The best films to see in cinemas in October: from ‘Frankenstein’ to a Bruce Springsteen biopic

It’s all change in the Grid for this sequel to the reboot to the ’80s sci-fi classic. Nine Inch Nails steps in for Daft Punk to provide the score, Jared Leto and Jodie Turner-Smith are the villains, and Jeff Bridges is back in some capacity as TRON OG Flynn. We don’t know if it’ll be any good yet, but it’ll definitely look and sound amazing.

Out Oct 10

Funny, heartfelt and likely to teach you a new word or two, this Tourette’s drama follows the inspiring true story of Scotsman John Davidson from boyhood diagnosis to adulthood as he turns the challenges of his condition into something life-affirming. Scott Ellis Watson plays him as a teenager and The Rings of Power’s Robert Aramayo as an adult. Both are exceptional.

Out Oct 10

Channing Tatum plays ex-US Army reservist Jeffrey Manchester, who holed up in his local Circuit City after robbing a series of McDonald’s outlets. The other bizarro, true-life crime caper of the month (see also: The Mastermind), Roofman looks like a fun spin on the fugitive thriller. Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn and Peter Dinklage co-star with the Magic Mike man.

Out Oct 17

The Black Phone’s ending seemed to have precluded a sequel, but Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber is clearly made of sterner stuff and he’s back for more telephonic terrors. So, too, does The Gorge and Sinister director Scott Derrickson. The horror maven seems to have returned to his horror roots after a dip into the Marvelverse with Doctor Strange. Expect him to mine more scares from this ghostly scenario. 

Out Oct 17

Luca Guadagnino’s new #MeToo drama played to mixed reviews at the Venice Film Festival, but its themes of sexual abuse and cross-generational strife on a US college campus should still make it an attention-grabbing proposition this month. Julia Roberts is a professor whose close friend and colleague (Andrew Garfield) is accused of assault by a star student (Ayo Edebiri).

Out Oct 17

The monster movie Guillermo del Toro has been waiting to make his whole life, this classic horror should be reanimated from the pages of Mary Shelley with all the Mexican’s trademark love and gothic touches. Oscar Isaac is the monstrous Victor Frankenstein and Saltburn’s Jacob Elordi is the deeply human Creature he unleashes on an unsuspecting world.

Out Oct 17

Lawrence Osborne’s haunting 2014 novel is Leaving Las Vegas decamped to contemporary China. It’s the story of an English expat gambler, Lord Doyle, embracing self-destruction at the baccarat tables of Macao. Edward ‘Conclave’ Berger’s adaptation stars Colin Farrell and adds Tilda Swinton’s dogged private investigator to Osborne’s tale.

Out Oct 17

An army of Spring-stans will be praying that The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White has nailed their blue-collar rock god in this dramatisation of his pre-breakthrough toils. The story, based on Warren Zanes’s 2023 book, zooms in on The Boss’s Nebraska era. Stephen Graham, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser and Mothering Sunday’s Odessa Young provide support.

Out Oct 24

The title is strictly ironic. Josh O’Connor is James Blaine ‘JB’ Mooney, the most hapless criminal since Jerry Lundegard in a ’70s heist drama that’s embroidered with comic touches and a satisfying sense of post-Vietnam drift. American auteur Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow star John Magaro is part of a supporting cast that also boasts Bill Camp and Hope Davis as Mooney’s exasperated parents. 

Out Oct 24

Yorgos Lanthimos released arguably his best and worst movies in less than a year, so it’s hard to gauge the fervor for his next project, a remake of a 2003 South Korean film about two men who kidnap a pharmaceutical CEO they believe is an alien in disguise. But adventurous cinephiles should treat everything the Greek does as an event – especially when Jesse Plemons and his muse Emma Stone are involved.

Out Oct 31