From a sweeping gay historical epic starring and to the return of cult filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, there’s plenty to get excited about on the big screen.

This month, we’re reviewing La bola negra, a bold celebration of queer history spanning generations, alongside the likes of I Love Boosters, Animol and ’s latest thriller, Primetime.

Plus, with Halloween around the corner, we revisit queer classic The Craft as it returns to UK cinemas for its 30th anniversary. Here are the films to add to your watchlist.

La bola negra (The black ball) – Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Milo Quifes, Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close

Every once in a while, a film comes along that reminds audiences of the boundless possibilities that the medium can provide as an experience. That is the feeling running through me after watching the sweeping historical gay epic La bola negra (The black ball). This film, from co-directors (and former lovers) Los Javis, delivers the biggest cinematic swing of 2026, and is a truly momentous achievement for the world of queer cinema. Not bad for two guys best known as judges on Drag Race España.  

After its rapturous reception at the Cannes Film Festival, Netflix and the UK’s Altitude Films snatched it up as their major pony in the awards season race. Gay stories of this scope and magnitude are almost unheard of. However, La bola negra is something fiercely ambitious, unique and definitively cinematic. If there’s one gay film this decade that demands to be viewed on a cinema screen, it’s this one.  

Shot for $15 million, the film is based on the unfinished work of renowned playwright Federico García Lorca. La bola negra is a sprawling generational drama that elaborately braids the lives of three queer men from three separate points in Spanish history – 1932, 1937 and 2017 – into a glorious tapestry of interconnected storytelling.  

Los Javis are doing some serious flexing here, somehow running the entire gamut of the collective gay experience from across a century into one cohesive picture. The film touches upon homophobic persecution, forbidden desire, and how stories about gay identity, love and tragedy have endured through time. 

As masters of controlled chaos, Los Javis give us visceral battle sequences, ethereal dance numbers, homoerotic tableaux of naked bathing soldiers, Penélope Cruz performing cabaret on a moving tank, and even Glenn Close speaking in flawless Spanish. Camp spectacle aside, it’s a soul-piercing reminder of all the gay men who came before who had to hide who they were, so that the rest of us could live a little more freely today.

.

Her Private Hell – Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Diego Calva, Havana Rose Liu, Dougray Scott

Yeesh! Welcome to cinematic purgatory. After a decade’s absence, provocateur filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn’s latest film is light on plot and heavy on vibes.   

In a futuristic metropolis where a toxic mist engulfs the skyline, jaded daughter Elle (Sophie Thatcher) tries to reconcile with her father (Dougray Scott) after he marries her former best friend (Havana Rose Liu). Meanwhile, an American GI (Charles Melton) hunts down a mysterious figure known as the Leather Man, who has kidnapped his daughter. 

is a languid, wanky fever dream. It’s like the world’s most boring darkroom – there’s even a guy in a gimp mask everyone calls “Daddy”. Alas, it’s neither sexy nor fun.

Out now.

I Love Boosters – Keke Palmer, Taylour Paige, Naomie Ackie, Demi Moore, Will Poulter, LaKeith Stanfield 

Executed with the zany energy of a Looney Tunes cartoon, Boots Riley’s is a sugar-rush satire about consumerism and “fashion-forward philanthropy”. 

Aspiring dressmaker Corvette (Keke Palmer) is the leader of the notorious Velvet Gang. She and her squad of “Boosters” specialise in robbing high-fashion stores and selling on their stolen booty. But after Corvette learns that her idol, CEO designer Christie Smith (Demi Moore), has plagiarised and mass-produced one of her dresses, she hatches a plan to tear the fashion mogul down. 

Riley’s political commentary is an acquired taste, but there’s plenty to charm, including a charismatic cast and a jaunty score from Tune-Yards.

.

Primetime – Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher 

In the mid-2000s, before there were a million podcasts and Ryan Murphy miniseries dedicated to true crime, US audiences would get their fix by tuning in to for Chris Hansen’s hidden-camera segment To Catch a Predator. 

In Lance Oppenheim’s dark biographical thriller, Robert Pattinson delivers a can’t-look-away performance as the reporter who would catch suspected paedophiles in the act and broadcast it to the world. 

Although it’s a hypnotic watch, it lives in the shadow of the documentary that came out only last year and did a better job of examining the exploitative nature of sensationalised “gotcha journalism”.

.

Animol – Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk, Stephen Graham, Sharon Duncan-Brewster 

Veteran actor Ashley Walters is fast proving himself as a director. After his critically acclaimed performances in and , Walters demonstrates incredible aptitude behind the camera with his electrifying directorial debut, . 

When teenager Troy (a magnificent Tut Nyuot) is sent to a youth detention centre for conspiracy to commit murder, he finds himself navigating a battlefield of violent inmates fighting for dominance. As the days drip by, he forges an unspoken connection with cellmate Krystian (Vladyslav Baliuk), but their intimate friendship could cost Troy everything.

.

The Craft – Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, Neve Campbell, Rachel True ( )

Abracadabra, bitches! Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Andrew Fleming’s supernatural cult classic is being re-released in UK cinemas this October. Happy Halloween . As a witch’s brew, is a dash of , a pinch of and a hint of . 

Looking back, this film was remarkably progressive in tackling topics of racism, bullying, misogyny and sexual assault. Despite ’s lack of queer characters, Fleming, a flamer himself, packed the story with queer subtext. As four outcast teenage girls dabble in witchcraft, this high-school horror is all about finding your tribe, as well as retribution and power.

This is a feature appearing in Attitude’s November/December 2026 issue.