Music Box Massacre

By: Brian Thomas
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Horror films are doing very well at the box office recently, but that's not big news. Horror films have always done well since they're selling a good scare rather than big stars or even special effects, they're relatively cheap to produce, and studios can usually expect a return on their investment. However, an indicator of the depth of horror's current success is the overwhelming response to events like this weekend's second annual Music Box Massacre horror movie marathon. During the grindhouse horror boom of the 1970s, when filmmakers were stretching the boundaries of the genre, or the 1980s home video boom, when people were entranced by the notion of watching uninterrupted features at home, it's doubtful that you'd be able to pack a barn like the legendary Music Box for an entire 24 hours of fright flicks.

"I had always liked the idea of doing a 24-hour horror marathon," says the Music Box Massacre's creator, filmmaker Rusty Nails. "After a few years of doing very successful Movieside Film Festival programs with guests like John Waters, George Romero, Jim Jarmusch and Guy Maddin, I team up with the good people at the Music Box Theatre, which is my favorite theater in Chicago, and we talked about doing a marathon. We all liked the idea and set about making it happen, but we wanted the event to be very dynamic. We didn't just want movies - we wanted bands and a costume contest and other live performance aspects to give the event a very electric atmosphere... make the whole thing special for the audience."


Unlike the raucous slumber party atmosphere of the long-running B-fest marathon run at Northwestern University every January, Nails packs his program with A-list horror classics like THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), THE THING (1982) and DEEP RED (1975), abetting the endurance of the audience with burlesque acts, live music and interviews with guests. This year's guests include Oscar nominated director John D. Hancock, who will be on hand for a screening of his underrated 1971 chiller LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH, and Joe Dante, represented by his 1978 breakthrough project Piranha, as well as his entry in the MASTERS OF HORROR cable anthology series, HOMECOMING (2005).

While both guest directors agree that the increased public celebration has more to do with selling merchandise as it does with horror moving more into the mainstream of popular culture, they take the current boom of horror films as a cyclic phenomena. Says Hancock, currently preparing some theater projects in Chicago while developing several film ideas with his wife at their Indiana studio, "As to whether or not horror is in the mainstream, I think it comes and goes. To a degree the entertainment business is like the fashion industry: things keep changing."

Dante agrees: "They seem to wax and wane in keeping with the tenor of the times. And the times right now, they ain't so good." Noting that horror pictures have always reflected some degree of the issues affecting society, Dante's political views were much more overt in Homecoming, which has U.S. casualties from the Iraq War rising from the dead to vote against incumbents. "HOMECOMING arose from a specific case of political frustration shared by many of us who were appalled at what was/is being done to our country by the current 'administration'. The messages in such films are traditionally much more 'coded' than they are here. But the bluntness seemed to be called for by the situation. Let's face it, HOMECOMING is more of a piece of deeply felt agitprop than it is a horror movie."

It's the kind of agitprop Nails welcomes: "I love it when people include radical and left wing politics in films. All films are political... unfortunately... most of their politics are conservative, misogynist, homophobic, racist, classist garbage. I would love to see more bright, anti-conservative-authority horror films being made. There are a lot of terrible horrific things going on in the world we currently live in: countless wars, greed, waste, starvation, pollution, terrible murders. Horror films are a great way to comment on all of these awful situations in a way that will enable people to live through the experience vicariously and without the trauma of actually physically experiencing the event. I think films have the power to move people and make them think and question things."

It may be a stretch to claim that FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (1981) could be a source of meaningful social change, but if a society is mirrored by its popular culture, taking a long look in that mirror can be a solid step toward an examination of that society. Starting with THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and ending with AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, the Music Box Massacre offers 24 hours to examine the state of the world... while screaming your head off.

The Music Box Massacre runs from noon October 14 through noon October 15. Check out the details online at Music Box Massacre.



(© 2006 Brian Thomas) Brian Thomas is the author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS, available now!

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