Rip-Off Saturdays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Essentially a “monster in the house” movie set in outer space, Alien developed from a low-budget Roger Corman schlocker titled Star Beast into one of the most iconic American horror movies of the ‘70s, introducing audiences to one of the most memorable onscreen cinematic duos: Ellen Ripley and the xenomorph. But Roger Corman wasn’t going to let Alien conquer the box office without lining his pockets, too. Galaxy Of Terror is the producer’s finest foray into Alien-sploitation, and features cult-film icons Robert Englund, Sid Haig, and Grace Zabriskie in a weird and wild intergalactic psychological horror tale. Production designer James Cameron—who would self-plagiarize for Aliens five years later—gives this low-budget shlocker an awe-inspiring sheen that elevates Galaxy Of Terror above other low-rent knockoffs like Alien 2: On Earth and Contamination.

Galaxy of Terror courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive.

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Starring John Boyega in his big-screen debut, Attack the Block is a fast, funny, and terrifying alien invasion flick that turns a London housing project into a sci-fi battleground, the low-income apartment complex into a fortress under siege, and a crazy mix of tough street kids into a team of ass-kicking heroes. It’s inner city vs outer space, and it’s going to explode.

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

One of the only horror movies set on Easter, The Being is also notable for unleashing a severely pissed off, toxic-waste-infused sludge creature on the small town of Pottsville, Idaho. Set partly at a drive-in and starring Martin Landau, Marianne Gordon, José Ferrer, and Ruth Buzzi, don't sleep on this trashy, slimy, grimy, no-budget, creature-feature extravaganza from the one and only Jackie Kong, director of Blood Diner! 

Grindhouse Fridays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Not many directors can claim two undisputed holiday classics, but Bob Clark did just that with A Christmas Story and Black Christmas. A favorite of Steve Martin’s, this proto-slasher delicately balances melodrama, a goofy sense of humor, and a palpable sense of dread up until its final chilling moments. Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toymaker, meanwhile,has the goofy sense of humor down. A California Christmas classic featuring one of the best bits of stunt casting in genre cinema, The Toymaker features Mickey Rooney commanding an army of killer toys designed by Screaming Mad George, as well as a life-size robot that just wants to be loved...or something like that. 

Black Christmas courtesy of Shout! Factory and the American Genre Film Archive.

Grindhouse Fridays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

In the late ‘70s and ‘80s, you'd be hard pressed to find more sleazy, depraved, disgusting, and out-and-out filthy horror films than those coming out of Hong Kong, and we're ecstatic to present two of these scum oddities for your sicko viewing pleasure! First up is Black Magic 2, Ho Meng-Hua's (The Oily Maniac) martial arts/horror melting pot spinning the tale of a mad villain (and cat lover!) who turns humans into sex zombies via nails through the skull. He also has a deeply unsettling penscient for breast milk—not to mention the alligator, and voodoo, and buckets of blood! To cleanse your palate, we'll dive into Dennis Yu's (The Imp) feline-centric gonzo legend of a family who must endlessly kill a cat demon every 50 years until its 9 lives come to an end. 

BLACK MAGIC 2 in Mandarin with English subtitles. EVIL CAT in Cantonese with English subtitles. 

Grindhouse Fridays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

William Marshall and director William Crane (Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde) put a fresh spin on the vampire legend in the “funkadelic, fangadelic” Blaxploitation horror of Blacula! Marshall stars as Prince Mamuwalde, African royalty who seeks Count Dracula’s help in ending the slave trade, only to be transformed into a vampire by the evil count.  Nearly two centuries later, Mamuwalde emerges as Blacula, “one cool, dressed to kill, dude strollin’ the streets of L.A. on a nightly quest for human blood and fine women!” Blacula is followed by the return of human-vampire hybrid Blade, played with devil-may-care, fuck you attitude by Wesley Snipes. In Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II, Blade finds himself in a fierce battle against a group of mutant vampires that Roger Ebert called, “a really rather brilliant vomitorium of viscera, a comic book with dreams of becoming a textbook for mad surgeons."

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

In this love letter to Blaxploitation, director Ernest Dickerson masterfully tells the tale of Jimmy Bones (Snoop Dogg), who was a beloved neighborhood protector, until he was betrayed and murdered by a corrupt cop. Twenty-two years later, with the neighborhood devastated and his home a gothic ruin, a group of teens unintentionally release Jimmy's vengeful spirit, ready to exact revenge on those who wronged him. 

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Francis Ford Coppola’s version of Dracula features not only some of the most sumptuous cinematography in horror-film history, but also one of the genre’s most enchanting romances. Pairing Gary Oldman as the grotesque, seductive Count with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder at the height of their early-’90s powers, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a feast for the senses as rich and intoxicating as...wine. 

