Programmed and hosted by the team that brought you last year’s “Music Box of Horrors presents 31 Nights of Terror at the Drive-In” event and presented by Creepy Co., HALF-O-WEEN 2021: HORROR WEEKEND AT THE DRIVE-IN will offer hosted screenings of five classic horror titles with groundbreaking visuals and high body counts, each with specialized pre-shows, April 30-May 2 at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In in Pilsen.
As part of this year’s celebration, grab a pillowcase full of candy and come get your fix of horror with three nights of scary features. Participants at the drive-in event receive EXCLUSIVE goodies, including a limited vintage stadium cup with every Large drink order. Every element of the weekend will be presented safely & responsibly in the Drive-In setting.
All screenings take place at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In, 2343 S. Throop Street in Chicago: https://www.chitownfutbol.com/chitown-movies. Drive-In Admittance begins 30 minutes prior to the film's listed start time. Tickets for the Friday single feature will be $30 per car, while admission for the Saturday and Sunday double features are $45 per car. For tickets and more information on the event, go to: https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/half-o-ween-2021-horror-weekend-at-the-drive-in-presented-by-creepy-co
FRIDAY, April 30
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH
Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982, 98 min.
Unfairly maligned for far too long—largely because of a lack of Michael Myers— HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH has finally begun to take its well-deserved place as a goopy, nasty, unsettling, black comedic horror gem. With an inimitable (and alcohol-soaked) performance from Tom Atkins (and his ass!), a jingle that will stick in your head for days, a paranoid toy-manufacturing conspiracy plot guaranteed to chill your marrow, and children’s heads collapsing into a soup of snakes and creepy-crawlies, Tommy Lee Wallace’s (FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2) HALLOWEEN III is the perfect, perverse antidote to the absurdity of contemporary life on earth.
SATURDAY, May 1
MIDSOMMAR
Dir. Ari Aster, 2019, 148 min.
The sun never sets in Midsommar, just one of the many disorienting things about writer-director Ari Aster’s follow-up to HEREDITARY. At once an eccentric entry into the burgeoning folk-horror revival, an embittered relationship drama, and a slasher movie told in slow motion with the lights on, MIDSOMMAR stars Florence Pugh as a college student who reluctantly joins her boyfriend and his roommates on a trip to rural Sweden to observe a pagan fertility festival. The film starts off intense—some A+ wailing from Florence in this movie—and turns twisted, building to a drug-fueled nightmare scenario that’s also oddly cleansing. Happy May Day!
ALUCARDA
Dir. Juan L. Moctezuma, 1977, 78 min.
Speaking of perverse catharsis, there’s ALUCARDA, a movie that’s known among connoisseurs of far-out world cinema for three things: Blasphemy, blood, and lots of screaming. This late ’70s Satanic horror oddity centers around two teenage girls, Justine and Alucarda, who fall in love at a convent in 1830s Mexico. They then do what all young lovers do when their thoughts turn to spring: Pledge their souls to Lucifer, and vow revenge on God and all his servants. Admirers of Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS will get a kick out of the movie’s anti-authoritarian and anti-patriarchal themes, and its feverish visuals will appeal to fans of Moctezuma’s countryman Alejandro Jodorowsky. But we can all appreciate a Satanic orgy and a literal blood bath on a Saturday night, right?
SUNDAY, May 2
FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART III
Dir Steve Miner, 1982, 95 min.
FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART III tends to get overlooked, being sandwiched between PART II—which features one of the most memorable heroines of slasher horror— and the quintessential, although misleading, FINAL CHAPTER. PART III delivers one of the most danceable horror themes this side of PROM NIGHT, impressive kills (the harpoon and handstand split are Crystal Lake hall of famers) and solidifies an image that would terrify Boy Scouts for the decade to come: the hulking Jason Voorhees in his workwear couture and iconic hockey mask. A visually impressive film, the shift in location from the east coast to sunny California gives FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART III a distinctively warm palette. Director Steve Miner utilizes the emptiness of space, expertly suggesting the presence of Jason Voorhees and delivering some welcome suspense before unleashing him on his latest batch of teenagers having an unlucky day in the windy, atmospheric climax. As the only FRIDAY THE 13TH film shot in scope, even without the 3D, this one deserves to be seen on the big, big screen.
SLEEPAWAY CAMP
Dir. Robert Hiltzik, 1983, 84 min.
Robert Hiltzik’s SLEEPAWAY CAMP ushered in the second wave of slashers in the ’80s, less focused on suspense and more on creative kills and gooey, gory special effects makeup. The film positions its killer as a sort of antihero, giving the vile tormentors of Camp Arawak exactly what they deserve and eliciting both scares and cheers from the audience. Hiltzik elevates SLEEPAWAY CAMP above the glut of forgettable FRIDAY THE 13TH ripoffs by loading the film’s potential body count with not only the prerequisite rock-hard hunks and stone-cold foxes, but also with a collection of memorably disgusting characters that feel like the New Jersey equivalent of John Waters’ stable of weirdos. The infamous climax remains as provocative and shocking as it was in 1983 and still has audiences debating what the film is trying to say… or if it has anything to say at all.
Creepy Co. is Chicago’s own community of horror creators & fans, transforming our nostalgia for the spookiest time of year into impeccably designed clothing, collectibles, and retro must-haves for people like us: creepycompany.com
About Music Box Theatre:
Operating since 1929, the Music Box Theatre has been the premier venue in Chicago for independent and foreign films for more than three decades, playing host to over 200,000 patrons annually. It currently has the largest theater space operated full-time in the city. The Music Box Theatre is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation. SMBC, through its Music Box Films division, also distributes foreign and independent films in the theatrical, DVD, and television markets throughout the United States; and through its Music Box Direct subsidiary, operates an online streaming service offering the best of foreign and independent films.