The Music Box Theatre doubles down on the thrills and chills every October, playing at least one horror title per day until Halloween. But the real thrills come October 21, when the theater runs its annual genre marathon, Music Box of Horrors. From noon Saturday to noon Sunday, the theater serves up 24 hours of bloody scares (and a few laughs) alongside special guests and giveaways.
“Our goal from the beginning has always been to showcase as many varieties of horror films as possible — and on celluloid if it’s still around,” says Music Box programmer William Morris. This means putting everything from beloved classics to long-lost discoveries into the gory mix. Morris weighs in on three highlights from this year’s selection.
The Convent (2000) “Every year we hunt and hunt ceaselessly trying to unearth underseen horror films that haven’t yet had their day in the spotlight.” Enter this demonic-possession comedy — “buckets and buckets of goop and gore to satiate the gorehound in all of us.”
Ozone (1993) A splatter-filled zombie delight, J.R. Bookwalter’s shot-on-video action horror is schlocky video-store fun. “Folks who haven’t experienced a true-blue SOV are often understandably hesitant. To nudge people to expand their horizons, we’ve selected one of the most palatable but still absolutely insane of all.”
Piranha II: The Spawning (1982) James Cameron’s first feature was this sequel to the Roger Corman—produced Piranha. “A film that’s so much better than it ever needed to be, Piranha II is an absolute blast and will play perfectly to a sold-out crowd of horror maniacs.”