The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

You know what this is like? It's like when you go to a fancy restaurant and you have a decent appetizer. Then you wait and you wait and you wait. And you're thinking "Why is our server taking so long? this better be the best darn steak I have ever eaten!" And then your food arrives, and I'll be darned if it isn't the thickest, juiciest steak you've ever had.

Let's take a look at what we have so far:

-A BONA FIDE CLASSIC from the '50s
-A probably cheesy rarity from the same era, but starring our special guest
-A most certainly shlocky low budget snarkfest from the '60s
-2 (count them- TWO!) BONA FIDE CLASSICS from the '70s
-An almost-forgotten suddenly timely again film from the '80s which is based on a CLASSIC novel
-A cheesy foreign gory violent shoot-em-up ripoff from the '80s to rejuvinate the senses in the AM
-an underappreciated recent action thriller that is much better than it's overblown sequels despite the low budget.
-BIG MAN JAPAN: could be a classic marathon experience, could turn out to be JAFJM. It certainly looks trippy.

So there you have it, what more could you ask for in a marathon?
This could turn out to be a CLASSIC marathon.

But wait, there's more? Only nine films, including some really short ones? So there's room for at least a couple more, even with the special guest! Icing on the cake, baby.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

Well put, I love a juicy steak.

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John
BEND TIME!!!!!
Shamgar is my Hero!
>

Yep, I'm pretty jazzed about this lineup! I can't believe that I have never seen Andromeda Strain! Haven't seen Clockwork Orange in over 10 years! Big Man Japan I haven't even heard of! Day The Earth Stood Still is one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time and the star is going to be the guest! I saw 1984 when I was about 14 or 15 and don't remember anything, so that's like a new film. I was divided on Pitch Black when I saw it 8 years ago and have always wanted to revisit it. Lady Terminator is an absolute hoot.

This looks like a solid year! Can't wait!

....I think I used an exclamation point at the end of every sentence (including this one)!!!!

Definitely a solid lineup. Hopefully the guest will be great. My favorite guest still, was Ed Kemmer, who seemed such a gentle sould and truly happy to be there.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Well this didn't turned out to be a Cheese fest. How About for this subtitle The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Or The Good, The Bad, and The Cheesy.

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE SQUEAMISH Lady Terminator have mutilation scenes of Male privates. Well off camera but there is lost of blood spurting from that area.

This is the first time I saw majority of the movies. Can't missed Lady Terminator and Big Man Japan. Can sleep through Clockwork Orange.

What can I add? A great list. I am especially looking forward to Miss Neal and her movies and Lady Terminator and 1984. But the whole list looks good.

Lady Terminator is enough cheese for this year.

SPUTNIK MANIA

Hmm... There is another documentary that is similar. It is called Sputnik Declassified. It is a NOVA (as in PBS NOVA) episode with similar interviews.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sputnik/

I love the marathon every year, but this looks like an exceptional line-up. I think the balance between cheese and classic is just about right.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Bruce and everyone else who has helped this be a reality. It's the highlight of my moviegoing year every year.

And a special thanks to our friends at the Drexel for insuring we still have a home, as those dastardly newer theaters kick us to the curb.

Well Arena Grand and the Gateway was just manage by Drexel. I'm glad that they are having th thon at East for the first time. Since they have a cafe that offers food other than popcorn and candy. Plus spending money at the cafe is a good way to help out the theater group. They have burgers coffee and booze so whats not to like.

How quickly my enthusiasm wanes. The additional films are a little disappointing, but the rest of the lineup is solid.

Sputnik Mania - I am not a fan of showing documentaries at the sci-fi marathons, especially when they aren't science-FICTION related. The Ed Wood Documentary that they showed at number 11 was kiiiiind of appropriate. Basically, I want science fiction films - Lasers, UFO's, creatures from other worlds, etc. Maybe it's a good film. I don't know. Even if it is a FANTASTIC film though, I still don't think it belongs....but that's just me.

Battlestar Galactica - I don't know....It's an old TV show pilot. It just seems there are tons of great stuff out there. Why show an old TV show pilot. This showed in Cleveland many years back and I left during the screening. I was really hoping for a great classic like Blade Runner to fill out the lineup.

Only 11 films - with the new additions of Sputnik Mania (98 min) and Battlestar Galactica (125 min) we are at 19 hours (19.1 actually). So there is 5 hours of guests, shorts, trailers, and breaks. Blah, blah, blah, I know, I know....I say the same thing every year. Bruce is going to punch me in the nose for saying this, but 5 hours is a little much on the "xtra stuff". 12 films is doable...I am disappointed to only get 11.

Now, the rest of the lineup is fantastic. I just wish it could have been filled out with better films. There was room for 3 more films. Think how cool this lineup would have been with something like Blade Runner, They Live, and a different Premiere or even another classic like A Boy and His Dog (new prints were just struck). Now that would have been awesome.

I agree wholeheartedly with Carter. Sputnick Mania might be great but aliens, laser guns, robots, giant monsters, nuclear winters ,etc... are what I want to see at the marathons. Usually we get a few more holdovers from Boston: Robocop played there last year, A Boy and His Dog this year...why not one of those? I hate to say it but Automotons 2 might be more fun (I never had as much fun HATING a film with so many people as I had HATING "Automotons"). Maybe with the 5+ hours left for filler, we can get one more great film. Last year was the perfect film to trailer, shorts, contests, etc... I know we have a guest now but we've been able to get 12 films and a guest (sometimes 2) in the past. Let's go for the gold!

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

We haven't had many and I have always enjoyed the documentaries. One of my favorties which inspried a great costume contest winner (?) was The Atomic Cafe. I'd rather one documentary every 3 or 4 years than another showing of Terminator, Robocop, Alien, etc.

I wouldn't be suprised if there isn't a section on the influence of Sputnik on SciFi. In some ways it ties in nicely with the Day the Earth Stood Still.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Robocop hasn't played a marathon since 1988. And it's been over 10 years for either Terminator or Alien, hasn't it? I understand that those specific movies have been seen a million times by sci-fi fans, but they'd make it more appealing for newbies than a documentary that no one's seen-imho. What was the Atomi Cafe costume you speak of? I think I missed that year.

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

OK, I admit Atomic Cafe was good. BUT - it fit that year's theme of post apocalyptic films...or 50 years with the Bomb...or something along those lines. Can't remember the exact theme title. Plus it was in the spirit and style of all those atomic scare films of the 50's and 60's (Day the Earth Stood Still, etc) that we watch , so it had some tie-in to science-FICTION. In some ways you could almost say that the period that it portrayed was fiction. The ridiculous duck and cover song - like that's going to save you in the case of a nuclear attack - now THAT's fiction.

Also, please don't get me wrong. The lineup is mostly solid. It was just the last few additions were a disappointment. If anything it is a nod to the event itself, because every year Bruce and Jeff seem to put up really solid lineups. Jeff in the past has nailed down some AMAZING premieres and Bruce most always puts up a nice mix of older films. Really I am just nit picking. What else are forums for