The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I've had a chance to really sit down and talk to my wife about our film experience and wanted to add a few things:

Nosferatu: The Vampyre: I'm a huge Kinski fan and a mild Herzog fan. This film was beautiful and sounds great. Sorry Richard - I did like the score. For people who really liked it, Scream (Shout) Factory have the Blu-Ray on sale for 10.99

You're Next: Saw this in theaters last year - pretty much an empty theater, which was sad. I still enjoyed it.

The Wicker Man: I remember back in the VHS days that Media put out and being blown away at the end. It was so unexpected for me. It still packs a punch - especially as Woodward is singing at the end.

The Invisible Man: I do like being able to watch the classic Universal films on the big screen. This is no exception.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: I will probably search out the Blu-Ray of this one. I have the Steelbook, but I've owned this a few times over. It still holds up well for me. There's nothing I can really add to this, and I feel privileged to see this on the big screen!

Wanted to add one other thing on The Satanist.

There was an eerie air to it for me, but it wasn't he movie's intention at all. The homes in the hills setting (was it California?) and the time period and the presence of a cult made me think of the Manson murders throughout most of the movie.

Obviously that's not intentional since the movie predates the murders by a year. But those thoughts did add a creepiness to it.

Then I remembered that guy's hairy back and I was ok.

I always forget how heavy the ending is and the lasting image for me is always the Wicker Man's burning silhouette. The movie as a hole sort reminds me of a documentary and then, when you watch a documentary about crazy cults (e.g. Jonestown: Paradise Lost) you realize it's really not that far from the truth.

I wanted to keep the same format as the original post and give my reply to each film, but since so many people have done that, I'll keep my post relegated to the non-movie aspects of the movie marathon. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed what I saw tremendously.

I came at the beginning and left somewhere near the middle of "The Strange Color...". I also dipped out during "The Shining". I left during "The Shining" because I was hoping for some real food and to stretch my legs. I had already seen the film anyway. I left (for good) during "The Strange Color..." partly because I had some school work to do and partly because I was bored.

The rest of my post will be about some possible suggestions. I'm sure some of you may think, "Why is he coming to a 24 hour marathon if he doesn't want to stay 24 hours?" I guess I'm hoping to offer some positive feedback. This has been going on for a quite a while, and the people involved obviously take it pretty seriously. I figure I'll use this time to give my thoughts. I really enjoyed the whole thing, and I'm game for another marathon. I would say perhaps 24 hours is too much for me. I much prefer to watch my movies on the big screen, especially horror movies, which have a greater impact (I would contend for everyone) when seen with others. Audiences seem much more willing to react in this genre, and the way our peers treat what is is often very sensitive material really helps me to enjoy it.

I would wonder if there's a way to make the 24 hours a bit less grueling. Is there a chance of doing a waffle break at 5am? Perhaps there could be some Red Bull for purchase. Luckily, there was some soup available next door, or else I wouldn't have even stayed for the 14 hours I did.

I just feel that the 24 hours with only 2 events (costume and screaming) is a bit much. The only non-movie food was some Donato's, and that wasn't even available the whole time. I know I read at least one other comment where the person left for food too, and I saw several people with crepes from next door. There was also a Graeter's near by, but from about 10PM until 6AM or later, there really isn't anything. There's a Starbucks and some other coffee place fairly near by, but I liked the idea of communing with fellow movie fans. Perhaps next time I should stay until the morning and see who wants to go on a coffee run with me. I didn't want to just up and leave and miss everything.

Maybe, if the next event is still at Drexel, someone could organize a field trip in the morning to the nearby café. "All who want some java go now!" Something like this could be fun. Perhaps too, someone could talk Drexel into delivering some bagels from Panera. I assume that this didn't take place, since I did leave early. Part of the reason I left early is because I wasn't looking forward to 24 hours of popcorn and coffee. I know the best sleepovers I've helped put on and have been a part of always had some breakfast with them (morning afters with the ladies too).

I'm sure it's hard for Drexel to organize the whole thing. I wouldn't want to put so much pressure on them. Certainly though, we could leave at some point and raid the local Starbucks, or have some bagels delivered near dawn. I know Panera, and I'm sure others deliver. It's such a great crowd; it would be fun to do even more together.

