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Researchers have warned about the impact of 'climate tipping points' on the UK due to its position near the North Atlantic, as such an event could 'wipe out' domestic crop growing.

An assessment of climate threats to UK food security has put a spotlight on climate tipping points as a 'severely overlooked danger', a new report published today warns.

Researchers from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) and others point to the fact that climate change is already playing a significant role in several threats to UK national security, including food supply.

But they warn that the government has a 'blind spot', as major climate threats are not adequately addressed in its national risk register, while some threats – like climate tipping points – are not included at all...

On Halloween night 1998, a live broadcast from a haunted house went terrifyingly wrong. Witness the disturbing footage in Haunted Ulster Live! In the film:

A Northern Ireland TV veteran teams up with a popular new children’s presenter to investigate poltergeist activity in a reputedly haunted house in Belfast. Light entertainment turns to horror when an unseen terror reveals itself.

Drawing comparisons to Ghostwatch and Late Night with the Devil, the UK found footage film marks the feature debut of writer-director Dominic O’Neill....

“We’re found footage fanatics, and devotees of the genre will hopefully enjoy the faux doc chills of Haunted Ulster Live,” says O’Neill. “We grew up on old Irish and British horror TV, the kind of TV that makes you want to hide behind the couch when you’re a kid! Our film is firmly rooted in ‘90s Belfast, drawing from the rich well of Irish folk stories and the conflict of that time.”

The 2021 horror film Malignant isn’t so much a straight-up horror movie as it is a whodunnit (or maybe a howdunnit) mystery — a patient, creepy puzzle bound by a gruesomely supernatural horror theme.

Spun from the masterful horror mind of James Wan, alongside Akela Cooper (M3GAN, American Horror Story), and Ingrid Bisu (Wan’s real-life wife who also plays a minor cop role in the movie), Malignant diverges from a lot of recent horror flicks — including Wan’s own output — by taking its sweet deliberate time in setting up, and then paying out, its slow but well-earned surprises.

Malignant isn’t the kind of horror movie that’s overly obsessed with juicing its key story beats for maximum-surprise impact. Instead, it’s more about yanking you in and getting you invested in all its possible causes and outcomes than in jump-scaring you out of your chair at every turn...

... Malignant is a moody, almost procedural murder mystery with a sweet side strain of slow-boiling horror… and, if we’re being really honest, it’s probably one of Wan’s most watchable and entertaining films.

(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years. Lee, to his credit, raises some fascinating questions about how the church views the unknown.

The documentary argues that recent Vatican guidelines on apparitions, which have stirred much debate, may signal a deeper understanding of UFOs. According to Lee, these guidelines imply that the Church isn't merely considering UFOs as physical objects from another world, but also entertaining the possibility that they could involve paranormal or supernatural elements.

This idea isn’t as outrageous as it might seem. The Vatican has a history of grappling with cosmic questions. For centuries, the church has been involved in discussions about the nature of the universe and our place within it...

A great folk horror film usually hinges on the tension between modern protagonists and the eerie isolation of the countryside. This, combined with the depiction of ancient pagan traditions and strong local beliefs, creates an unnerving sense of dread. Through all of these elements, many unforgettable acting performances have enriched the realm of folk horror.

Folk horror films can be a very demanding job for actors, especially if they take on the leading role and have to masterfully convey the isolation, paranoia, and anxiety their characters face. From the stellar acting of Florence Pugh in the haunting film Midsommar to the impeccable collective performance of A Field in England’s cast, folk horror films shouldn’t be cast aside – especially when it comes to superb acting performances.

• ‘Hagazussa’ (2017)
• ‘The Village’ (2004)
• ‘Apostle’ (2018)
• ‘The Long Walk’ (2019)
• ‘A Field in England’ (2013)
• ‘The Ritual’ (2017)
• ‘The Blood on Satan’s Claw’ (1971)
• ‘Midsommar’ (2019)
• ‘The Witch’ (2015)
• ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973)

Writer and director Michael Felker got his start in the film industry with modern genre masters Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Through editing almost all of their films, Felker absorbed everything that makes the works of Benson and Moorhead so special. Now he’s taken all of that learning and created his own touching, frightening, and beautifully lo-fi sci-fi horror film, Things Will Be Different.

In the film: In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.

If there’s one movie you check out this year, let it be this one. It’s smart, heart-felt, and tense, a clever mix of family drama and genre film. You never feel its budget but you always feel the pulsing cosmic horror that’s closing in around our two protagonists...

"In terms of reading, the early Bradbury played a part (although I did not discover him until my teens), the early Bloch, and a number of '40s paperback editions of Lovecraft that I found in an aunt's attic. Lovecraft struck me with the most force, and I still think, that for all his shortcomings, he is the best writer of horror Fiction that America has yet produced"...

