October gets spooky at the movies with Michael Myers, the Addams Family, and Venom

For better or worse, the felt like a transmission from a different, lumpier universe of comic-book movies—or maybe just from the days before Marvel smoothed out all the idiosyncratic bumps in the superhero cinema formula. That’s true, too, of this sequel directed by mo-cap master Andy Serkis, which runs just 90 minutes, a fraction of the length of your average, present-day superhero spectacular. Tom Hardy reprises the role of parasite-hosting investigative journalist Eddie Brock, pitted this time against escaped serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) after the madman bonds with his own alien symbiote. Our reviewer a “faster, funnier, and still underwhelming” entry in the Spidey-adjacent franchise.