Thanks for making this thread. It's great to hear all your thoughts. I look forward to the Sci-Fi marathon!

There was actually a time when the horror marathon was just 14-hour events... started at 10pm and went until noonish the next day. Those were more easily digestible, but there's something bizarrely special about doing the marathon that pushes through 24 whole hours. Granted, as I get older, it's tough to stay awake, but there's also that sense of pride when we get to the end.

Plus, Columbus has one of the few running 24-hour events around. While there are more all night marathons in different cities now, there's a history.

I totally see your point that it makes it a challenge to enjoy all the films, especially the ones in the wee hours of the morning. (Personally, I wish I didn't pretty much sleep through DEMONS and TENEBRE, but that comes with the event I have learned.)

The shorter marathons like the trailerthon Bruce teased at the event as well as Rockpocalypse from earlier this year are possible ways to get the less-than-24 hour fix.

Time is a flat circle. Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again.

And so we did last weekend at the 666th Annual Ohio 24-Hour Horror Marathon and Back Pain Junkies' Convention/Kevin S. O'Brien Memorial Film Dump. Just like we had the year before, and the year before, and the year before. Just the latest chapter in this decades long saga of cinematic excess.

One of the great pleasures of the current incarnation of these events is that in addition to organizing things, Bruce and I essentially get to be audience members along with all of you, watching the films as they unspool, the DCPs as they unleash their complex strings of 1's and 0's, the faces of the crowd (or the backs of their heads) as they ooh, ahh, scream, grimace and express all emotions in between.

And it's because we share this kinship with the rest of you maniacs that we often notice things that we hadn't in the months leading up to the Marathon. Like secret, subconscious themes that we hadn't intended. The 2nd SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK had mad scientists of all stripes populating its titles, but somehow we didn't quite get that until the night of the Marathon. The day of the 4th SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK, we realized that most of the films dealt with doomed romances of one sort or another (read what you will into that.) And this year, it took me until the end of this all-night film boogie to realize that while people hiding in walls, or wearing hats, or worshipping evil deities might have snaked through the 24 hours, the biggest hidden theme involved trance states.

Like the flat circle of time, we keep repeating this Marathon tradition over and over, stuck in a collective trance with each other twice a year. After all, if athletic marathons require achieving a certain zen trance state in order to endure them, don't our Marathons also require a similar mindset to traverse their entire rotation of the planet? Long ago, I realized that the easiest way to stay awake for the entire 24 hours was to focus on the moment, not to look too far ahead or behind in the lineup, not to think too much about fatigue. It's a fitting mindset for an art form which is essentially an act of mass dreaming, in which we all suspend out ties to reality in order to gaze through that massive window in front of us into the lives of damsels in distress, axe murderers, vampires, werewolves.

So it's especially fitting that a 24-Hour Marathon was so steeped in trance state films. The endless repetition of Dwight Tilley's "Looking for the Magic" in YOU'RE NEXT, the trancelike pacing and soundtrack of NOSFERATU (then again, have Popul Vuh ever created music that isn't trancelike?), Susan Strasberg in THE MANITOU (hell, anyone in THE MANITOU), the bizarre meandering faux erotic tableaus of THE SATANIST, Sally Hardesty's nightmare screamathon in the Sawyer dining room in TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: all are states of zoned out repetition.

And what is THE SHINING but a film that's all about trance states? Danny taps into his shining by entering a fugue state (and there's also the theory about Tony being an alternate identity Danny creates to disassociate himself from Jack's abuse, a common tactic for victims of such.) The Overlook holds Jack in an extended trance, one that he wavers in and out of until finally giving in at the climax. For the first time in awhile, I noticed the extended closeups of characters' faces while they spoke, and how their often blank stares betrayed what was really going on behind the words they spoke. And the whole film takes the audience into a collective trance, playing around with concepts of time and place until you're not sure who is where or when. I tapped into some of this trance state this time, as I finally realized that, for me, watching THE SHINING is like being in the Overlook: there are so many intriguing scenes and locations that I don't want them to end. I could go on observing the party in The Gold Room for ever, and ever, and ever....

