Hooray for Horrorwood! Bradford is to play host to some of the creepiest, freakiest and scariest movies ever in the seventh annual Fantastic Film Festival this June.

The fright-fest will take place between Friday, June 13, and Sunday, June 15, at the National Media Museum, and will feature a host of classic horror, fantasy and science fiction movies, as well as new productions and even a premiere or two in the pipeline.

The full running order - including at least one world premiere - is yet to be established but the museum has released details of its main guests of honour and some of the movies they will introduce.

Highlights include a showing of John Carpenter's claustrophobic The Thing in 70mm widescreen, with an exclusive pre-recorded introduction by the man himself.

Also on the bill are Peter Duffell, director of The House That Dripped Blood, Robert Fuest, who directed the two Doctor Phibes films, Harry Kumel, the Belgian behind 1971 classic Daughters of Darkness, and Piers Haggard, director of Blood On Satan's Claw.

Fear fans can fill their boots with showings of An American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, a restored digital print of Hammer Films' original Dracula movie, and "forgotten gem" Black Christmas.

For those who like more modern movies, recent smash hit I Am Legend, starring Will Smith fighting mutated night creatures in an abandoned New York city, will get the supersize treatment on the massive IMAX screen.

Sleeper hit Vampire Diary gets a showing, and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse double-bill receives a rare showing in its original format. A homage to the drive-in gorefests popular in the US a couple of decades ago, the movie features two stories - Grindhouse and Planet Terror - which were meant to run together, but negative audience reaction in the States meant they were marketed as two separate films over here.

For those with a penchant for classic creepiness, William Castle's schlocky Spine Tingler is being shown - when it first received a theatrical release audiences were shocked out of their seats with electric buzzers - and there will be a display of original Hammer make-up and props, including the original fangs worn by Chris-topher Lee in the Dracula series.

NMM artistic director Tony Earnshaw said: "The Fantastic Films Weekend is now firmly established as one of the UK's premier horror, SF and fantasy events.

"Housed under one roof at the National Media Museum, it presents a unique line-up of classic films rarely seen on the big screen and gives aficionados the chance to meet and speak with the film-makers who made them."

For more information log on to www.nationalmediamuseum.org.

uk/fantastic, or call the box office on 0870 7010200. Full weekend passes cost £40 (£35 concessions), day passes £20 (£15 conc). For prices on individual showings and IMAX performances call the museum.

e-mail: david.barnett@telegraphandargus.co.uk

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here