October is all about the horror movies, and there’s plenty in cinemas to keep the scares up. There are two leaders for different types of horror fans, there’s Terrifier 3 for the hardcore sickos (like myself), but if you want some scare and gore without committing to what something like the Terrifier films offers, Smile 2 is looking like a good follow-up to the first film.
If horror movies aren’t your thing, plenty else is happening this month, including a few superhero-related movies. Joker: Folie à Deux will be one of the most watched films of the month, plus there’s one more DC-adjacent film with Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which looks like a guaranteed tear-jerker.
Here are all the new films coming to Australian cinemas in October 2024.
What films are you most excited to see in cinemas this month? Let me know in the comment section below.
OCTOBER 3
- I, The Executioner
Rookie detective Park Sun Woo and Seo Do-Cheol, a veteran of the Violent Crimes Investigation Division team chases after a serial killer who shakes up their world.
- Joker: Folie à Deux
Joaquin Phoenix returns to the role that earned him an Academy Award, reuniting with director Todd Phillips for this sequel to 2019’s Joker. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Institutionalised at Arkham, Arthur Fleck is awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.
- Stand By Me (2024)
Ma Liang, a wandering boy, met Xuan Xuan, a child who was forgotten by his family and had no one to care for him. The similar fate brought the two lonely teenagers closer and closer. They built a small home together in the wind and rain.
- The Critic
Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton and Mark Strong star in this story of ambition, blackmail and desire with an anti-hero at its dark heart. A whodunnit wrapped in a Faustian pact which winds tighter and tighter. Based on the novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn, the film follows an actress who finds herself in a dark situation involving a theatre critic and his paper’s editor in 1930s London.
OCTOBER 10
- Ghostlight
When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life. Nominated for the Audience Award at SXSW.
- Greedy People
Himesh Patel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lily James star in this crime comedy following the residents of a small island town who must navigate a sensational murder, the discovery of a million dollars, and a series of increasingly bad decisions.
- Hellboy: The Crooked Man
Jack Kesy (12 Strong) dons the horns as Hellboy, the rookie BPRD agent created by comic book artist Mike Mignola. Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia, Hellboy discovers a small community haunted by witches, led by the Crooked Man.
- High Forces
Gao Haojun, an international security expert, is hijacked by gunmen on the first flight of A380 airliner, and his blind daughter is one of the undercover hostages, a fact that he doesn’t know.
- My Hero Academia: You’re Next
Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki and the rest of U.A. High Class 1-A face off against Dark Might and the obscure crime organisation under his control, the Gollini Family.
- Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Never-before-seen home movies and extraordinary personal archives reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero. He learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe.
- Taklee Genesis
A scientist finds that her long-lost father is stuck in another dimension after mysteriously disappearing 30 years ago while trying to retrieve a Cold War-era teleportation device.
- Terrifier 3
The third Terrifier film, the fourth featuring disturbingly violent clown Art (who also featured in All Hallows’ Eve), and the first to be set during Christmas.
- The Apprentice (2024)
Emmy nominee Sebastian Stan plays a young Donald Trump opposite Emmy winner Jeremy Strong as his infamous lawyer Roy Cohn in this biographical drama examining how Trump started his real estate business in New York during the 1970s and ’80s. From the director of 2018 Oscar nominee Border.
- Vettaiyan
Bollywood action film following a retired police officer as he fights against the system.
OCTOBER 17
- Bocchi the Rock! Recap Part 1 & 2
Aki Hamaji’s coming-of-age manga sensation made its way to TV, which has now been re-edited into this feature-length movie. The story follows a high-school band, which led to an actual album called KESSOKU BAND which ascended the charts.
- From Hilde, With Love
Berlin, 1942. When the shy, heavily-pregnant Hilde Coppi (Liv Lisa Fries) is suddenly detained by the Gestapo, she pleads ignorance to their accusations that she has aided her lover, Hans (Johannes Hegemann), in transcribing coded radio transmissions to and from Moscow. However, it appears there’s more evidence against Hilde than she anticipated, given Hans and many of the other activists involved in their group – who will become known as Die Rote Kapelle (“The Red Orchestra”) – have also been arrested.
