Sights and Sounds of Halloween

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 27, 2004 5:40PM

Chicagoist remembers being at that awkward age where you’re too old to go trick-or-treating (without getting shitty looks from your neighbors) and too young to hit the bars. So to fill that void we’d rent scary movies. So a quick word to anyone who’s made that their plan this year: get your ass to the store today! If you show up on Saturday night, don’t expect them to have anything else but crappy sequels like Halloween 3, Nightmare on Elm Street 5, and The Rage: Carrie 2. It’s worth it to eat the late fee if it means you’ll have quality viewing options.

For those seeking other movie-related Halloween treats, the city is full of ‘em. Friday night on the U of C campus will be a showing of The Bat, a 1926 silent film about a guy who dresses up as a bat to frighten the residents of a local mansion. Isn’t that scaaaary, kids? Ok, but the film’s got great visuals and has loads of MST3K possibilities. And it wouldn’t be Halloween without The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As we mentioned earlier this month, The Music Box and The Hollywood Blvd Cinema in Woodridge will be carrying on the tradition this year. If you’re interested in seeing the original stage play, The Greater Metropolitan Area Community Theatre Group will be performing it at Bloom Trail High School in Chicago Heights on Friday and Saturday.

All Hallow’s Eve brings a trio of movie events starting with free movies and not-quite-free games for the kids in Horner Park courtesy of the city. Then drop the kids at home, grab a casserole, and head over to the Mess Hall on Glenwood for the Hall-o-ween Messacre: a screening of The Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre accompanied by the music of Black Flag, P-Funk and…Ella Fitzgerald? Hmmm. There’s a potluck dinner at 7 PM and the movies start at 8 PM. And that’s free too! Finally, there’s Frankie J’s on Broadway for Twisted Tales, a collection of shorts from the Winnipeg Film Group. And trust us, Canadians know from scary. It’s BYOB so no need to be crafty about sneaking in your fifth of Jack.

Oh and then there’s some musical offerings afoot…

Friday night the Abbey Pub is having a Halloween Costume Party benefiting This Is Me, an enrichment program for adolescent girls. Your $20 gets you plenty of beer, soda, food and live music. Saturday and Sunday night is their Dress to Distress Party featuring music from Clinic, Sons and Daughters and Midnight Movies with prizes for the “freakiest” costume. On Halloween proper, chill out to the the most mellow lineup of cover bands ever at Beat Kitchen’s Halloween show featuring with artists performing the songs of Radiohead, Cat Stevens, and Elliot Smith.

Speaking of cover bands, Silvie’s Lounge has got more mocker rockers than you can shake a broomstick at as part of their 4th Annual Halloweekend. We won’t list them all here but we will draw your attention to this: the Byrds cover band on Friday covers the Smiths on Saturday and the INXS band is called Androgynous Mustache. Awesome. Cover is eight dollars but the Rock and Roll Halloween Marty Party Jam the next night is free.

Speaking of androgynous mustaches, the man with the best costume ever, RuPaul will be hosting Crobar’s Halloween party and promoting the album Red Hot. Ru’s costume will undoubtedly be better than yours.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, Chicagoist would like to take this opportunity to remind you that walking around in a t-shirt and jeans and calling it “my costume” makes you look like a tool. Have fun!