After Guardian writers shared their scariest Halloween watches, readers respond with their picks, from Jaws to The Blair Witch Project
My parents took me to see it in the theatre, under the impression that it would be appropriate for a seven-year-old. Princess Mombi’s macabre wardrobe of disembodied heads; the psychopathic laughter of the “wheelers”, with all four limbs ending in squeaky wheels; Nicol Williamson’s sinister, vicious Nome King – all are permanent fixtures in my unconscious hall of famous terrors. And Fairuza Balk’s Dorothy is eerie to match, a perfect uncanny heroine for a truly twisted “children’s” film. gradeoneirony
Low-key but well-designed Brazil-set chiller, which starts with a mysterious emergency call from a nightmarishly mouldering care home
The year is 1996, the country is Brazil, and young firefighter Ana (Marjorie Estiano) is returning to work after freezing up on the job. We see in flashback that, as a young child, she survived the horrific experience of her disturbed mother attempting to carry out a murder-suicide. Unluckily, one of her first jobs after returning to work is to respond to a call from a dilapidated nursing home in the middle of nowhere. The first sign that something is amiss when she and the crew rock up, is that nobody at the home will admit to having made the call in the first place. The place itself is also obviously trouble; it’s got the kind of damp in the walls that isn’t just a challenge for estate agents, but might also seep into your soul.
The stage is thus set for Ana’s past and present day perils to collide. Of course, people with traumatic backgrounds are 10 a penny in the horror genre at the moment; gone are the days when terror and unease sprang from the fact that this gnarly stuff was happening to a normal family, a nice young girl or an average bunch of teens, and could therefore happen to you, too. Perhaps film-makers have cottoned on to the fact that nobody really perceives themselves as having lived an untroubled life. Everybody is vulnerable.
A Mother’s Embrace turns out to be a minor but interestingly woozy and off-kilter entry into the canon of thoughtful trauma horror; its strongest suit is vibes and imagery, with the persistent queasy sensation that Ana has wandered into a bad dream. But is it her bad dream or someone else’s? The excellent and nightmarish production design suggests the answer doesn’t matter; she’s in trouble either way.
The president’s wife is reported to have ‘privately raised concerns about’ the destruction of the White House East Wing. If so, they were ignored
From Eleanor Roosevelt to Melania Trump, the East Wing of the White House served as a base for first ladies. It was where Michelle Obama spearheaded her Let’s Move public health campaign and where Nancy Reagan and her staff worked on the Just Say No drug awareness initiative.
“It was a place where first ladies could carry out the important work that they do,” said Katherine AS Sibley, a professor of history at St Joseph’s University.
(Columbia) The Catalan star’s monumental fourth LP features lyrics in 13 languages, references to female saints, the London Symphony Orchestra – and Björk on ‘divine intervention’
Last week, Rosalía appeared on a US podcast to discuss her fourth album. At one juncture, the interviewer asked if she didn’t think that Lux was demanding a lot from her listeners: a not entirely unreasonable question, given that it features a song cycle in four “movements”, based on the lives of various female saints and involves the 33-year-old Catalan star singing in 13 different languages to the thunderous accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra; and that it sounds nothing whatsoever like its predecessor, 2022’s Motomami. “Absolutely,” she responded, framing Lux as a reaction to the quick-fix dopamine hit of idly scrolling social media: something you had to focus on.
Demanding a lot from her listeners didn’t seem like something Rosalía was terribly bothered about, which is, in a sense, surprising. Pop has seldom seemed more prone to user-friendliness, to demanding as little as it can from its audience, as if the convenience of its primary means of transmission has affected its sound: it occasionally feels as though streaming’s algorithms – always coming up with something new that’s similar to stuff you already know – have started to define the way artists prosecute their careers. Then again, Rosalía has form when it comes to challenging her fanbase: variously infused with reggaeton, hip-hop, dubstep, dembow and experimental electronica, Motomami represented a dramatic pivot away from her 2018 breakthrough, El Mal Querer, a pop overhaul of flamenco that – incredibly – began life as the singer’s college project. It seems oddly telling that the biggest guest star on Lux is Björk, whose distinctive tone appears during Berghain, somewhere in between a resounding orchestral arrangement, Rosalía’s own operatic vocals and the sound of Yves Tumor reprising Mike Tyson’s “I’ll fuck you ‘til you love me” tirade over and over again. It’s hard not to suspect that Rosalía sees Björk as a kindred spirit or even a model, someone who has predicated a decades-long solo career on making artistic handbrake turns through a glossy aesthetic.
