The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Is it too early to think about next year yet? Never!

I will begin this year's annual tradition with an interesting thought. Well, interesting to me at least.

I caught most of a cheesy classic from the '80s on cable the other day called Looker. Anyone remember that one? Albert Finney, Susan Dey, and that creepy mustachioed porn star light-gun wielding villain. It was a whole lot of fun, and not as dated as it should have been.

My point is, the marathon has been going on for two decades now. So when this thing started, all these cheesy '80s movies are now as old as the cheesy movies from the '50s and '60s were then. Makes me feel old.

You could fill up at least half of a marathon with 20 year old "cutting edge" or "futuristic" Sci-Fi films that have since dated themselves with their robots, giant computers and gadgets. Things like Looker, Runaway, Electric Dreams, and WarGames, just to name a few. It makes things like Blade Runner (which was never a personal favorite of mine) even more impressive with age.

Now, I wouldn't want an entire marathon full of dated cheese. It's just interesting to think that as time goes by, the list of "vintage" films to choose from, both good and not so good, increases. When I was a kid, these were all just "movies."

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

Excellent point. I wonder about print availability, but I would have no problem tossing in one or two of these every year, perhaps even at the cost of a 50s/60s film we have seen before.

And they keep making them. Just before the marathon I saw the dreadfully bad I am Omega. I wouldn't recommend it for a marathon, any of the other three would be much better. I prefer my cheese to be slightly original.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

I-Jacks makes a perfect point!

I've been trying to move forward the same idea for the Boston edition as well! And, because Boston has a decade plus lead over Ohio, it's even that much more the case that we should stop looking at the 50s and 60s as the convenient 'oldies of our youth' when booking the event. There are many Marathoners (in both cities) who weren't even born when the Marathon(s) began!!

So, yes, bring on 80s and even early 90s 'nostalgia' cheez whiz!

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Well Blade Runner is a personal favorite of mine, but I understand what you mean. I think a marathon of dated future visions would be fun. You don't have to stick to 80s, or 50s. One of my annual requests is Metropolis, which would take us to a future envisioned 80 years ago.
My daughter is one of those maratoners who are not as old as the event. And a film that fits this category, Logan's Run, was her favorite film of this year's marathon.

Speaking of the 80's, I LOVED the Night Of The Comet/Chopping Mall two-fer we got a few years ago!


One slight problem with the 80's is that I'd assume most of those movies are much more "attainable" on DVDs, or perhaps on one of the many movie channels we get these days.


But yeah, I love the 80's, and there are a lot of hidden gems still out there that most folks haven't seen.

But part of the fun of the marathon is going out and getting the DVD the next day. So, being attainable can be a good thing.

Oh yeah, there's nothing wrong with that.

But when DVD isn't an option (especially for older films), it's great that the marathon can sometimes find a few of them to show.