Event Location:
CINEMA: MUVICO THEATER
ADDRESS: 9701 Bryn Mawr Ave, Rosemont, IL 60018
Night 1 of the 3rd Annual Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival featured the Chicago premiere of filmmaker Fede Alvarez’s (Evil Dead remake) newest horror film, DON’T BREATHE. The film doesn’t officially street until August 26th, so those in attendance were lucky enough to get an early look at the film.
Obviously Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Ash vs. Evil Dead) was in attendance since his name is on the marquee. If nothing else, having BC moderating anything is worth the price of admission. Even if there were no movies screened, just listening to BC talk is highly entertaining. He’s the emcee from Hell and everyone loves him.
The writer/director of DON’T BREATHE, Fede Alvarez and co-star Stephen Lang were both in attendance for the premiere. The film itself is a pretty good rehash of WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967) with Alvarez’s own spin on the theme. That’s really all I’ll say about the film because the studio deemed it necessary to take everyone’s phones that were in attendance so as not to take the chance of anyone pirating before it gets released. That’s okay for average Joe patron, but after the film, Alvarez and Slang conducted a Q&A with the audience and talked about making the film, and I was really looking forward to getting pics and video, but no go.
The Q&A with Alvarez and Slang was highly interesting about the making of the film. Obviously, I can’t go into much detail without spoilers, so I won’t.
For me, the second film of the night was much more satisfying and a better film to boot. The 30th Anniversary screening of NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (1986) with writer & director Fred Dekker (Monster Squad) in attendance was a real fan favorite. If you’ve only experienced the movie on a shitty VHS copy, it’s so rewarding to see it on the big screen.
If you’re too young or might have missed this film over the years, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS is Dekker’s attempt to combine several different sub-genres such as zombies, aliens, comedy, gore films and throw them into a blender and what comes out is NOTC – and man does it work! The film has recently been given a director’s cut on Blu-ray by Sony back in 2009. Do yourself a favor and if you haven’t checked the film out before, find this one and watch, you really won’t regret it.
Such as with DON’T BREATHE, there was a q&a with Fred Dekker after the movie screening which was a fun listen if you care about how they did this or that in the film. If you’re interested, I have a rather crummy video (low lighting kills it) of the Q&A that will be posted below.
So night one of the fest was a good start to the festivities. Nights two through four will feature a lot of premiers, celebrity guests and surprises to be sure. If you’re in the Chicago area attending the Wizard World Comic-Con, then hop on a shuttle to the Muvico Theater right down the road and see some really great films.
Upcoming films during the fest include: PET, SHOW YOURSELF, FROM BEYOND 30th Anniversary (with Barbara Crampton in attendance), Darren Lynn Bousman’s ABATTOIR, I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER, THE MONSTER SQUAD (with Fred Dekker), FOUND FOOTAGE 3D, THE GREASY STRANGLER, BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY 25th Anniversary screening, HERE ALONE, ANTIBIRTH, SIREN, and other surprises including a special screening of ASH vs. EVIL DEAD Season 2 episode 1!!!
