Music Box Massacre

The mother of all Halloween parties, the annual Music Box Massacre (3733 N. Southport) is a 24-hour marathon of classic horror movies, vintage trailers, and personal appearances, with a collectibles market in the theater lobby. Among this year’s guests are Stuart Gordon, who got his start in Chicago theater and went on to write and direct Re-Animator (1985), and Art Hindle, who appeared in Black Christmas (1974) and David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979). This year’s lineup: the silent version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), with a moving performance by Lon Chaney in the title role (Sat 10/10, 12:15 PM); Isle of the Dead (1945), one of the atmospheric B-movies Val Lewton produced for RKO, with Boris Karloff in the lead role (2:15 PM); A Bucket of Blood (1959), the legendary cheapie by Roger Corman (3:45 PM); Gordon introducing his Edgar Allan Poe adaptation The Black Cat (2007), made for the TV anthology series Masters of Horror (5 PM); actors Tim Kazurinsky and Greg Hollimon honoring Poe’s bicentennial with a reading of his work (6 PM); Hindle introducing The Brood (6:15 PM); Gordon introducing Re-Animator (8:30 PM) and his 1986 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation From Beyond (10:45 PM); a midwest premiere of the new zombie chiller Pontypool (Sun 10/11, 12:30 AM); screenwriter J.D. Fiegelson introducing the 1981 shocker Dark Night of the Scarecrow (2:05 AM); Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), directed by Tobe Hooper (4:20 AM); Blood Feast (1963), the notorious drive-in shocker by Herschell Gordon Lewis (6:10 AM); Maximum Overdrive (1986), the directing debut of novelist Stephen King (8:15 AM); and Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976), which kept me from falling for Sissy Spacek for far too long (10:15 AM). Tickets are $27 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 musicboxtheatre.com.