Chicago's Music Box of Horrors Announces Month-Long Slate of Films Including 'The Stylist' and 'Grizzly II'!

Open up a music box of terror in October...

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...That's because Chicago's Music Box of Horrors will be back for a full month of horror at the drive-in, running from Thursday, October 1, 2020 to Saturday, October 31st, 2020, at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In in Pilsen!

Some of the Chicago Premieres include: Brandon Cronenberg’s Sundance hit POSSESSOR; Shudder’s THE MORTUARY COLLECTION; the Drive-In Premiere of director Jill Gevargizian's THE STYLIST; the long-awaited, 38-years-in-the-making GRIZZLY II: REVENGE; and a surprise co-presentation with the Chicago International Film Festival’s After Dark program!

[From the Press Release]

Pivoting from its usual 24-hour movie marathon format, 2020's Music Box of Horrors will shape-shift into 31 Nights of Terror at the Drive-In. From October 1st- 31st, the Music Box of Horrors will take over the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In for late shows Sunday-Thursday, and double-features every Friday and Saturday night. In addition, every weekend is themed—Grindhouse Fridays, Rip-Off Saturdays, and Sequel Sundays:

GRINDHOUSE FRIDAYS (Double features)
On Fridays, we celebrate the movies your parents warned you about! Long since replaced by bland suburban multiplexes, grindhouse theaters reveled in humanity's underbelly with twisted double features designed to turn your stomach, offend your sensibilities, and make you scream. Whether it be exploitation, splatter, perverse, transgressive, or just plain gross, Fridays are for sickos--and we can't wait!

RIP-OFF SATURDAYS (Double features)
There's only one thing better than watching a horror classic on the big screen, and that’s watching a blatant, unauthorized rip-off immediately afterwards! On Saturdays, we offer up the heavy hitters you know and love, and then give you the chance to stick around and watch some mind-melting, unhinged insanity! With everything from Anglo-Italian exorcisms to Bollywood Freddy Kreugers, we gleefully invite you to expand your mind with the rip-offs you didn't know you needed!

SEQUEL SUNDAYS (Single features)
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when doing deep dives into horror franchises, trying to dig through all a series has to offer. Lucky for you, we’ve done the work and are proud to offer up some of the best of the best in the realm of sequels!

Check out the full month's schedule below and get tickets here!

​Thursday, Oct. 1 @ 9:55pm

POSSESSOR (2020) — 103 min., Dir. Brandon Cronenberg
An arresting sci-fi thriller about elite, corporate assassin Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough). Using brain-implant technology, Vos takes control of other people’s bodies to execute high-profile targets. 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.

Chicago Premiere!


Friday, Oct. 2 @ 9:45pm

BLACULA (1972) — 93 min., Dir. William Crain

BLADE 2 (2002) — 117 min., Dir. Guillermo Del Toro

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."

Saturday, Oct. 3 @ 9:30pm

ALIEN (1979) — 117 min., Dir. Ridley Scott

GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) — 81 min., Dir. B.D. Clark

Sunday, Oct. 4 @ 9:30pm

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986) — 101 min, Dir. Tobe Hooper

Monday, Oct. 5 @ 9:30pm

THE HOST (2006) — 120 min., Dir. Bong Joon Ho

Presented by AV Club

Tuesday, Oct. 6 @ 9:30pm

THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985) — 91 min., Dir. Dan O'Bannon

Presented by Creepy Co.

Wednesday, Oct 7 @ 9:30pm

RE-ANIMATOR (Unrated Version) (1985) — 104 min., Dir. Stuart Gordon
w/ Stuart Gordon Tribute Video

Thursday, Oct 8 @ 9:55pm

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) — 88 min., Dir. Joe Cornish

Friday, Oct 9 @ 9:30pm

NIGHTBREED (Director’s Cut) (1990) — 120 min., Dir. Clive Barker

DEF BY TEMPTATION (1990) — 95 min., Dir. James Bond III

Saturday, Oct 10@ 9:30pm

THE OMEN (1976) — 111 min., Dir. Richard Donner

CATHY’S CURSE (1977) — 82 min., Dir. Eddy Matalon

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."

Sunday, Oct 11 @ 9:30pm

PSYCHO III (1986) — 93 min., Dir. Anthony Perkins

Monday, Oct 12 @ 9:30pm

THE MORTUARY COLLECTION (2020), 108 min., Dir. Ryan Spindell

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, 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! 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 in-between.

Presented by Shudder, with Q&A from director Ryan Spindell and more TBA!