Rules seem unlikely to help – kids will just rebel. Instead, try saying it all the time yourself
Don’t tell your kids, but “6-7” is Dictionary.com’s “word of the year” for 2025. Of course, “6-7” is not a word in the strictest sense. It’s two random numbers strung together for the purposes of annoying parents around the world. What does it mean? Nothing. When can it be used? Pretty much whenever you want to piss off an old person. Such is the state of global linguistics. Having a purpose or meaning to what you’re articulating is cringe. The point is to troll, to frustrate, and to alienate. Isn’t that the whole reason the internet exists? To organize us into factions – the smartened up and the hapless?
For the childless among us, “6-7” is just online gibberish that is easily ignored – the password into a nightclub you don’t want to actually enter. For people like me with a Gen Alpha boy obsessed with belonging, “6-7” is something like the Rosetta Stone for having even a passing verbal interaction with your spawn. About a month ago, my son started saying “6-7” at any lull in conversation. He’d start asking for the thermostat in our car to be turned down to 67 degrees even if it was 62 degrees outside. For his eighth birthday, I bought him a personalized Dodgers jersey with his name on the back. The number he chose was 67. I purchased a size big enough for him to grow into, but the rest of the jersey will probably age like an apple on the side of the freeway. “Why did I pick this number again?” he’ll ask in three years. “Because your brain wasn’t developed enough,” I’ll respond.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
Mix up a classic croque monsieur with different cheeses and, in an autumnal twist, a rich leek and bechamel base
While I love a classic croque monsieur (or madame), I do occasionally like to mix things up by using different cheeses and hits of other condiments – I basically live life on the edge. This leek-laced version feels comfortingly autumnal, and a bit special, too. If I have friends coming over, I’ll make the leek and bechamel base in advance, then fill the sandwiches just before baking and serve them with a bitter leaf salad.
Obsidian Entertainment; PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC While its story fails to deliver, this enjoyable follow-up to Obsidian’s 2019 adventure makes it up with considerable advances elsewhere
The Outer Worlds 2 was originally announced in June for £70/$80 – making it Xbox’s most expensive game at the time. This was short-lived: Microsoft backtracked barely a month later, and kept it at the standard £60/$70. While The Outer Worlds 2 is technically bigger than its 2019 predecessor, that decision was smart: this is not a £70 game.
It is, however, a thoroughly enjoyable adventure that can easily suck up hours of your time, and one that improves upon the original game in meaningful ways. With far better combat and deeper role-playing mechanics, The Outer Worlds 2 smartly expands without spreading itself too thin – even if its story fails to delight.
Republicans claim US president ‘desperate’ to end shutdown, which has now entered 33rd day
My colleague Lauren Gambino has filed this report on the California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries. Here is an extract from her story:
California’s Proposition 50 began as a warning from the nation’s largest blue state to its largest red one: don’t poke the bear. But when Texas moved ahead with a rare, mid-decade gerrymander, pushed by Donald Trump as Republicans seek to shore up their fragile House majority in the midterm elections, California made good on its threat.
Now, California voters appear poised to approve a redistricting measure placed on the ballot in August by Democrats and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who have cast it as a chance to check Trump’s power …
Fast bowler says England have confidence and belief as he prepares for what could be his final series against the old foe
“My dad would be Australia and I’d be England,” Mark Wood says with a wry smile when remembering his first Ashes Tests as a boy in his back garden in Ashington, Northumberland. “I’d try to copy Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard and, later, Jimmy Anderson, who I’d go on and play with. My dad, who didn’t do the actions so well, had to be Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne. He was most proud of his Gillespie but his Warne wasn’t great.”
Wood snorts at the idea that his dad, Derek, might have let him win most of those matches. “No, no, no. It was proper cricket.You had to give each other lbw and every time I hit my dad in the leg he’d be going: ‘No, that’s going over’ or ‘That’s down the leg side.’ I was like: ‘Dad, that was plumb.’ I had to get my DRS right.”
His parable of collective social responsibility is a hardy classic but the Yorkshire playwright’s wider legacy should not be neglected
How on earth does one sum up JB Priestley? He wrote 39 plays, 26 novels and a huge amount of nonfiction and was dismissed by Virginia Woolf, with characteristic snootiness, as “one of the tradesmen of letters”. But, in art as in life, tradespeople are invaluable and with one of Priestley’s most popular plays, When We Are Married, about to be revived at London’s Donmar Warehouse, it is worth asking what the qualities are that make him a durable dramatist.
It makes sense to start with An Inspector Calls, which was famously revived by Stephen Daldry in 1992 in a production that has lasted for more than 30 years. What Daldry and his designer, Ian MacNeil, did was to cut through the play’s schematic outline and treat it as an expressionist fable about a family poised on the edge of self-destruction.
