Indie Film Release Guide: October 6th [An ONTD Original]
This weekend is much busier for new releases than anyone would have guessed a month or two ago. With Taylor Swift taking over theaters next weekend, many studios seemed to have come to the conclusion that arriving to theaters before she does was preferable to competing head to head. The only big studio new release is Universal’s The Exorcist: Believer, but there are plenty of indies available for your theatrical and at home consumption.
The films listed are from studios other than the “Big Five” - Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Note that some of the movies listed are in their first week or two of limited release in the USA, so it may take them a few more weeks (or months) to show up in your local arthouse theater or on VOD. Check out the posts from the past few weeks for more movies that may have just opened near you: September 29th, September 22nd, and September 15th.
The Royal Hotel
Click to viewStars: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Ursula Yovitch
Writer: Kitty Green, Oscar Redding
Director: Kitty Green
Genre: Thriller
Plot: US backpackers Hanna and Liv take a job in a remote Australian pub for some extra cash and are confronted with a bunch of unruly locals and a situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
What you should know: Based on the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie.
Where to watch: In theaters
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise
Director: Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle, Karen O’Connor
Genre: Documentary, Music
Storyline: At the end of a 60-year career, legendary singer and activist Joan Baez takes an honest look back and a deep look inward as she tries to make sense of her large, history-making life, and the personal struggles she's kept private.
What you should know: Picked up a couple of nominations on the film festival circuit.
Where to watch: In theaters, and available VOD
Dicks: The Musical
Stars: Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally
Writer: Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp
Director: Larry Charles
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Plot: A pair of business rivals discover that they're identical twins and decide to swap places in an attempt to trick their divorced parents to get back together.
What you should know: Won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at TIFF 2023.
Where to watch: In select theaters; expands on October 20th
The Burial
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett, Alan Ruck
Writer: Doug Wright, Maggie Betts, Jonathan Harr
Director: Maggie Betts
Genre: Drama
Plot: A lawyer helps a funeral home owner save his family business from a corporate behemoth, exposing a complex web of race, power, and injustice.
What you should know: Alexander Payne was originally attached to direct.
Where to watch: In theaters; on Amazon Prime October 13th
She Came to Me
Stars: Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei, Evan Ellison
Writer/Director: Rebecca Miller
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Plot: A composer with an unfinished opera, a spiritually conflicted psychiatrist, a free-spirited tugboat captain collide on an unpredictable voyage into uncharted waters.
What you should know: Director Rebecca Miller also directed 2015’s Maggie’s Plan.
Where to watch: In theaters
Cat Person
Stars: Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Geraldine Viswanathan, Isabella Rossellini
Writer: Michelle Ashford, Kristen Roupenian
Director: Susanna Fogel
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Plot: When Margot, a college sophomore goes on a date with the older Robert, she finds that IRL Robert doesn't live up to the Robert she has been flirting with over texts. A razor-sharp exploration of the horrors of dating.
What you should know: Based on the viral New Yorker short story of the same name.
Where to watch: In theaters
Totally Killer
Stars: Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Charlie Gillespie, Lochlyn Munroe
Writer: David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, Jen D’Angelo
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Plot: When the infamous "Sweet Sixteen Killer" returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.
What you should know: Director Nahnatchka Khan directed Always Be My Maybe and Fresh Off the Boat.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
When Evil Lurks
Stars: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater, Luis Ziembrowski
Writer/Director: Demián Rugna
Genre: Horror
Plot: In a remote village, two brothers find a demon-infected man just about to give birth to evil itself. They decide to get rid of the man but merely succeed in helping him to deliver the inferno.
What you should know: It’s in Spanish.
Where to watch: In theaters
Foe
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre
Writer/Director: Garth Davis
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot: 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 shows up at their door with a startling proposal.
What you should know: Based on the story by Iain Reid.
Where to watch: In theaters
V/H/S 85
Stars: Freddy Rodríguez, Jordan Belfi, Chelsey Grant, Alex Galick
Writer: C. Robert Cargill, Zoe Cooper, Scott Derrickson, Evan Dickson, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero
Director: David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Plot: Unveiled through a made-for-TV documentary, five tales of found footage horror emerge to take viewers on a terrifying journey into the grim underbelly of the 1980s.
What you should know: Follows 2012’s V/H/S.
Where to watch: Shudder
More New Releases
The Exorcist: Believer (Trailer) from Universal
A Very Good Girl (Trailer)
Monsters of California (Trailer)
Mister Organ (Trailer)
Plan C (Trailer)
Mercy Road (Trailer)
My Love Affair with Marriage (Trailer)
Miranda’s Victim (Trailer)
New to Streaming
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (Trailer) on Showtime
Pet Semetary: Bloodlines (Trailer) on Paramount
Fair Play (Trailer) on Netflix
The Boogeyman (Trailer) on Hulu
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What have you been watching lately, ONTD? Seeing anything this weekend?