The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I'm sure most of us don't just limit our October horror festivities to those glorious 24 hours spent in the theater, what movies are you guys watching in the other 29 days of October?

I generally try to fit in at least 3 movies a week (preferably ones I haven't seen before), but that fluctuates depending on how busy I am. I'm sure many of us would like to hear what suggestions our fellow Thon-ers have to offer.

I always start the greatest season of all with a little A Nightmare Before Christmas...I'm sure between now and Friday I'll watch that at least once.

Also, Spooky Buddies is on the radar. HBO Go has a much wider collection, so I can bet I'll be looking through their catalog.

Never mind, the HBO Go horror flicks are pretty crappy.

That's a good question, actually; I should do some preparation. I've been working my way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel on Netflix, and those are both vaguely horror-related, haha. But I should scan through the horror selection and see if there's anything I feel like watching. I honestly haven't seen many horror movies in my day; any suggestions?

Horror Films from past Horrorthons available on Netflix Streaming as of 10.01.2013

Kill list
The Evil Dead original
Hellraiser
Slither Booked many times never screen.
White Zombie
The Bride of Frankenstien
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Irreversible
I Sell the Dead
Black Sabbath
The Wolf Man
Evil Dead 2
Rosemary's Baby
Carrie
Carnival of Souls

Wow, good call. Don't know if I can stomach Irreversible again.

Just rented Horror of the Zombies. I have no idea what it is, but hey, why not?

Just went through the first season of American Horror Story and enjoyed its nuttiness more than I thought I would.

Classed it up a bit with a couple foreign classics -- Eyes Without a Face and Kuroneko.

Bored myself with the original Amityville Horror and its killer flies.

Not sure what I will dive into next. Probably Spooky Buddies.

Edit: Also been reading some Lovecraft and just finished listening to Stephen King's Danse Macabre (which served as excellent 'thon pump-up material).

Reading?

DANSE MACABRE! Now that's a book that still holds up as a great analysis of the horror and sci-fi genres. Probably one of the best marriages of King's folksy, conversational tone and his social insights.

And my pre-Marathon viewing? Well, I HAVE been meaning to do a DRESSED TO KILL/BLOW OUT double dip for awhile....

On Friday I'll be watching Dracula Prince of Darkness on Blu Ray. There is supposely a 2K DCP copy of the film.

I enjoyed it quite a bit and agree on his blend of tone and insights. The version I had had a fairly recent introduction added to it where he did a brief overview of horror movies in the past 15 years or so. BIG fan of the Last House on the Left remake.



I see what you're doing there.

*sigh* I WISH I had time to watch some movies this month. As it is, I probably won't be watching anything this whole month, until the marathon.

Recently watched the uncut miniseries of the 1979 Salem's Lot and enjoyed it. Great scare scene when the vampire pops up on screen for the first time and you get the full view of his face. Some dated elements, but overall the movie holds up reasonably well.

Also rewatched the original Poltergeist, a movie I always enjoy yet feel frustrated by because it could have been so much better. I never watch the film without thinking that one of the three writers intended the film to be a darkly comic parable about television (and you can still see that in the finished product), but that idea was hijacked in order to insert more cheesy thrills that seem so dated today - the Indian burial ground nonsense is so trite. Several of the performances still impress me - to this day, I think JoBeth Williams deserves more credit, but some of her dialogue is so corny at times that you just ache for her having to utter some of those lines with such conviction. And Zelda Rubinstein's third-act savior of sorts (a character convention that classic filmmakers perfected to an art form) would have made my short list for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod for 1982, but I suppose much of that is due to the fact that I just enjoy the character so much.

I've been wanting to see Poltergiest again for ages - probably haven't seen it in 15-20 years. I wish it was on Netflix. One of these days I'll have to get a DVD. I used to love it - no idea how well it holds up.

There is the "sheer awesomeness" of Poltergeist III that's available on Netflix streaming.

I watched the excellent transfer of Dracula Prince of Darkness on Blu Ray. Remember now Anchor Bay released the movie pan and scan on DVD.

Then I watched Ghostbusters and Zombie High starring Virginia Madsen on Netflix streaming.

Gateway Film Center this weekend is screening Dario Argento's Dracula 3D if one want to watch a really bad Dracula Movie.

The new Warner Blu ray looks good, but the special features on the Blu ray book stink, so if by chance you're ever looking to buy a copy, I'd recommend getting the bare-bones Blu ray. The only special feature worth mentioning is a hastily put-together documentary on real-life poltergeists that I turned off after 15 minutes or so. I'd have much rather heard more about the making of the movie, though I suppose it is possible that the few surviving principal actors (which I think now are only Nelson and Williams) don't want to talk about it, given the tragedies that have occurred. And it seems as though I had heard that Tobe Hooper didn't like making the film and didn't like the finished product, so it doesn't surprise me that there's no director's commentary, etc. I'm eager to see his latest, Djinn. (Now that would be an awesome premiere movie....)