I can’t believe October is already over! It was quite a month. Over on the Classic Film Collective patreon I recommended The Velvet Vampire and wrote a poem about Lon Chaney. Making my debut at Inverse I wrote about the queer subtext of Venom becoming text in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. For Nerdist I wrote about toxic masculinity in The Rage: Carrie 2, reviewed Ghostbusters: After Life, recommended some classic Japanese horror films, and the folk horror of The Wind (2019). For The Playlist I compiled a list of the best films and TV episodes about abortion access and women’s bodily autonomy, reviewed Julie Delpy’s new series On The Verge and the new YA series I Know What You Did Last Summer. I reviewed The Souvenir Part II, I profiled Leslie Jones for Emmy Mag, and spoke to Caroline Madden about her book Springsteen As Soundtrack on the latest episode of Prog Save America. For Nerdist I compiled a list of 20 new horror movies directed by women, interviewed cinematographer Marie Rusche, Marisa Silver about the new restoration of her mother’s film Hester Street, and Wendell B. Harris, Jr. about the restoration of his masterpiece Chameleon Street. Lastly, for my column I spoke to director Julia Ducournau about Titane, Maritte Lee Go about her Blumhouse film Black As Night, Claudia Llosa and Samanta Schweblin about their film Fever Dream, Liz Garbus about her latest doc Becoming Cousteau, and Joanna Hogg about The Souvenir Part II. I also launched an Instagram account dedicated to bookstores in cinema!

Now that you’re all caught up on that, as always you can find everything I watched in October plus a handful of favorites after the cut!

1. Mayday
2. Witch Hunt
3. Bingo Hell
4. Black As Night
5. The Many Saints of Newark
6. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
7. Stranded
8. The Goose and the Gander
9. King of the Underworld
10. Jokeren
11. Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón (Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom)
12. Laberinto de pasiones (Labyrinth of Passion)
13. Le bolle di sapone
14. Cenerentola
15. Bigorno fume l’opium
16. La mosca e il ragno
17. Il Giglio Nero
18. The Man from Kangaroo
19. Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits)
20. An Old Fashioned Boy
21. Guilty Hands
22. British Agent
23. I Found Stella Parish
24. Give Me Your Heart
25. Fool’s Paradise (1921)
26. The White Angel
27. Confession
28. Allotment Wives
29. Kika
30. Carne trémula (Live Flesh)
31. Geomsa-wa yeoseonsaeng (A Public Prosecutor and a Teacher)
32. Moon Over Miami
33. The Haunting of Rosalind
34. Le ménage Dranem
35. Phil-for-Short
36. Knackningar (Knocking)
37. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
38. Moral
39. ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?!)
40. Love of Chrysanthemum
41. Ito, the Beggar Boy
42. Hako’s Sacrifice
43. Maciste all’inferno (Maciste in Hell)
44. Tacones lejanos (High Heels)
45. La Concejala Antropófaga (The Cannibalistic Councillor)
46. Down Argentine Way
47. Gold Dust Gertie
48. Central Park (1932)
49. The Case of the Black Cat
50. Chatterbox (1936)
51. The Hidden Hand
52. Track of the Cat
53. Mystery Date
54. The Hypnotic Eye
55. Strange Affair (1944)
56. Flames
57. Hooligan Sparrow
58. Japanese Schoolchildren (1901)
59. Japanese Funeral (1904)
60. Japanese State Procession (1904)
61. Japanese Dancers and Japanese Stave Duel (1905)
62. Picturesque Japan (1907)
63. Les Rapides de la rivière Ozu (Shooting the rapids on the River Ozu) (1907)
64. Grand Fête du cinquantenaire de Yokohama (Japanese Festival) (1909)
65. Récolte du riz en Japon (Rice industry in Japan) (1910)
66. Rice Festival in Kyoto (1910)
67. Fishing with Cormorants. Isle of Yeso, Japan (1911)
68. Quelques types Japonais (Japanese Types) (1911)
69. Apres midi d’une Japonaise (Among the Japanese) (1911)
70. London: Late Emperor of Japan (1912)
71. A travers les temples de Kyoto (Some Japanese Temples) (1912)
72. The Ainus of Japan (1913)
73. Distancia de rescate (Fever Dream)
74. Chameleon Street
75. Comanche Station
76. Decision at Sundown
77. Trick Or Treat (1986)
78. Office Killer
79. Bones
80. Buchanan Rides Alone
81. Waterfront
82. The Personality Kid
83. Journal of a Crime
84. Secret of the Chateau
85. Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
86. Murder in the Blue Room
87. The 9th Guest
88. The Thirteenth Guest
89. Maniac (1934)
90. A Passport to Hell
91. Man of the World
92. Lonely Wives
93. The Man Who Would Be King
94. Deep Cover
95. La bestia debe morir
96. The Thing Called Love
97. Wedding Rehearsal
98. In the Best Interests of the Children
99. The Dead
100. A Walk with Love and Death
101. An Algorithm
102. William Eggleston in the Real World
103. Possession (1981)

1880s:0
1890s: 0
1900s: 10
1910s: 17
1920s: 06
1930s: 25
1940s: 07
1950s: 04
1960s: 03
1970s: 03
1980s: 08
1990s: 07
2000s: 03
2010s: 02
2020s: 08

I spent most of October in bed recovering from a (non-covid) medical issue, so you can see I watched A LOT of random 1930s films. That said, most of the films that really hit me in October were either silents or from the 1980s. October as always was a great month for silent film because of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (which did a hybrid online/in-person festival this year), but also thanks to the BFI which had an amazing selection of early 1900s films shot in Japan streaming on their YouTube channel.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage, 2021 (dir. Andy Serkis)

Obviously I looooved this sequel. You can read all about what worked for me in my full review here. I’ll just say I hope the third keeps this same bonkers energy. We deserve.

¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto! (What Have I Done to Deserve This?), 1984 (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)

In preparation for his latest film I watched my way through the remaining Almodóvar films I had yet to see and this was by far my fave of that crop. High melodrama meets Pedro’s signature dark humor and sexual antics. You can really feel his vision as a director coming into focus with this film.

Maciste all’inferno (Maciste in Hell), 1925 (dir. Guido Brignone)

My favorite of the Pordenone online selections this year. It is exactly as the title suggests. Truly a wild piece of silent era cinema.

Les rapides de la rivière Ozu (The River Ozu), 1906  (dir. André Legrand)

I cannot believe this film is 115 years old. This restoration is glorious and the sights captured are astonishing. Early cinema rarely disappoints.

Chameleon Street, 1989 (dir. Wendell B. Harris Jr.)

Please do read my interview with the writer/director here, but also seek this restoration out if its playing near you or once it hits streaming/home video in a few months. Ahead of its time when it was release 30+ years ago, it’s still feels as transgressive as ever. Truly a singular work.

Office Killer, 1997 (dir. Cindy Sherman)

So glad I finally made time for this mordant horror film from master Cindy Sherman. It’s a shame she seems to be a one and done filmmaker because, like her photographs, she is clearly a master of tone and framing, but she’s also a fantastic director of actors.

Deep Cover, 1992 (dir. Bill Duke)

This is a great neo-noir with one of Laurence Fishburne’s best performances. Layers upon layers, with just the right amount of slick style. Unbeatable.

Possession, 1981 (dir. Andrzej Żuławski)

I suggest knowing as little as possible about this film before going in. Also see it with an audience if you can!

So that was October, and now here we are in throes of another Noirvember! If you don’t know where to start, try my suggestions from my appearance on this morning’s Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR!