This Week in Horror Movies: Halloween Havoc at Portage Theater

By Steven Pate in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 25, 2010 8:30PM

For the third consecutive year, the Portage Theater gives us a treat during the final week of October and the countdown to the 31st with their "Halloween Havoc," showing two scary movies per night starting tonight through Thursday, with a four-movie marathon capping things off on Friday.

They've put together a solid assortment of horror films, mixing masterpieces with lesser films that are, if not classics, then adjacent to the classics. The program is especially suited to John Carpenter aficionados, as Prince of Darkness, The Fog and The Thing are all on tap. Friday's finale showcases three essentials from the golden age of horror, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula and Frankenstein meets Wolfman, along with the more-recent Ghost Story. Other gems such as perennial favorite Army of Darkness and An American Werewolf in London round out the schedule.

But it's tonight's inspired opening double bill that gets our motor running: The Car at 7 p.m. and Duel at 9:10 p.m. Nothing against The Car, which predates Carpenter's Christine and rates somewhere in between that greater film and, say, Maximum Overdrive in the pantheon of murderous automobile fare, but Duel is the star of the show. Steven Spielberg's debut, a made-for-tv movie, is a masterpiece of simplicity, showcasing the genius for suspense which Spielberg would later employ in Jaws. Dennis Weaver stars as a man chased down by an ominous Mack truck with a homicidal driver and seventeen notches on its headlights representing earlier victims. Just when you thought it was safe to go on the highway.

Admission is $8 for each double bill, $10 for Friday. Portage Theater is located at 4050 N. Milwaukee.