Horror and Sci-Fi Brief · Monday 19 October 2026
Sixty years on, William Shatner still cannot quite explain why Star Trek endures, but he has a good idea why it matters now. Today’s brief also has the first trailer for The Cull, a Cornish folk horror heading for its world premiere at FrightFest Halloween in London.
The News That Matters
William Shatner says Star Trek’s optimism matters more than ever
- New development: Shatner spoke to /Film at New York Comic Con about the franchise’s staying power, in an interview published on Sunday 18 October
- Film: The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World, Mark A. Altman’s 134-minute documentary
- His part: Shatner appears throughout the documentary and is one of its executive producers
- UK availability: Screens at Cineworld cinemas across the UK on Wednesday 21 October, with most shows at 7.30pm
William Shatner has been asked about Star Trek for six decades, and he is happy to admit he still does not have the full answer. Asked by /Film why the franchise has lasted 60 years, he called it “as mystical as the question of life itself”. He used to joke, “Well, of course it’s me,” while “fully realizing what a group effort it was”, from the famous names to “the hidden people whose talents were fundamental.” “It is a wonderful mystery of show business,” he said. “It hasn’t just stood still, it has grown in popularity. Why? I don’t know.”
He does have a theory, though. Shatner named climate change and the rise of artificial intelligence as the most urgent threats we face, and said a growing fear that mankind could be wiped out explains why Star Trek, “with its emphasis on positive thinking, is relished. Because 400 years from now, Star Trek posits that we’re alive and functioning. That’s really encouraging against so many of the dire predictions.” His conclusion is a neat one: “What might be changing is not Star Trek, but the appreciation of Star Trek’s positiveness.”
Shatner was at New York Comic Con as part of the 60th-anniversary celebrations we previewed last month, promoting Altman’s documentary. It has more than 50 contributors, among them Robert Picardo, who used the premiere to say Starfleet Academy was “killed in the cradle”, and it reaches UK cinemas this week.
British folk horror The Cull unveils its trailer ahead of a FrightFest world premiere
- New development: The first trailer was released on Sunday 18 October
- Writer and director: J.P. Davidson (The Last House)
- Cast: Craig Russell, with Ollie McFarlane, Tim Cartwright, Sarah Bowden, Sarah White, Kate Edney, Sally Geake, Richard Hainsworth and Rory Wilton
- UK availability: World premiere at Tubi FrightFest Halloween, ODEON Luxe West End, Leicester Square, London, on Friday 30 October (the festival runs 30–31 October). A wider UK release date is not yet confirmed
Craig Russell plays Niall, who walks free after years in prison for his mother’s murder, a crime he did not commit. Having found God and turned his back on violence and addiction, he retreats to a remote woodland cabin to find the truth about her death. Instead he finds a hostile community ruled by a ruthless family, and every encounter deepens the mystery around his mother’s past.
As the violence erupts and terrifying visions blur nightmare and reality, Niall uncovers a sinister legacy of witchcraft, blood sacrifice and forbidden ritual, and learns that his release was no coincidence. The trailer leans into the setting, with talk of ancient stones in the woods, “like Stonehenge, but darker”.
The 89-minute film was shot entirely in the woods around Mawgan Porth, near Newquay in Cornwall, with Falmouth-born Russell in the lead and Falmouth University students given work experience on the crew. “We made the film with a real love of the landscape, folklore and darkness of rural England,” says Davidson, “so having it unleashed on a London audience at Halloween feels amazing.”
Davidson and members of the cast will be at the premiere, at a 20th Halloween edition of FrightFest that also hosts the world premiere of the glam metal slasher Brute 1986.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
Hope and dread make a good double bill. William Shatner thinks Star Trek’s belief in a future worth reaching is exactly what audiences want right now, and UK fans can test that theory at Cineworld on Wednesday. Ten days later, The Cull takes British folk horror back into the woods for its FrightFest world premiere.
Is Star Trek’s hopeful view of the future the real secret of its 60 years?