2020) was a very solid film that did the franchise justice and Battle Of The Realms (2021) while not as good as the previous movie it was still a solid fun time! Here’s hoping Snow Blind is just as good.

16. God’s Country – October 14th (VOD)

15. Till – October 14th (Theaters) – There’s been a lot of talk about Danielle Deadwyler’s performance, the film had it’s first reactions over the weekend and while the movie itself is apparently great but is on the weak side at times Deadwyler’s performance is apparently fantastic. Which makes me all the more excited.

14. Holy Spider – October 28th (Theaters)

13. Stars At Noon – October 14th (Theaters and VOD platforms) – Haven’t heard the best things about this movie but between Claire Denis and Margaret Qualley I can’t help but be excited for this one.

12. The Good Nurse – October 26th (Netflix)

11. Halloween Ends – October 14th (Theaters and Peacock) – I’m one of those people who loved Halloween Kills so I’m pretty excited for Halloween Ends, it will be interesting to see how the film closes the whole Laurie Strode and Michael Myers chapter!

10. V/H/S/99 – October 20th (Shudder) – After a really solid sequel from last year (V/H/S/94) I’m very interested to see how this one will be, as long as it stays away from being like VHS Viral this should be great.

9. Terrifier 2 – October 6th (Theaters) – A sequel that I’ve been waiting for awhile now, early reactions say it’s just as good if not better than the first movie!

8. Armageddon Time – October 28th (Theaters) – Between the cast, James Gray and the trailer there is so much to look forward to with this film.

7. All Quiet On The Western Front – October 28th (Netflix)

6. The Banshees Of Inisherin – October 21st (Theaters)

5. Hellraiser – October 7th (Hulu) – After the first reactions which came out recently, I’m very excited for this one! It looks like a breath of fresh air for the series that it most definitely needs.

4. Aftersun – October 21st (Theaters)

3. Decision To Leave – October 14th (Theaters)

2. Triangle Of Sadness – October 7th (Theaters)

1. TAR – October 7th (Theaters)…..just looks absolutely stunning!!

Which films are you excited for?

On The Come Up is a flawed but touching movie.

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Facing controversies and with an eviction notice staring down her family, Bri doesn’t just want to make it, she has to make it.

On The Come Up is a decently interesting little movie that has some really great talent here. Jamila C. Gray as the lead is truly phenomenal here especially during the third act where she gives an emotional and powerful performance. Method Man is also pretty strong here as well, Sanaa Lathan in the director’s chair is also quite great. Particularly with the third act that is truly a nice way to wrap up the movie, the movie does suffer from pacing issues particularly with the first two acts that are slow and do feel a bit formulaic. The rapping scenes are truly fantastic and lead to some pretty memorable moments, outside of those moments though the first two acts are not necessarily bad just a bit familiar. The third act as said before is quite fantastic and lead to some touching moments that make the film worth it. I definitely want to see more from Jamila C. Gray as an actress!

On The Come Up is available on Paramount+

6/10 C+

My Best Friend’s Exorcism is a mash of 80s horror nostalgia bait and unfunny humor.

In 1988 best friends Abby and Gretchen navigate boys, pop culture and a paranormal force clinging to Gretchen. With help from a mall exorcist, Abby is determined to compel the demon back to the pits of hell — if it doesn’t kill Gretchen first.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism has some really interesting ideas but doesn’t do nearly enough with them, Elsie Fisher and Amiah Miller are hands down the best part of the movie. They work with the script they are given and make the most of it, there’s some decent shots here and there that compliment the movie fine enough as well. The main issue here is the writing which has no idea what it wants to be…a horror movie or a horror comedy, the comedy is just not funny at all. A lot of it is jokes that try yo bring this 80s horror movie feel to it but completely fall flat due to this whole 80s horror vibes being very overdone at this point. It’s perfectly fine to have an 80s horror movie throwback film but you can’t just expect it to succeed without doing anything with it. It just sort of exists here and underneath all of that is a familiar exorcism story we have seen countless times before, it’s a shame because I hear the book the movie is based on is quite enjoyable and had the writing been a lot more focused this could have ended up being a very fun movie.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism is available on Amazon Prime Video.

4/10 D+

Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial….why?

