The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:56 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:55 pm
Posts: 467
Location: Chicago
This year I was blessed (cursed?) with two 24 hour horror marathons in Chicago and if I could make to Columbus this year, I'd make it three!

October 12-13th Patio Theater:

First let me say that the Patio Theater is one of the most gorgeous theaters in Chicago. Not sure how many people it holds but at least 700. The projection at this marathon was top notch. It's the first marathon that won't find me complaining about video projection.

Edison's Frankenstein video projection.
This was uninspiring but short. Not much to add.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 35mm
What a bad movie. I love the old Universal classics, but this was just boring and bad.

Tomb of Ligeia 35mm
Pretty decent Vincent Price film but not my favorite. Good print though

Martin video projection
Great movie that I don't think many in the audience had seen before. Disappointed it was on video but it actually looks really good. I just love this movie!

Dead and Buried video projection
This video projection looked so good I thought it was a print for the first 10 minutes! I really like this underrated movie. Director Gary Sherman was there for a Q & A afterwords but I needed to get food instead.

April Fool's Day video projection
I hadn't seen this since I was a kid and I'm still not a big fan but it was fun enough with an audience. Director Fred Walton was there for a Q & A and he seemed pretty shy at first. Some decent stories but overall I just wanted to get to the next film

A Nightmare on Elm St. 2: Freddy's Revenge 35mm
This movie gets a lot of unfair crap. It's not very good but it's still one of the few Nightmare films where Freddy is played for scares instead of laughs. The movie made the unfortunate decision in 1985 of making their "Scream Queen" a closeted high school boy played by Mark Patton who was our guest. I say unfortunate because audiences in 1985 were so not prepared for this one. It's quite frankly the most gay mainstream horror film ever from the leather bar scene right down to its art direction. But the movie is nowhere near as bad as its reputation (especially compared to parts 4-6). Mark Patton was an incredible guest who detailed not only the typical production stories, but how the film basically ruined his career. The writer tried to blame the "gayness" of the movie on Mark's "terrible acting" and only 20 years later admitted that he wrote the movie to be about a teenage boy struggling with sexual identity. This basically ruined the actor's confidence and career but he was really appreciative and excited to tell his story to the audience.

The Gate 35mm
I had completely forgotten everything about this movie before seeing it here. It's not great by a long shot, but I think the coming of age themes about dealing with loss were pretty interesting. Glad I saw it again but I don't think I need to add it to my collection.

Hellbound 35mm
This was supposed to be Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 but as the opening Star Wars style scroll unspooled and then cut to Medieval times and Chuck Norris's name in the credits and it became obvious that the wrong print was shipped. They stopped it 2 minutes in and announced that they'd play Deep Red next and a blu-ray of Hellraiser 2 after.

Deep Red 35mm
This was probably the same print that played 8-9 years ago at the Grandview. A little pink but not too bad. I made it about an hour into this before I gave up and left. I've seen it on the big screen before and had a long week ahead of me to be capped off with another 24 hour marathon.

Movies missed: Hellraiser 2, Wild Zero, Slither, Army of Darkness.


October 19-20th Music Box Theater
This actually was a 26 hour marathon-on purpose! Of the 15 movies played only one was digital-Maniac Cop 2. So If any of these movies appeal to you, start begging Joe and Bruce now!

Fall of the House of Usher
This silent film was pretty decent. Some really good atmosphere and images.

The Island of Lost Souls
I really like this movie. Very ambitious for its time-though a lot of the "monsters" look like really hairy people. Not a dull moment in it.

The Black Room
Not very interesting movie. The best part of this is Boris Karloff's performance as twins. Some surprisingly good split screen work.

The Night Monster
Yet another variation on 10 Little Indians. Pretty bad movie I wish I had skipped.

The Manitou
Joe and Bruce should definitely program this twisted freak show of a film next year. Pretty decent print with some fading and pink-ness. I just can't imagine a studio head reading this script and green lighting it: "A tumor growing inside a woman is actually the fetus of an ancient Indian shaman? Let's get Tony Curtis for this one!"

Crawlspace
I had never seen this Klaus Kinski epic before and it was blast. Kinski plays a crazed Nazi landlord who spies on his tenants and devises elaborate traps to kill people and keeps a tongueless gimp in a cage! The director was there for a Q & A which was very interesting every time the subject of Klaus Kinski's insanity was mentioned. They played a 10 minute documentary about how difficult the actor was and how one of the Italian producers wanted to have Kinski killed to collect the insurance money. Apparently the distributor wouldn't let them fire him.

Maniac Cop 2 2k DCP projection
The only digital projection of the night looked surprisingly good. The movie isn't anything special but is better than the first (minus a couple of awesome actors from part 1). For whatever reason, this film plays more as a grind house movie than the first one. Bill Lustig was a great guest with a lot of good stories about filming in NY pre-Giuliani.

Child's Play
This movie is a classic but it kind of sucks. When I watch it I just keep thinking about the wasted opportunities. There's a great idea that doesn't really get explored as much as it should: is Andy crazy and committing these murders? I wish they had focused on this idea and the mother's grief and concern.

Slumber Party Massacre
This is a fun movie that I had to skip most of in order to stay awake for the next title. The print was fairly pink but that just added to its grindhouse flavor.

Possession
This was the highlight for me. I love this insane movie. I know it's long and kind of slow but it's such a great movie! The worst break up in the history of break ups! The performances are so intense that despite the slow pace, I never find myself bored. A tough one at 3am though.

At this point I decided to leave and get some sleep so I missed: A Nightmare on Elm St. 3 (which I'd seen the year before at the other marathon), Burial Ground, Terrorvision and most of CHUD.

For some reason I woke up at 10:30 so I went back to the theater to catch the last 20 minutes of CHUD. But the grand finale was another highlight:

A Bay of Blood aka Twitch of the Death Nerve
An absolute masterpiece from Mario Bava! Every slasher film ever owes a huge debt of gratitude to this movie. The print was gorgeous to boot!

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 1:37 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:55 pm
Posts: 467
Location: Chicago
And how could I forget to mention that the infamous Cafe Flesh trailer made an appearance at the Music Box marathon?!!! I think it was either before or after Slumber Party Massacre.

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