With Halloween season soon to be upon us, it should come as no surprise that some of the most anticipated movies of the month are horror flicks — three of which, according to picks from Rotten Tomatoes users, are the product of the terrifyingly imaginative minds at Blumhouse. But moviegoers aren’t only looking forward to scares at their local multiplex this month.
Apple TV+ has a major new theatrical release we’ll talk about below, along with the much-anticipated Taylor Swift concert film that her fans are especially excited for — particularly those who weren’t lucky enough to be able to snag a ticket to catch a show during her ongoing Eras Tour.
The October movies that everyone’s hyped for
The most anticipated movie picks in this post, by the way, were identified by activity from Rotten Tomatoes users across the review aggregation site’s various social media channels. And three of the movies below — The Exorcist: Believer, as well as Prime Video films Foe and Totally Killer — are being released this weekend.
Killers of the Flower Moon
We’ll start with what I suspect is the most anticipated movie of the month among cinephiles (setting aside the Taylor Swift concert film, which we’ll also come to and which is going to provide a huge shot in the arm for still-struggling theater operators).
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, perhaps the biggest Apple TV+ release of 2023, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival a few months ago to pretty rapturous reviews (it’s currently got a near-perfect 97% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes). With a cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, this three-and-a-half-hour period drama takes us back to the oil boom in turn-of-the-century Oklahoma, and it’s based on David Grann’s #1 New York Times bestseller of the same name.
The oil boom turned the members of the Osage Nation into some of the richest people in the world quite literally overnight. “The wealth of these Native Americans,” Apple’s official summary continues, “immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder.” Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on a true story, is also told through the romance of Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone). In theaters: Oct. 20.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
As far as other scary features go for the month of August, another upcoming movie Rotten Tomatoes users are anticipating is Five Nights at Freddy’s — adapted from the video game franchise of the same name about the animatronic robots at a restaurant that come to life and start causing mayhem. One of three movies on this list with a Blumhouse connection, here’s what to know about the story:
Josh Hutcherson plays Mike, a troubled man caring for his 10-year-old sister and still reeling from the disappearance of his younger brother years earlier. Mike was recently fired, and in his desperation to find a job, he takes a position as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria — where he soon discovers — surprise, surprise — nothing is as it seems. Release date: Oct. 27.
Foe
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Iain Reid, Prime Video’s upcoming Foe stars Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal in an exploration of marriage and identity. Per Prime Video:
“Hen and Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal … Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.” Release date: Oct. 6.
Totally Killer
This next Prime Video release is a collaboration with Blumhouse Television just in time for the Halloween season.
Totally Killer mixes slasher horror, comedy, time travel, and the outrageous culture of the 1980s, and it’s also the first genre film from director Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe, Fresh Off the Boat). From Prime Video’s official synopsis, the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” has resurfaced on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim — 35 years after the shocking murder of three other teens.
“Seventeen-year-old Jamie (Shipka) ignores her overprotective mom’s (Julie Bowen) warning and comes face-to-face with the masked maniac and, on the run for her life, accidentally time-travels to 1987, the year of the original killings. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar and outrageous culture of the 1980s, Jamie teams up with her teen mom (Holt) to take down the killer once and for all, before she’s stuck in the past forever.” Release date: Oct. 6.
The Exorcist: Believer
Speaking of Blumhouse, this next title on our list of the month’s most anticipated movies comes from Blumhouse and director David Gordon Green — a new chapter in The Exorcist franchise, timed to arrive e 50 years following the release of the original that became the most terrifying horror film in history. Based on the best-selling book by William Peter Blatty, the original Exorcist movie broke several box office records and also racked up 10 Academy Award nominations (including being the first horror film to get a Best Picture nod).
Per the official synopsis of The Exorcist: Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.” Release date: Oct. 6.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Last but not least, this next movie is going to bring in the biggest bucketload of cash in October, and everyone knows it.
It should come as no surprise that October’s list of the most anticipated movies also includes Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, the concert film that was recorded during the singer’s Eras Tour stop at SoFi stadium in California in August. It’s playing in theaters in more than 100 countries starting Oct. 13 — and, fun fact, the US adult tickets for the movie are priced at $19.89 (plus tax), which is a nod to the upcoming re-recorded version of Swift’s 2014 album 1989.
The forthcoming movie follows other Swift documentaries, including her Reputation tour concert film available on Netflix; her Netflix documentary Miss Americana; and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on Disney+. Release date: Oct. 13.
