Born out of a post war slump and growing permissiveness, the genre of erotic horror remains one of the most controversial and influential in cinema history

The Books Section choose their favourite spooky reads for Halloween

Be prepared to be horrified, disturbed and spooked at this year’s Grimmfest.

Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman shine in The Father, an Oscar-nominated play adaptation

A whole host of Spooktacular frights await at Chapeltown Picture House this weekend, writes Culture Editor Georgina Davidson

With a drawn-out plot and not enough scares, The Haunting of Bly Manor leaves a bitter aftertaste to its predecessor

A24’s latest psychological horror is a perfect portrayal of a character gone mad, and makes a good reason to venture out to cinema this Halloween

Set to the backdrop of an isolated Canadian bar, The Oak Room, starring Breaking Bad’s R J Mitte, is an unusual exploration of storytelling, violence and the genre of horror itself

Jon Stevenson’s directorial debut Rent-A-Pal is an intriguing character study ultimately let down by its underdeveloped script and weak ending, writes Ross McFadden

Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things has a lot to say but doesn’t give much reason to listen, writes Tom Kuson

Sam Whitehouse reviews UMDS’s Gorgon Westley’s Railway Circus, which was performed at the Peer Hat as part of the MIFTAs

Cara Conte reviews Ghost Stories at the Lowry

Kubrick’s most controversial film based of the Steven King novel of the same name, The Shining, is revisited by writer Tom Kuson

Faced with the monumental task of reviewing The Lighthouse, film editor Tobias Soar opts instead to ramble about director, writer, and producer Robert Eggers

Carl Fitzgerald reviews the painfully unscary poorly made and cartoonishly misjudged urban legend phone-horror movie

Cara Conte reviews the stage adaptation of The Exorcist

Writer Carl Fitzgerald reviews the awesomely gory film Satanic Panic at Grimmfest 2019

Tobias Soar reviews The Pierce Brothers’ 2019 tale of the witch-next-door, screened at Grimmfest this month

Writer Tom Kuson rolls the dice and sees what Risks the horror-comedy takes as it climbs Snakes and Ladders to its conclusion (Sorry about the puns)

It seems like every week there’s a different festival happening in Manchester; here’s a selection of our favourite Mancunian film festivals