Another pair of guests have been revealed for Manchester’s Festival of Fantastic Films, which takes place this October.
Joining Graham Humphreys and James Swanton will be Hammer legend Virginia Wetherall and Norman Eschley, a familiar face for many TV fans of a certain age, as well as a star of stage and cinema.
Virginia is best known for her roles in Hammer’s Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde and Demons of the Mind, as well as appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic A Clockwork Orange. On television, she played many memorable roles, including Dyoni in the Doctor Who serial The Daleks.
Norman trained to be an actor at the Bristol Old Vic with many Shakespearean roles on stage and transitioned to screen acting with his cinematic debut in the 1968 film The Immortal Story, directed by Orson Welles. Eshley gained recognition for his roles in British television, particularly in sitcoms. He is best remembered for portraying Jeffrey Fourmile, the snobbish estate agent in George and Mildred and for his appearances in its predecessor Man About the House. His versatility as an actor is evident in his performances in various genres, including Blind Terror, House of Mortal Sin, and Hammer’s The Lost Continent. Throughout his career, Eshley has continued to appear in numerous popular TV series, such as Department S, I, Claudius, The Sweeney, Secret Army, Return of the Saint, The Professionals, and Minder.
The Festival of Fantastic Films takes place at Manchester’s Pendulum Hotel from October 24th – 26th. You can buy festival passes here. For more information, visit the Festival website.
The Winners of British Science Fiction Association Award have been announced. The winners were announced as part of the annual Eastercon event. This year Eastercon was held in Belfast. 2026’s Eastercon will be in Birmingham.
A full list of nominees can be found here. The winners are:
Finalists for the British Science Fiction Association Awards for publications in 2024.
*Our Jurors for this award are Cristina Jurado, Rachel Cordasco and Nadya Mercik.
The UK has a long history of science fiction conventions, dating back to 1891. Eastercon is traditionally organised around Easter weekend by voluntary self-organising committees, rather than a permanent entity. It has been around since the 1940s. The BFSA Awards first launched in 1970 and has been a fixture of Eastercon ever since.
Iridescence is the name for the UK’s next Eastercon. It will be at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, 3-6 April 2026.
Eastercon is the UK’s longest-running Science Fiction convention. It mostly focuses on literature and book-related matters, but not exclusively. Its Guests of Honour include RJ Barker, Emma Newman and Karen Lord, who are all well-regarded, award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors.
You can register to attend the event by going to their website Eastercon2026.org .
Details of 2027’s Eastercon have also been confirmed – it will be called Unconfined, and it will run from the 26-29 March 2027 at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow.
Fan-favourite Star Wars villain Darth Maul is getting his own series, titled Maul: Shadow Lord. The new animated series for Disney+ was announced at Star Wars Celebration in the final minutes of a panel spotlighting the 20th anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation.
Rather than any kind of announcement, though, Lucasfilm CCO Dave Filoni simply dropped a full trailer on the assembled crowd (which, to torture the rest of us, they have yet to release online).
The show will tell the story of Maul as the head of his crime syndicate in the Imperial era of the Star Wars timeline, and see him take on an apprentice. The series is expected to debut in 2026, though no release date has yet been confirmed. Sam Witwer, who voiced the character in previous animated series, will reprise the role.
First appearing in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul cut a memorable figure with his unique colouring and double-edged lightsaber, and proved deadly when he struck down Jedia Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson), Obi-Wan Kenobi’s mentor. Though he was later cut in two by a young Obi-Wan, the character was cybernetically resurrected in the animated series The Clone Wars.
Watch below for the announcement video published on Star Wars’ social media accounts:
A new trailer for the Fantastic Four’s highly anticipated MCU debut, TheFantastic Four: First Steps, finally reveals a first look at Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer. While the trailer had debuted earlier this month at CinemaCon, Marvel have only this week released the footage online, which you can check out below.
Set in a 60s-inspired retro-futuristic world, the upcoming film follows Marvel’s First Family as they rise to defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer, even as the people they’re protecting begin to lose faith in the team.
Fantastic Four stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. British actor Ralph Ineson is the big bad villain Galactus, and Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne also star in as-yet undisclosed roles.
The film hails from WandaVision helmer Matt Shakman, directing from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. The latest version of the screenplay is from Eric Pearson, who also worked on Marvel’s forthcoming Thunderbolts*.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in cinemas on July 25th, 2025. Watch the trailer below:
This June, Tigon British Film Productions founder Tony Tenser will be celebrated with a one-day event in his adopted home, Southport. Seaside Screams: A Day of Tony Tenser and Tigon will take place at the Bijou Cinema on Saturday, June 21st, and will screen three of the studio’s movies, two of which were filmed in the town.
The films being shown are What’s Good for the Goose (1969), a sex comedy with the legendary Norman Wisdom in a role that’s a world away from his famed lovable fool persona. This will be followed by The Haunted House of Horror (1969), in which chart-topping crooner Frankie Avalon stars opposite Jill Haworth and Dennis Price. Both these films utilised Southport locations. Closing the day will be The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), which, alongside another Tigon film, Witchfinder General, is considered part of the ‘unholy trinity’ of folk horror movies (The Wicker Man being the third, naturally). All the films will have an introduction.
Seaside Screams will also see the launch of the new edition of John Hamilton’s book, Beasts in the Cellar. John will be interviewed about Tony’s career and will also sign copies of the book.
