We here at the Daily Grindhouse of course have a lot of love and affection for Chicago and the Music Box Theater (looking at you, Mike and Katie!) so we’re super pleased to bring you the details on a very cool event coming up in October- one you can be a part of– The Music Box of Horrors: Dawn of the Drive-In, proudly presented by Shudder!
A Full Month of Movie Madness, Special Intros, and Other Surprises—Friday, October 1 to Sunday, October 31st, 2021, returning to the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In in Pilsen!!!
MUSIC BOX THEATER ANNOUNCES DAWN OF THE DRIVE IN, PRESENTED BY SHUDDER!
Tickets for all “Music Box of Horrors: Dawn of the Drive-In” events, presented by Shudder, are ON SALE NOW!!! Showtimes and tickets are available HERE: https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/music-box-of-horrors-dawn-of-the-drive-in-presented-by-shudder
The premier, month-long, horror film event, announces the second wave of gruesome film selections for its upcoming slate, which begins this Friday, October 1. After the overwhelming success of last year’s “31 Night of Terror at the Drive-In,” the Music Box Theatre returns to the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In in Pilsen for another murderous monthlong series of double-features, special single-feature events, and weekly themed screenings, including NÜ-METAL MONDAYS, THIRSTY THURSDAYS, FRIDAY NIGHT DOUBLE-FEATURES, RIP-OFF SATURDAYS, and SERIAL KILLER SUNDAYS!
With the 38 movies included in Music Box of Horrors: Dawn of the Drive-In and the 12 titles that comprise The Music Box of Horrors 2021 24-Hour Marathon, presented by CreepyCo. (https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/music-box-of-horrors-2021), Music Box is bringing audiences 50 unforgettable horror films to Chicago in October under the bloody Music Box of Horror banner. With mind-melting visuals and high body counts, this year’s lineup is perfectly in line with the Music Box’s eclectic taste in horror offerings and events—a combination of audience favorites and rarely screened titles, specialized intros, pre-show content, filmmaker Q&As, vendors, and of course, some surprises. All screenings take place at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In, 2343 S. Throop Street in Chicago: https://www.chitownfutbol.com/chitown-movies.
Every element will be presented safely & responsibly in a Drive-In setting.
SECOND WAVE TITLES and THEMES for the Music Box of Horrors: Dawn of the Drive-In, presented by SHUDDER.
Tickets and the full Drive-In line-up are available HERE: https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/music-box-of-horrors-dawn-of-the-drive-in-presented-by-shudder
NÜ-METAL MONDAYS
The year was 1998, and whether you liked it or not, nü metal was taking over the globe. Teenagers everywhere found teeth-clenching solace in the melodramatic, self-loathing, nihilistic, impossibly heavy cornucopia flaying their ears, and it didn’t take long for this sickness to spread to the silver screen. Every Monday in October we celebrate a nü metal-inspired horror film, as we take one step closer to the edge and embrace that people = shit.
STIGMATA
Dir. Rupert Wainwright, 1999, 103 min.
When Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette), a young hairdresser from Pittsburgh, begins to suffer the stigmata—a physical manifestation of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion wounds—Vatican investigator Father Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne) is skeptical of their authenticity. However, as the severity of the wounds increases, Kiernan realizes Frankie has become the vessel for an extraordinary and provocative message that threatens the very foundations of the Catholic Church. Steeped in aggressive nü-metal aesthetics and deftly balancing sacrilege, hatred for the corruption in the Catholic Church, and a lust for relief from the pain of human existence, STIGMATA slaps harder than ever in 2021.
THE CELL
Dir. Tarsem Singh, 2000, 107 min.
In this sci-fi thriller, child psychiatrist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) has developed a technique that allows her to travel through the minds of her patients. When Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio), a serial killer who methodically drowns his victims and performs bizarre rituals with their bodies, falls into a coma, FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) asks Deane to enter the killer’s psyche in hopes of finding a missing girl. However, once Deane enters Stargher’s mind, she finds getting out will be harder than she thought. While THE CELL may not seem as if it belongs in Nü Metal Mondays, when you watch it, the trüth begins to reveal itself through ostentatious storytelling, hypnotic imagery, nihilism, melodramatics, and Vincent D’Onofrio’s teeth-clenching turn as the serial killer Stargher. Turn off your brain, let your guts take the lead, and swim in the hellacious, otherworldly mindscape of Tarsem Singh’s THE CELL.
