It’s October at the movies, which means it’s time to get spooky and maybe offer up some potential award contenders. At least that’s the intention. This weekend does see the release of a “spooky film” (Other Mommy) and a movie that looks like an awards season project on the surface (The Social Reckoning), but the response to both movies may suggest that they miss the mark a bit. In addition to these wide releases, there are some offerings in limited release, while home viewing is a mix of some spooky TV (Carrie), Ben Affleck behind the camera on a Netflix flick (Animals), and the highest-grossing domestic release ever swinging onto digital (Spider-Man: Brand New Day), to name a few. There’s a little something for everyone, but it continues what has been an underwhelming October so far, at least at the multiplex.
What’s Opening In Theaters?
Likely to be a top choice due to its position on the spooky season calendar is Other Mommy, a supernatural psychological horror film directed by Rob Savage and written by Nathan Elston. In the film, which is based on the 2024 novel Incidents Around the House, Jessica Chastain stars as a mother who has to protect her young daughter (portrayed by Arabella Olivia Clark) from the “other mommy,” which is a supernatural entity that happens to look just like her. The movie also stars Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen.
Other Mommy generated considerable buzz over the summer when its first trailer was attached to showings of The Odyssey and scared the hell out of unsuspecting moviegoers not expecting to get a horror movie trailer attached to a Christopher Nolan epic. The image of Chastain all twisted up underneath a table proved to be a jump scare that got people talking, and suddenly Other Mommy looked poised to be another horror surprise in a year when the genre has been red hot. This all changed as the release date drew closer and closer. No press screenings. Very little press in general, and first reactions were scarce because Universal Pictures seemed to be holding that review embargo as long as they could. That’s never a good sign, and now that the film has been released, it seems like the studio knew they had another Blumhouse Productions stinker because the film sits with a rotten score of 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics calling it abysmal, ridiculous, and a disappointing miss considering the buzz the first trailer generated. Now, will this matter? Most likely not on opening weekend. Pre-sales were said to be good ahead of the reviews dropping and given its $19 million budget, it’ll have very little problems recouping its budget but one wishes that this one lived up to its promise and wasn’t another lazy release from the Blumhouse assembly line. Obsession this is not.
Adults and maybe even the Gen Z crowd might be interested in the release of The Social Reckoning, a sequel (or companion piece) to the 2010 instant masterpiece, The Social Network. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who penned the first film, The Social Reckoning dramatizes the 2021 Facebook leak initiated by whistleblower Frances Haugen (portrayed by Mikey Madison) and investigative technology reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), which showed that Facebook was aware of the harmful societal effects of its platforms but insisted on prioritizing profits over addressing how harmful some of these practices were. The film also stars Jeremy Strong, Bill Burr, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen, and Wunmi Mosaku.
Sorkin had discussed wanting to make a sequel to The Social Network for years, especially if it involved David Fincher, who helmed the first film. Then, when The Social Reckoning was announced, it was clear that Fincher would not be returning, and Sorkin would pull double duty as writer and director. While Sorkin wrote the Oscar-winning original screenplay for the first movie, this companion piece never quite generated the necessary excitement with the news that he would be stepping behind the camera. For many, The Social Network is a classic due to the marriage of Fincher’s direction and Sorkin’s writing, so with one missing, every bit of promotional material leading up to this film’s release has felt like a big part of the first movie’s creative energy was missing. Optimism remained until first reactions dropped, and while they weren’t dismal, they clearly indicated that The Social Reckoning was good but not great and wasn’t on the level of The Social Network (which went on to be nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture). After debuting in the fresh range earlier this week, the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score has dropped to 59 percent with 145 reviews counted, with most critics praising aspects of the film (the writing and some of the acting) while others can’t help but feel the movie just lives in the shadow of its predecessor. Will audiences respond? It’s tough to say. The Facebook stuff remains topical, but what a shame that its first reactions dropped around the same time as the reactions to Neon’s Artificial, which stars Andrew Garfield (of The Social Network fame), takes on Sam Altman and OpenAI, and was received far better from those who saw it at the New York Film Festival (95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with 20 reviews counted). The Social Network simply felt more groundbreaking with more to say while the narrative of The Social Reckoning, while still topical, feels too little, too late.
For those looking for a bit of action, the action thriller The Beast might be of some interest. Directed by Renny Harlin and written by Umair Aleem, The Beast focuses on unidentified militia groups who are coordinating a violent coup against the United States, which throws the president’s security detail into turmoil. During all of this, President Palladin (Samuel L. Jackson) finds himself behind the wheel of “The Beast”, the most secure presidential limousine known to man, while his Secret Service agent, Taft (Joel Kinnaman), struggles to survive in the backseat. Can President Palladin get back to his wife, save his country, and master the vehicle’s highly classified capabilities? Only one way to find out…
Everything about The Beast sounds like a throwback to action films of the ’80s and ’90s, which honestly feels like the intention. Harlin is honestly the best director for material like this, given his past with Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, and Deep Blue Sea (we see that Samuel L. Jackson union), because he can balance action with a little bit of cheese and handles it admirably. Reviews are decent for the material at 60 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with 15 reviews counted, with critics quick to point out that the film is silly but a shamelessly entertaining 99-minute diversion. Take that as you will.
