Noon - Not of this Earth ('57 Corman Classic!) 1:45pm - Krull (80's Awesomeness!) 4:15pm - Critters 2 (dir. Mick Garris in Person!) 6:15pm - Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg Craziness!) 8:30pm - Rubber (Midwest Theatrical Premiere!) 10pm - The Blob ('88 Remake!) Midnight - Event Horizon (Rare Screening!)
Also: Short Films - Including Greg Nicotero's "United Monster Talent Agency," and Del Harvey's "Blood Kin."
Plus: Vendor Tables, Prizes, Surprizes, A live charity auction for Vital Bridges (www.vitalbridges.org), and much much more!!!
Tickets are $22 pre-sale $25 at the door day of show. Buy pre-sale tickets online at www.musicboxtheatre.com or at the Music Box Theatre Box Office (3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, IL).
Pay once - come and go as you like!
Times, Films & Guests Are Subject to Change. No Refunds, No Returns.
Lots of awards for our friends over at Lifeline for the super awesome Neverwhere and to one recently fanged beauty Miss Michaela Petro for their recent theatre honors from The FourthWalsh.
Friday, February 25th is the next MONSTER DRAW at Lucky Number Grill. We will have a new Pyre and Sara Gorsky from the hit WildClaw Theatre vampire play, Carmilla, in our midst.
Plus - THE DEMON SPAWN MONSTER BABY BELLY!!
Drawing starts at 8:30PM and goes to 11:00PM. $5 cover pays the models and contributes to the Women For Women charity (fighting real monsters around the world.)
Event: MONSTER DRAW
Place: Lucky Number Grill, 2nd Floor Bar, 1931 N. Milwaukee, Chicago
Time: 8:30 PM - 11:00 PM
Cover: $5
Bring your sketchbooks, laptops, iPads, cameras, paints, crushed leaves, burnt sticks, body fluids, whatever your preferred method of sketching.
Photo by John W. Sisson, Jr. (http://www.sissonphotography.com)
Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!
Our last photo was of a kneeling Ralph Bates before the lovely if talent-challenged Yutte Stensgaard in Hammer's second (and least beloved) installment in their Karnstein series, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971). As Carmilla Karnstein (sound familiar, anyone?), Stensgaard wanders blankly from scene to scene, head-butting fair maidens' necks right and left. Bates stepped in at the last second to replace Peter Cushing, who was still reeling from his wife's death (and truthfully, the understudy does a fine enough job with what he has to work with), but without the presence of actors such as Ingrid Pitt or Christopher Lee, the whole thing feels a little stale. And that's not even getting into "Strange Love," one of the most bizarre musical interludes in horror history.
Let's see how you fare with this week's selection:
Send your guesses, with the subject line "MYSTERY PHOTO", to jon@kitleyskrypt.com
If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com), along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!
Thanks Wildclaw fans and newbies for a wonderful show. We were overwhelmed with the response and love for our little vampire play. Bites and sexy kisses...
Aly
**photo by Charlie Athanas at Carmilla's strike...
The Doc and Jon Kitley (of Kitley's Krypt) will be roadtripping this weekend to the wilds of Oshkosh, WI, to take in the spine-tingling pleasures of John Pata and the Oshkosh Horror gang's monthly HOUSE OF HORRORS double feature. February's outing is one of a ghostly variety, featuring two of the best creepers out there. If you're near the Fox Valley, or up for a bit of driving, join us Saturday night!
"House of Horrors is all about getting people together to celebrate our love for the horror genre. Over the past three and a half years, we’ve seen much of what the horror genre has to offer....together...in the dark. Part of the fun at House of Horrors is not only viewing the movies we all love, but showing a title or two that perhaps you haven’t seen. This month we are focusing on two titles, we feel, might be under the radar and/or overlooked. Plus… this is our first haunted house double feature!
On top of the movies, we will be hosting another round of horror movie trivia, so start studying for your chance to win all sorts of goodies! As always, House of Horrors is free and open to the public, so bring your friends!"