Rip-Off Saturdays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

To this day, Brian De Palma's 1976 Stephen King adaptation Carrie remains one of the most terrifying horror films of all time. Hinging upon soul-crushing performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, Carrie builds to a harrowing climax sparked by the title character, who cannot—and will not!—take it anymore. Whether seen as a dense character study dealing with cycles of abuse and religious zealotry, or simply as a blood-soaked shocker, Carrie altered the horror landscape forever. A short two years later, Kay Cousins Johnson and Brice Mack took Carrie as a jumping off point for their own melodramatic Jennifer, which ups the exploitation, religious oppression, cruelty, and vengeance, adds some disco for good luck, and wraps it in Jennifer's ability to control snakes telepathically! 

Presented by the Chicago International Film Festival | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presents: 31 Days of Terror

Thursday, October 15th at 10:15pm | Tickets Available via the Chicago International Film Festival Coming Soon 

On a secluded farm in a nondescript rural town, a man (Michael Zagst) is slowly dying. Bedridden and fighting through his final breaths, he’s a source of deep sadness for his wife (Julie Oliver-Touchstone), who’s succumbing to overwhelming grief. To help their mother and say their goodbyes to their father, grown-up siblings Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) return to their family farm. It doesn’t take long for them to see that something’s wrong with mom, though—something more than her heavy sorrow. Gradually, as their own grief mounts, Louise and Michael begin suffering from a darkness similar to their mother’s, marked by waking nightmares and a growing sense that something evil is taking over their family.

In 2008, Bryan Bertino delivered a modern horror classic with The Strangers, a hit that remains creepy as hell due to its now-iconic visuals and realistic sense of domestic horror. With The Dark and the Wicked, the writer and director’s fourth feature following 2016’s critically lauded The Monster, Bertino gets nastier than ever before, ramping up the dread with a bleak supernatural chiller about how collective anguish can be a fate worse than death. But, there will also be death.

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

London’s legendary Ealing Studios took everyone by surprise by releasing this eerie anthology film just days after WWII officially ended. Considered by many horror lovers to be the greatest anthology film of them all, Dead Of Night features a horrifying ventriloquist's dummy, haunted mirrors, premonitions, Christmas ghosts, and a chilling coda to keep you up for days. 

Hosted by Mike McPadden, Author of "Heavy Metal Movies" and "Teen Movie Hell" | Grindhouse Fridays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

***Clint Howard Double Feature***

Clint Howard is an unsung hero of horror cinema, always ready to lend a clammy hand when the script calls for a sympathetic outsider—or an unsympathetic one. Our tribute to this veteran character actor explores both sides of the Clint Howard horror coin, beginning with his performance as a bullied outcast seduced by a demonic computer in 1981’s Evilspeak before going totally over-the-top with a campy turn as a homicidal purveyor of sweet summery treats in 1995’s Ice Cream Man. Both films offer up two scoops of outrageous horror fun, building to outrageous climaxes that you won’t soon forget! 

Ice Cream Man restoration courtesy of All Channel Films and the American Genre Film Archiver.

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Premonitions! Fate! Death! Devon Sawa! Tony Todd! Originally pitched as an episode of The X-Files, Final Destination remains one of the greatest, smartest, and scariest films in the teen-driven horror cycle of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.

Rip-Off Saturdays Double Feature | Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

***FRIDAY THE 13TH Uncut Version***

Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned! A trashy, Kevin-Bacon-starring cautionary tale of what happens when you have too much fun at summer camp, Friday the 13th is the low budget classic that really solidified what would become the slasher craze. Cunningham’s film spawned endless rip-offs, but none more fascinating than the Indonesian film Srigala. As Joseph A. Ziemba of Bleeding Skull! says, "[I]nstead of a killer exacting revenge on campers, this movie has a killer exacting revenge on treasure hunters ... There are also zombies that rise from the river at night. Meanwhile, a figure in a ski mask lurks around. This person gets involved in a speedboat chase, which ends in an explosion. Eventually, everyone ends up in a cabin. The slaughter begins! Is the Indonesian Mrs. Vorhees doing the killing? Will we get a shot-for-shot replica of the final jump-scare from Friday The 13th? And will the Indonesian Freddy Krueger from Khooni Murdaa sit on a toilet and tell jokes? Yes, yes, and goddamn it, no."

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

All hell breaks loose when a 15-ft grizzly bear, reacting to the slaughter of her cub by poachers, seeks revenge and kills anyone that gets in her way. In the three days before a major concert taking place in Yellowstone National Park, the gigantic grizzly has brutally attacked campers Ron (George Clooney), Tina (Laura Dern) and Lance (Charlie Sheen), poachers, and a park ranger. But the terror doesn’t end there, as the giant grizzly bear finds its way to the concert grounds to go on a killing spree. 

