The Fantastic Films Weekend at Bradford is all about ghoul power – with the biggest female presence in the event’s 11-year history.

Sinister sisters are doing it for themselves, with a new festival director in the shape of Sarah Crowther, and the weekend – which specialises in science fiction, fantasy and horror movies – welcoming its first female guest, Renee Glynne.

The Fantastic Films Weekend takes place until Sunday night at the National Media Museum and has become one of the most famous “boutique” film festivals on the circuit.

Sarah Crowther said: “Last year was the most popular festival we had in terms of numbers, and we’ve matched that with pre-sale tickets and weekend passes this year.

“It’s a new decade and a new director – I’m the first female director and we’ve got our first female guest.

“We’re also presenting a strand of ‘women in horror’ films – with screenings of Vamp starring Grace Jones, Red Sonja and the classic Barbarella.”

Yesterday Renee Glynne was interviewed followed by a screening of one of the movies she worked on as script superviser – the terrifying Quatermass Xperiment from 1955.

Renee has had a long and illustrious career in horror movies, working constantly on them between 1947 and 1955 and rising to become one of the top script supervisers in the business, doing more work with Hammer well into the 1970s.

She said: “A lot of women worked in that department because we had good skills in things like shorthand and typing. But you couldn’t be a girly-girl – you had to be tough, had to be one of the boys on the set.”

Now in her 80s, Renee fondly remembers working with some of the biggest names in the business on movies such as The Nanny and Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires.

Renee had a special tour of a side exhibition set up for the weekend – items from the museum’s collection of Hammer memoribilia, including the actual fangs worn by Christopher Lee in Dracula mode, and moulds of skulls and design artwork for monster make-up and prosthetics. “They were lovely days,” she said. “We stayed together at the Hammer studios during filming. We were like a family.”

Sarah Crowther also describes the entire Fantastic Films Weekend as a “family” event, in that it attracts its regular attendees as well as welcoming newcomers every year. She said: “There’s really a great buzz about the place this weekend, a real family feel.”

Other events this weekend include screenings of classic “schlock” horror movies – a Troma double bill and the grindhouse classic I Drink Your Blood, as well as new movies The Corridor and Masks, and classic Doctor Who episodes.