O’Neil could be in charge for visit to Chelsea on Saturday
Was sacked 11 months ago by relegation-threatened club
Gary O’Neil is increasingly likely to make a shock return to Wolves, with the club in advanced talks to appoint their former head coach.
Wolves have held positive discussions with O’Neil about returning to the post from which he was dismissed last December. Wolves, who visit Chelsea on Saturday, could finalise his appointment in the next 48 hours. O’Neil would replace Vítor Pereira, who was sacked after an alarming eighth defeat in 10 matches at Fulham on Saturday that left Wolves bottom of the Premier League with two points.
Vincent Kompany’s side continued their magnificent form to end opponents’ record-breaking away run
If it was going to end, it was always likely to end here. That it was going to end exactly like this, though, was not so predictable. Bayer Leverkusen arrived at the Allianz Arena on a run of 37 Bundesliga away games unbeaten, and they never looked like extending it. You will forgive the Bundesliga neutral for mourning not the loss of an incredible record-breaking sequence which stretched back to 27 May 2023 – when Xabi Alonso’s team were heavily beaten by relegation-battling Bochum – but the demise of a competitor to Bayern Munich not seen since Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund were in their thrilling pomp.
This was less an authentic Topspiel and more a piercing afterparty hangover, a tough supermarket-bread pretzel and lukewarm coffee, a Monday morning letter from HMRC, a black and white declaration of unavoidable dues owed. All of which, of course, was great for Bayern as they limbered up for this week’s Champions League meeting (a real deal Topspiel) against holders Paris Saint-Germain, with the recently re-signed Vincent Kompany able to show the authority and pragmatism that led him to this point by leaving Harry Kane, Luis Díaz and Michael Olise on the substitutes’ bench.
Brighton still find goals despite Agyemang blow, West Ham eye an upturn and Everton leave it late to level
If Jocelyn Prêcheur needed an example of how far his London City Lionesses team have come in a few weeks, it was Saturday’s encounter against Chelsea. It ended in a 2-0 defeat to the champions but his side impressed at Stamford Bridge and asked several questions of their opponents. London City controlled 43% of possession – perhaps more than expected – and managed the same number of shots on target (three), with Isobel Goodwin providing a particular threat running in behind. “When we compare it to September when we played other top-four opposition, it was really good,” Prêcheur said. “What I like is that we start to see a team – [that] was my biggest challenge. We saw a team that defended and attacked together. We still need to improve.” SD
The former Verve singer talks about his supporting role in the big Oasis reunion shows, his AI fears and what he thinks of fans who Shazam his songs
Richard Ashcroft is the man of the moment. Fresh from supporting Oasis as the self-proclaimed “only man for the job”, the former Verve singer is back with an (almost) sold-out arena tour for 2026, and some more Oasis dates in South America, not to mention a seventh solo album, Lovin’ You. We caught up with Ashcroft to chat about loving Abba, being inspired by Serge Gainsbourg and fighting Liam Gallagher.
Hi, Richard! Always a pleasure to interview another Richard – who else is in the club?
Madeley … Hammond … It’s dying out. I wonder if it’s because of the Dick abbreviation? Back in the day, old actors were very happy being Dickie. I went into an off licence in Chiswick and this lad went: “All right, Dickie?” I said: “Do you know what happens to people who call me Dickie?” He said: “Oh no, sorry mate.” I said: “I’m only joking. I don’t give a shit. Call me what you want.”
Actor and director, who is already a regular blood donor, says that he will make the organ donation next month
Jesse Eisenberg has revealed that he is donating a kidney to a stranger next month. The actor and director told NBC’s Today that he was “donating my kidney in six weeks” but wasn’t entirely sure of his motivation.
“I don’t know why,” he said. “I got bitten by the blood donation bug. I’m doing an altruistic donation [in] mid-December. I’m so excited to do it.”
International Organization for Migration says refugees are heading to Tawila, which is already sheltering 652,000 displaced people
More than 36,000 people have fled Sudan’s Kordofan region east of Darfur since Saturday, the UN’s migration agency has said, a week after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city of El Fasher.
The strategic central area between the country’s Darfur provinces and the Khartoum-Riverine region that includes the capital to the east, has in recent weeks become the latest battleground in the two-year civil war between the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group.
In films such as The War Game, Culloden and Punishment Park, Watkins pioneered the mock-documentary form and used it to make his historical dramas and up-to-the-minute dystopias all equally immediate and real
Dystopian, post-apocalyptic, mockumentary: these are common, even hackneyed genres in today’s movies and television. But when film-maker Peter Watkins deployed them in the 1960s, they were revolutionary, and Watkins himself was revolutionary as well – an English revolutionary, in fact, alive to the cruelty and iniquity of kings but also to that of people bent on decapitation. His cinema persistently asked questions about those in power, and what will happen when their power goes catastrophically wrong. An artist dedicated to challenging and upsetting, Watkins came from the dissenter tradition of uncompromising radicalism on screen and stage – the same tradition as Edward Bond, Ken Loach and Dennis Potter.
