Chicago, find out what makes The House With A Clock In Its Walls tick, early and for free

We’ll confess to a certain fascination with the upcoming Jack Black/Cate Blanchett vehicle The House With A Clock In Its Walls, and not just because it’s the first PG-rated offering from notoriously violent horror filmmaker Eli Roth. Adapted from the persistently unsettling YA novel by John Bellairs, the film sees a young kid (Owen Vaccaro) get swept up in the magical antics of his uncle Jonathan (Black) and neighborly witch Mrs. Zimmerman (Blanchett). (Also, there might be an evil sorceress with a taste for world-ending timepieces in the mix.) Bellairs’ book strikes a very careful blend of maturity and kid-friendly horror, and it’s going to be very interesting to see if the mind behind Hostel and The Green Inferno can nail it—even with the blessing of noted kid-scarer Steven Spielberg.

If you’re in Chicago and free on September 18, though, you can make your own assessment of Roth’s efforts. We’ve got 40 admit-two passes to an advance screening of the film to hand out, scheduled for 7 p.m. at Chicago’s AMC Navy Pier on Tuesday, September 18. All you have to do to get your tickets is head here and fill in a bit of personal info. Be sure to get to the theater early, though; these advance showings always overbook, and there’s nothing more gauche than being tardy to a potential magical ending of the world.