Fatal Femmes at National Science and Media Museum

In time for Halloween, Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum Pictureville cinema presents Fatal Femmes, a series of spooky screenings devised to pay tribute to women in horror.

Starting on Friday 25 October with cult 90s horror The Craft, the season celebrates witches, telekinetic teens and psycho-sexual nightmares with a selection of titles that invites audiences to appreciate the talented women of horror — on screen and off — while also examining the roles in which the genre casts its female leads.

Over the weekend of 26 & 27 October, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy make a terrifying trio in kid-friendly showings of Hocus Pocus. Film buffs, meanwhile, will be delighted to see the iconic duo of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford haunting an old Hollywood mansion in Robert Aldrich’s 1962 film Whatever Happened to Babty Jane? (also Sun 27 Oct).

The dark star of the season is without doubt the programming on Halloween itself as Thursday 31 October is given over to a double bill featuring the new 4K restoration of Carrie followed by a 35mm screening of Suspiria. Actor Sissy Spacek is otherworldly in her role as tormented teen, turned angel of bloody vengeance in Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. While Jessica Harper is superb as the newest inductee to a dance academy full of hidden evils in Dario Argento’s vivid, stylish 1977 Suspiria.

Finally, Fatal Femmes makes sure to celebrate women on both sides of the camera, with a double bill from director Rose Glass. The British filmmaker broke out with her 2019 debut feature Saint Maud, a mesmerising horror about a devout hospice nurse who becomes obsessed with the soul of her dying patient. That film was followed up with Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian in this year’s terrific neo-noir Love Lies Bleeding, which confirmed Glass’ significant talent. Audiences can see both back-to-back on Saturday 2 November.