The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

KILL BABY KILL - Great cinematography. Alright story, though it felt as slow-moving as a tortoise handcuffed to a hare's rotting corpse.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN - DreadCentral has been hyping this one for a while, and now I know why. Amazing, fantastic, beautiful. Both the film as a whole and Lina Leandersson's performance.

And yes, soon to get a Hollywood remake because some studio decided that it should be in English and lame.

MEET THE FEEBLES - Described to me before the marathon as "one CRAAAAZY ass movie". Indeed it is, and fun to boot. Peter Jackson when he was cool.

THE FOG (1980) - Good flick, middle-ground Carpenter for me. That statue Janet Leigh is working so hard to unveil is pretty lackluster.

ANGUISH - I wasn't too fond of this movie when I watched it on VHS around 15 years ago, but the crazy movie-within-a-movie layers and theatre murders made it fitting and entertaining marathon viewing.

CANNIBAL FEROX - Still not a fan of Italian cannibal movies.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977) - Love it.

KILL BABY KILL – Terrible way to start the marathon! I absolutely hated this movie. I’m usually really good at staying awake the entire marathon, but this year’s first film put me right to sleep.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – When I saw the trailer of this film, I thought it may be pretty good. As the marathon got closer, I started doubting this movie. After seeing it, I freaking loved it!! The tradition continues, my favorite film of the marathon was the premier.

MEET THE FEEBLES – I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and the verdict is 50/50. The first half of this movie just seemed to be, “let’s show freaky stuff just to show freaky stuff.” It seemed completely random. But the second half was really cool, and really funny. Many kudos to Josh Roxxx for selling the DVD after the flick. The movie redeemed itself so well, I picked up a DVD.

THE FOG – Great flick, I love John Carpenter. Not my favorite of his films, but very enjoyable.

ANGUISH – Don’t you just hate it when your movie talks over your movie? All jokes aside, this movie really fell short for me. I was bored and confused and not very entertained at all.

CANNIBAL FEROX – This movie was not nearly as gross as many people have told me that it was. It was entertaining enough, but a little boring … however, I am glad that I finally got to see it.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES – WES CRAVEN!!!! Love this movie! I wish a Freddy flick would make an appearance at a marathon (maybe even Jason X).

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KILL BABY KILL – I agree this was not a good opening film, though really I'm not sure what would have been good in this lineup to start with. Maybe The Hills Have Eyes, but I love the abrupt ending for an end to a marathon. Maybe The Fog. Let The Right One in, which was great, also doesn't strike me as an opener. As for the movie itself, it was a biot slow, but had nice snark moments. And it likely would have put me to sleep anywere else unless it was second to last or last.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – My favorite from this year. I am goign to start a seperate thread to discuss this one in a bit more detail. I too figure Hollywood will no do this film justice.

MEET THE FEEBLES – I had seen this before, but only on small screens. I told my wife, it was gross and vile, but in a mostly funny way. Clearly someone had issues with the muppets. Great job with putting the muppets theater instructions right before it.

THE FOG – Solid. Not a bad movie, not a great movie. And a good time, it was active enough, and the pacing was good enough, I didn't have trouble staying awake.

ANGUISH – I liked this. I hadn't seen it before, and part way through figured out the "modern" portions of the film were another film someone was watching. The biggest problem I had was there was way too much Zelda Rubinstein. She was great in Poltergiest because she was in small doses, no pun intended. in this her voice go to me and my group.

CANNIBAL FEROX – Not much different than the one we screened a couple years ago. Though I seem to remember it had a little more sex and a little less gore. And her Disertation was BS. She reminds me of Jennifer Aniston's character in an old South Park Episode where she was trying to save the rain forest. Though at least in that, the Jennifer Aniston character saw the light and was all for cutting it down. Or at least not thinking it was a beautiful wonderful Eden. I don't think the natives decided to start eating people because some douche from New York tortured a guy. Though it is prettu accurate of some professors in Antrhopology I know (not that I am bitter much from my Graduate school experience.)

THE HILLS HAVE EYES – Part of me wishes we were back at 24 hours and could waste two hours on a remake. Show the original, show the remake and show why most of the time they are a waste. There are a few exceptions, but I think the constant booing during the set of remake trailers suggest most of us dislike them. Loved the placement of the animaniacs trailer.

A few other comments. The food was great. The service, especially the lady at the cafe when we first got there, was great. The men's room was in good shape whenever I went in there. That is probably a combination of good work from the staff and consideration from the audience.

The snarking was pretty good, I didn't find it disruptive, but I rarely do.

I think the returning champ in the scream contest lost because of our nations desire to get rid of incumbents. That and I think she saved her self for later rounds and her early screams were not as long as I recall in the past. I thought she lasted quite a bit longer in the screm off, but by then it was too late.

Hopefully we can keep pumping money into the costume contest and get a few more contestants. The two best were more sci-fi than horror. I hope to be able to continue to fund this for both the scifi and the horror. I recall the old days of the scifi costume contests and would like to see a return to that kind of effort.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Been attending since the marathons started at the Grandview a few years back, though I unfortunately missed last year's event. Was glad to return this year.

As always, Joe and Bruce did a fantastic job. Thanks for the incredible two-headed effort. The more comfortable seating, better bathrooms and improved food selection was a nice plus this year.

Kill Baby Kill
I liked it, but didn't love it. Bava isn't typically my cup of tea, but I appreciate his style and always like the broad spectrum of movies Joe and Bruce assemble. Had parts I liked, but was also the only movie to really tempt me with sleep.

Let the Right One In
Phenomenal. Not just a great horror movie and good inclusion in the lineup, but a flat-out great movie, period. Among my favorites I've seen regardless of genre this year. Well written, well shot and incredibly well acted by the two leads. Incredibly pleasant surprise for me.

Meet the Feebles
I liked it, but have to admit I was disappointed. I've long wanted to see it and was excited and grateful for the chance to do so on the big screen. There no dobut is some hilarity in it, but the novelty wore off pretty quick for me. Also led to me dozing off a little. Enjoyed the climax the best, though the sodomy song wasn't as funny as I thought it was going to be. I think this is a testament to improvements in the realm of offensive joke song writting in the past 15 years.

The Fog
Big John Carpenter fan. I know this one isn't among his greats, but I've always had a soft spot for it and enjoyed the viewing very much.

Anguish
I liked it. I'm not sure I would've liked it if I rented it and watched it at home, but really enjoyed it as part of the marathon. Never heard of it before and was surprised the by twist, so to speak. I think it was longer than it needed to be, but otherwise liked the kookiness of the whole thing.

Cannibal Ferox
Least favorite in the lineup. I didn't care much for Cannibal Holocaust a few years back, but was glad to see it for educational and conversational purposes. This was an even worse rehash of of that. Sure the gore was cringe-worthy, but it was slow and dull and, frankly, not trashy enough for my tastes.

Hills Have Eyes
Been a while since I've seen the original. Didn't hold up as well as my memories of it. Solid entertainment, but not as good as I remember it.

I wrote up a recap for the event at SplatterFilms, thanks to my job writing for MovieWeb.

Anyone who would like to read it, can do so here.

The only issue I have with your review is I don't think the Anthropologist's brother, Rudy was dealing drugs. It was the other guy, Mike, who was the drug dealer. Not to be nitpicky or anything.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Hmm, you know, I think you are correct. I'll fix it on the site.