His enduringly brilliant and angry anti-nuclear drama The War Game was commissioned but then banned by the BBC in 1965. (It screened in cinemas, and was finally shown on television a couple of decades later.) It lasts just 47 minutes but viewers felt they had lived through a lifetime of fear. When I first saw it as a teenager at a CND meeting 15 years after it was made, it seemed as if I had entered a new era of disillusioned adulthood.
There’s a clarity about Mamdani’s message that stands in sharp contrast to most Democratic politicians
For someone who exudes positive energy and seldom stops smiling, Zohran Mamdani certainly does provoke a lot of negative reactions.
“He’s not who you think he is,” one TV ad glowered over gloomy images of the 34-year-old state assemblymember who is the clear frontrunner for New York City mayor. The ad doesn’t make clear precisely what the supposed disconnect is, but the tagline clearly is meant to give voters pause.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist covering US media, politics and culture.
What starts as a compelling satire of the film industry turns into an unconvincing schlocky mess that even Fred Melamed can’t save
Not a bad idea for a Hollywood satire here – and there’s a cameo for renowned character turn Fred Melamed, whose appearance does however have the effect of exposing how callow everyone else is on screen. Much as I wanted to like this lo-fi production, which cheekily intersperses its modestly budgeted scenes with stock footage establishing shots of the city skyline, the movie kept slipping gears and – scene-by-scene – felt awkward and uncertainly performed, along with some audio issues on the soundtrack.
The setting is Los Angeles, and Dev (Matthew Sato) is a young wannabe screenwriter humiliatingly fired from his job as an executive’s assistant for hawking his script to his employer’s competitors, and his need to break into the biz becomes increasingly desperate. To the dismay of his longsuffering girlfriend Monica (Olivia Rouyre), Dev tries one last roll of the dice: he befriends Trip (Will Sennett), the rich screwup son of film producer Scott Lefkowitz (Melamed) – a big-hitter who is known for his ability to greenlight projects with a single phone call.
Exams, dating, parenting … whatever life throws our way, there will be uncertainty and surprises. The sooner we accept that, the happier we will be
If we want to build a better life, we have to be able to not know. Does that sound confusing? Perhaps you don’t know what I’m talking about? Good! That’s great practice.
If you cannot tolerate not knowing, you run the risk of arranging your life so you can know everything (or at least try to), and you may end up sapping your existence of any spontaneity and joy. You don’t ever have the experience of exploring a new place and discovering something exciting, because you’ve already Googled it. And you don’t give a new relationship a chance to develop because you’ve already written that person off. You plan the life out of your life, and your only enjoyment comes from things working out exactly as you knew they would.
When my son was growing up, his school recorder was the bane of my life. Now it’s what I reach for at the end of a hard day, rather than a glass of wine
I’m like a coiled spring after work. Shoulders tense, breath fast and shallow. Usually the sound of my laptop lid slamming shut would be followed by the squeak of a cork pulled from a bottle of red, the wine hastily sploshed into a glass, that first mouthful putting a much-needed full stop on the working day.
Then, a few months ago, I came across my now-adult son’s old school recorder in the attic. I idly blew into it, immediately transported back to the days it was the bane of my life – his daily practice a violent assault on my eardrums, the piercing shriek still reverberating through my head hours after he had gone to bed.
About 70% of town’s olives are inaccessible without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers
Around As-Sawiya, rolling hills covered in fields and orchards rise to a horizon sharp against a pristine blue sky. It is a stunning view. But look closer and it becomes clear why the few thousand residents of this small town in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank say they are under siege – and why the olives are still heavy on the trees two weeks after the official date of the beginning of the annual harvest.
From the highest point in As-Sawiya, Mahmud Hassan, the mayor, points out the olive orchards on the other side of the highway below the town. They lie on land owned by local families but are now impossible to reach without risking a potentially fatal clash with Israeli settlers who live in settlements around the town, or with Israeli security forces, he says. In all, about 70% of the town’s olives are currently inaccessible.
Reform UK leader says he expects Labour to be forced into an austerity budget before the next election
Farage is speaking now. He says another “depressing budget hoves into view”. It will be a budget that “doesn’t have the guts to cut public spending”.
He says Britain has been living under an illusion.
I think for some years we’ve actually been living under an illusion. We’ve not been prepared to face up to just how much of an economic mess we genuinely in.
As we slipped down the global league tables, we kid ourselves that it’s OK, we’ve got GDP growth.
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