“Death Becomes Her,” September 6

Saturday, September 6, 8:30 p.m.

Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL

Lauded by the Chicago Tribune's Dave Kehr as "diabolically inventive and very, very funny," Robert Zemeckis' 1992 comedy Death Becomes Her enjoys an outdoor screening at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox, the September 6 event treating guests to an Oscar-winning cult classic that, just last year, inspired a Tony Award-winning stage musical.

A hilarious tale of sabotage and betrayal, Death Becomes Her concerns Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn), who have been toxic friends since childhood. Madeline is a beautiful yet fading actress while Helen is the long-suffering author who lives in her shadow. Yet after Madeline steals Helen’s fiancé Dr. Ernest Melville (Bruce Willis) for herself, Helen plots revenge. Seven years later, Madeline and Ernest are living an opulent but miserable life in Beverly Hills, and after receiving an invitation to a party celebrating Helen's new book, the couple discovers that Helen is now slim, glamorous, and youthful. But how? The answer involves a witchy Isabella Rossellini and a magical potion, and leads to a fierce battle of wills as Madeline and Helen fight for Ernest while realizing that eternal life, an eternally youthful bodies, aren't everything they're cracked up to be.

Death Becomes Her was a technologically complex film to make, and represented a major advancement in the use of computer generated imagery (CGI) effects, under the direction of Industrial Light and Magic. It was the first movie in which CGI skin texture was used, in the shot where Madeline resets her neck after her head is smashed with a shovel by Helen. Meanwhile, creating the sequences where Madeline's head is dislocated and facing the wrong way around involved a combination of chroma key, an animatronic model created by Amalgamated Dynamics, and prosthetic make-up effects on Streep to create the look of a twisted neck. Zemeckis' film went on to become a box-office success, earning more than $58.4 million domestically and $90.6 million internationally. In Taipei, Death Becomes Her set a box-office record by earning $269,310 in two days, marking it the "biggest opening ever" for overseas distributor United International Pictures.

For the September 6 screening of Death Becomes Her, guests are advised to bring blankets or lawn chairs and not bring their own food or drink, as the service window will be open. The 8:30 p.m. screening of the PG-13-rated film will be held in the back garden, weather permitting, admission to the event is free, and more information is available by calling (309)200-0978 and visiting RozzTox.com.