The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

*UPDATE*: As announced at the Science Fiction Marathon, the first four films are:

*John Landis's modern classic An American Werewolf in London
*An ultra-rare 35MM screening of the oft-requested Werewolves on Wheels
*Glam rock meets gothic horror in Brian De Palma's cult classic Phantom of the Paradise
*Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani in a BRAND NEW UNCUT 35MM print of Polish madman Andrzej Zulawski's
gonzo, bonkers, totally insane, ultimate divorce/horror nightmare Possession


Since all of you are probably at you peak of Sci-Fi Marathoid Mania in anticipation of this weekend's 29th Annual All-Night Filmic Boogie, we'll take things up to even another level. Yep, like last year around this time, we've confirmed the first four titles for this fall's 4th Annual 24-Hour Horror Marathon (October 20-21 at the Grandview Theater Long Live The Secret Bread Empire!). And, like last year, I'm going to be a cruel bastard and tease you with the following images, each of which connects to one of the four films (to try to be kind, I'm giving you two images for the fourth film.)

All of these titles will be officially announced this weekend; keep yer eyes peeled for a promo insert in the program and some trailers during the pre-show mix. But in the meantime, make your guesses here. And hey, try to do so without Googling the images. One hint? None of these four films have played a Columbus Horror Marathon before. Enjoy!

I'm going to say the Phil Spector picture as to do with Little Shop of Horrors.

I'm guessing An American Werewolf in London and Werewolves on Wheels for the first two.

here's my best guesses -

1. The Running Man
2. Zombie Chicks in Biker Town
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. Jurrassic Park

Oh, and thanks for publishing the dates, now I can plan my vacation from Seattle to be at the marathon, haven't been back in 15 years or so!

(If I got them all correct, do I get a free tee shirt or something? I won the BIGH CHECK one year when my friend Evan and I came as angry villagers and defeated the brothers from Basket Case!)

Race of the Devil

Straw Dogs

Orca

Little Shop of Horror

Orca

Race with the Devil

Silent Night, Deadly Night

Poltergeist

HA! That would be awesome! But no, it's not one of the films.




That's fantastic! We actually have a large amount of video from the 1992 Night of the Living Drexel in the Marathon Archives, and you and your friend are prominently featured. And one of the BASKET CASE brothers has become a semi-regular videographer for the event!

I really haven't a clue on the second one (two have suggested RACE WITH THE DEVIL and they just might be right), but at first glance the others seem to all have an obvious educated guess. If I'm right, it must be Joe's personal mission this year to satisfy my personal tastes and requests, so way to go Joe! It would be an insult at this point to keep putting off buying that plane ticket.

Jenny Agutter= An AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON

Kramer vs. Kramer=JoBeth Williams, Jurassic Park=Steven Spielberg = POLTERGEIST

Phil Spector and the Ronettes would seem to point to LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, but the Corman cheapie or the Frank Oz musical?
The latter would certainly be an interesting and kooky change of pace...

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

Where my guesses came from:

I went with Orca on the first picture because of the director. Jenny Agutter = AWIL would be cool. Or Logan's Run = The Running Man = Battle Royale?
(Edit: Just saw that Battle Royale is already playing the SciFi marathon. Never mind that then.)

Second picture, Peter Fonda = Race with the Devil. That's as much of a fingers-crossed hope as a guess, that movie's on my wish list.

The Ronettes + Phil Spector + Christmas song = Silent Night, Deadly Night. I do very much like the idea of the Little Shop of Horrors musical showing at a marathon.

And


That was my thought as well.

For the sake of throwing something different out there for the 2nd picture -- how about the oft-previewed anthology Spirits of the Dead?

Some really interesting guesses so far, way more arcane than I would've thought (ORCA!)

I'll at least toss out a few denials. Although I'd love to show it some day, clue #2 is not for Spirits of the Dead. And just to save JacksUserID some potential grief, clue #4 is not for Poltergeist. Which is not to say that it might not show up this year...or the next....or the next...

The only other thing I'll say for now is that one of the titles is something that most of you might not guess, but which should be well worth a viewing (especially for the first timers) with this audience.

Hmmm....maybe that should read two of the titles. Although the other one I'm thinking of has a burgeoning cult following, and I'm sure that quite a few of you have either seen it before or at least heard of it.

Hmmm, "burgeoning cult following" sounds recent ... so, The Vow? It is the year of Channing Tatum.

Ah, could the 3rd pic, with those hairdos be the burgeoning cult film? Do I dare guess... Birdemic: Shock and Terror?

Hey, no worries. I won't be devastated without Tobe Hooper's other timeless classic. I know it will show up one of these years. But you have to admit it wasn't that far of a stretch.

However, upon further reflection I realize that the actual images are the clues and not necessarily a representation of something else that happens in the film. So while JoBeth Williams does love her some fried chicken, the actual clue is Mr. Hoffman-- which connects to the writer of Jurassic Park by way of...


...wait for it...


SPHERE

Pretty sure I'm right this time, eh?

If not... I give up and humbly submit to your superior execution of crypticness.

That is all...

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

An American Werewolf in London
Werewolves on Wheels
The Phantom of the Paradise
Possession (1981)

A very cool start to the line-up.

AWIL and Paradise are a lot of fun. I've never seen Possession before. Werewolves on Wheels doesn't live up to the greatness of its trailer, but it had to be shown someday.