The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

As everyone else has noted, this is a tough question to narrow down to a mere three. Been mulling this since I first saw it posted yesterday and though I very well may have a different answer if I wait until tomorrow, I’m pulling the trigger now, so here it goes:

3. You never forget your first and for me that was the first Two-Headed Horror Marathon. I couldn’t ask for a better introductory experience. Diverse lineup of new (several notable premiers) and old, but the highlight, the one that sticks with me the most is the sheer WTFness that is Gozu. But amid all that memorably gonzo nuttiness the moment that stands out is the juvenile, but effective joke involving an inconveniently placed ladle (it was a ladle wasn’t it?) and a man struggling to maintain his footing. I still hear the collective “No .. no ... no ... OHHHHHHHHHH!” We cringed. We laughed. We were we. Then we watched a full grown man emerge from a woman’s lady parts.

2. The Psycho-Dressed to Kill double feature at Shock Around the Clock II. Excellent print of Psycho and my first time watching it on the big screen followed by its delightfully twisted and fun half-brother. Either are great alone, but so much better when watched together. I’m a big DePalma wonk and always liked Dressed to Kill fine, but this experienced amplified it.

1. Irreversible. I’d seen it. I knew what was coming. And I was paranoid that the screening would be a disaster. Maybe I just have a lack of faith in people, and I know now I was being unfair, but I was expecting the worst -- jokes, obnoxiousness, just the most immature, inappropriate possible responses. I’m not sure I heard any sound other than the film itself. A powerful experience watching alone in one’s house made all the more poignant when watched alongside a couple hundred stone-silent fellow viewers.

Two brief sorta honorable mentions. I say honorable mention because it wasn’t so much the actual experience of watching these two movies -- I can’t remember any specific communal moments or collective feelings -- but I adore both movies and had my first exposure to both at the Marathon.
HM1: Let the Right One In. We got to watch this one so far ahead of most of the movie going world, which I didn’t realize until well after we watched it. I loved the movie regardless of this fact, but felt so much cooler because of it.
HM2: House. Easily my favorite movie I’ve seen at the Marathon and now one of my favorite movies ever. Being shown in the middle of the night made for a more subdued screening than it probably could have been, but my life is a happier one for having seen it (again, and again, and again).

FOGHAT, forever.

AGH! How could I have forgotten this one? Definite honorable mention, at the very least. It was a great moment that we'd probably never be able to get away with today.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about this stunt a year ago (you and I were probably discussing it at a Marathon), and the next day I saw a DVD of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION for a few bucks at Half Price Books. "Hey" I thought "I should check this out again. See if it's as bad as I thought." And you know what? It's really not that bad. Granted, it's not SAW (or SAW 2), but it's also an entertaining commentary of horror films, conspiracy theories, etc. If it came out today, it might be considered a minor cult film.



That's so cool. I had the exact same childhood restrictions (with a few exceptions), and was limited to classic Universal, Amicus, etc. throughout my youth. So my maiden Horrorthon voyage at the 1993 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DREXEL was like a graduate level finishing course: THE SHINING, THE EXORCIST, EVIL DEAD 2, HALLOWEEN, TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Wow. Yeah, when you hit a sweet spot like that (and like you did) for the first time, it's pretty magical.



That year was such a serendipitous combination of right premiere, right theater, right time. It might be the best year for premieres in Marathon history, which sorta spoils you from that point forth. If only it were always that easy to assemble such a slate of news films.



I almost included something about these films. For me, the great moment was at the beginning of DRESSED TO KILL. It's a 'scope film, but the projectionist accidentally started it in the flat aspect ratio. So the camera slowly dollies in on Angie Dickinson in the shower, and the audience starts to realize that the film isn't quite right. In the booth, they pull out the flat lens while the film is still playing. The audience moans a bit. The scope lens is inserted, but now the film is out of focus. And suddenly, the booth brings the image into crystal clear focus...right in time for the extreme closeup of Angie's body double manually manipulating her massive mammaries. The audience reaction was priceless, augmented even further by the fact that this was the first explicit material of the event (after the relatively chaste opening salvo of FRANKENSTEIN, 13 GHOSTS, and PSYCHO.) An awesome, awesome moment.

Hell, I even forgot about the focus issue until you mentioned it. Mammaries.

Top Three, wow what a hard thing to narrow down. Especially since my attendance at the Sci-Fi 'thons has been uninterrupted since "It Came From the Drexel North #4, but I've had to miss a fairly large handful of the Horror 'thons through the years. But let's see what I can do.