Tuesday, Oct 13 @ 8:45pm

LA LLORONA (1933) — 70 min., Dir. Ramón Peón

Hosted by Raul Benitez

LA LLORONA (2020) — 97 min., Dir. Jayro Bustamante

Double-feature Presented by Shudder

Stream LA LLORONA and thousands of hours of killer content on Shudder.com!


Wednesday, Oct 14 @ 10:15pm

SILVER BULLET (1985) — 95 min., Dir. Daniel Attias

Presented by The Losers' Club: A Stephen King Podcast


Thursday, Oct 15 @ 10:15pm

Secret Screening (2020), co-presented with 56th Chicago International Film Festival

We’re partnering with the Chicago International Film Festival to co-present a terrifying new film from its After Dark program, dedicated to boundary-pushing genre films. Further details will be announced on September 22.


Friday, Oct 16 @ 10:15pm

EVILSPEAK (1981) — 97 min., Dir. Eric Weston

ICE CREAM MAN (1995) — 84 min., Dir. Norman Apstein
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Clint Howard Double Feature!

Saturday, Oct 17 @ 10:15pm

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) — 95 min., Dir. Sean S. Cunningham

SRIGALA (1981) — 91 min., Dir. Sisworo Gautama Putra

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."

Sunday, Oct 18@10:15pm

HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II (1987) — 97 min., Dir. Bruce Pittman

Monday, Oct 19 @ 9:30pm

JENNIFER’S BODY (2009) — 102 min., Dir. Karyn Kusama

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.

Featuring a pre-recorded Q&A w/ director Karyn Kusama!


Tuesday, Oct 20 @ 9:30pm

GRIZZLY II: REVENGE (1983/2020) — 75 min., Dir. Director: André Szöts

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. The terror doesn’t end there as the giant grizzly bear finds its way to the concert grounds to go on a killing spree.

Wednesday, Oct 21 @ 9:30pm

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) — 103 min., Dirs. Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, & Robert Hamer

Thursday, Oct 22 @ 9:45pm

BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992) — 128 min., Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Friday, Oct 23 @ 9:30pm

BLACK MAGIC 2 (1976) — 92 min., Dir. Ho Meng-Hua

EVIL CAT (1987) — 81 min., Dir: Dennia Yu

In the late ‘70s and ‘80s, you'd be hard pressed to find sleazier, 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. 

Hong Kong Horror Night!


Saturday, Oct 24 @ 9:30pm

CARRIE (1976) — 98 min., Dir. Brian De Palma

JENNIFER (1978) — 90 min., Dir. Brice Mack

To this day, Brian De Palma's 1976 Stephen King adaptation remains one of the most unsettling and terrifying horror films of all time. Hinging upon soul-crushing performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, CARRIE builds to a harrowing conclusion bursting forth from the titular character, who cannot and will not take it anymore. Whether seen as a dense character study concerning cycles of abuse and religious zealotry, coupled with teenage angst and rage, or simply a blood-soaked shocker, CARRIE altered the horror landscape forever. Two years later, Kay Cousins Johnson & Brice Mack took CARRIE as a jumping off point for their own melodramatic JENNIFER. They upped the exploitation, religious oppression, Disco, cruelty, and vengeance, and wrapped all that in Jennifer's ability to control snakes telepathically to do her bidding! 


Sunday, Oct 25 @ 9:30pm

JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (1993) — 87 min., Dir. Adam Marcus

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.

Presented by Halloweenies: A Horror Podcast


Monday, Oct 26 @ 9:30pm

FINAL DESTINATION (2000) — 98 min., Dir. James Wong

Tuesday, Oct 27 @ 9:30pm

THE BEING (1983) — 82 min., Dir. Jackie Kong

Wednesday, Oct 28 @ 9:30pm

BONES (2001) — 96 min., Dir. Ernest Dickerson

Thursday, Oct 29 @ 9:45pm

THE STYLIST (2020) — 105 min., Dir. Jill Gevargizian

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.

Drive-in premiere, with Q&A from director Jill Gevargizian and more TBA!


Friday,  Oct 30 @ 9:30pm

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) — 98 min., Dir: Bob Clark

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 5: THE TOY MAKER (1991) — 90 min., Dir. Martin Kitrosser

Christmas in October Party!

Saturday, Oct 31 @ 9:30pm

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) — 91 min., Dir. Wes Craven
​
MAHAKAAL (1994) — 132 min, Dirs. Shyam Ramsay & Tulsi Ramsay

By Matt Konopka