Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 23 October 2026 - 29 October 2026

I'm glad a doc is going to be on a surprising amount of screens, but it's really squeezing my Asian cinema this week!

• Scratching my head over Clayface, because didn't producer James Gunn see how well the "make antiheroes out of villains you've got the rights to when their hero is sort of off-limits" worked out for Sony? Interesting, though, as director James Watkins has horror bona fides and a screenplay by Mike Flanagan & Hossein Amini. It opens at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street (XL), the Seaport, South Bay (Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Wicker would maybe have fit into the Brattle's recent fablecore & more series, but just missed. It stars Olivia Colman as a fisherwoman staring down life alone until she has a neighbor (Peter Dinklage) make her a husband out of wicker - and when he proves kind, charming, and sexually adept, it makes the rest of the town envious! That opens at the Coolidge, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  The new one from Laika, Wildwood, looks stunning from the trailers and like the best of the animated features where a young woman winds up in a strange realm on a quest, in this case for her baby brother. Shame there doesn't seem to be a 3D release, but you can see it in 2D at Fresh Pond, West Newton, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Taika Waititi's new film, Klara and the Sun features Jenna Ortega as an android purchased late in its model cycle that feels the need to improve the mood of her new family (or be recycled). It plays Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema), the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  A Talent for Murder casts Helen Mirren as Patricia Highsmith, who engages an envoy from her publisher (Alden Ehrenreich) in a game of wits as he tries to convince her to write a final Ripley novel. It opens at Boston Common and West Newton.
  
  Sasha Baron Cohen is still doing his in-character ambush stuff, with Ali G: Who Iz I? giving the title character of Da Ali G Show which spawned the Borat and Bruno movies a feature after 25 years. It's at Assembly Row.
  
  Music flicks this week include a BTS World Tour Arirang in Buenos Aires live viewing at South Bay and Assembly Row on Saturday & Sunday and Ozzy & Black Sabbath: Back to the Beginning plays Boston Common Wednesday & Thursday. Pet Semetary '89 plays Boston Common and Causeway Street Friday & Tuesday. The Nightmare Before Christmas plays Arsenal Yards Saturday. Marie Antoinette plays Boston Common and the Seaport Saturday & Wednesday (also Monday at the Seaport). Hell House LLC starts a 10th anniversary run at Boston Common on Thursday. Boston Common also has The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Thursday in addition to the usual Saturday night show (not sure if Full Body Cast is at the extra one). Monday has two mystery previews at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row; "regular" at 7pm and "scary" at 9:30pm.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre still has The Devils on 35mm film when plays on screen #2, which is most of the week, and while many of the other shows are on screen #1, I don't expect they're hauling the print up and down stairs.
  
  The Coolidge also opens Fjord for real after a number of word-of-mouth previews and award-presentation screenings, with the new Cristian Mungiu film starring Sebastian Stan & Renate Reinsve as a couple who relocates from Romania to Norway and courts controversy with how their conservative religion has them raising their kids. Also at the Lexington Venue, West Newton, Dedham Community Theatre, Boston Common, Kendall Square, and the Seaport.
  
  Suburban horror midnights this weekend are Arachnophobia in 35mm Friday and Crawl on Saturday. Sunday afternoon features both a Cinema Masala screening of Kaagaz Ke Phool and a 35mm print of Legend for "Prints of Darkness" (which also includes The Exorcist on 35mm film Tuesday, The Omen with a Jessica Ruffin seminar on Wednesday, and The Prophecy in the late "Cult Classics" slot on Thursday). Monday's Big Screen Classic is Alien (RIP Tom Skerritt), with Ganja & Hess on Tuesday, documentary Vincent Price: What Keeps Us Alive with an intro by his daughter Victoria on Wednesday, and a 35mm print of Poltergeist on Thursday.
• Landmark Kendall Square looks to be at four or five screens this week, one and a half showing the pretty terrific Korean film Possible Love ahead of its Netflix debut. Rep shows include Creature from the Black Lagoon (almost certainly 2D) for the Saturday Universal Monster Matinee, Nosferatu '24 for the Tuesday vampire "Retro" Replay, and The Thing '82 for John Carpenter Wednesdays.

• South Asian films at Apple Fresh Pond this week include Hindi-language spy comedy Udta Teer, Hindi-language thriller Tu Hai Meri Kiran, Hindi-language courtroom drama Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam, Telugu-language horror film 418 (at Fresh Pond through Sunday and also at Causeway Street), Nepali sports comedy/drama Kabaddi 5: After the Final Match (Friday/Saturday/Monday). Rajinikanth's latest Tamil-language flick Jailer 2 continues at Fresh Pond and Boston Common.
  
  Hong Kong comedy legend Stephen Chow directs (but apparently does not appear in) Kung Fu Soccer, which returns to the idea of the movie that saw him make a splash in the West, this time with a girls' school team playing in a tournament against similarly-superpowered sides; it plays Boston Common at inconvenient times. Also from China, Go For Broke 2 looks to be one of those in-name-only sequels that has the same setup but no actual continuity. I didn't like the first much at all, but this one does have Isabelle Leong and Sammo Hung, and plays matinees at Causeway Street.
  
  The 5 Centimeters Per Second playing at Boston Common is not a re-release of Makoto Shinkai's early feature, but a live-action remake, which apparently came out in Japan last year and just made its way here.
• The Brattle Theatre hosts the GlobeDocs Film Festival from Friday to Sunday, with live post-film Q&As for almost every presentation (and one on tape). One of the highlights is the Saturday night screening of short "A Tape: The American History of Nobuhiko Obayashi's House", which will be followed by a 35mm print of the film in question. There's also a virtual festival, with A Long Way To Go having a live Q&A on Monday.
  