Dr. AC weighs in on this most awesome of double features:
Changeling, The (1980) This stellar haunted house tale usually takes a back seat to the big budget envisioning of Stephen King’s The Shining, released the same year. But in many ways, Peter Medak’s smaller film, loaded with creepy atmosphere and tightly fashioned suspense sequences, surpasses any axe-swinging histrionics that Kubrick dishes out. As a grieving composer recovering from the deaths of his wife and daughter (a harrowing pre-credits sequence), George C. Scott anchors the picture with a compelling strength and vulnerability. Roused by a murdered child’s spirit in the mansion where he has retreated, Scott’s utter conviction with which he seeks to uncover the mystery is riveting. There’s also the neat subplot of Melyvn Douglas’ duplicitous politician, whose backstory proves more and more integral to the house’s healing. William Gray and Diana Maddox have crafted a marvelous script, one that functions not only as a pure ghost story but equally well as a character study charting Scott’s journey back from the abyss of tragedy and loss. Well worth seeking out.
Legend of Hell House, The (1973)
In the pantheon of top-notch haunted house movies, this fine, moody offering ranks just below Robert Wise’s outstanding The Haunting, to which it owes a great debt. The familiar premise concerns a team of spiritual sleuths assigned to investigate Belasco House (aka “Hell House”) to provide evidence of life after death. However, unlike the ambiguity of Shirley Jackson’s story or the subsequent film version, Richard Matheson’s screenplay (adapted from his novel) elects to make the existence of the malevolent presence within the so-called “Mount Everest of haunted houses” undeniably explicit. Rather than resorting to cheap bloodletting, director John Hough achieves a true visceral quality through skillful use of camera angles and sound, achieving terrific suspense and shocks through well-executed low-tech effects (slamming doors, flying silverware, etc.) The film is well served by its accomplished cast, headlined by medium Pamela Franklin (who cut her acting teeth in another masterful ghost story, The Innocents) and parapsychologist Roddy McDowell, the rattled sole survivor from Hell House’s last expedition. Matheson adds a kinky sexual element to the proceedings, complete with lusty somnambulists and unnerving spectral assaults. Fine electronic score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson.
This weekend at Horrorbles Galerie des Terrors! 6729 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, IL (708) 484-7370 (Facebook event HERE)
Friday, February 18th
Tales From The Hood (1995) 1pm A strange funeral director tells four strange tales of horror with an African American focus to three drug dealers he traps in his place of business.
Saturday, February 19th
The Green Slime (1968) 1pm A giant asteroid is heading toward Earth - astronauts aboard a nearby space station must scramble to blow it up...but then the trouble really starts
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 6pm In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him
Sunday, February 20th
Godzilla Vs. Biollante (1989) 1pm After rising from his volcanic grave, Godzilla is threatened by a mutated rosebush. (RARE SCREENING!)
$3 "Popcorn Cover" per screening
*Any $25 in-store Purchase gets you a FREE Month-Long Pass for 2 to watch any of the movies playing! Plus Free Popcorn!
Only 16 seats available per showing...advance reservation suggested!
**Screenings subject to cancellation due to private parties**
Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!
Our last photo was from 1977's freaky-deaky sci-fi thriller, DEMON SEED. Inventor Fritz Weaver designs Proteus, the ultimate computer, complete with artificial intelligence. Problem is, Proteus decides that it's far superior to its creator and devises an elaborate scheme to rape and impregnate Weaver's wife (a wonderful performance from Julie Christie) to create its offspring. Twisted and well realized, it's hard to imagine such a film being made today. God bless the '70s! Robert Vaughn provides the eerie, HAL-like voice of Proteus. Based on a novel by Dean R. Koontz, directed by Donald Cammell.
Let's see how you fare with this week's selection:
Send your guesses, with the subject line "MYSTERY PHOTO", to jon@kitleyskrypt.com
If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com), along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!
It's true, 20 years ago on Valentine's Day, 1991, a little movie called THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS went into wide release in the U.S.
The film's ostensible star was Jodie Foster, but it was Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins (who had been working regularly for over 30 years but was still far from a household name) that fascinated and captivated audiences with his enthralling portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. While author Thomas Harris' character had been brought to the screen back in 1986 in fine form by Brian Cox in Michael Mann's MANHUNTER (based on Harris' novel RED DRAGON), director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally realized the potential that existed for Lecter, giving Hopkins the showcase he and the character deserved.
The film did huge box office business and would later go on to become the third film in history to win the quadruple crown of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress at the 1992 Oscars, a feat all the more amazing when one realizes that the Academy was honoring a film that had been released over a year prior to the ceremony.
So, as you celebrate with your loved one today, raise a glass of chianti to one of the finest moments of counterprogramming on record (right up there with releasing THE EXORCIST on Christmas Day, 1973)!
Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!
