Doctor Sleep (out Nov 7) is a horror flick that's trying to offer more than darkened basements, possessed kids and cheap jolts. Based on the Stephen King sequel to The Shining, it's an intriguing tale involving psychic beings, childhood trauma and a group of nomads who "eat screams and feed off pain". With lengthy dialogue-free sequences, director Mike Flanagan makes great use of music and sound. Grade: B+.

Balloon (out Oct 31) is based on actual events and follows an East German family who build a hot air balloon to help escape to the west in 1979. It feels manufactured in places but director Michael Bully Herbig does a great job using his villains to create tension. Grade: B+.

47 Metres Down: Uncaged (out Oct 31) is a rubbishy, inferior sequel to the 2017 original (which I liked). This one is about a group of young scuba divers who get trapped in an underground cave system while being pursued by sharks. The direction is laughably bad - from the bizarre use of slow-mo to the over-the-top use of shaky cam. Grade: C-.

Terminator: Dark Fate (out Oct 31) is a quasi-reboot in that it picks up the Terminator storyline not long after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). You can forget about the other sequels. The action scenes lack lustre (they're gone with farce over credibility) but the performance of Linda Hamilton as the crusty, cranky, angry Sarah Connor makes this worth your time. Grade: B.

Yuli: The Carlos Acosta Story (out Oct 31) is a dramatic biopic about a young Cuban boy who, pushed heavily by his father, became one of the world's great ballet dancers. The son-father dynamic gets repetitive but there are some moving dance sequences that provides audiences with a spark. Grade: B-.

Brittany Runs a Marathon (out Oct 31) is as straight forward as a movie title gets. This is a film about a person named Brittany who runs a marathon. There's a lot more to it, however. Headlined by a terrific performance from star Jillian Bell, it's also the tale of a troubled woman addicted to self-pity and a continual “woe is me” attitude. A really interesting character. Grade: A-.

Pavarotti (out Oct 24) is a documentary from director Ron Howard and is a beautiful celebration of the acclaimed Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. There's so much material to cover and I was interested from start to finish. Pavarotti wasn't perfect but he lived one hell of a life! Grade: A-.

Ready or Not (out Oct 24) lacks logic in places but it's still nice to see something semi-original within the horror genre. It's the tale of a young woman who finds herself caught up in a murderous game of hide and seek in an expansive mansion. 27-year-old Australian actress Samara Weaving is very good in the lead role. Grade: B.

After the Wedding (out Oct 24) is an English language remake of the Danish original from 2006. It's the story of a middle-aged American running an orphanage in India who is approached by a wealthy American businesswoman looking to donate to her cause. It's a quality cast (Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup) but key plot developments feel artificial and manufactured. Grade: C+.

Promised (out Oct 24) is an Australian romantic drama set in the 1970s about an Italian woman forced into an arranged marriage by her parents. The dialogue is unnecessarily stiff. Everyone speaks so hesitantly and it's as if all these characters have never met before. Disappointing. Grade: C-.