For film nuts who live in Chicago, special events at the Music Box Theatre are effectively our oxygen. They range from Q&As with filmmakers and actors, book signings, various themed film festivals, midnight screenings, silent film showings—the list is virtually endless. But when the theater goes back to its grindhouse roots, I get particularly thrilled. With that in mind, this coming weekend brings the Grindhouse Film Festival to the Music Box Theatre, an event founded by Dan Halsted, head programmer at The Hollywood Theatre in Portland.
Halsted is an avid film collector, with a passion for Hong Kong cinema. In 2009, he unearthed a massive collection of extremely rare 35mm Kung Fu Films, all which can be seen in the festival. Dan Halsted will appear at the Music Box to host his Grindhouse Film Festival from Friday, June 3 through Sunday, June 5. For tickets and further information, visit www.musicboxtheatre.com. Here’s the festival schedule…
FRIDAY, JUNE 3 10:00pm: Grindhouse Trailers This is a 70-minute lineup of some of the best of Grindhouse trailers, presented in rare 35mm. All the wildest scenes, strangest taglines, and oddball promotional gimmicks packed into two-minute cinematic rollercoaster rides. We’ll see Italian horror, blaxploitation, sexploitation, hicksploitation, revenge films, kung fu obscurities and so much more.
SATURDAY, JUNE 4 7:00pm: THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING (1979) The original Ghostface Killer is on the loose! A vicious villain with an unstoppable five-element technique, Ghostface is killing off all his old rivals. Meanwhile, a young student tries to learn kung fu and is taken under the wing of an old chess master. The basics of chess prove to be the same as the basics of fighting, and eventually the heroes will have to fight Ghostface Killer, who verbally insults his opponents as he annihilates them. A true classic, and obvious favorite of the Wu Tang Clan, directed by Joseph Kuo (SEVEN GRANDMASTERS).
9:00pm: SHAOLIN VS. WU TANG (1981) An evil lord murders a Wu Tang master in an attempt to turn the Shaolin and Wu Tang against each other. The two schools each begin training to prepare for a showdown while the villainous lord attempts to combine the two styles to become the supreme kung fu master. This is old school kung fu at its best, filled with excellent fight scenes, strange training sequences, martial arts weaponry, and an opening credits sequence that alone is worth the price of admission. Starring and directed by Shaw Brothers superstar Gordon Liu (36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN) with fight choreography by the great Lau Kar Leung.
SUNDAY, JUNE 5 5:00pm: THE GATES OF HELL (1980) A surreal Italian gutmuncher from gore-maestro Lucio Fulci. A priest commits suicide and unwittingly opens the gateway to hell. The rotting dead rise from their graves to feed on the living in gruesome fashion, while a psychic and a journalist attempt to stop the rancid carnage.
7:00pm: Secret Screening An extremely rare 35mm print of one of the greatest exploitation films ever made. Not to be missed in this incredibly scarce big screen appearance.
And it just so happens I have 10 full-festival passes for 10 Ain't It Cool News readers, which can be given away in pairs (as long as you give me the name of both winners) or to individual winners. To win, send me an email at GrindhouseChicago@aintitcoolmail.com (please note the new email address) with the subject line “Grindhouse Film Festival" (exactly like that). In the body of the email, I need your full Name, Your Guest's Name (only if you want to bring a guest; if not, just write "No Guest"), and the answer to the following question: “What is your favorite grindhouse movie, and why?" So I'm looking for a movie title and a quick explanation why you picked them. Keep your responses BRIEF--no more than 75 words (no matter how tempted you are to go over the limit). And please only enter if you plan on going to all three nights of the festival.
The most original and convincing answers win, and you'll hear from me over the next couple of days if you won, so check your email! I won’t be posting the winners’ list on aintitcool.com for this particular contest.