Sequel Sundays Feature | Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presents: 31 Days of Terror

Thirty years after her death at senior prom, the spirit of Mary Lou Maloney is back at school and ready for her revenge. And she’s burning to be prom queen, even if it kills her again. The Prom Night franchise kicks into delirious supernatural slasher overdrive with this delightfully energetic, in-name-only follow-up. It’s an extremely ‘80s Canuxploitation mashup of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Carrie, stacked with stellar kill sequences and super ambitious SFX work.  [Description provided by the New Beverly Cinema]

Hosted by The A.V. Club's A.A. Dowd | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Bong Joon-ho’s take on the creature feature is a signature Bong genre-bender, combining unabashed big-screen spectacle with sharp social satire for an environmentally-minded, anti-imperialist monster movie that has teeth in more ways than one. The highest-grossing South Korean film of all time upon its release in 2006, The Host has only grown more relevant in the 14 years since its completion. 

In Korean with English subtitles

Presented by Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise Podcast | Sequel Sundays Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presents: 31 Days of Terror

***Uncut Version***

After a decade-long run, countless dead teenagers, and a night boat to Manhattan, by the dawn of the ‘90s, the Friday The 13th franchise had run out of steam. Enter New Line Cinema, original director Sean S. Cunningham, and newcomer Adam Marcus to put an imaginative spin on Jason Voorhees lore and the played-out slasher formula. Jason Goes To Hell features a wild body-jumping concept (admittedly cribbed from The Hidden), inventive gore effects from the KNB team, and one of the most memorable surprising endings in horror cinema.

Featuring a Pre-Taped Q&A with Director Karyn Kusama | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

***Unrated Version***

Over the past decade, Jennifer’s Body has been slowly building the cult status it has always deserved. With Megan Fox as the embodiment of monstrous femininity and Amanda Seyfried as the timid best friend determined to halt Jennifer’s fearsome transformation, Jennifer’s Body is a darkly funny, delightfully gnarly romp through the thornier aspects of our culture’s fascination with—and fear and hatred of—adolescent female sexuality. 

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

The first ever Mexican horror film, La Llorona (1933), has been restored by Viviana García Besne of Permanencia Voluntaria Archivo Cinematográfico and will be screened for the first time in Chicago. Presented by The Music Box Theatre and Chicago Film Programmer Raul Benitez.

La Llorona tells the terrifying tale of a Mexican colonial legend about La Malinche, who kills her children for revenge on her unfaithful lover. Before taking her own life, she utters a curse destined to reach the firstborn of each generation of the conqueror's family. Turned into a terrifying ghost, known as La Llorona, she laments her misfortune emitting her chilling cry: "Oh, my children!". The film, which lasts just 70 minutes, takes place in three different periods: 1633, sometime during the Viceroyalty, and Mexico in the 20th century. This is the first sound version of the most famous Mexican legend.   

In Spanish with English subtitles

La primera película de terror mexicana La Llorona (1933) ha sido restaurada por Viviana García Besne de Permanencia Voluntaria Archivo Cinematográfico y va a ser proyectada por primera vez en Chicago. Presentado por The Music Box Theatre y el programador de cine de Chicago Raúl Benítez.

Presented by Shudder and Featuring a Q&A from Director Ryan Spindell and more TBA | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

The Mortuary Collection is an old-school horror anthology film that's a massive love letter to EC Horror comics, anthology films from the ‘70s and ‘80s, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and everything else in between...but you know, on an indie budget. Desperate for work, a young drifter applies for a job in a decrepit old mortuary on the outskirts of town. There, she meets Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown), a sinister mortician with more than a few skeletons in his closet. Montgomery chronicles the strange history of the town through a series of twisted tales, each more terrifying than the last. But the drifter’s world is unhinged when she discovers that the final story...is her own! [Description provided by Shudder/Ryan Spindell]

Grindhouse Fridays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

In Clive Barker's Nightbreed we meet Aaron Boone, who inexplicably dreams of Midian, a hidden subterranean world where monsters have created a haven from humanity. In Def by Temptation we meet Joel, who grew up in the Church, but has recently been questioning his faith. The ghost of Joel’s father compels him to visit his cousin in New York, where things quickly descend into macabre madness as a bloodthirsty woman sets her sights on his cousin. With impeccable, pitch-black senses of humor, obsessions with religious mysticism and iconography, and appearances from a young Samuel L. Jackson, and David Cronenberg, Nightbreed and Def By Temptation offer up nightmare-inducing fantasy worlds like no other. 

Def By Temptation restoration courtesy of Troma Entertainment and the American Genre Film Archive.

