Tag Archives: The Music Box Theatre

El Santo at the Music Box!

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Tomorrow at the Music Box Theatre, you’ll have the chance to see a El Santo double feature! Starting at 11:30am, they will be screening Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy aka Santo en la venganza de la momia (1971), from a 35mm print! This will be followed by a screening of Santo vs. the Riders of Terror aka Santo contra los jinetes del terror (1970), from DCP. Both films were directed by René Cardona.

These screenings are co-presented by local film programmer Raul Benitez and film archivist and member of the Calderon and Carcia Besne Families, Viviana Garcia Beesne. They will be selling and signing copies of their new book, Luchadores Vs. Everything before, after, and between the films.

If you’re a fan of El Santo, this is a great opportunity to be able to see two of his films on the big screen! For all the information and to get your tickets, click HERE.

World Tour 2026 Comes to an End

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Last Saturday, we were at the Music Box Theatre for their annual 24-hour marathon of movies and madness, which was our last event for this year. As always, it was a lot of fun at the marathon. Granted, it takes me a good 24-hours afterwards to really get back to feeling normal again, but it is always worth it. The fans coming out to that event are so eager, excited, and even anxious to see films they might not have heard of, let along seen. Seen a lot of familiar faces and had more than a few conversations with some of the attendees throughout the event, talking about movies, books, and horror in general, which is one of the best parts of it.

Honestly, because we do this whole vending thing as more of a hobby than a business, the people that I’ve met over the last 30+ years I’ve been peddling books, VHS tapes, posters, or whatever, is really the best part. I’ve made so many friends by doing this crazy thing every year, that these shows really are like family reunions. It’s something I look forward to each and every show, and makes the event better, no matter how much we might sell. So, a huge thank you to everyone that came by our table this year, to buy something, or even just to stop and chat. We look forward to hopefully seeing you all again next year.

Sure, by the time October is over, I am ready to take a break and maybe spend some getting to work on some other projects, but I know by the time the first of the year rolls around, I’ll be counting the days until our first show. Speaking of which, we have updated our 2027 World Tour listing of what shows that we are planning to attend. Enjoy Halloween and see you on the other side!

Horror of Dracula at the Music Box

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On October 28th, at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, fans will have the opportunity to witness one of the reasons that Hammer Films, along with actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, become international stars in the movie world. While their previous film Curse of Frankenstein broke the ice, Horror of Dracula showed it wasn’t a fluke. 

But now, not only is it just being screened on the big screen, this is a version nobody has seen before, recently restored in 4K that also has footage that had been believed lost for more than half a century! You will get to see all of the Count, blood and all, in glorious color like you’ve never seen before! All on the big screen at the Music Box.

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Discover the Horror Book 5-Year Anniversary

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Thanks to Facebook, I was reminded that yesterday was when we had the official book launch for my book, Discover the Horror. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long, especially when it took me about 5 years to get it completed! But I’m still proud of it and what I’ve accomplished with it.

When I set out in the beginning, trying to figure out just what kind of book it was going to be, I realized that the only thing that I knew more about than anybody else was my own experiences with the horror genre. But yet, I did share a lot of experiences with other fans, no matter what year they were born, or when they started down the path of being a horror fan. I’ve said before that being a fan is not a race, but a journey. Sometimes that path takes you off the main road at times, but you can still find some pretty interesting films when you do go wandering off, but always coming back to the main road.

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Larry Fessenden Rules!

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Not sure exactly when I became aware of Fessenden’s work, but it was probably when my friend Aaron Christensen told me about his 1995 film Habit, which is a modern-day vampire tale. Fessenden wrote, directed, edited, and even stars in as the main character. It was a feature length film based on a previous short film he made back in 1982. It’s pretty tough to make modern-day vampire film work because it has been done so many times, but Habit does it perfectly.

From that point on, I was following his career, watching anything he directed. But like Roger Corman, there were a ton of young filmmakers coming out of Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, such as Ti West and Jim Mickle, who have created some incredible features on their own. Every time I’ve seen an interview with Fessenden, he just seemed so down-to-earth, with no pretentions, but just has this overwhelming passion to make film. When he’s not directing or producing, he’s always popping up with little cameos in a ton of different films, from the independent ones to even big-budgeted ones.

But I’ve never had the chance to actually meet this legend. Until yesterday.

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