  Docs continue on Monday with a free screening of Mr. Nobody Against Putin (which may be full), with a free Elements of Cinema screening of John Carpenter's Halloween later that night. After that, they welcome Karina Longworth for a couple nights featuring films from her latest season of "You Must Remember This" ("The Bisexuals"): Tuesday has a double feature of Dreams That Money Can Buy & Laura (the former on 16mm film, the latter on 35mm), and A Place in the Sun on Wednesday. Thursday has the start of the IFFBosotn Fall Focus Film Festival's second leg, with Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut (may already be in rush). Bummer that star Paul Giamatti's not still in town.
• The Harvard Film Archive starts a new series, "Great Expectations: British Postwar Cinema, 1945-1960", with Mandy (aka Crash of Silence) and The Yellow Balloon (35mm) on Friday, Pool of London and Thurn the Key Softly (35mm) on Saturday, It Always Rains on Sunday (aptly) on Sunday; and Hunted (35mm) on Monday. Saturday's Student Cinematheque matinee is Je t'aime, je t'aime paired with short "Un chien andalou", both on 35mm. Thursday's free presentation of Marie Antoinette with Sophia Coppola in person is sold out, although there will be a rush line if you're feeling lucky.
• The Seaport Alamo just doesn't believe in predictable showtimes for its series, with the latest ShawScope presentation, Godzilla vs. Megalon, playing Friday morning and Thursday evening rather than the usual Sunday, although the monthly-ish show of NOFX: 40 Years of Fuckin' Up is Saturday night as usual. Daughters of Darkness plays Monday night, with matinees of Making Marie Antoinette Tuesday & Thursday, and a "Fantastic Fest Presents" presentation of Restoration at Grayson Manor on Thursday.
• The two main rep series at The Somerville Theatre take a holiday this week, but they have Goblin doing a live soundtrack for Dario Argento's Tenebre on Sunday (followed my a mini-concert), and Watsky X Infinity on Monday has Watsky performing live to his visual album X Infinity for its tenth anniversary on Monday. The annual Halloween Hullabaloo starts Tuesday with Night of the Living Dead & House (the latter on 35mm film); Wednesday pairs Killer Klowns from Outer Space (35mm) & Phantasm; and Thursday doubles up on Steven King with Cujo (35mm) & Pet Semetary '89.
  
  (There's also a Channel Zero screening of Clara Bow talkie True to the Navy in the Micro, Friday night at 8pm; $10 cash outside the theater starting at 7:30pm and then I guess everyone heads downstairs together.
  
  The Capitol starts a new run of Capitol Classics with The Keep on Thursday, presented with HIgh-Energy Vintage. Monday is the last of the month, so the usual time for Disasterpiece Theatre.
• The Museum of Science has Alien on the Omnimax dome Friday & Saturday evening for Sci-Fi Supersized.
• The Museum of Fine Arts one more show from The Boston Palestine Film Festival, Chronicles from the Siege, on Friday night. They're at the Coolidge for the rest of the weekend with Habibi Hussein and Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep on Saturday, and closing night film Palestine Comedy Club on Sunday.
• The Boston Asian American Film Festival is back at ArtsEmerson's Paramount Theater with the "Families Forged & Found" shorts package and Y Vân: The Lost Sounds of Saigon on Saturday, with In Waves and the sold-out Montreal, My Beautiful on Sunday.
• WBUR's CitySpace hosts documentary Minnesota Neighbors on Tuesday, including a post-film conversation with director Patrice O'Neill and participant Frederick Melo.
• The Embassy Cinema has a Halloween silence week, with The Unknown on Tuesday, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde on Wednesday, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on Thursday, with The Phantom of the Opera next Friday and Nosferatu on Halloween.
• The Regent Theatre has the "Girl Winter" Film Tour on Thursday, featuring live music from Lexi Ugelow.
• The Lexington Venue has indie horror Clownspiracy Friday to Sunday, with Fjord (discussion group Wednesday) and You Can See Everything all week but Monday & Tuesday. They also start a mini-run of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Thursday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens A Talent for Murder, Fjord, Wildwood, and You Can See Everything alongside Sense & Sensibility and The History of Concrete (Sunday to Thursday). There's a "Behind the Screen" show of Friday Night Lights on Sunday.
  
  The Dedham Community Theatre has Fjord and Sense & Sensability.
  
  Cinema Salem October is still going strong with Hocus Pocus every day but Monday & Tuesday; Practical Magic 2 Friday to Sunday and Thursday, Scream Friday/Sunday/Wednesday, The Craft Friday/Saturday/Wednesday, and Halloween Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday. The Universal Monster Lineup is Dracula (Friday to Sunday), The Bride of Frankenstein (Friday), Frankenstein (Friday/Saturday/Sunday), The Wolf Man (Friday/Sunday), The Invisible Man (Saturday/Sunday), and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Sunday). The Friday Night LIght show is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. The Wednesday Classic is Diabolique, with Weirdo Wednesday down the hall, and Miz Diamond Wigfall hosts The Shining on Thursday.
  
  DreamQuil is actually held over at the Showcase in Woburn. Fantasia 2025 selection Terrestrial opens at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers.

Kind of wavering between 5 Centimeters and True to the Navy on Friday; the former gives me more wiggle room for the HK stuff over the weekend but I've been curious about Channel Zero for a while. Already got a ticket for Godzilla vs Megalon and hope to squeeze Wildwood, Klara, and A Talent for Murder in there, hoping Wicker and (I guess) Clayface stick around. Updates on my Letterboxd page regardless.