STRANGELAND
Dir. John Pieplow, 1998, 85 min.
Based on the character “Captain Howdy”—also the subject of the 1984 Twisted Sister song “Horror-Teria (The Beginning)”—STRANGELAND was a passion project for writer/producer/star Dee Snider, who didn’t waste his opportunity to portray the sadistic chat-room predator. STRANGELAND focuses on Captain Howdy and his quest to lure teenagers to his torture den, where he forces them to undergo body modification in service of “enlightenment.” With club scenes shot at Denver’s legendary The Church that are so visceral you can smell them, an early appearance from Linda Cardinelli, Robert Englund himself, and maybe the most nü-metal soundtrack of them all, STRANGELAND is a sick and horrifying trip down a rabbit hole of mutilation, early internet panic, psychosis, pitchfork mobs, and a desperation to feel anything in a culture of numbness.
THIRSTY THURSDAYS
Whether they come as shambling corpses, seductive aristocrats, or blood-crazed predators, vampires hold a powerful place in the collective nightmares of cultures around the world. Every Thursday in October, the Music Box of Horrors presents a different cinematic take on vampire lore, with undead bloodsuckers that are sexy, silly, scary, or a combination of the three.
VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN
Dir. Wes Craven, 1995, 100 min.
VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN was the end of an era for Eddie Murphy, as it was the last film produced under his contract with Paramount that began with 48 HOURS. Murphy—a longtime horror fan—and his brother Charlie envisioned VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN as a straight horror picture. But director Wes Craven was looking to branch out into comedy, which, according to Craven, led to difficulties on the set. The film is notable in Murphy’s career, as it reflects his desire never to be pigeonholed as just the “funny guy.” He takes the role of head vampire Maximilian 100% seriously, creating a villainous, sexy character that’s an anomaly in his filmography. And despite what contemporary critics wrote, the horror and the comedy do work together, with the assistance of a supporting cast that includes Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison, and the legendary John Witherspoon.
NADJA
Dir. Michael Almereyda, 1994, 93 min.
Produced by David Lynch’s longtime collaborator Mary Sweeney and featuring Lynch in a minor role as a morgue attendant, NADJA does for vampire movies what Twin Peaks did for the primetime soap. Set in an alienated midnight Manhattan captured in moody black and white, NADJA stars Romanian actress Elina Löwensohn as the title character, the gorgeously detached daughter of the infamous Count Dracula who sees her father’s second death by wooden stake as an opportunity for a new life. But fate isn’t so easy to shake in this hip, postmodern take on the Dracula legend featuring the euphoric sounds of Portishead and My Bloody Valentine.
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
Dir. Michael Rymer, 2002, 101 min.
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED is the most nü-metal movie in history. It sprung from the world of Anne Rice, following Lestat as he uses his platform as the singer in a metal band to encourage vampires to “come out of the coffin.” This doesn’t sit well with the vamp community, and awakens Akasha, the titular queen, who’s very hungry and ready to reign over the pitiful human race. Packed with tracks from Static-X, Papa Roach, Deftones, and featuring original songs by Korn’s Jonathan Davis, QUEEN OF THE DAMNED is a sexy, trashy, unfairly maligned vampire outing headlined by the born-for-this-role Aaliyah (RIP) and packed with that early ‘00s Hot Topic melancholy we all miss so much.
FRIDAY NIGHT DOUBLE-FEATURES
HELLBENDER
Part of the Chicago International Film Festival
Dir. John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, 2021, 86 min.
EYES OF FIRE
Dir. Avery Crounse, 1983, 90 min.
The latest from DIY filmmaking heroes the Adamses, HELLBENDER stars real-life mother and daughter Toby Poser and Zelda Adams as powerful nature witches whose peaceful, secluded life is threatened when teenage Izzy (Adams) discovers her own capacity for sorcery—and violence. Blending hallucinatory imagery, feral bloodlust, and a pretty badass family rock band, HELLBENDER is one of the more unique takes on both folk horror and coming-of-age stories we’ve seen in a while. Paired with a new 4k restoration of the folk-horror classic EYES OF FIRE, this is a double feature that crackles with magick and menace like the flames of a Samhain bonfire.