Horror movies are back. Actually they never left. Yet after a few underperformed in the springtime, pundits with apparently a short-term memory about the genre perceived that its popularity was on the decline. Turns out, reports of its demise were greatly exaggerated—like always.

One of the most basic and satisfying things cinema can offer is a safe space to be scared, to be intimidated, and to be thrilled at the sights of wicked things. And there’s been wickedness aplenty in 2024. Here are the best ones for those interested in looking for such delights...

• I Saw the TV Glow
• The Substance
• Speak No Evil
• Sleep
• The First Omen
• Abigail
• Strange Darling
• Late Night With the Devil
• In a Violent Nature
• MaXXXine
• Alien: Romulus

In 2023, Oliver Park's The Offering surprised moviegoers with an unorthodox religious horror during the spooking season. It created a stir at the box office that was unexpected for a small film. It's not gory or overly violent, but it has a unique appeal. Centering around a family who live above a Jewish funeral home, the film adds a unique spin to the ghost story genre that feels refreshing.

The Offering explores common themes like grief and loss and tells a Jewish story that has cultural resonance. Horror fans who are used to the usual format of ghost stories will find this movie slightly different. It doesn't seem to follow the known tropes, though it contains almost all the necessary elements to make it a ghost story. Instead, it tells an authentic story about death, tragedy, loss and faith with a giant twist at the end...

Anyone who has experienced profound loss will understand how grief is an inherent shape-shifter. It shows up in different forms for everyone, takes up space in different ways, and changes continuously as you move through (and beyond) the process of mourning. Shudder’s latest film, Daddy’s Head, tackles this very phenomenon, offering a folk horror-inspired tale that is as surprisingly heartfelt as it is definitively terrifying. Indeed, the creature design in Benjamin Barfoot’s film is the stuff of nightmares — just in time for spooky season — but it’s the human characters that grab you in the end.

Daddy’s Head sees a young Isaac (Rupert Turnbull) reeling from the tragic death of his father (Charles Aitken), the only family he had left after his mother passed years ago. Though she has just recently married Isaac’s father, Laura (Julia Brown) becomes Isaac’s legal guardian, and must decide whether she will assume the role of his full-time caregiver or place him in foster care. As it turns out, Laura has her own baggage that makes her doubt her ability to be someone’s parent...

A truly great horror prequel can be a difficult thing to pull off, as audiences know where the story will end up, and this can often take away from the suspense of its narrative. However, some incredible prequels used these factors to their advantage to subvert viewers' expectations and richly develop the lore of the franchise’s mythology. Occasionally, some horror prequels have even outdone their predecessor and become releases that can showcase a new direction for the series, adding new depth, characterization, and context to its cinematic world.

Like the best horror sequels, prequel movies were an opportunity to expand upon previously established events, but this time, looking back and answering questions that have long been on viewers' minds. Horror prequels can act as origin stories for a franchise’s world, such as movies like A Quiet Place: Day One or The First Purge, while other prequels flesh out mysterious characters' backstories like Rosemary Baby’s Terry Gionoffrio in Apartment 7A. Whatever the goal, when accomplished well, a horror prequel can be a worthy addition to its source material...

• A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
• The First Omen (2024)
• Pearl (2022)
• The First Purge (2018)
• Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)
• Final Destination 5 (2011)
• Prey (2022)
• Apartment 7A (2024)
• Annabelle: Creation (2017)
• Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Helmed by Gary Dauberman, ‘Salem’s Lot’ is based on Stephen King’s eponymous 1975 horror novel. It is the first time the source material has been adapted for a film, having already been released as a miniseries in 1979 and 2004, respectively, both of which have garnered a cult following. The film follows author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot AKA Salem’s Lot, in Maine, after 25 years to find inspiration for his next book. His search takes a sinister turn after he realizes that an ancient evil is turning the town’s residents into vampires.

Ben, thus, takes up the responsibility of ending the plague of the undead and saving his town. While there are many films about vampires, what separates ‘Salem’s Lot’ from the rest is its treatment of the genre. It has a dark tone devoid of comedic elements. If you are seeking narratives that deal with vampires or evil forces ravaging a small town or a particular place, here we bring you movies similar to ‘Salem’s Lot.’

• Fright Night (1985)
• Vampires (1998)
• The Watchers (2024)
• Disappearance (2002)
• Dark Harvest (2023)
• The Bridge Curse (2020)
• The Cursed (2021)
• Kuyang (2024)
• 30 Days of Night (2007)
• The Wailing (2016)