Whether you’re after director Peter Strickland’s descent into the decadently weird or the Icelandic conjurer’s latest aural opus, our critics have you covered
Scream/Nightmare on Elm Street marathons The Prince Charles Cinema, London, 1 October only Wes Craven fans assemble for a 635-minute all-nighter screening of every Scream movie, from the one that started it all in 1996 (above) to last year’s “requel”. Prefer Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street franchise? Well buckle up: they’re screening those tonight, too: all seven of ’em.
Flux Gourmet Out now Starring Gwendoline Christie and Asa Butterfield, the new film from Peter Strickland, about an unusual artists’ retreat, is as distinctive and weird as we’ve come to expect from the man who gave us BDSM butterfly collectors in The Duke of Burgundy and a haunted red dress in In Fabric.
Girls Girls Girls Out now Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Audience award at the Sundance film festival this year, director Alli Haapasalo’s engaging Finnish drama follows a trio of ordinary teenage girls (Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen, and Linnea Leino) as they explore newly awakened desires and their expectations of first love.
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris Out now Previously filmed in 1992 with Angela Lansbury in the title role, this incarnation of Paul Gallico’s novel stars Lesley Manville as the widowed cleaning lady who decides to head to Paris at any cost in order to pursue her great dream: owning a couture Dior dress. It’s literal and figurative escapism, brought to life by a charming cast that also includes Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs and Anna Chancellor. Catharine Bray
Alvvays 1 to 7 October; tour starts Glasgow Canada’s indie pop quintet arrive in the UK in support of next week’s Blue Rev, the delayed follow-up to 2017’s Antisocialites. Its release was hampered by theft (recordings of early demos were swiped), a flood in their studio, and finally the pandemic, so expect a sense of joyful relief. MC
Made Me Like It Various venues, London, 1 October This new multi-venue, one-day festival in east London is headlined by a slew of new-ish acts such as pop star L Devine, decadent indie-pop rabble Walt Disco and post-punk experimentalists Do Nothing. Elsewhere there are gems to be found in Greta Isaac’s DIY alt-pop and the rock catharsis of Olly Bailey, AKA Jaws the Shark. Michael Cragg
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Lighthouse, Poole, 5 October; Guildhall, Portsmouth, 6 October Throughout 14 seasons as BSO’s principal conductor, Kirill Karabits has made a point of championing works by his fellow Ukrainians. The latest is the cello concerto by Fedir Akimenko, left unperformed when the composer died in 1945. Karabits frames it with Stravinsky and Mahler. Andrew Clements
Snarky Puppy O2 Academy, Glasgow, 4 October-; O2 Academy, Bristol, 5 October, then touring; O2 Apollo, Manchester, 6 October; OVO Arena Wembley, London, 7 October One of the most popular live bands ever to straddle jazz, funk, global music and R&B, the American collective launch new album Empire Central – a homage to their own story, and to heroes of American music. John Fordham
Lucian Freud National Gallery, London, 1 October to 22 January In his late years this coruscating painter of flesh was routinely called a “living Old Master”. But how does he hold up against the historic artists who inspired him, from Holbein and Corot to his beloved Titian, in the National Gallery? This centenary show promises high art at its highest.
Cézanne Tate Modern, London, 5 October to 12 March The godfather of modern art comes to the home of what modern art is now – but is there any connection? The pixellated images of this most conceptual of the post-impressionists convey the randomness and uncertainty of modern life. They echo in video art. Cézanne will always be modern – and profound.
Saskia van Uylenburgh in Arcadian Costume Beacon Museum, Whitehaven, to 8 January Rembrandt’s painting of his wife as the spring goddess is on tour from the National Gallery. The pathos and power of this portrait lie in the way Rembrandt glorifies Saskia as a golden, beflowered goddess while also letting us know she is posing in his studio: dream and reality touchingly collide.