SERIAL KILLER SUNDAYS
Human beings have always been obsessed with the darker facets of our species, passing down harrowing tales of disturbed minds and body counts since the birth of storytelling. Every high and holy day in October, we invite you to join us for Serial Killer Sundays, featuring some of the most marrow-chilling chronicles of the scariest monsters of them all: people.
THE HONEYMOON KILLERS
Dir. Leonard Kastle, 1970, 107 min.
A cross between a Sam Fuller movie and a trashy true-crime paperback, THE HONEYMOON KILLERS is a film that becomes more shocking the more realistic it gets. Based on the real-life story of “Lonely Hearts Killers” Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck and shot in a raw documentary style, THE HONEYMOON KILLERS is a tawdry tale of lust, deception, and murder that wallows in humanity’s basest impulses. Theater actor Shirley Stoler turns in a chilling, psychologically complex lead performance as Martha, a nurse who shifts gears into murder with disturbing ease; Tony Lo Bianco co-stars as Raymond, a sleazy con man who specializes in seducing lonely women and taking them for all they’re worth. You’ve heard of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, or Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka… now meet Raymond and Martha.
SE7EN
Dir. David Fincher, 1995, 127 min.
When a killer begins a string of gruesome, fiendishly inventive murders based on the seven deadly sins, world-weary cop William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) gets assigned to the case. He also gets a new partner, hot-headed young detective David Mills (Brad Pitt). And soon, Somerset comes to fear that he and his mismatched partner are not solving the crime—they’re serving as an audience for this biblically minded murderer’s bloody “masterpiece.” David Fincher’s intricate thriller is one of most influential Hollywood films of the ‘90s, not only for its serial-killer-as-genius conceit, but also for its stunning visual aesthetic: rendering the film’s unnamed metropolis as a stygian cesspool awash in grime, filth, and a constant rain that never cleanses, Fincher and cinematographer Darius Khondji create a vision of intense, unrelenting ugliness that is paradoxically breathtaking in its artistry. [Text Courtesy of TIFF]
Windy City Double Feature Picture Show presents: HAMMER HORROR DOUBLE FEATURE!
Hosted by Adam Carston and Mike Vanderbilt, Windy City Double Feature Picture Show is a bi-weekly podcast that celebrates Chicago’s rich moviegoing past by exploring historic double features that screened in The Loop, neighborhoods, drive-ins, or suburban theaters. Each episode is a deep dive into the movies and the theaters that screened them, examining local news, national trends, popular culture, and what else was playing around town. It’s like a cinematic time machine!
THE MUMMY
Dir. Terence Fisher, 1959, 88 min.
CURSE OF THE UNDEAD
Dir. Edward Dein, 1959, 79 min.
This month, Adam and Mike are bringing Windy City Double Feature Picture Show to The Music Box of Horrors Drive-in with a ghoulish chiller double: Hammer classic THE MUMMY, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing; and the vampire-western gem CURSE OF THE UNDEAD, which originally opened across Chicagoland on September 4, 1959. Come for a unique screening experience, brimming with nostalgia and local history… if you dare!
Lunchmeat & Strange Tapes present: VIDEO BRAIN BLENDER!
A cranium-cracking concoction of VHS-era insanity that explores the depths of home camcorder obscurity and video store oddities! Featuring the work of filmmakers Mike Savino and Mark Veau, with a rewind-radical warm-up from STRANGE TAPES! This one-night rental of four titles on the big screen will include:
HALLOWEEN HECK HOUSE (Various)
An oddball onslaught of obscure and hysterical Halloween video clips presented by the weirdos at Strange Tapes VHS Zine.
ATTACK OF THE KILLER REFRIGERATOR (1990)
A refrigerator goes on a killing spree after teenagers abuse it. As ridiculous and wild as it sounds!