Opening in limited release is Fjord, an award-contender legal thriller written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. The film follows a conservative Romanian-Norwegian couple who face scrutiny after moving to the wife’s more progressive, remote Norwegian hometown. The movie is loosely inspired by the true story of the Bodnariu family, who had their children forcefully taken from them by authorities while living in Norway. The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve.
Fjord had its premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 12-minute standing ovation and won the Palme d’Or, the Francois Chalais Prize, the FIPRESCI Prize, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and the Prix de la Citoyenneté (they clearly loved it there). Reviews coming out of the festival were glowing, with the film currently certified fresh at 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, as critics praised the film’s presentation of a tricky moral dilemma while not providing easy answers, in addition to raving about the movie’s performances. Fjord is going to be a major awards season player has officially been selected as the Romanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.
What To Watch At Home
Home viewing offers up some exciting choices. If you’re the only one on the planet who hasn’t seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s not out on digital, but television also gets exciting and spooky thanks to Mike Flanagan tackling yet another Stephen King story with a modern twist that proves it’s one of King’s entries that continues to remain relevant.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues Tom Holland’s exploits as the titular character following a three-film run that hit massive levels five years ago with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which grossed $1.9 billion at the global box office. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and from a screenplay by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up with Peter Parker (Holland) anonymously protecting New York City as Spider-Man, with everyone having forgotten that his real-life persona exists. As he investigates a new threat, his superpowers undergo changes that could prove dangerous. The film also stars Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, and Mark Ruffalo.
There was so much buzz and goodwill surrounding Spider-Man: Brand New Day that it delivered on with both critics and moviegoers. The movie opened to the biggest domestic opening of all time ($360 million) and broke several other records until it became the biggest domestic earner ever, with a current total of $955.2 million. With a global take of $2.507 billion and counting, Brand New Day is the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, the highest-grossing film of 2026, and the third highest-grossing film of all time. Brand New Day continued the trend of all the Holland Spider-Man films being certified in the 90 percent range, with the current movie landing right on that number, while the audience score is massive at 97 percent. What more can be said about Brand New Day? Fans will rediscover it before going out to buy the 4K when it comes out, and for the few who didn’t see it in theaters, they’ll find some time to get familiar with it at home.
Another Sony Pictures release hitting digital is Insidious: Out of the Further, the sixth installment of the Insidious franchise, written and directed by Jacob Chase. Serving as a sequel to 2023’s Insidious: The Red Door, the movie follows a young woman named Gemma (Amelia Eve) who discovers she can travel into a purgatorial realm known as the Further. Her gift becomes a curse when evil forces begin coming after her, and she realizes she can pull these malevolent spirits into the real world, which could prove catastrophic as they make our mortal world their personal playground. The film also stars Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, and Lin Shaye.
Despite varying degrees of quality, the Insidious franchise has been quite lucrative, pulling in over $744 million worldwide across five films, with them being made on a combined budget of roughly $60.5 million. The last film, Insidious: The Red Door, was the most successful to date, with a global tally of $186.3 million, so it comes as no surprise that they keep cranking these films out. Even though Out of the Further grossed a tad lower than its predecessor over the summer, it still pulled in an impressive $169.5 million worldwide on an $18 million budget. Reviews were where you’d expect (57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but fans prove that reviews don’t matter with the Insidious franchise. It’s like comfort food, and now it’s comfort food that can be consumed at home with this latest entry.
Hoping to find more of an audience on digital after a quick and not-so-lucrative box office run is Onslaught, directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. Onslaught follows an army sniper named Celeste (Adria Arjona) living in a trailer park as she struggles to protect her daughter from genetically enhanced super soldiers who have escaped from a secret military facility, with killing everyone in their path as their primary motivation. The film also stars Dan Stevens, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, and Rebecca Hall.
Onslaught looks like a throwback to the action films of the ’80s in its tone, and it’s said to be a hodgepodge of all the things that genre fans long for. It’s action-packed, full of gore, and features a capable and badass female lead alongside a slew of oddball characters that make the film far from dull. It also looks like a film meant to be a cult classic, and maybe it can find that love now because audiences ignored this one in theaters (it grossed a mere $3.1 million on a $15 million budget). Not all films are found in theaters, and this one feels built to be discovered at home.
Also available digitally is the South Korean action horror film Colony, written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho, with Choi Gyu-seok serving as co-writer. In the film, isolated survivors struggle to stay alive while trapped and quarantined in a building amidst an outbreak of the infected. The film stars Jun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rok, Shin Hyun-been, and Go Soo.
Colony had its premiere at the Midnight Screenings section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and received solid reviews, currently registering an 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with an even better 93 percent audience score. The big selling point of Colony is director Yeon Sang-ho, who helmed 2016’s Train to Busan, which has been a zombie staple since its release. Whether or not Colony holds up to that is a matter of opinion, but fans seem pleased, and now it’s available to be viewed at home to mix up your spooky season viewing.