The event is being put together by Stephen Fenerty, who said, “I’ve been fascinated by Tony Tenser and his films for years, and he was a guest at the Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films, which I attended for many years. Tony retired to my hometown, Southport, on the Lancashire coast, in the late 1970s and lived there for many years. His Rolls-Royce was a familiar sight around town. Growing up, I remember seeing The Beast in the Cellar (1971), also set in Lancashire, and with a protagonist called Steven, and being struck by how dark, grubby, and, well, 1970s it all was. We’re showing The Blood on Satan’s Claw at the event in June, and The Beast in the Cellar was first released in the UK on a double-bill with that.”
Stephen told us what spurred the idea for the event: “A couple of years ago, when I was visiting Southport, I decided to visit Tony’s grave. I asked my friend, the writer and critic John Hamilton, who wrote the definitive account of Tony’s exploitation film career for Fab Press, and he sent me the location. It’s a quiet spot. That’s when I thought: wouldn’t it be great to have a celebration of Tony’s life and films in the town where he made a couple, and where he spent his final years? I later mentioned it to John, and he said there were plans for a revised edition of the book, and perhaps we could combine the two. In addition, I’ve known the guys who run the Southport Bijou Cinema for quite some time, Andy, Lewis, and Phil, and regularly see them at FrightFest. So it was a natural venue to approach. The Bijou is a community interest company and is sponsoring the day. It’s a brilliant, award-winning gem of a cinema.”
Renowned screenwriter and critic, as well as an all-around great guy, David McGillivray, will also be in attendance to open the proceedings, discussing the context of exploitation filmmaking and Soho in the late 1960s and early 1970s. David also wrote the Tony Tenser-produced Frightmare, the producer’s last film. In 1992, he was quoted as saying, “The British film industry is gasping its last because there is no one like Tony Tenser to kick it back to life. He was the Irving Thalberg of the exploitation movie, and like the boy wonder of MGM, his career was too short.”
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Seaside Screams: A Day of Tony Tenser and Tigon takes place at the Bijou Cinema on Saturday, June 21st. You can buy tickets here. Stephen Fenerty sums up the event succinctly: “Tony was quite a guy. It will be great to remember him in Southport.”
Jessica Chastain is making a return to horror, as Deadline reports that the Oscar-winning actress has signed on to star in the latest film from director Rob Savage. Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are producing in association with Spin a Black yarn for Universal Pictures. The film is written by Succession writer Nathan Elston, and is based on the Josh Malerman novel Incidents Around the House.
While details of the film’s plot are unknown, the novel’s synopsis is as follows: “To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?” When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.
“Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel. But Other Mommy needs an answer…”
James Wan is producing, with Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Macdara Kelleher, Savage, Malerman and Ryan Lewis executive producing. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing the film for Atomic Monster.
Jessica Chastain is best known for her work in Zero Dark Thirty, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Martian, Interstellar, Crimson Peak, and Molly’s Game. Rob Savage is best known for Host, Dashcam, and The Boogeyman.
Graduating from dinosaurs to kaiju, Sam Neill is the latest actor to join the next MonsterVerse movie at Legendary. The Jurassic Park veteran joins Kaitlyn Dever, who is also new to the franchise and headlining the human cast that includes Jack O’Connell, returning actor Dan Stevens, and Delroy Lindo.
The film is a follow-up to 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Plot details for this next entry are being kept deep underneath the Earth’s crust for now, though the studio has revealed it will feature “several new human characters alongside the beloved and iconic Titans Godzilla and Kong as they face off against a cataclysmic world-ending threat.
There have been many promised returns of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space, first seen in the original 1988 movie. Over the years, there have been a proposed television series, a 3D feature sequel was announced, as well as a SYFY Original movie supposedly getting greenlit, though none have come to fruition. However, per The InSneider, Killer Klowns might finally come back to screens thanks to an unexpected champion: Ryan Gosling.
According to journalist Jeff Sneider’s report, Ryan Gosling is on board toproduce a new Killer Klowns from Outer Space project for Amazon MGM Studios. In the original, “When aliens who look like clowns come to a small town and start killing people, a group of youngsters band together to fight them and save everyone.”
The Chiodo Brothers, who wrote and directed the cult horror-comedy, have been trying to get a franchise continuation ever since the original film premiered. Stephen Chiodo had stated in 2021, “We have been trying to get the sequel going since 1988. And Hollywood is just a horrible machine. The film didn’t really get much box office… and when you want to get a sequel done, they look at the box office. They don’t regard cult films as something to invest in… We have this whole long trilogy – something we call a trilogy in four parts because we include the original – a TV series for cable [or] streaming. It follows the adventures of all the characters as they go through their lives, crushed after the first invasion. It would make a great mini-series. So we’re constantly selling that for people who are interested.”
So far, this is all still unconfirmed, but Gosling might just be the hero this franchise needs.
Tensions are rising amongst inhabitants of a small town in the teaser trailer for the A24 film Eddington, from writer-director Ari Aster.
Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler star in the contemporary Western feature, which was recently announced to premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition to releasing the trailer, A24 announced the movie was set to release in cinemas on July 18th.
In the film, which is set at the beginnings of the Covid-19 pandemic, a standoff between an ambitious small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and a mayor seeking re-election (Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico. Rounding out the cast are Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Cameron Mann, Matt Gomez Hidaka and Amélie Hoeferle.
The tense teaser promises gun-toting violence, political machinations, and a healthy dose of anti-vax rhetoric in a horror-leaning Western.
Aster and Lars Knudsen produce for the banner Square Peg. A24 has been the home of all three of Aster’s previous feature films, beginning with Hereditary, Midsommarand most recently, Beau Is Afraid. The latter starred Phoenix in the lead role.