THE HOOK OF WOODLAND HEIGHTS (1990)
An escaped mental patient has a large barbeque fork for a hand, and uses it to kill off local teenagers. A shot-on-video horror spectacular that must be seen to be believed!
SNAPPER (2020)
A doc from director John Campopiano about the man-eating turtle movie that never got made by the insane brains behind ATTACK OF THE KILLER REFRIGERATOR and THE HOOK OF WOODLAND HEIGHTS.
SINGLE FEATUES
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
Dir. Philip Kaufman, 1978, 115 min.
The ‘70s paranoid thriller gets a new, horrifying dimension in Phillip Kaufman’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, considered by many aficionados of sci-fi horror to be the finest of the four BODY SNATCHERS films. Don Siegel’s 1956 original dealt with Cold War-era fears of Communist invasion, but Kaufman’s sophisticated, well-crafted 1978 BODY SNATCHERS is more concerned with government surveillance, environmental catastrophe, and the cultural shifts that saw hippies transform into yuppies. Disturbing special effects and steadily mounting tension add to the unsettling atmosphere, culminating in a final image you’ve probably seen before—even if you didn’t realize where it came from.
SCREAM 2
Dir. Wes Craven, 1997, 120 min.
Presented by the Halloweenies podcast
It was inevitable that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s game-changing horror hit SCREAM would garner a sequel, one that’s not unlike the slasher pictures the filmmakers were riffing on. Released less than a year after SCREAM, SCREAM 2 encountered countless production hurdles, from pages being written on the fly to an internet script leak. (In fact, it was one of the first Hollywood productions to deal with that problem.) Despite that, the film has endured and is a fan favorite in the series thanks to the returning cast, notable newcomers Timothy Olyphant and Sarah Michele Gellar, a gangbusters opening sequence, and a soundtrack that’s a perfect time capsule of the late ‘90s.
SUGAR HILL
Dir. Paul Maslansky, 1974, 91 min.
On its surface a colorful Voodoo take on the occult craze of the early ‘70s, underneath SUGAR HILL boils and bubbles with revolutionary spirit. Consciously playing on racist stereotypes and white fears of Afro-Caribbean religions, SUGAR HILL adds a supernatural dimension to its blaxploitation revenge plot through magic, mischief, and karmic justice. The unfuckwithable Marki Bey stars as Diana “Sugar” Hill, who turns to Voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) for help after her lover is murdered. She gets what she came for, conjuring up trickster god Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley) and an army of undead soldiers who help Sugar enact vengeance on those who have wronged her.
NIGHTBEAST
Dir. Don Dohler, 1982, 80 min.
Don Dohler believed in three tenets of filmmaking: boobs, blood, and beasts. And NIGHTBEAST delivers on all three. As a young man, Dohler published the special effects filmmaking magazine Cinemagic and penned books on the subject before making his first sci-fi horror feature, THE ALIENT FACTOR in 1978. Dohler essentially remade that same film—about an alien terrorizing a small town—two more times in his career, but got the concept just right with NIGHTBEAST. It’s a marvel of low-budget monster movies that features a memorable, nasty-looking alien, laser gun fights, and music by J.J. Abrams (yes, that J.J. Abrams).
TRICK ‘R TREAT
Dir. Michael Dougherty, 2007, 82 min.
There’s something special about a horror movie that actually takes place on Halloween (they’re surprisingly hard to come by!), and TRICK ‘R TREAT captures the spirit of the season better than most. A breakthrough hit for director Michael Dougherty, TRICK ‘R TREAT stars Anna Paquin, Bryan Cox, Dylan Baker, and Rochelle Aytes in four interwoven tales of terror that all connect through the character of Sam, an otherworldly trick-or-treater with orange footie pajamas and a burlap sack on his head. In the 13 years since its debut, TRICK ‘R TREAT has grown from a word-of-mouth cult film into a bona fide phenomenon, with Sam emerging as a mascot for all those who truly love Halloween and hold it in their hearts year ‘round.
For the full line-up, tickets and further information, please click here: https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/music-box-of-horrors-dawn-of-the-drive-in-presented-by-shudder
For all media inquiries, please contact:
Steve Prokopy
Public Relations Manager
Music Box Theatre
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