Rip-Off Saturdays Double Feature | Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Unfairly lumped in with the slasher boom of the ‘80s, Wes Craven’s seminal shocker A Nightmare On Elm Street has more in common with classic ghost stories about a malevolent spirit on a quest for revenge. Craven’s imaginative script gets under your skin, while unwittingly creating a sliver-screen icon in Freddy Krueger. But have you ever thought to yourself, “I like A Nightmare On Elm Street, but I wish it was twice as long and featured musical numbers?” Mahakaal plays out like an Elm Street greatest hits compilation, weaving in elements of mysticism, black magic, and slapstick comedy into this mesmerizing Bollywood production. There truly is nothing else like it.

MAHAKAAL in Hindi with English subtitles.

Rip-Off Saturdays Double Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Richard Donner delivers one of the most chilling excursions into the world of evil-child horror with his stone-cold classic The Omen. With fantastic turns from Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, and horrifically unsettling child actor Harvey Stephens, The Omen will creep under your skin and into your soul. And for our second feature of the evening, we'll let our friends at AGFA take the reins: "Imagine Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage as a 25¢ Exorcist/Omen rip-off directed by Dario Argento’s third cousin in a Toronto suburb. Add senior citizen turmoil, epic synth bloops and a foul-mouthed, telekinetic rampage from shittiest-kid Cathy culminating in the most gratuitous violence against dinnerware ever filmed. When someone in this movie says, “You and I both know that I’ve had a nervous breakdown,” you will believe them."

Featuring an Exclusive Prerecorded Q&A with Director Brandon Cronenberg | Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

An arresting sci-fi thriller from Antiviral’s Brandon Cronenberg, Possessor stars Mandy’s Andrea Riseborough as corporate assassin Tasya Vos. Using brain-implant technology, Vos takes control of other people’s bodies to execute high-profile targets, but as she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her. Also starring Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Sean Bean. 

Sequel Sundays Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presents: 31 Days of Terror

Picking up a few months after the events of Psycho II, Norman Bates is back at it again. This time, a former nun with an eerie resemblance to Marion Crane and a reporter who just won't quit digging into his past set him off, which begins a chain of horrific events. Directed by Norman himself, Anthony Perkins, Psycho III sees the series lean into the neon-tinged ‘80s and go sleazier, bloodier, more action packed, and more insane than ever as poor Norman slides deeper into psychosis. 

Featuring a Tribute to Stuart Gordon | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Join us as we pay tribute to Chicago-born genre titan Stuart Gordon with the splatter-horror trash-terpiece that started it all! The first film to pair up the iconic duo of Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton, Gordon’s outrageous take on H.P. Lovecraft launched a thousand imitators—and one filthy visual gag for the ages. 

Re-Animator restoration courtesy of Arrow Films and the American Genre Film Archiver.

A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

A quintessential horror comedy, Return Of The Living Dead is a semi-sequel to George Romero’s original zombie classic Night Of The Living Dead. Notable as the film that introduced audiences to brain-eating zombies, Return expertly blends scares and laughs with a fun and funny punk rock aesthetic. Featuring genre favorites Linnea Quigley, Miguel A. Núñez, Clu Gulager, Thom Mathews, and Don Calfa.

Presented by The Loser's Club: A Stephen King Podcast | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Stephen King’s Cycle Of The Werewolf played out like a sort of lycanthrope advent calendar, chronicling a year in the life of a werewolf and featuring artwork by Swamp Thing co-creator Bernie Wrightson. Dino De Laurentiis’ 1985  adaptation has developed its own cult following, thanks to memorable performances from Corey Haim, Gary Busey, and Everett McGill, as well as a very distinctive werewolf design.

Drive-In Premiere Featuring a Q&A from Director Jill Gevargizian and more TBA | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presented by Shudder

Everyone dreams of being someone else… but for Claire, that dream goes from an obsession to a living nightmare. Her job as a hairstylist allows her to move in and out of other people’s worlds, but when the right target sits in her chair, she does more than observe the client’s life – she ends it, and keeps a permanent souvenir. Her lonely life, meticulous method and shocking secrets are suddenly thrown into turmoil when her regular client, Olivia, asks her to style her hair for her wedding. [Description provided by The Stylist/XYZ Films]

Sequel Sundays Feature | A Part of Music Box of Horrors at the Drive-In Presents: 31 Days of Terror

Relocating the cannibalistic Sawyer clan to a cavernous, labyrinthian dwelling beneath an amusement park, Tobe Hooper’s deliciously demented sequel sees Leatherface and Co. continue their murderous exploits afresh. This time around, local DJ Stretch runs afoul of the Sawyers when she gets mixed up in the brutal slaying of two youngsters. Meanwhile, Lieutenant ‘Lefty’ Enright is hell- bent on avenging the murder of his nephew Franklin, who perished in the original massacre. [Description provided by Arrow Video]