Follows the tumultuous relationship in and out of court of Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

I knew someone was going to jump at the chance of capitalizing off of the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial, what I did not expect was it to be this soon. Hot Take: The Depp/Heard trial is a Tubi original movie that was announced a few days before release (as far as I know) at first I thought it was some sort of documentary or maybe just someone sharing their opinion about the trail. But it’s actually a biopic (sort of) of the trial, what I don’t get is the name. “Hot Take” implies that the movie is going to say something against an opinion many people have, yet the movie never does that it simply plays out the events of what happened during the trial even throwing in moments that a lot of people remember. It does this back and forth between the present and the past of Heard and Depp’s relationship, the movie itself is just garbage there’s no other way to describe it. There’s no effort, soul or any sort of thought put into it at all. The movie attempts to try and throw in Tiktok humor into it, which I do agree that there definitely is a conversation to be had about how Tiktoker’s and some social media influencers profited off of the case in very gross ways. But that’s not what the movie is doing here, it’s throwing random shady comments that the writers thought were hilarious. The acting is just not good at all, while there might be one or two moments where Mark Hapka and Megan Davis play Johnny Depp and Amber Heard fine enough, those moments are quickly destroyed with either going way too over the top or have the energy of a terrible YouTube fan film. Overall if you are going to watch the trial, watch it on YouTube how anyone thought this was a good idea is truly baffling. Whether you supported Johnny Depp or Amber Heard I think everyone can agree that this movie is horrendous.

Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial is available on Tubi.

Disgrace To Cinema F

They Crawl Beneath a blend of family drama and creatures

Danny is working on a classic car at his uncle’s remote ranch when a major earthquake hits. While trapped and bloodied under the vehicle, he thinks this claustrophobic nightmare can’t get any worse, until his screams for help release something truly horrifying from the cracks in the ground. He must now engage in a terrifying and brutal fight for his life.

There was definitely potential here with They Crawl Beneath but the movie misses it’s mark, the whole one location element is pretty decent plus having a man trapped after an earthquake while a creature is after him is quite interesting. There’s definitely moments here that work well, but unfortunately uninteresting family drama that is shoehorned into the movie and completely stops this movie in it’s tracks. It comes right out of nowhere and isn’t relevant to the story being told, it would be one thing if the characters were interesting or anything really came of it but neither of which happen. It feels like they wanted to make two completely different movies so they mixed two scripts together, the parts with the creature are at least fun but it isn’t worth sitting around dull family drama.

They Crawl Beneath releases tomorrow on all VOD platforms.

3/10 D-

Quick Review: Croc (2022)

Deep in the English countryside, Lisa and Charlie prepare for their wedding at a Tudor mansion. But an angry crocodile lies in wait, determined to ruin their big day.

Croc is about the same as Sewer Gators which came out earlier this year, both in terms of quality and that it’s laughably bad. Even though Croc isn’t as funny mainly due to the movie taking itself a bit seriously at times, the sex scenes in particular are so laughably bad that you can’t just help but laugh. Outside of that it’s a very bad killer animal movie that does exactly what you expect it to, I’m sure this is the type of movie that you would get a good laugh at with friends, it’s poorly acted and written to the point where it needs to be seen to be believed.

Croc releases tomorrow on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F

Smile takes on the topic of mental illness and trauma in very different ways.

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. 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.

Going into Smile I was fully expecting this to be a very forgettable studio horror movie that would be forgotten in less then a week….that’s not the case here. Smile might not be original as it does borrow from It Follows but the movie doesn’t care, it makes the concept of It Follows it’s own while actually touching on the subjects of trauma and mental illness plus how it can affect different people. A main part of this film’s strength comes from Sosie Bacon’s performance, she’s truly fantastic and completely dives deep into her role. There’s actually moments where she hits some emotional parts as well that compliment the film’s themes quite well, there’s some really strong camerawork that works mainly due to the very creepy atmosphere. The atmosphere has a very mystery type feel to it one where anything could happen at any given moment, it’s truly creepy and keeps the viewer invested into the film. The mystery element to the film is quite great as well, it makes for a very fun yet very well written rollercoaster ride that you never want to get off. There are a few jumpscares here that are unfortunately ruined by the trailer of the film, however that isn’t enough to stop the film from being genuinely creepy. Smile is definitely one of this year’s biggest surprises, what could have been a by the numbers studio horror movie that would leave the viewers mind in less than a week, ends up being a very strong film that uses the topics of mental Illness and trauma in creative ways.

Smile releases tomorrow in theaters

9/10 A

The Woman King is a breath of fresh air for blockbusters.

In the 1800s, a group of all-female warriors protects the African kingdom of Dahomey with skills and fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Faced with a new threat, Gen. Nanisca trains the next generation of recruits to fight against a foreign enemy that’s determined to destroy their way of life.

