The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

So, my opinion of the lineup so far is that it looks like a really fun one! I'm a fan of the premieres so we'll see what lies down that path, but I can't complain about the lineup so far, and in fact I really like it. I'm looking foward to this marathon quite a bit as that was a really strong batch of films announced here.

Battle Royale - Confession time: I've never seen this movie. It's actually been on my shortlist of movies to see for years now, and I just have never gotten around to actually seeing it. So I'm thrilled it'll be playing at the marathon. As for the question of which version to show, standard or directors cut, I've obviously never seen either, so I'm good both ways. I'd be willing to speculate that over 50% of marathon attendees haven't seen the movie, so the regular version would be just as new to them as the director's cut. In fact, let me revise that number to state that I'd be willing to speculate that over 50% of marathon attendees this year have not even heard of Battle Royale. I certainly have and I know its got a lot of respect from some folks, but its a complete unknown to casual audiences.

They Live - Confession time: I'm all out of bubble gum. This movie is awesome, and I don't want to start an argument or anything, but I greatly prefer it to some other 80's classics (I'm specifically thinking of Buckaroo Banzai here). Of course everyone has their own favorites (ie. some folks love Starship Troopers, some don't, some people think Dune is epic, some people think its boring, some 20-year-olds these days have never even seen 2001, etc etc). They Live works for me.

Source Code - I did not watch this movie last year, so yet again, this is a another big win for me! It got decent reviews, so I'm looking forward to it.

Attack The Block - Saw it. Enjoyed it. Would not mind at all seeing it again. Moses!

Daft Punk's Electroma - Never heard of it. Saw it described as a silent film. Does anyone know if that means we'll get 70 straght minutes of Daft Punk music, or if it'll be truly silent? I'm good either way, I don't mind trying something experimental or different every year.

The Creeping Unknown - Never heard of it. Sounds like it was a real classic though, probably worth seeing more than most. Hope it doesn't get relegated to the 4am or 6am timeslot.

Brainstorm - I'm not sure if I've seen this or not. Okay, just watched the trailer. Now I'm pretty certain that I have not seen it. Cool, another new movie for me.

Reptilicus and The Green Slime - And people wonder why kids these days automatically think any old movie is not as good as any more modern one. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these gets played in the early afternoon, and the other gets relegated to sleepy time. I'm pretty sure I've seen Reptilicus before. Not that it matters. Good fun additions to the lineup.


All in all, a great lineup, and I'm really looking forward to this year's marathon.

Here are the runtimes of the films (so far)

The Green Slime 90 min
Source Code 93 min
They Live 93 min
Elctroma 74 min
Reptilicus 82 min
The Creeping Unknown 78 min
Attack the Block 88 min
Battle Royale 122 min
Brainstorm 106 min

Note I'm using the Battle Royale Director's Cut runtime.
The current runtime is about 826 min +/- or 12hr and 46min +/-. The marathon runtime sofar short. It is possible to put three more films in the lineup. It depends on the runtime. Are there plans to add shorts or longer breaks? How about calling this year's marathon Short Attention Span Theater or The Year We Get Out On Time?

Hard to complain much about GREEN SLIME being in regular old DVD format. Fact is, many of us have been searching for a 35mm print for DECADES! 16mm prints have been located, with at least one of those being a dreaded Pan & Scan version! There may be a moldy, ragged and likely totally faded print in someone's garage, but, who knows. The film was finally released on DVD within the past year, but even that was in plain DVD - not Blu Ray.

What all this sadly fortells is the future of not just Marathons, but Revival houses in general. Studios will simply not strike new 35mm prints of 'marginal' titles like GREEN SLIME. Further, they are highly unlikely to create proper Digitial Prints of these secondary archive films. You call, and they will send you a DVD. A Blu Ray if applicable. Period.

Bottom line is, that barring a miracle, GREEN SLIME will never again be shown in 35mm in a theater - EVER!

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Sadly that there is some guy out there working on a new 35mm print of Manos from a 16mm workprint. He is doing a Blu Ray and the proper files that are use in movie theaters that are digital projection only. No I'm not talking about a Blu Ray player connected to a video projector.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/132 ... estoration

Don't give up hope for a 35mm print of The Green Slime. The 110 year old nitrate print of A Trip To The Moon the hand color version was restore and released onto Blu Ray. If you watch the documentray on the Blu Ray the nitrate print of the hand color version was a brick.

