The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Happy to finally be home.

Had a blast as usual. Thanks to everyone for putting it on.

My early impression is that the biggest surprise for me was Possession. That was some crazy stuff. Every single scene, I felt like I had no idea what would happen next. Loved it, and it seemed like the audience really enjoyed the twists and surprises too.

Werewolves On Wheels wasn't horrible, as some of the characters were kinda watchable. But man, was it padded. It felt like some times the director just said "okay guys, why don't you just spend 5 minutes breaking sticks off of bushes. Knock yourself out and have fun. And feel free to roll around together in the dirt if you need to fill time." Of course, we can't really complain about padding anymore after watching Electroma.

Kill List was good, but it didn't move me as much as I hoped it would. I think my biggest complaint with that movie is that I really missed a couple of the conversations. I couldn't figure out what the heck they were saying some of the time. I think it was even worse than Attack The Block in that aspect.

Phantom Of The Paradise was a blast. Great to see with an audience. Beef!

Question for eveyone else:
how scary was this year's marathon?

I don't remember really being all that scared. Not a lot of scary surpise jumpy moments. I wasn't on the edge of my seat too often, if at all.


EDIT: Oh yeah, I also want to request Phantom Of The Mall: Eric's Revenge for next year's marathon. That looked like a real winner.

I believe that the Bad Movie Night people showed Phantom of the Mall:ERic's Revenge a few months back.

The highlights for me were Something Wicked This Way Comes, Phantom of the Paradise, and Possession.

And even though the movie doesn't live up to its amazing trailer, it was fun to finally watch Werewolves on Wheels with the crowd.

My review, complete with trailer breakdown is here.

Biggest question: where were the certificates?!

My fiancee and I had a BLAST. I love seeing movies with a like minded audience.

Instead of reviewing every movie, I'll just hit some highlights.

Something Wicked this Way Comes. Why can't Disney put out quality film like this anymore? It's dark, but still fairly kid friendly. I saw this as a kid and loved it, and a little creeped out. Movies like this still make me feel like a kid and seeing as I grew up in the 70's and 80's it was perfect.

Phantom of the Paradise. I haven't seen this in a very long time. I was hoping that my fiancee would love it. At first she didn't know if she loved it or hated it. She loves the classic themes of Faust/The Picture of Dorian Gray and rock-operas (as well as horror). I think the Juicy Fruits' music at the beginning just threw her off a bit. By the end she was wanting to buy the artwork that was on display in the lobby.

Kill List. I loved it. It felt like A Serbian Film's less offensive cousin with some Wicker Man sprinkled on top. By the end, I thought it was predictable, but still seeing it on a big screen? priceless.

Possession. This was THE film I wanted to see. I've had several chances to see this on video (and I own the Anchor Bay DVD, but for some reason never got around to watching it). It did not disappoint. It was as disjointed and non-nonsensical as I've read about. Plus the sexuality threw me for a loop too.

The Devils - I really wanted to stay up for all of this, but I couldn't. I had 3 hours of sleep the night before (I was at the Grandview supporting my Midnight Shift friends) and just couldn't fight taking small naps. I found a R2 DVD so I can watch it again. What I saw of it was amazing.

Dead Alive - I saw the NC-17 print at the Kentucky Theatre (in Lexington) when it first came out. I think I like it better now, because it had the right crowd!

Werewolves on Wheels. Not that I hate this film, but when I saw the trailer, I was really excited, but when I saw the film (many years ago) it's no where near as cool as the trailer. Great exploitation bait and switch!

All in all, fantastic list and a great group of people --->SANS the person who stole my shock around the clock T-shirt. GRRRRRR.

This was my first Shock around the Clock show, but my 2nd movie marathon in Columbus. My fiancee and I drive from Ashland, KY to see these and it's ALWAYS worth it.



@BeeDub - I saw the template for the certificates, I don't think the guys had a chance to make them (or mix up in communication). I heard they'll be available next marathon?

Did this marathon feel more crowded than some of the sci-fi and horror marathons of the past few years? It emptied out a bit after midnight of course, but during some of the earlier films it seemed really packed, without many empty seats to be seen.

@cleazer - I would say yes. My fiancee and I had to wait until the problem with Dr. Phibes before we got 2 seats (and they weren't together). Luckily we found some people who didn't mind moving around a bit to allow us to sit together. I noticed a lot of people were wandering around for the first movie.

As for Electroma VS Werewolves on Wheels - I was going to use Electroma movie as my sleep movie (I had seen it before and had no desire to watch again, but couldn't because the crowd made it much more fun that it had a right to be). Werewolves on Wheels though? I didn't care for the movie (love the trailer though) and had napped enough to where I couldn't sleep at all in it.

The highlights for me where Something Wicked This Way Comes and Phantom of the Paradise. Kill List need an ending (any ending would be better than no ended) and as mentioned above I think Kill List would have benefited from Subtitles. My Biggest appointment was Possession I was expecting SO much more.

The Good: Meeting Eric Hayden, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Phantom of the Paradise were amazing and the fact that the event really seemed to attract more people this year than the last couple years.

