Strange things always happen in the place you’d least expect, and in Bradford last weekend -birthplace of the Bronte sisters and the first Morrison’s supermarket – something fantastic happened. A house dripped blood, children got possessed and went nuts, monsters crawled out of the mist, a former nurse stopped by to talk about the time she slept with a werewolf and a thing from another world got really, really big.

Now in its seventh year, Bradford’s Fantastic Films Weekend is gradually making a name for itself as one of the foremost Fantasy and Horror festivals in the UK. With its emphasis on retro classics the event has become sort of a dark Mecca for fans clamouring to see their favourite genre pictures on the big screen. Those who made the pilgrimage were not disappointed.

There were British horrors including Scars of Dracula (1970) and Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970); cults such as Daughters of Darkness (1970) and the original Black Christmas (1974); back-to-back double bill of the Dr Phibes movies and Grindhouse (2007); exploitationers like Vigilante (1983) and Savage Streets (1984); and modern classics like John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and Poltergeist (1982) shown on majestic 70mm prints.

While most of the festival’s attendees could boast to seeing these films before on DVD or late night television (which lets be honest has a charm of its own) for many it was the first time seeing them on the big screen. And by God it makes a difference.

In a dark theatre, with the projector flickering and surrounded by fellow gore hounds, these movies come alive like never before. You experience every jump, every gasp, every scare like it was the first time.

On the big screen the appearance of the Nazi gargoyles in American Werewolf in London (1981) sent people flying into air, and there was a collective wince as a parapsychologist in Poltergeist peels the flesh off his own bones. This festival isn’t just a testament to film; it’s a manifesto about the undying magic of the cinema.

Adding to the atmosphere was the fact that most of the films were shown using original archive prints. They were scratched and grainy, the reels jumped, sound dipped and some of them even began with an ancient BBFC certificate.

The print of Bill Lustig’s Vigilante not only looked like it had been blasted with shotgun shrapnel, but also came complete with Danish subtitles (it was, we were told, shipped in from Europe especially). In 2007s Grindhouse, Tarantino and Rodriguez went to some lengths to recreate this degraded effect using digital technology. But this – this was the real thing.

While old school horror dominated the festival, the programme found room for more than a little variation. New films Brain Dead (2007), Vampire Diary (2007) and The Mist (2007) received early UK screenings and fans of small screen fantasy got a TV heaven room all of their own. Here you could bathe in the nostalgia of classic shows like Day of the Triffids, Children of the Stones and a TV version of Frankenstein starring Carrie Fisher.

As if  all this wasn’t enough there were also appearances from the film’s stars and creators. Jenny Agutter chatted about her genre credentials, the gentlemanly Peter Duffell told us about directing his only horror film The House that Drips Blood, and director Piers Haggard and writer Robert Wynne-Simmons gave us an insight into their seminal British horror Blood on Satan’s Claw.

If the Weekend had a flaw, then it’s that films clashed and there wasn’t time to see everything. If Meryl Streep thought she had it tough when she had to choose between children in Sophie’s Choice, then she never had to decided whether to and see Cat People (1942) or The Most Dangerous Game (1932) on the big screen.

Regardless, the event was a success. With everything packed into a singular location in the city’s National Media Museum (which houses two cosy cinemas and an IMAX) a real communal atmosphere developed between fans. Strangers shared their love of all things fantastic and openly traded stories and facts about the genre. There was a sense that everyone here belonged and a delight to know you weren’t the only obsessive geek on the planet.

Of course this isn’t the only horror festival in the UK and many attendants here were veterans of London’s FrightFest and Edinburgh’s Dead by Dawn. These are bigger and more established gigs, but it would have delighted Fantastic Films Weekend director Tony Earnshaw to know that people were regarding it as an equal to those more well-known events.

For Earnshaw, himself a horror movie junkie, the festival has been a labour of love and his (and his team) put their heart and souls into making it work. They have even bigger plans for next year and with any luck Bradford will welcome Horror legend Mr. John Carpenter to its grey Northern city. And why not? After all, strange things always happen in the place you least expect them.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS 

Opening Night Film: The Mist

In his introduction, Festival director Tony Earnshaw described the bad luck they’d had with previous opening night films. He described Half Life with Demi Moore as, “shit,” and Hostel 2 as average. The audience that sat before him in The Mist were reassured that this film definitely, “wasn’t shit.” And y’know what? He was right. 

Hammer Exhibition: The Ashton/Leakey Collection

Hiding in the back of the museum was this exquisite collection of designs, sketches, props and photographs from Hammer’s special effects men Roy Ashton and Peter Leakey. Though only small, fans were treated to preserved bite marks, latex vampire fangs, glass eyes and full sized plaster cast of Peter Cushing’s head.

The Thing 70mm print with a video introduction by John Carpenter

As if seeing one of the greatest monster movies of all time on 70mm wasn’t enough, Bradford’s Fantastic Films Weekend managed to gain an exclusive video introduction by the man himself. Carpenter displays his usual dry wit and lets viewers in on the fact that he’s been suffering from skin cancer (though thankfully is recovered now) and that the British Columbia shoot of The Thing was both, “gruelling and debauched.” It was probably Kurt Russell’s influence…

Screentalk with Harry Kumel

The passionate Belgian director of Daughters of Darkness and Malperiuis (1971) proved a bigger movie fan than most of the attendees. He particularly delighted in tearing apart Quentin Tarantino and expressed his love of Planet Terror and his hatred of Death Proof. “It’s like when a pretty girl takes along an ugly friend to a party,” is how he described Grindhouse. I can almost forgive him for stealing my seat during the screening of The Thing. Almost.

Closing Night Film: Horror Express

This should have been Hell’s Ground (2007), the Pakistani zombie film with a Leatherface-alike lunatic running around in a burka and a yashmak. However when the print failed to arrive, fans were treated instead to this classic 1972 Spanish/British co-production staring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas. The film contains some memorable dialogue, most notably when Cushing and Lee are accused of being possessed by a mutant missing link.

“Monster?!?” cries an aghast Cushing. “We’re British!”

Quite right.

You can find out more about this fantastic event HERE and be sure to keep an eye out for next year’s events. These guys have remarkably been able to top themselves each and every year, it’s fascinating to think how they can manage that in 2009?

Does it really get better than an original print of The Thing?