But perhaps the most obvious trance film was the Ohio Premiere of THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS. Most here know that I dig the avant garde films we sometimes show to no end, and Cattet and Forzani's latest was no exception. Narrative is often king at Marathons, but what truly scares/confounds/excites/inspires me in horror is what I can't explain, what often works on an almost primal level. What this directing duo have managed to accomplish in this and AMER is to tap into the audience's subconscious state, to provoke a reaction that's often not comfortable. I know that films like this aren't for everyone, but I found STRANGE COLOR to be an experience that I want to relive (albeit in reduced form on video) soon.

But all of this trance state talk obscures what was best, and decidedly non-trancelike, about this event: the renewed energy of the audience. I may have mentioned it at the end of the Marathon, but the wild enthusiasm the crowd exhibited for YOU'RE NEXT was one of the proudest moments that I've had as a booker. And the strong reactions for HOUSEBOUND and THE MANITOU were equally heartening. Even beyond that, you could just sense that everyone was fully engaged and committed to this collective experience that we were all undertaking, and in an age of increasing cultural isolation, being able to get jazzed like that with all of you was a truly awesome time. We may roll around the flat circle of time, but some of those repeating experiences are well worth doing over, and over, and over, and over.....

It was especially so for me, as while I was technically conscious during this movie, I was thiiiis close to falling asleep for pretty much the entire movie, but through sheer force of will I kept myself awake. But there were many moments when I'd do the ol' head-nod, and a quick flash of my own dreams would be inserted into my stream of consciousness, to the point where I was making up plot points that didn't exist, and got a little freaked out, as by the end, I wasn't 100% sure what parts of the movie I had seen, and which parts I had actually dreamt.



I totally agree, the energy of the crowd was excellent this year, and I truly felt happy to be there not just with a few friends, but with everyone in attendance.

In 2012, a lot of people missed Dredd at the theater, and the marathon had to save them. In 2013, a lot of people missed You're Next at the theater, and the marathon had to save them.

So what movie from 2014 are people missing? (And thus will need the marathon to save them from their omission.)

I haven't seen Nightcrawler yet, but it sure looks good, and also looks like it will underperform at the box office. But not having seen it, it may not really fit at the horror marathon.

Maybe something like Snowpiercer or Under The Skin?

I've seen both Only Lovers Left Alive and The Rover. I liked both. Well I actually loved OLLA, but I'm not sure how it would go over at the marathon. Beautiful movie, but not exactly an action fest.

If the Drexel ever gets the 3-D upgrade I would like to see "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" play at the marathon, this is easily one of the most underrated movies to hit the big screen in years and the 3-D was PERFECT!

_________________
"If you have GHOSTS you have Everything" - Papa Emeritus II GHOST B.C.

I had a blast. My voice finally recovered after the scream contest so I don't sound like a partied out sorority girl.

As for dumping soda on someone; not cool.

No, it's not cool. But I can understand the frustration of dealing with obnoxious people who just won't shut up. While dumping soda on them may not be the ideal way to resolve the situation, one doesn't have to condone to understand what happened.

First, I would like to thank Joe, Bruce and everyone else who helped put together this amazing event. I don't know who planned the date of the horror marathon, but whoever it is, you could not have picked a better day. October "18"....18 divided into three numbers is 6, 6, 6,
as in the "666th" Annual Shock Around The Clock marathon. I don't know if that was intended. I brought my claw picker because I love to clean up. It really does make me feel great to make an area look better. Truthfully, if I had enough time, money and the permission to do so by every single person involved with the marathons and employees of The Drexel Theater, I would clean the entire auditorium. I would sweep, dust, mop, steam clean both the carpets and seats and then spray air freshener, and I would completely pay for everything. No one else would need to pay a cent. That would make me happy to show my appreciation for the marathons. This marathon had more sex than any marathon I have ever been to! LOL not complaining. >:) I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Joe Neff to ask him about his book which I swear I didn't know was a joke lol I would DEFINITELY buy a book by Joe. It could tell how Joe and Bruce came together to keep the spirit of movies alive with two of the best movie marathons on the planet, and not only that, but bringing the community together which in turn has established friendships and romantic relationships. The book could tell about all of the crazy situations that have occurred through out marathon history (INCLUDING THE SODA INCIDENT OF 2014!!) The book could have interviews with the marathon's most faithful and dedicated participants, the people who have attended the longest from the very first marathon, the veterans, the volunteers, the staff of the theaters where the marathons were held, etc. Seriously everyone. Let's take a vote. If Joe wrote a book, would you buy it? I would be first in line for it, and the money Joe earned from it could go towards the marathons. And now, for my review:

YOU'RE NEXT
This was my favorite movie of the marathon. Great from start to finish!

NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE
Great movie. To quote Jeepers Creepers: "RATS!!!! RATS!!!!!"

RED LUCK
I will say this: It is cool that a short story was made about a dream, and even though it's normal for dreams to be weird, I think we can all agree this makes most dreams seem normal lol

HOUSEBOUND
AWESOME SAUCE. Does anyone else think that the young woman in this movie looks like Nelly Furtado?

The 666th Annual Costume Contest
Very creative! Just wondering: What movie is the piper from?

THE SHINING
I recently seen "Room 237" for the very first time and was curious to see all the things mentioned in the documentary.

THE MANITOU
Weird does a great movie often make. Is there anything scarier than losing control of your own body? This is a movie that I think David Cronenberg would appreciate.

The 666th Annual Scream Contest
This was the first time I entered in a long time.

THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS
Very tired during this. It wouldn't have made sense to me even if I were wide awake. I am not opposed to this style of movie. It's just not for me.

THE SATANIST
I will admit: I can't be bored with a movie that has women as scalding hot as the ones in this movie. It was basically a black and white softcore porn film with slight occult throughout. What's not to like?

DEMONS
Awesome movie, but because this movie was shown eight or so years ago, I would have preferred to see part 2 instead. The lead guy in this looked like Jensen Ackles. If they ever remake Demons, Jensen could portray him. Just saying.

TENEBRE
Very tired during this. Good movie. It has more twists then licorice.

THE WICKER MAN
This movie was stressful to watch due to the absolute evil being done to a man who only wanted to save a child and died because of it, all under false pretenses. Watching the tragic ending made me angry, to be honest. This movie shows how crazy and dangerous religious extremists are.

THE INVISIBLE MAN
One of the best villains of all time due to the sheer difficulty in defeating him and his criminal insanity he portrayed. Would have loved to see trailers for "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man" and "Hollow Man" before the movie.

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
This movie was based on the real life serial killer Ed Gein, as was Psycho and Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs. The scariest stories are the ones that are real.

SEE YOU AT THE SCI FI MARATHON, EVERYBODY!!!

I have some suggestions for future marathons:

• How about we start the marathons one hour earlier? That way, people won't have to stand out in the cold as long and I promise you we will never get behind again.

• What if the very first ticket sold for marathons was gold colored and/or autographed by Joe and Bruce? It could be a prize for getting the first ticket.

• All the prizes could be themed to the kind of marathon they are given away at. For example, what if all of the comics and graphic novels were Sci Fi related or Horror related (accordingly)? I would LOVE to score some Tales From The Crypt comics at the horror marathon!

• I would love to see recycling bins. With all of the trash left behind at the marathons, why not give all that clutter a new life?

I think you might mean me (the person who got up for you). Was it a guy wearing a black t shirt, blue jeans and a black baseball cap on the left side of the theater, three or four rows from the back? If so, that might have been me. If it is, I am delighted to show my respect and manners towards all recipients of the marathons. And that is a shame that some people show a lack of respect for others at the marathons. One year, I was at a marathon, and I came back to the auditorium from the lobby, only to find that some guy was about to walk off with my bag! He was actually going to steal it! I learned my lesson that year to never leave anything behind on your seat(s), such as bags, purses, wallets, anything. When you get up, take it with you. Assume someone will steal it if you don't. Another time, some person in the row behind me just grabbed my program guide and looked at it like it was theirs for the taking.

I see that the Archives on the official site have been updated with some photos, but they only seem to cover the line and people first coming in when the doors opened. Anyone know when/if photos from the Costume Contest and the rest of the event will be posted? Some lady came up to me after I got booed off and asked to take a picture, but I couldn't see her because of my Invisible Man head wrap and glasses.