- He Ain’t Heavy
A desperate woman kidnaps and enforces rehab on her violent brother in a last-ditch effort to save their lives.
- Knox Goes Away (Assassin’s Plan)
Michael Keaton plays a contract killer diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia. Presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son, he must race against the police closing in on him as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind.
- Like My Brother
Filmed over 6 years, the documentary explores the different worlds that the girls must traverse from the remote Tiwi Islands to mainland Australia as they are selected by the Essendon Football Club for their talent and unique style of play.
- Memoir of a Snail
Jacki Weaver, Eric Bana and Sarah Snook lend their voices to this bittersweet Australian memoir from Academy Award-winning animator Adam Elliot (Mary and Max) centred on a melancholic woman who hoards snails, romance novels, and guinea-pigs. Winner of Best Feature at Annecy 2024.
- Smile 2
Naomi Scott (Aladdin) leads this sequel to the sleeper horror hit as a pop star who becomes the new target of the terrifying grinning infection.
- The Hopeful
Aboard a steamship sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in 1874, widower John Andrews delights the restless minds of his two children with a tale of courage, hope, war, and true love that begins with the end of the world.
- Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party
In 2024, the long-thought lost 16mm reels of Tom Petty in Cameron Crowe’s first film, Heartbreakers Beach Party, were finally found. The classic ‘80s documentary captures Tom Petty and the band in 1982-1983 as they finish, promote, and tour around the Long After Dark album (their final with legendary producer Jimmy Iovine).
After its initial airing on MTV in 1983, the film was deemed too experimental and abruptly pulled from the air. In the more than 40 years since, it has become folklore to fans, musicians and within the entertainment industry – even credited with inspiring scenes in Spinal Tap. This exclusive theatrical release features 19 minutes of fully remastered, never-before-seen, archival bonus footage and new commentary from director Cameron Crowe.
OCTOBER 24
- A Different Man
Sebastian Stan stars in this Berlin Golden Bear-nominated A24 film as a man who, after undergoing a facial reconstructive surgery, becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
- Lee (2024)
Kate Winslet leads this biopic as photographer Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) and Oscar-nominee Andrea Riseborough (Birdman) alongside Emmy-winners Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman) and Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).
- My Freaky Family
On the cusp of her 13th birthday, Betty Flood – budding musician and magical being – just wants to be like the rest of her fabulous, but very different family, so why is her magical Mum so against it? As Betty wrestles with this, she also learns the amazing truth about her family and discovers that the not so normal, the magical and the musical are all a part of her fabulously freaky family.
- Venom: The Last Dance
Tom Hardy returns for this third Venom film, as does BAFTA-nominated writer Kelly Marcel who also directs. Also stars Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) and three-time Emmy nominee Juno Temple (Ted Lasso).
- Amaran
Biopic following the personal and professional life of AC awardee Major Mukund Varadarajran who was martyred during action in the Qazipathri Operation of Shopian, on April 25th, 2014.
- Here
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright play a couple throughout the ages in this odyssey through time and memory from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). The story’s centered around a place in New England where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
- My Favourite Cake
Mahin lives alone in Tehran since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalize her love life.
- Saturday Night
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) helms this depiction of the down-to-the-wire lead-up to the recording of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. Set at 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, the film follows a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers in the 90 minutes leading up to a broadcast that would change television forever.
- The Moogai
A young Aboriginal couple brings home their second baby. What should be a joyous time takes a sinister turn, as the baby’s mother starts seeing a malevolent spirit she is convinced is trying to take her baby.
- The Red (2024)
In the remote outback town of Axehead, terror takes the form of Rippy, a monstrous giant zombie kangaroo, in this Aussie creature feature horror.
- There’s Still Tomorrow
In post-war Italy, the family of typical housewife Delia is in turmoil over the impending engagement of beloved firstborn Marcella. The arrival of a mysterious letter, however, will ignite Delia’s courage to face her abusive husband and imagine a better future.
- Weekend in Taipei
An ex-DEA agent and a former undercover operative revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.
Is there anything missing from this list? If so, let me know, and I’ll add it!
You can also check out what’s coming to streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and more on our ‘What’s Streaming’ page.
[Descriptions & cinema dates gathered from Flicks.com.au & IMDB]