The Bad: As a friend of mine pointed out there were fewer "Traditional Horror" titles than usual and more "Gonzo Horror" Titles. Could have lived without Kill List and Last Circus if a Hammer Film or two would have been added to the lineup

The Ugly: The people who sat behind me were so annoying and gross that I was forced to find another seat before Devils started, luckily by than people has started leaving and it was easier to find seats.

Loved
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Phantom of the Paradise.
Dr. Phibes
Werewolves on Wheels
American Werewolf in london
White Zombie
Dead Alive
VideoDrome

Was Ok
Kill List

Could have Dropped
The Last Circus
Possession

All in All I had a blast and would not have missed it for anything, not even JAWS 3-D in Cleveland

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A few impressions.

1. While there were still a few problems, kudos for the projection team for doing a considerably better job than previous years. Any year in which we can actually get in ALL of the films is a serious victory.

2. Holy hell---this was a great year as far as women in films. Jenny Agutter, Jessica Harper, Isabelle Adjani, Debbie Harry, Pam Grier, Myanna Buring, Diana Penalver. I was overwhelmed with a schoolboy crush for nearly all of the films.

3. The movies were great. I loved the metaphoric value of the Last Circus with regards to 20th century Spanish history. Really liked Kill List, and it was great to see Videodrome, Dead Alive, and American Werewolf in London on the big screen.

Can't wait till next year.

Things I Learned at the Marathon:

1. All it takes is one swift blow to the back of the skull to knock someone out.

2. Sometimes it takes 80 minutes to tell a 20 minute story.

3. We are one of the most pleasant smelling audiences in the country.

4. The British police are extremely inept.

5. Sam Neill realllly enjoys rocking in a chair.

6. Nick Cage and Sam Elliot sound the same backwards and forwards.

7. If you... are thinking... of getting... into a relationship... DON'T!
...because EVERYBODY DIES.

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

It did seem that way, which is, of course, a Good Thing(tm).

Of course, that led to the very issue of people wandering around looking for seats after Phibes had started.

I've seen "A Bad Man Wins A Hat" jokingly suggested as an alternate title for Kill List. He does get a pretty snazzy hat in the final moment.

Yeah, it seems like every year of this event has held a secret theme that Bruce and I don't see staring us in the face until late in the game. About a week ago, I realized that Doomed Love Affairs would be the name of the game this time around.

A few other notes:

*Apologies for the lack of certificates. It wasn't until the beginning of AMERICAN WEREWOLF that Bruce and I realized that both of us thought that the other one had taken care of this. We're efforting to rectify this situation, possibly with something for next year (next year? NEXT YEAR?!?!? AGHHHH!!! TOO SOON! TOO SOON!)

*I'll readily admit to programming more gonzo and borderline horror titles this year. Not something I might pursue every year, but when the right films are available (or the best options)....And speaking of gonzo:

*This was my first screening of POSSESSION, and boy howdy, did I cotton to it's schizophrenic charms. Granted, Zulawski's films are not for everyone, but if you can accept his wildly mercurial tone, they're like nothing you've ever seen. I can't wait to watch it again when Mondo Vision re-releases it on DVD. And a word of advocacy again on the part of Mondo Vision: their line of Zulawski limited DVDs is a thing of beauty, well worth pursuing for the sumptuous packaging and ace remastering.

*I'm not sure that KILL LIST would be KILL LIST if it had a definite ending. This is a cool recent look at the possible meaning of the film, one which I'm inclined to agree with. It reminds the reader that while KILL LIST deals in matters most phantasmagorical, it's also about very relevant real life horrors. Hence my relied that we didn't program the KILL LIST/SERBIAN FILM double dip last year.

*Although I had seen it many times on cable as a child, this was my first pass through SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES in quite awhile, and possibly my first in a theatrical setting. Some childhood filmic experiences fade with age, but this one still holds up, perhaps even moreso now that I'm firmly ensconced in my adult years. You see, my parents had me at 40, so like Will, I grew up with a father who was notably older than that of my friends.

Not that my dad was exactly like Jason Robards; it should come as no surprise to those of you who know me that dad was a feisty, iconoclastic, often combative man until near the end of his life. But I know that as I aged into my teenage years, he sometimes worried that he didn't know how to connect with me. And he also spent a decent part of his post-50 years feeling a sense of guilt for being absent through some of our childhoods (to support my brother, three sisters and I, he often had to work out of town most of the week, a schedule that only abated once I was around ten or so.) In the last ten years of his life, I really got to know him as a complex, admirable person, someone who greatly influenced who I am today. But for all of the aforementioned reasons, I really connected emotionally with Jason Robards and his emotional journey. And hey, Jonathan Pryce is still wicked awesome as Mr. Dark (that defiant strut he enters as he leads the parade away in a funeral march from Charles elicited one of my favorite crowd responses of the event.)

*20 minutes of biker hijinks + 20 minutes of Satanic ceremony + 40 more minutes of biker hijinks + gratuitous footage of guys rolling on ground + slo-mo footage of biker rolling down sand dune + minimal werewolf footage + empty, lonely, wrecked motorcycle = WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS. Results and satisfaction may vary.

Ok maybe I am not as smart as some people but I swear the person who wrote that review either made up some words or is just showing off that he knows big words that 99.9% of the people on this planet don't know or care to know.



Sorry for the rant but to me it's just unimaginative. Kill List had potential but than dropped the ball.

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