Music Box Massacre 6

Well folks, another year went by and another Music Box Massacre is under the belt. This time around the thing that intrigued me the most was seeing Psycho, Fright Night and Killer Klowns From Outer Space on 35mm print. This was my attention getter. The rest of the movies I wasn’t really hell-bent on seeing although some of them I wanted to see again because I hardly remember them like Pet Semetary and Theater of Blood. I was happy to meet a lot of my Twitter/Chicago horror friends from Horror Society and the blogosphere. Most notably, I was pleased to see my high school A/V Tech teacher there as well (He hosts the podcast The Harvey and Bob Show).

Like all the Music Box Massacres it starts off with a little thing called trailer trash, however before that they had a DJ playing. This year’s trailer trash had the following movies… all of which were either wonderfully campy or have amassed a massive cult following:

Godzilla
Night of the Living Dead
The Raven
Blood of the Vampire
Black Zoo
Konga
Curse of the Werewolf
Devil’s Partner
Black Sunday
Terror in the Haunted House

The Massacre kicked off with a great Universal classic and didn’t let up, except maybe once but here are my short takes on the films that I was able to see. (I slept through one and I ate dinner during the other). Remember, Music Box Massacre is 24 hours of straight horror movies starting at noon on Saturday and ends at noon on Sunday.

Phantom of the Opera

It has been far too long since I’ve seen this movie and this time I paid attention to the details in the costuming and the set design; all of which were breathtaking for that time. Also, up until the end, I felt really bad for the Erik.

The Raven (1935)

Ah this was a fantastic movie. Though it is plagued with some ham-handed lines, cheesy acting and a few cheap shots… Lugosi and Karloff were the power of this film. The chemistry they had in the film was electrifying. Honestly, it was such a treat to see two of the greatest movie monsters playing incarnations of their trademark roles.

The Wolf Man

My friend and I stepped out to eat lunch since we had already seen it twice last year. Besides, we were going to see it during our mini movie marathon.

Hungry Wives: Season of the Witch

Not the John Carpenter film but the one by George A. Romero. This one started off as a strange and haunting experimental and then swan dove into a trippy drama. It’s a feminist movie that said more about aging and living in the suburbs than about witches. Half way into the movie I fell asleep from boredom and woke up still wondering what was happening. Hardly any witches too.

Jan White was there in person too. I didn’t stay to hear the Q&A but when I saw her walking out she looked like a typical helpless old lady… who was packing a Glock.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Not much to be said here. If you haven’t already seen it, go do it now. It’s a wonderful, delightful and dark film about aliens that look like clowns that invade a small town. Cotton candy cocoons, popcorn eggs, laser guns and of course killer klowns makes this movie a fun watch.

The Chiodo Bros were actually there in person for a Q&A:

The Q&A was great. They talked about how the idea of clowns from another world came to be: essentially one of the brothers was driving and somebody sped up next to him and it turned out to be a clown. He thought if you got rid of the car and he was floating, it would have been frightening. Then voila. They also talked about incorporated as many circus motifs as they could and how they may have had something to do with the Ringling Brothers Clown Circus to get shut down. Afterwards, it was a photo op time. Pardon my geekiness here and I'm not trying to rub it anybody's faces. We skipped out on seeing Rabid because we wanted to meet the Chiodo’s so Cronenberg had to wait.

Me and the Chiodo Bros.

My high school teacher El’Ahrai and the Chiodo Bros.

Colleen Elizabeth Miller and the Chiodo Bros.

Henenlotter and the Grim Reaper looking guy.

Overall, they were just really nice folks. They really love their fans and they really seem to be down to Earth people. I was very fortunate to see them.

During Basket Case my buddy and I went out to get some pizza. I didn’t want to see it because I’ve seen it so many times. I, however, wanted to meet Kevin VanHentenryck and shake his hand:

Pet Sematary

This movie was always a film that I regarded as being terrible since I first watched it back when I was about 11 or 10 years old. It also seemed that most of my friends liked it so I decided that I would give it another go round during Massacre and here is my consensus: it was a deliciously, dark, compelling and often tacky horror movie that isn’t that bad. I enjoyed it.

The Funhouse

About 2 or so years ago I saw this for the first time. I thought it was great but as time went on I lost interest in it. It’s certainly not a bad film but it’s forgettable. I’d have to say that the most memorable thing about the film is the sound design. It’s loud, booming and very sudden.

House By The Cemetery

Here was a film that I fell asleep during the first half of the movie. When I woke up I was greeted with typical 70s camp. Over exaggerated soundtracks, bad voice dubbing, pointless facial expressions and a whole lot of over the top zooms. I loved it purely for it’s nostalgic factor.

Theater of Blood

Ah this was also a fantastic movie. Probably one of the more underrated slasher flicks out there. Vincent Price’s performance is dark, gritty, theatrical and very frightening especially with all the makeup. His methods of killing are brilliant, Saw-like and very original. Highly recommended.

Psycho

What can be said about this horror classic? However, I do have a small bone to pick with this film… full report coming soon.

Fright Night

A great movie to end a wild festival. I’ve stated numerous times that I love this movie so no need to further my thought of it.

Someone also got married as well.

6:00am, Sunday. Good to see the blue sky.

Overall, it was a fun time. Aside from the painful seats, the uncomfortably, the giant ant colony that was next to my chair and a few projector malfunctions… I had a great time. Partly due to those aforementioned things. It was a great time with my friends and I hope to go next year as well. Below are all of us that survived the Massacre. Try to find me it should be that hard.

Photo courtesy of Nicki.