This Saturday at noon, the Music Box Theatre kicks off Music Box of Horrors, its annual 24-hour, horror-movie marathon. The event is commendable for being one of the most cost-effective shows around. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 on the day of the event—which means if you see all 12 movies in the marathon, you spend less than three dollars per film. Several of the titles would be worth seeing at full price, however; adding to the enticement, almost everything in the marathon will be screening from celluloid. The selections range from artful to schlocky, with enough of the former to make this event of interest not just for horror buffs, but for anyone who cares about movies.
Music Box of Horrors will pay tribute to Romero’s audacity by screening his most outspokenly political film, Land of the Dead (2005), on Saturday at 2 PM. Released at the height of the George W. Bush era, Land issues a damning indictment of late capitalism in which the superrich protect themselves from a zombie apocalypse by barricading themselves with the world’s remaining resources and making the rest of humanity fend for itself. Dennis Hopper plays an obvious Bush stand-in (he even utters the line “We don’t negotiate with terrorists”), a heartless capitalist who doesn’t care that the world is going to hell. Watching the movie, you’re inclined to hate him more than the zombies, since he has the awareness to know better and potentially help others. Romero’s characterization of the villain may be a little too on the nose—unlike the writer-director’s best work, the politics of Land aren’t embedded in the storytelling, but rather sit above it. Still, the film’s righteous anger is rousing, especially given the fact that Romero expresses it using the full resources of a major studio.
