The Best New Films To Watch In Cinemas This Autumn

London Film Festival has come to a close, but the cinemas are still brimming with some of the most exciting new films of the decade – with the heavy hitting The Social Dilemma already in cinemas, Sense and Sensibility having taken the country by storm, and Digger causing a flurry of controversial critics reviews in the press, the silver screen roll out isn’t stopping there.

Klara And The Sun – 23 October

When The Remains of the Day (1989) author (and Nobel Prize in Literature winner) Kazuo Ishiguro released his eighth novel Klara and the Sun in 2021, he caused cultural waves in his depiction of human nature and the uncertainty of the future. Set in a dystopian world where children are paired up with robots, the story follows narrator Klara, an Artificial Friend who received sustenance from the sun and is bought as a companion to a severely ill 14-year-old girl named Josie. In this film adaptation by Taika Waititi, Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, with Mia Tharia playing Josie and Amy Adams as Josie’s mother. Klara and the Sun is at once charming and sobering, and a serious reflection on what’s to come in this increasingly technological world.

In cinemas 23 October

Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House – 23 October

To anyone who has spent any part of the last eighteen years with Horrible Histories on their taking centre stage on their TVs, the new Ghosts film will be at the top of your watchlist. The Horrible Histories cast (a comedy collective called Them There) returned to our screens in 2019 with the hit sitcom Ghosts, which is now seeing its very own spin off take to our cinema screens. Released just in time for Halloween, the new film follows Alison Cooper (Charlotte Richie) and husband Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) as they inherit a vast but derelict property that they plan to turn into a luxury hotel. Unfortunately for them, the numerous ghosts that already inhabit the place aren’t very happy about it, and set out to make the couple’s lives as difficult as possible (including pushing one from an upstairs window). This raucous comedy is warming, silly, and definitely a cosier cinema option this spooky season. 

In cinemas 23 October

Clayface

Alternatively, for a slightly more traditional Halloween squirm-fest, take Clayface: a squeamish American body horror, and the latest installment in the DC Universe. The film follows disfigured actor Matt Hagan, played by Tom Rhys Harries, who turns to scientists (Naomi Ackie), asking to be turned into living clay. But when, unable to recognise himself, he starts to lose his connection with reality, his life as a rising star turns into one of a revenge-seeking monster. Clayface is actually actually a Batman prequel: the character is a little-known figure who features in some Batman comics, where he’s seen as a villain who is able to mold himself into any shape at will. But by the sounds of things, this cinema watching experience will be, in true Halloween theme, frighteningly gruesome. 

In cinemas 23 October

Fatherland

The historical film of this autumn season is the biographical adaptation of the lives of German novelist Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, and their post-war road trip across a divided Germany in 1949. Thomas, played by Hanns Zischler, is set being awarded a Goethe prize, and so travels to Frankfurt with his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) to receive it. The true story explores life in the harrowing political culture of post-war Germany, the legacies of fascism, and personal tragedy. It’s not a film for the weak, but it’s an affecting watch in our own dramatically changing socio-political landscape.

In cinemas 23 October

Primetime

One of the most anticipated films of the year, American psychological thriller Primetime is a dramatisation of the TV show that sparked a generation of citizen vigilantes: To Catch A Predator. With Robert Pattinson leading the charge as child predator-hunter Chris Hansen, the film follows the rise of the NBC series in which Hansen engages in sting operations to catch paedophiles. But as ratings rise and Hansen becomes increasingly erratic, obsessing over the idea of making To Catch A Predator the biggest reality TV show of all time, the world that surrounds him becomes starts to descend into chaos. This thrilling true story is especially poignant now that paedophile hunting groups are on the rise, and the mental depths to which a human can go when morality and obsession meet.

In cinemas 30 October

Wicker

Two gems of the silver screen, Olivia Coleman and Alexander Skarsgård, are joining forces for the heartwarming but utterly bizarre new film, Wicker – an adaptation of The Wicker Husband, a short story by Ursula Wills Jones. Coleman plays a fisherwoman who has been ostracised from her village due to the smell of fish that constantly emanates from her. In defiance of relentless jibes from other villagers, she asks a basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband out of wicker. When this wicker husband (Alexander Skarsgård) does, in fact, come to life, the village erupts into scandalised chaos. While the wackiness of a fisherwoman horny for a man made of twigs might not be a natural choice for all cinema-goers, Olivia Coleman’s sweary, bawdy, and utterly Coleman-esque performance is enough to convince any fan of her work to make the trip out. 

In cinemas 30 October

La Bola Negra 

This Spanish indie premiered in Cannes back in May, and has been revered among critics – and, in fact, has already been nominated as Spain’s entry into the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards. A triptych of intertwining stories, La Bola Negra (meaning ‘The Black Bowl’) follows three men in three distinct eras of Spanish history. The queer epic explores themes of sexuality, desire, pain and inheritance, and offers gut-wrenching performances while fully committing to its spellbinding cinematography. As well as its International Feature nomination, it’s a favourite for Best Picture – and is reportedly a must-watch on the big screen.

In cinemas 6 November

You Can See Everything

A24’s new documentary You Can See Everything isn’t the first exposé into the life and mind of Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder convicted of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars in 2022. It follows John Carreyrou’s book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup in 2018, the documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley in 2019, and the acclaimed dramatised series starring Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout, in 2022. But rather than looking at the events leading up to her conviction, You Can See Everything instead sees filmmakers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim spend the 34 days with the disgraced businesswomen – who still protests her innocence – her partner, and her new baby before she begins her prison sentence. The clips we’ve seen so far are unsettling to say the least, but in A24 style, it’s beautifully shot and reads more like a film than a documentary. The cinematic release is set to be short and tickets have already gone on sale, so make sure to book in advance. 

In cinemas 20 November

Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping 

When The Hunger Games – one of the biggest franchises ever written – returned to our screens with the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes back in 2023, anticipation was already set for its sequel despite the fact that it hadn’t yet been written. Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins’ fifth book in the series, was released in book form in 2025 to rave reviews, and is now seeing its film adaptation come to life. Set 24 years before the events of the first book, it follows a 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy (his older self played by Woody Harrelson, here by Joseph Zada)  as he is picked for the 50th Hunger Games – a twisted televised game where teens and children fight to the death in a huge arena.

In cinemas 20 November