FESTIVAL
Well on the way to becoming a Chicago institution, the Music Box Massacre is an annual 24-hour marathon of classic horror movies, vintage trailers, and personal appearances, with a collectibles market in the theater lobby. This year’s guests include the Chiodo Brothers, whose puppet work was featured in Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988) and later Team America: World Police (2004). Also scheduled to appear are Jan White, star of George A. Romero’s little-known Season of the Witch (1972), and Kevin Van Hentenryck, star of the 1982 shocker Basket Case. Screening this year: the Lon Chaney classic Phantom of the Opera (1925), with live organ accompaniment by Dennis Scott (Sat 10/9, noon); The Raven (1935), one of only a few features to costar Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (1:30 PM); The Wolf Man (1941), starring Lon Chaney Jr. (2:45 PM); Season of the Witch, introduced by White (4:15 PM); Killer Klowns From Outer Space, introduced by the Chiodos (6:15 PM); Rabid (1977), an early horror flick by David Cronenberg (8 PM); Basket Case, introduced by Van Hentenryck (10:15 PM); Pet Sematary (1989), adapted from a Stephen King novel (Sun 10/10, 12:1 AM); The Funhouse (1981), directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre auteur Toby Hooper (2:30 AM); House by the Cemetery (1981), an Italian feature by gore-maestro Lucio Fulci (4:15 AM); Theater of Blood (1973), with a delectably hammy performance by Vincent Price (5:45 AM); Psycho (1960), the Alfred Hitchcock classic (7:45 AM); and Fright Night (1985), starring Roddy McDowell (10 AM). Tickets are $28 in advance at brownpapertickets.com (last year’s event sold out) or $33 at the door, and patrons may leave and reenter the theater. For more information see musicboxtheater.com. 