1) Well, it's cliche to say, but NOTLD 2 back in 1989 was my first experience with a movie marathon EVER. I had seen the ad in Hoot for NOTLD 1, but wasn't allowed to go. (To be fair, I was in Fifth Grade, and my Dad flat out refused to go himself.) I had no idea what to expect, but I was eager to be there. And what a great first event. Starting off with a classic (although one I'd never seen at the Library on VHS with CURSE OF THE DEMON), moving through the gory (PUMPKINHEAD), back into a classic that I had seen (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN), and then tossing in a horror-comedy with YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, I was sold before dinner time. And the rest of the line-up that year was completely solid, even if the premiere of DELIVER US FROM EVIL was a dud. But for a sixth grader, watching HELLRAISER and THEY CAME FROM WITHIN and RE-ANIMATOR was an experience I couldn't even have begun to prepare for. I was absolutely hooked.

2) NOTLD 4 also has a soft spot in my heart. Not only did it have my first experience with the gonzo insanity of SOCIETY and the psudeo-anime-adaptation of GUYVER, but it was also the first marathon I took my brother to.

3) NOTLD 5. The premiere of BRAIN DEAD (or DEAD ALIVE if you prefer). THE REFRIGERATOR with Juan, the Flamenco Dancing Plumber. And the experience of watching TETSUO. That was an ordeal. It's a strange film to begin with, but at after 2:00 in the morning, with subtitles, it was *hard*. And having the film constantly break and need to be restarted only made it worse. I can't put into words the feeling I felt when, after a long pause after a break, the film restarted as the doctor examining him asked "What the fuck is this shit?" at which point I swear half the audience responded "That's what we want to know!"

More recent marathons have been awesome (when I've been able to attend), and I'm perversely grateful to have seen both MARTYRS and A SERBIAN FILM (although I never want to watch either one again), but those first few years remain my favorite.

Three: Serbian Film, the marathon allows a great experience for watching extreme/uncomfortable movies as a collective experience- the closest thing i can compare it too is going to a controversial museum exhibit with a large crowd- but man what an amazing experience during and after that screening.

Two: Phantom of the Paradise- this was JUST. SO. MUCH. FUN. to see in a theater and seeing as i had only seen it before on a smaller tv in college - seeing this DePalma gem on a large screen there was so much more to appreciate the second time around (plus i wouldn't mind more musicals/pseudo-musicals at the thon)

One: My 1st thon still is my favorite because it was so great that's it kept me coming back since. it was 2008 and around October i had found about this great looking Swedish vampire film and was desperately trying to find somewhere that was screening it. That led to me finding out about the marathon and i decided that while i was in central PA at the time- it would totally be worth the trip. Seeing that highly anticipated movie and not knowing what the expect (my first marathon ever really besides stuff at home): the trailers, the crowd- had an amazing time. And the line-up was full of great/fun/crazy selections i had never seen before: Kill Baby Kill, premiere of Let the Right One in, Anguish, plus i saw the amazingly weird Meet the Feables on a big screen and fell in love with early-weird Peter Jackson after that. Not just my fondest thon experience, but probably in my top three movie going experiences ever.

You might never live down the screening of Serbian Film, but it seems like a pretty consistent 'Top 3' for most people on the forums. For better or worse.

It's certainly a Top Three Memorable moment. Don't know about if it's a favorite...

Man oh man... Reading all these brings back flood of memories. Too many to narrow down and categorize that I'm not even going to try to answer this question. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this year, and I've missed the last few years. Not happy about it, but the last ten years, I've had a local 24 hour horror marathon to keep me happy and the last 2 years, we've had two!!! But this year, despite having a marathon in just a few days, I can honestly say that I'm not excited at all and it kind of feels more like an obligation. The Music Box has decided to focus almost exclusively on obscure and/or grindhouse titles with little regard to the fans who've made it a sold out event for 7 of the previous 9 years (in a theater that seats around 700!). And the second marathon no longer has a 35 mm projector and the video projection is historically pretty crappy. Though there was a recent article saying the theater was trying to raise money for a true digital projector and the theater does have a 35mm projector. A few of us have asked for clarification but were basically told "no comment". So there's a crappy lineup with 35mm projection this weekend and a good lineup with definitely 16mm and DVD projection capabilities but probably not 35mm film or decent digital projection (bout who knows since no one will comment). I'll go to the one with 35mm and I'm sure I'll have fun-maybe I'll find a new favorite in the 7 titles I've never seen (did I mention that they END the marathon with Audition...because if you weren't already asleep the first hour with subtitles might just get you there?). Really upset that neither of the marathons seems to care one bit about their audiences this year. Really upset I keep missing the Columbus marathons, which may not run on time, but they run with love. Miss all you smelly guys and gals!


http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/festival ... rrors-2014

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