Another film hitting digital is the survival thriller Fall 2: Deadpoint, directed by Peter and Michael Spierig and written by Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank. Fall 2: Deadpoint follows Jax Hunter (Harriet Slater), the older sister of Shiloh Hunter (Virginia Gardner) from the first film, who agrees to a tribute proposed by Shiloh’s friend, Luce (Arsema Thomas). The two will travel to Thailand to conquer a plank walk on Mount Kwan, but when a sudden rockslide leaves them trapped at a horrific height of 3,000 feet, they’ll be pushed to their very limit to survive. The film also stars Tom Brittney and Grace Caroline Currey.
Released in 2022, Fall garnered solid reviews (79 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) for its appeal as a minimalist, sustained adrenaline rush, while its box office was also good in relation to its budget ($21.8 million worldwide on a $3 million budget). The sequel was greenlit after Fall found even more success following its release on Netflix, so that’s why we’re getting another tale of fear at terrifying heights. The first film was highly effective as a one-off, but it seems like the sequel has overcomplicated things instead of maintaining that first movie’s simple premise. That being said, Fall 2: Deadpoint still did well in terms of its budget, outgrossing the first film with $25.6 million on a $3 million production cost. Reviews were mixed at 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it appears people like testing their fear of heights with these films.
Hitting Netflix is the crime thriller Animals, directed by Ben Affleck and written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray. Animals follows the son of a Los Angeles mayoral candidate being kidnapped, as he and his wife only have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. However, with most of their money having been spent on his political campaign, they have to get down in the dirt and expose a part of themselves that may see them just as morally compromised as the kidnappers. The film stars Affleck, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Mendez, and Steven Yeun.
Affleck, as a director, rarely misses (he’s forever goated due to Gone Baby Gone and The Town), so that’s why Animals, despite being a Netflix film, seemed promising. All of that changed when the reviews hit, and many were surprised that Affleck directed something that felt generic and made for TV (granted, it’s made for Netflix but doesn’t have to come off that way). Animals is rotten at 41 percent, with most critics saying it’s forgettable, although many say that Affleck does direct the film with urgency and gives some of the scenes the necessary tension they deserve. It’s bound to do well on the streamer, but definitely expected a bit more from this one.
Apple TV is hoping you’re feeling nostalgic for your childhood with Matchbox: The Movie, an action comedy based on the toy brand Matchbox by Mattel. Directed by Sam Hargrave and written by David Coggeshall, Matchbox: The Movie follows spy and former soldier Sean Walker (John Cena), who reunites with childhood friends only to find the reunion ruined when he’s drugged and kidnapped by a group looking for a nuclear warhead. The CIA thinks Sean and his friends stole the weapon, so they decide to re-steal the nuclear bomb and clear their names. The film also stars Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, and Teyonah Parris.
The movie has a solid cast and a director known for action (Hargrave helmed the Extraction movies), but it appears there’s a reason Apple TV didn’t go for a theatrical release with Matchbox: The Movie and decided to make it a streaming exclusive. Reviews are bad at 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics saying that the plot is loosely strung together to involve the brand and that it feels like a high-glossed TV commercial. That being said, it could be serviceable entertainment if you accept it for what it is.
Hitting Prime Video is the highly anticipated Carrie, a supernatural horror miniseries developed by Mike Flanagan and based on the 1974 novel by Stephen King of the same name. The miniseries follows Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), a teenage girl who has spent her life in seclusion and is suddenly subjected to the hell of high school after her father’s death. In the midst of this sudden life change, Carrie is also dealing with the emergence of her mysterious telekinetic powers, which will prove deadly as the torment of high school progresses. The series also stars Samantha Sloyan, Siena Agudong, Alison Thornton, Joel Oulette, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, Thalia Dudek, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard.
A lot is riding on Carrie because of Flanagan himself. He’s one of the biggest names in horror thanks to his films (Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Doctor Sleep) and especially his television output (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher). Flanagan’s name holds credibility, and he’s also someone who has been a pro at adapting some of King’s work (Gerald’s Game is another example). With Carrie, it looks like Flanagan has scored again, as it’s certified fresh at 85 percent and it so far holds a matching audience score. It’s the fourth screen adaptation of the novel, but critics say Flanagan adds some narrative flourishes to make his stand out. Carrie premiered on Oct. 7 on Prime Video, and all episodes are available for your binging pleasure.
Also of note is Below, a supernatural thriller miniseries available on Netflix. Created by Jesse McKeown, Below takes place in the remote Newfoundland town of Snook’s Arm, where the townspeople are terrorized by a mysterious sea creature. The miniseries stars Josh Hartnett, Mackenzie Davis, and Charlie Heaton.
First of all, we all continue to be here for the Josh Hartnett renaissance. Any project that allows him to continue to get work, we’ll welcome with open arms (even Verity). But fear not, Hartnett fans! At least critically, Below has seemed to deliver and is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 81 percent. Critics say it has classic creature feature tropes of the past, but it does some solid character work that makes its execution feel fresh. The audience score is 59 percent so far (perhaps some were expecting more mindless creature action), but it still seems like something to check out. Below premiered all six of its episodes on Oct. 8.
Check back next week when we keep you in the know about What To Watch!
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