Four smaller films to look out for in October

The first weekend in October is here, and with it comes major motion pictures like The Girl on the Train and The Birth of a Nation. With it being the month of Halloween, these tighter dramas will be joined alongside a plethora of horror films that will take center stage on movie screens across the nation. However, also releasing this month are some smaller films that don’t have the larger budget or big name movie stars like the aforementioned films do. Here is a quick list of four movies to keep an eye out for as October rolls forward.

Theo Who Lived
Release: October 7th
Rating: NR

Revolving around a struggling journalist, Theo Who Lived is a documentary describing what happens when a supposed CIA agent is captured by Al-Queda. In 2012, Theo Padnas wanted to jumpstart his journalism career and decided to sneak in Syria, thinking that his fluency in Arabic would be a huge boost. He was promptly kidnapped and tortured. Theo Who Lived focuses on how he got through being captured, what his relationships were like, and how he had to alter his mental state to make it through 22 months of imprisonment.

Christine
Release: October 14th
Rating: R

Based on true events, Christine Chubbuck is a female reporter in the year 1974. With that comes an unnecessary amount of doubt upon her work by superiors, and a huge struggle to actually receive a promotion. She would leave, but that would mean no longer working beside the man she cares most about, her coworker (played by Michael C. Hall, Dexter). With the pressure to bring about a “juicy” story hanging over her head, Christine begins to form ideas. These ideas culminated with a live broadcast that changed television history.

Autumn Lights
Release: October 21st
Rating: R

As with many plodding dramas to come from overseas, not much can be gleaned from the trailer for Autumn Lights. It’s a film starring Guy Kent who plays a photographer and finds himself entrenched into a mystery that was not on his radar. After running into a deserted crime scene, he has to stick around in a town that he was only visiting. He quickly becomes intrigued by a mysterious couple and their exotic affairs.

The Windmill
Release: October 28th
Rating: NR

It wouldn’t actually be a list in the month of October without at least one horror movie. Forget your ouija boards, The Windmill is based around another archetype, tourists getting lost in an unknown country. This country being Holland, and in a part of Holland known for its windmills. When they become stranded near a farm, they find out that the previous owner sold his soul to the devil to keep his windmills turning wind or no wind. From there, the curious tourists begin disappearing one by one.

Featured image by Sundance

Edited by Katy Hill