Terror In The Aisles 2

Today was a special day. The event: Terror in the Aisles 2. The place: Portage Theater Chicago. Three horror films, three special guests, ONE CHICAGO PREMIERE. Fucking Incredible Night. And one I've been dreaming about for 3 years.

First up was The Evil Dead. Special Guest Q&A after the film: Tom Sullivan, who did the special effects. Have never been too crazy about this flick and hadn't seen since college but a whole lotta fun w/this audience. Amusing to see Raimi's '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 after having just seen it in Drag Me to Hell.

Next up was 1981's My Bloody Valentine. Special Guest: Director George Mihalka. Now this was even more fun w/a theater full of horror geeks. Q&A was excellent as well. Hadn't seen that one since High School!


Finally, the reason why we were there. The Chicago Premiere of the long awaited Trick 'r Treat. Special Guest: Director Michael Dougherty. Holy Shit. What can I say? My biggest fear was that this film wouldn't (couldn't possibly) live up the hype I've created in my own mind from first laying eyes on the trailer 3 years ago. How much did I want to see this? I seriously considered flying to Toronto to catch it at the After Dark Fest next week (before the Chicago screening was announced). Yeah, 3 years of waiting had really built this one up in my mind.

But HOT DAMN does this film deliver. And deliver in spades. It's that good. And yet bittersweet as this is a film that clearly deserves a theatrical release and shouldn't have taken this long to finally reach audiences across the globe (one special screening after the next) until the DVD/Blu arrives in October. The Q&A w/Mike afterwards was also wonderful. So damn happy to finally see this. Loved every second. If you don't dig this movie, you truly don't have a soul.