Good luck to the filmmaker involved with MANOS, I suppose.

There is a quantum difference between a GREEN SLIME and one of the most iconic films of all time in A TRIP TO THE MOON. Most studios consider something like SLIME a run of the mill title, where a regular DVD suffices. They didn't even do a Blu Ray, let alone a 35mm restoration. Sure, they conceivably COULD do a 35mm restoration of GREEN SLIME -but, they point is....

THEY WON'T!

No Way.

No how.

Never.

If everyone harangues Warner Brothers, you may be lucky enough to convince them of its Blu Ray worthiness. Maybe. In some wishful-thinking universe, WB may even someday put out a proper Theatrical Digital Print. Highly doubtful, but conceivable.

A Brand New 35MM Print?

nope

ain't gonna happen

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

At the time A Trip to the Moon was treated similar or just the same as how The Green Slime is being treated now. Over the years A Trip to the Moon becomes a classic. Will The Green Slime reach the level as A Trip? No. I do think it will become a cult classic to warrant a new print.

Over the years that people on the various messgae boards was naysaying that a print of Logan's Run will never played at the Science Fiction Marathon, guess what happen. In my opinion that sometimes in the future that a 35mm might be booked.

Now it may not happen this year or the next that a 35mm print of The Green Slime might show up somewhere. If lost

Be hopeful.

I am EXTREMELY excited about the marathon line up so far! As far as "Battle Royale" being shown in either original or director's cut, I say show the director's cut. How I see it, is a director's cut version of a movie doesn't mean LESS movie, it means MORE movie, and more is ALWAYS better. I think that the only movie I have seen in the line up is "They Live". About what one user posted before, I agree. Dark Star IS fantastic! I used to own it on DVD.

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"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
- Arthur C. Clarke

When do the premires be posted on the website?

Sooooooon...I am waiting on confirmation before I post (as always)...

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Six side is heaven/Nine side is go

Sometimes director's cuts of films are shorter than its theatrical prints. See Dark Star and Bad Santa.

Any hints about the premires?

Still hoping for my marathon of Marvin cartoons suggestion.
Probably not to the taste of Columbus sophisticates.
Any other wacko set of fillers would also be nice.
It can be a very long marathon with an oversupply of smash bang high caliber movies.

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly

How about a late night trailer reel of "adult" science fiction films. For example Flesh Gordon, Café Flesh, Cinderella 2000.

Not too sure about these premieres.... Manborg looks stupid, but hopefully it's fun. The Last Push looks kind of boring. I hope I'm wrong about both. I'm going to guess that they're both video projection which, if true, is another strike against. Actually kind of disappointed all around this year. They Live is a totally flawed film that killjoys could pick apart and make a case against it, but it will be awesome with our crowd (love it, warts and all). Battle Royale is great but the blu-ray projection makes me less excited since I have it sitting in my living room right now. I've seen Attack the Block too many times to care (though it is a great movie that the crowd will love). Source Code is alright, but with Block already in the lineup, do we really need 2 films from last year and nothing from the 1970s? The Daft Punk thing doesn't interest me (but I could be pleasantly surprised). I've never seen Brainstorm so I'm curious. Really we need one more classic from the 1970s or 1980s that is a real crowd pleaser, imho. Get a Predator or Running Man or Soylent Green in there and it would provide the balance I think we're lacking. Still looking forward to it, just not as excited as I usually am.

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"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

Manborg looks awful, but I'll probably wind up loving it.

The Last Push looks pretty good, so I'll probably wind up disappointed with it.

LOL, I just noticed that Manborg is a full 60 minutes long. That short runtime alone is probably a big plus in its favor.

Manborg baised on the trailer looks like a low budget b movie from 1980's. It looks great.

The Last Push baised on the trailer I can take it or leave it.

To update the runtime it is about 976 +/- minutes or about 16hr and 26min +/-. Now that's about 7 to 8 hours for shorts, traiilers, breaks, costume contest, ect. This could be the year that the marathon ends on time. Is it possible to have a trailerthon of 1970's science fiction films?

29th Ohio Science Fiction Marathon: Short Attention Span Theater