MUBI In October Will Be ‘Scary and Meta’

September 25, 2023 , Paul Devine , Leave a comment

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Summer is officially over and Autumn is here. Nights are getting colder, and MUBI have a selection of films to keep you cosy next month. The premium streaming service in October will be bring a month that will be ‘scary and meta‘. With likes of Joe Dante’s Matinee, Jamie Lee Curtis, celebrating Black cinema and new frontiers.

MUBI RELEASES: PASSAGES

Celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange) makes a breathtaking return with Passages (2023), a fresh, honest and brutally funny take on messy, modern relationships starring Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Set in Paris, this seductive drama tells the story of Tomas (Rogowski) and Martin (Whishaw), a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when Tomas begins a passionate affair with Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a younger woman he meets after completing his latest film.

Perceptive, intimate and unashamedly sexy, Passages (2023) sees Sachs bridge his usually tender style with a uniquely European sensibility, providing an insightful and authentic take on the complexities, contradictions and cruelties of love and desire.

Passages (Ira Sachs, 2023) – Coming Soon | our review

SPLIT SCREAM: META-HORRORS

Playing with the idea of what is natural, meta-horrors go beyond traditional horror storytelling, using self-reflexivity to comment on the nature of horror narratives, audience expectations, and the conventions of the genre itself. Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in The Woods (2011) plays true to this and deconstructs horror movie conventions with its satirical take on the genre, blending comedy, horror and self-awareness as five college friends arrive in a remote forest and fall victim to backwoods zombie. Also arriving this October is Hideo Nakata’s Ring (1998), which sounded the arrival of one of the most fertile scenes in modern horror cinema, and Joe Dante’s comedy-horror Matinee (1993), which sees John Goodman star as a horror director who finds the thrills of his monster-populated film competing with the chills of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998) – 13th October
The Cabin In The Woods (Drew Goddard, 2011) – 13th October
Matinee (Joe Dante, 1993) – Now Streaming

DO YOU LIKE SCARY MOVIES?

Teenage friends vacationing at an isolated house in the woods. Characters driving past police investigating a blatantly foreshadowing crime scene. A wailing cat jumping from the shadows. A loving parody of teen horror, Rolfe Kanefsky’s There’s Nothing Out There (1991) was arguably the blueprint for the 1990s’ wave of self-aware, darkly comic genre films.

Decades later, Charlie Shackleton’s Copycat (2015) sees director Kanefsky reflect on what happened with his indie debut’s brush with Hollywood revisiting the story of the cult classic that never was.

There’s Nothing Out There (Rolfe Kanefsky, 1991) – 1st October
Copycat (Charlie Shackleton, 2015) – 1st October

CUT TO BLACK: CELEBRATING BLACK CINEMA

A celebration of Black talent in cinema, both in front of and behind the camera, the titles in this series bear witness to the incredible wealth of Black artistry, vibrantly present in an eclectic range of works. From acclaimed classics to hidden treasures, social critiques to genre pleasures, these films powerfully articulate the struggles, resilience, and joy experienced by the Black community around the world. They speak to the lived realities and the significance of representation in the arts. Honouring the inimitable artists who have enriched our screens, this selection of distinctive achievements in film looks to the past, reflects the present, and gestures to the future of cinema.

The Stuart Hall Project (John Akomfrah, 2013) – 2nd October
The Rape of Recy Taylor (Nancy Buirski, 2017) – 2nd October
Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons, 1997) – 2nd October
Daughters Of The Dust (Julie Dash, 2008) – 2nd October

NERVES OF STEEL: JAMIE LEE CURTIS

Who better to spotlight this October than the ultimate scream queen, Jamie Lee Curtis. Known for her iconic roles in horror films, Jamie Lee Curtis has left an indelible mark on the genre ever since her breakout role as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). The film follows Laurie as she becomes the target of the relentless and seemingly unstoppable killer Michael Myers, who escapes from a mental institution and returns to his hometown on Halloween night. Also streaming as part of this special double bill is Kathryn Bigelow’s psychological thriller Blue Steel (1990) turns a male-oriented genre upside down in this gripping policier by putting a female cop in the lead.

Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow, 1990) – 16th October
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) – 31st October

NEO-WESTERNS: A NEW FRONTIER

Turning conventions on their heads, neo-westerns venture into fresh landscapes, delve into darker themes and introduce us to intricately crafted characters. By seamlessly blending modern with old, coupled with stunning visuals and distinct narratives, the films in this special offer unique perspectives on a classic genre.

From the adrenaline-fueled chase of The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Kim Jee-woon, 2008), to the intimate tale of frontier survival in First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019) and the surreal battle for a Brazilian village in Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, 2019), each film is powerfully resonating and offers audiences an immersive journey into the heart of these Neo-Western worlds.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Kim Jee-woon, 2008) – 6th October
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019) – Now Streaming | our review
Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, 2019) – Now Streaming | Our Review
Flatland (Jenna Cato Bass, 2019) – Now Streaming
Western (Valeska Grisebach, 2017) – Now Streaming
Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler, 2015) – Coming Soon