Walter Price Modern Institute Osborne Street, Glasgow, to 12 November Until recently, newness in art meant video or the readymade, but identity and injustice are more urgent than what medium you use, so painting lives again. Brooklyn artist Price is radical by being traditional. His sensitive paintings with nocturnal blues recall Matisse, even Dufy. The cutting edge, but gentle. Jonathan Jones
Joseph Toonga: Born to Exist Oxford Playhouse, 4 October; touring to 26 Nov As a child, Joseph Toonga moved from Cameroon to east London; as an artist he’s moved from hip-hop to contemporary dance training to working with the Royal Ballet. Born to Exist is the final part of his trilogy on black masculinity, an autobiographical piece about being brought up solely by black women. Lyndsey Winship
Eureka Day Old Vic Theatre, London, to 31 October Helen Hunt stars in the European premiere of Jonathan Spector’s satirical comedy. A disease rips through a progressive school – will the community bind together or turn on each other? Miriam Gillinson
Dublin theatre festival Various locations, to 16 October This year’s festival sees a renewed international focus, 17 world premieres, an adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel The Blackwater Lightship and an intriguing interactive piece from Italian artist Romeo Castellucci. MG
Leo Reich Soho theatre, London, 4 to 15 October Having cemented his megastar-in-waiting status at this year’s Edinburgh fringe, the 24-year-old brings his camp, winningly postmodern pastiche of Gen Z solipsism and social media-age suffering to his home town. Rachel Aroesti
Ralph & Katie 5 October, 9pm, BBC One & iPlayer The A Word broke new ground with its sensitive but frank portrayal of parents navigating their son’s autism diagnosis. This equally pioneering spin-off follows newlyweds Ralph and Katie Wilson, who both have Down’s syndrome, and is helmed by an all-disabled writing team – a UK first.
The Bear 5 October, Disney+ This series about a troubled fine-dining chef (Jeremy Allen White) who inherits his late brother’s struggling Chicago sandwich shop has been a word-of-mouth smash in the States, thanks to its distinctive combination of heart-rending character study and dizzying kitchen drama.
Head On: Rugby, Dementia & Me 5 October, 9pm, BBC Two & iPlayer The once-hazy association between sports-related concussion and significant, long-term brain damage has finally erupted into a global scandal over the past couple of years. In this one-off doc, 44-year-old World Cup winner Steve Thompson grapples movingly with the dementia caused by his stellar rugby career.
A Friend of the Family 6 October, Peacock The White Lotus’s Jake Lacy transforms into a uniquely horrifying predator in this stranger-than-fiction true-crime drama – directed by acclaimed indie film-maker Eliza Hittman – about young Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped not once but twice by a neighbour in 1970s Idaho. Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin co-star as Broberg’s baffled parents. RA
Overwatch 2 Out 4 October, all platforms A sequel to the most colourfully fun team-shooter out there, in which outrageous special abilities and fan-art-worthy characters combine to enliven every match.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo Out now, all platforms A video game adaptation of a 64-year-old film? The cartoonish style deviates from Hitchcock, but the psychological thriller core of this story remains.
Shygirl – Nymph Out now After positioning herself at the centre of the experimental pop scene via a duo of acclaimed EPs and collaborations with the likes of Sophie and FKA twigs, south London’s Blane Muise (above) unleashes her debut LP. While Nike dabbles in tactile, horny on main electro, the Arca-assissted Come for Me focuses on fracturing R&B.
Craig David – 22 Out now The What’s Your Flava? hitmaker’s eighth album, and third since his 2015 career revival, features collaborations with the likes of dance behemoths Galantis (DNA), pop newcomer Gracey (Back to Basics) and, on the garage-tinged Who You Are, omnipresent songwriter and vocalist MNEK. It’s all held together by David’s honeyed vocals.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down Out now Nine years after their disappointing fourth album Mosquito, New York’s quintessential art-rock band return rejuvenated on this eight-track follow-up. While lead single Spitting Off the Edge of the World welds lyrics about the impending climate catastrophe to a hurricane-sized rock swirl, the string-drenched Burning adds a dash of 60s soul.
Björk – Fossora Out now Billed as her “mushroom album”, the 10th opus from Björk finds her digging into her roots. Inspired by her lockdown spent in Iceland, as well as the death of her mother, sSongs such as the densely packed, gabber-adjacent Atopos make good on the album’s “biological techno” genre tag, while the loved-up Ovule makes its mark more delicately. MC
Trouble at Topshop 3 October, 9pm, BBC Two This two-part series recounts Topshop’s rise on the 1980s high street, before its well-documented fall in 2020. Next week’s concluding episode investigates Philip Green’s tumultuous tenure as owner, through the first-hand testimony of his employees.
Echoic Archive Podcast Somerset House opens the doors to its artistic community in this fascinating four-part series. Host Weyland McKenzie-Witter investigates the ways in which artists engage with archives, from generating online records in the metaverse to unearthing diaspora histories.
Koala Sampler Online There are a plethora of music-making apps, but this sampler from Elf Audio is one of the most intuitive and creative. Record sounds through your phone’s microphone to create sequences that can be manipulated into complex tracks. Ammar Kalia