A horror film festival screening sun-soaked slashers is coming to Manchester this summer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A horror film festival screening sun-soaked slashers is coming to Manchester this summer.

Popular Manchester indie cinema Cultplex is turning up the temperature with Summerween: Hot Summer Frights this month.

Taking place on the last weekend of July, while horror films may make you think of the colder months at first, the festival will be swapping frosty scares for sun-soaked slashers – with movies guaranteed to make audiences sweat.

Opening the weekend is Tobe Hooper’s landmark masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film that famously transformed the sweltering Texas landscape into one of cinema’s most terrifying settings, with its relentless atmosphere and raw brutality continuing to leave audiences shaken.

The programme then shifts to Guillermo del Toro’s haunting gothic ghost story, The Devil’s Backbone, set during the final days of the Spanish Civil War, before Saturday evening brings a change of pace with Joel Schumacher’s beloved 80s cult classic, The Lost Boys, where California sunshine meets stylish vampire thrills.

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The weekend continues with Kim Jee-woon’s acclaimed psychological horror, A Tale of Two Sisters, a beautifully unsettling tale of grief, family trauma, and supernatural terror.

And what better way to close out the festival than with a modern-day summer horror classic? Ari Aster’s Midsommar is a modern folk horror epic that transforms perpetual daylight into a source of overwhelming dread.

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Summerween: Hot Summer Frights is taking over Cultplex on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, and tickets are on sale now here.

Featured Image – A24 (via Netflix)

Thomas Tuchel quote from early interview as England manager comes back to haunt him

Danny Jones Danny Jones Thomas Tuchel clip talking about England hasn't aged well

A quote from one of Thomas Tuchel’s first interviews as England boss looks to have come back to haunt him online after his squad limped out of the 2026 World Cup following their semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Ironic seems to be the word being thrown around the most…

The Three Lions fell at the penultimate hurdle against the genius of Lionel Messi and their old foes in ‘La Albiceleste’, despite grabbing the opening goal and looking the more dangerous on the counter-attack for large parts of the match.

Conversely, many have been quick to criticise Tuchel for his tactics and decision to go more defensive after taking the lead, not only sitting back but taking off some more advanced players who could have provided. Cue what some have called a “damning” clip rearing its head on social media…

While it might still be a valid point in relation to why previous manager Gareth Southgate’s couldn’t cross the finish line not only at the last Euros but in Euro 2020 as well (the latter of which we also scored first in), it now feels rather hypocritical to many given how lots of fans believe he tried to see out the tie.

There’s plenty of fair comments about England’s style and gameplan(s)/lack thereof – even at times this past few weeks – but they nevertheless managed to make it yet another semi-final.

It’s worth noting, by the way, that this is the third time they’ve reached this point in the knockout stages across the previous quartet of major competitions, just for a little worthwhile perspective on how far the national team setup has come over the best part of the last decade.

And that’s not including a quarter-final finish in the 2019 Nations League, either.

Of course, we also made it through to the last four at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the team bowed out to a ruthless France side by arguably playing too open, but they still showed attacking intent and tried to win the game back then.

It’s that distinction in approach, it would seem, that has left the vast majority of supporters, pundits and English people who were watching on last night so frustrated, as much like his remarks above back in March 2025, it looked as though the idea was to sit back and hang on to their slim advantage.

As evidenced by the comment and numerous reposts, countless people couldn’t agree more with reporter Tim Vickery’s analysis of what went wrong, or rather what changed, which then led to letting Argentina gain the ascendancy and our downfall.

To put it into numbers, between the 67th and 92nd minute, the players had little more than 7% possession, with only a few touches in the opposition box; in fact, Harry Kane didn’t manage to receive the ball even once inside the penalty area.

Now THAT, we would agree, can be seen as ‘damning’ statistics and stuff to hear, especially when the German coach has already claimed that England have been guilty of being too scared to lose in big fixtures in the past. Here’s what he had to say this time around:

Do you agree with his post-match thoughts?

Credit where credit is due, he didn’t mince his words when it came to accountability and certainly hasn’t shied away from being brutally honest through this tournament.

You only have to look at his words after a narrow victory in the quarters against Norway – which star man Jude Bellingham took umbrage with last week – to know he takes responsibility and his own standards very seriously.

Who knows whether the issues came from the technical area, or the players themselves simply struggled to keep their confidence to stick to the task; all we know is we’re gutted not only with the result but by the manner in which we lost. What did you make of the

It might not come as any real consolation, but in case you missed the news, Lionel Scaloni’s side do look like they are due to be punished for a provocative, politically-charged statement after full-time.

Argentina facing disciplinary action for controversial banner after beating England
FIFA have fined them in the past.

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Featured Images — ITV Sport/BBC (screenshots via YouTube)

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