The Woman King is a breath of fresh air when it comes to blockbusters, the film is a lot like Gladiator and Braveheart mainly from it’s cinematography and how the film itself is presented. One of the main parts that completely sell this movie is the cast and their tremendous performances mainly Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega and Thuso Mbedu all of which deliver powerful and truly fantastic performances which each of them add to the film. Viola Davis is already a powerhouse actress but here she ups it notch and delivers one of the best of her career, theres a great nuance to her performance of playing a warrior as well as someone who has a ton of past trauma. The cinematography combined with the action scenes are masterfully crafted, there’s a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the action scenes. Adding depth to the battles as well as making the different settings compliment each battle, there’s also a strong atmosphere that once again compliments and blends itself into the film beautifully. You also have Gina Prince-Bythewood’s direction which like the rest of the film compliments it really well, between the characters and the very well written script there’s so much to Bythewood’s direction that completely makes the film. Overall The Woman King is quite fantastic, it’s a huge film that is masterfully made and has some of this year’s best performances.

The Woman King is available in theaters.

10/10 A+

The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a decent movie about a wild true story.

In 1967, John “Chickie” Donohue leaves New York to track down his army buddies in Vietnam and share a few beers with them, but instead is confronted with the horrors of the war.

I went to the “Regal Mystery Screening” which basically the premise is that it’s a movie that hasn’t been released yet, when I saw the Apple TV+ logo pop up on the screen I knew immediately what it was going to be. The Greatest Beer Run Ever tells the crazy true story of John “Chickie” Donohue during the Vietnam war the guy decided to go deliver his friends who are fighting in the war beer in Vietnam to show that his town supports them. It’s a truly interesting story that that I found quite fascinating, the movie does a decent job of telling the story. Zac Efron is truly great here, while it did take about 20 minutes to get use to his performance (it comes off as annoying during the first 10 minutes) after that he delivers so much charm to his performance, Russell Crowe plays Arthur Coates a photographer/journalist during the war, while he doesn’t get a huge part up until the third act he still quite incredible. He really puts in a lot of power and emotion that really sells his part, speaking of the third act that’s by far the strongest part about it. During the third act Donohue learns a lot about the great horrors of war, such as politicians/the government lying and witnessing civilians being killed. There’s some very powerful moments here that are truly fantastic and actually made me shed a tear, what is a bit baffling however is how the majority of the movie plays out as a comedy. Sure there’s some war stuff in between the comedy, but those particular scenes are played for laughs unlike the ones in the third act. I completely understand what the movie was trying to go for here, but I don’t think it balances out all that well. For what the comedy is there are some pretty decent jokes here that did get a few laughs out of me, to be completely fair though I would imagine it would be sort of a challenge to make a movie about a guy going to Vietnam to deliver beer to his friends without using comedy. So it’s not necessarily the comedy that’s the problem it’s mostly some of the jokes not being very funny and the third act being far more interesting in comparison. Overall The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a decent movie about a pretty insane true story, I definitely think the movie could have elaborated more on Donohue’s change from being pro war to questioning what is going on during wars, as it does feel like the movie ends right when we are about to get some more information on that.

The Greatest Beer Run Ever releases tomorrow on Apple TV+

6/10 C+

The Munsters has it’s moments but tries too hard to capture the spirit of the original show.

Lily is a typical 150-year-old lovelorn vampire who’s looking for the man of her nightmares — until she lays her eyes on Herman, a 7-foot-tall green experiment with a heart of gold. It’s love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet for each other in a Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily’s father has other plans for his beloved daughter’s future, and they don’t involve her new bumbling beau.

Rob Zombie’s The Munsters is a prime example of a movie where I can see what the director was going for but didn’t end up fully working. It’s clear that Rob Zombie wanted to capture what made the original show so great and at at times he actually did. Some of the sets were quite great and some of the humor actually worked pretty well. There’s some puns in there that made me laugh (I might be biased because I love puns and dad jokes) plus the cast was actually not terrible here, Daniel Roebuck as The Count was hands down the standout. He really did a great job of capturing the character while making the role his own, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Sheri Moon Zombie aren’t bad but every time they share a scene with Roebuck he completely steals the scene, but as I said they aren’t bad in fact they are decent in their own ways. What kills this movie is mainly the pacing and the color that gets to be way too much to the point where it becomes distracting. The color often feels very cheap and feels like it’s about to sell you the newest Halloween costumes at your local Party City, the pacing is dreadfully slow that completely kills a lot of scenes. There’s some scenes that drag out for way too long and end up not really adding anything to the plot, there was definitely charm and some passion put into the movie, but it’s not enough to save The Munsters from being way too slow paced and not very well written.

The Munsters is available on Netflix.

4/10 D+