Our last photo was from William R. Stromberg's THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER, a little known '70s flick featuring impressive stop motion dinosaur work from special f/x whiz David Allen. (Allen's resume includes a wealth of titles from Charles Band's Full Moon, including Dolls, Subspecies, and Puppetmaster, as well as studio as well as studio films like Caveman, Willow, Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Twilight Zone: The Movie.) In this enjoyably low budget effort, a meteor splashdown into Oregon's Crater Lake unearths a dinosaur egg, which soon hatches whereupon the emerging dinosaur takes to snacking on the locals. Good times!
Let's see how you fare with this week's selection:
Send your guesses, with the subject line "MYSTERY PHOTO", to jon@kitleyskrypt.com
If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com), along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!
RUBBER (2010) – RED, WHITE & BLUE (2010) – TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971) – THE SHOOTING (1967) – RIDE THE WHIRLWIND (1965) – INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN (1972) – EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960) – SECONDS (1966) – INTOLERANCE TRILOGY (2004) – STARCRASH (1978) – 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) – SOLARIS (1972) – PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965) – CREATURE (1985) – GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) – FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)
Visit CULT REVIEWS for all the goodness. If you can't make the trip, click the mouse...
This weekend at Horrorbles Galerie des Terrors! 6729 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, IL (708) 484-7370 (Facebook event HERE)
Friday, February 11th My Bloody Valentine (1981) 6pm A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true when a group defies the killer's orders and people start turning up dead.
Saturday, February 12th Toolbox Murders, The (1978) 1pm Ski-masked maniac kills apartment complex tenants with the contents of a toolbox.
Saturday, February 12th Slugs (1988) 6pm Killer slugs on the rampage in a rural community.
Sunday, February 13th My Bloody Valentine (2009) 1pm Tom returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame is the only one who believes he's innocent.
$3 "Popcorn Cover" per screening
*Any $25 in-store Purchase gets you a FREE Month-Long Pass for 2 to watch any of the movies playing! Plus Free Popcorn!
Only 16 seats available per showing...advance reservation suggested!
**Screenings subject to cancellation due to private parties**
Being that Edgar Allan Poe turned 202 last month (Jan 19), it seemed like the perfect occasion to check out two as-yet unViewed cinematic offerings based on the man's work. While producer/director Roger Corman more or less staked out the claim as Poe's most proficient and prolific celluloid champion (via a series of eight American International Pictures features from 1960-1964, affectionately referred to as the "AIPoes"), there have been numerous others, ranging from the sublime (Jean Epstein's 1928 version of The Fall of the House of Usher) to the ridiculous (David DeCoteau's recent Pit and the Pendulum abomination).
The two below fall somewhere in between.
Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, An (1972) (1st viewing) d. Johnson, Kenneth Not really a film so much as a recorded concert reading of Vincent Price at his Vincent Priceyest, tearing into four Poe short stories for the benefit of the camera on what seem to be leftover sets from a traveling production of OLIVER! The howling histrionics will either delight or dismay, depending on one’s temperament, not to mention Price’s puzzling pronunciations of words like “bosom” as “BOOOZUM.” But for those who enjoy the “Merchant of Menace” at his hammy best, Uncle Vincent slices it thick and serves it sizzling.
Pit and the Pendulum, The (1991) (1st viewing) d. Gordon, Stuart Re-teaming with frequent screenwriter and partner in crime Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon whips up another blend of comic yuks and graphic yechs for the Band boys (Charles and Albert). But like most of Gordon’s horror comedies following the one-two punch of RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, it’s fairly uneven in tone and never really seems to know what it wants to be. Unless what it wants to be is a harsh and cruel Inquisition story following Lance Henriksen’s deeply disturbed monk, armed with a sadistic streak and a serious yen for Rona de Ricci’s female form (and hey, who can blame the guy? Chick is hot, and occasionally naked…), who just happens to be surrounded by the biggest bunch of bozos this side of Ringling Bros. To the point, Henriksen, de Ricci and her onscreen beau Jonathan Fuller seem to be the only ones taking the story seriously, as the rest of the hooligan cast (including Stephen Lee, Tom Towles, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon , William J. Norris and Jeffrey Combs) mug and swan about the place. That lovable lush Oliver Reed even shows up for a cameo, only to be walled up a la Cask of Amontillado. Oh, yes, as far as this being a faithful Poe adaptation…not so much. There is a pit, and a pendulum (a really sharp, spark-throwing one, too), both of which figure mightily into the full-steam climax, but the rest is pure Paoli pudding.
, L.A. Banks
