October 2021 Review: The Best and Worst Movies I Saw Last Month

I always get excited for October every year, much like many horrors do. It’s because of this hype that I intentionally seek out great films to stack my watchlist with and pray for the new releases to be as great as they are advertised. Unfortunately, this year the October releases were largely mediocre, and the films I sought out from before did not meet my expectations. Regardless, I did see a few films I enjoyed, and plenty I did not, to populate this list. Out of the 34 films I watched in October here are the best and worst!

WORST #3) Saltwater: The Battle for Ramree Island (2021); Director: Steve Lawson; United Kingdom

Please check out the full review here.

Overall Score? 3/10

BEST #3) Antlers (2021); Director: Scott Cooper; United States/Mexico/Canada

Please check out the full review here.

Overall Score? 7/10

WORST #2) Aquanoids (YEAR); Director: Reinhart ‘Rayteam’ Peschke; United States

An island town is besieged by a rash of killings during the Fourth of July holiday. Local legend tells the story of how the terrible marine creatures known as ‘aquanoids’ hunt on the coast of the otherwise idyllic beaches. A local scientist, her friend, and her police officer boyfriend must warn the town from engaging in holiday activities and convince the crooked politicians that shutting the beach down will save lives. Despite their best efforts, a wide range of creepy characters will do their best to stop them from halting the most economically beneficial day of the year. I intentionally chose a few flicks that I figured would be awful on purpose, but I didn’t realize how much of a headache this would be. After eyeing it on Netflix (the DVD in the mail version) for years, I finally took the dive on a free streaming site, and it is exactly as terrible as you think it will be. Featuring wooden acting, abysmal camerawork, a nonsensical and derivative plot, and some terrible special effects, Aquanoids becomes the worst kind of Z grade film: a boring one. Don’t expect there to be much life in this oceanic horror, lay any thought of checking it out to rest.

Overall Score? 2/10

BEST #2) StageFright (1987); Director: Michele Soavi; Italy

While a group of stage actors are rehearsing for their upcoming show, a maniac escapes a mental hospital. After the death of one of their own, the group is reasonably shaken up. They are reassured that the police will watch over their rehearsals and ensure that no further harm comes over them. After locking themselves in as a security measure, the group find that the killer hasn’t moved on from their production and is intent on making that night their final performance. Will the cast and crew fall victim to the owl headed serial killer or will they live to see curtain call? A wildly fun and inventive slasher, StageFright is a wonderful giallo/slasher hybrid. Dotted with intense chase sequences and vivid death sequences, StageFright keeps the audience on their toes wondering where and how the killer will strike next. It falls into conventions at times, but it’s a fun enough film to forgive. Its masked killer alone is frightening and memorable compared to most masked killers and is met with a compelling force to be reckoned with in final girl Alicia. It won’t upstage the classics, but StageFright t is enough of a spectacle to make you beg for encore after encore.

Overall Score? 7.5/10

WORST #1) Dinosaur Hotel (2021); Director: Jack Peter Mundy; United Kingdom

Please check out the full review here.

Overall Score? 1.5/10

BEST #1) Last Night in Soho (2021); Director: Edgar Wright; United Kingdom

Please check out the full review here.

Overall Score? 8/10