The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Agree, it looked great!

Never watch movies on your phone. Never.

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"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

I rarely ever do, but sometimes I get stuck somewhere waiting and the mood strikes me.

I have to admit, watching ZARDOZ on my iPad before Boston Sci-Fi last year was kinda entertaining.

_________________
David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)

I bought the Bluray for Zardoz and still have not watched it. Need to pop it in sometime soon.

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

An iPad is better than a phone at least. Movies just aren't meant to be seen on 3-4" screens

_________________
"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

Some fairly epic behind the scenes post-mortem notes on the recently deceased 7th Annual SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK....

As several of you have noted, this year's scheduling proved to be a bit more difficult and daunting than we first expected. A huge advantage that we've enjoyed throughout the SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK years (both with the Grandview and the Drexel) has been the almost complete creative control that Bruce and I have enjoyed. With said control has come the ability to book the lineup far enough in advance that we can try to ensure that it works both as a saleable slate of films and as a enjoyable and endurable flow come the day of the show. But, of course, even all the planning in the world doesn't always guarantee that.

As we announced at SF32, the first two films that we booked were THE KEEP and SHOCK VALUE: THE MOVIE. The former was a title that Bruce had been pushing for since back in the Drexel North days, and when I clawed my way into the Horror Marathon machine I adopted his enthusiasm for it as well. The latter seemed like a no-brainer to us, especially considering its rarity. We also figured that it was short enough that any potential deficiencies would at least pass by quickly (and the reviews from screenings over the past year were generally positive.)

We never got the chance to announce it, but our third film was supposed to be a rare 35mm print of I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF. We figured that those three titles would easily fill the rarities section of the lineup; finding lesser seen titles, or those not readily available on video, has become more of a focus for us in this internet/high quality home theater era. But when we found out very late in the game that WEREWOLF's last reel was unplayable, we had to scramble. We settled on KILLER SHREWS very close to the lineup's announcement at SHOCK-O-RAMA, while also knowing that WEREWOLF probably had more marquee value. Which shaped a bit more of how the lineup filled out.

DEATHGASM was actually fairly easy to book; we secured it in early August, with the intention of still finding another premiere to accompany it (since again, in the internet era, booking new films that haven't screened locally is still important.) I made my DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE discovery shortly thereafter. That seemed to fill out the rarities slots in the lineup.

We've discussed playing TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME quite a few times over the years. We knew that it would baffle some of the audience, but we also placed out bets that it the relatively rare opportunity to see it in a theatrical setting (it almost never screens locally as such) and the concurrent buzz surrounding the PEAKS reboot on Showtime would spur ticket buying interest among dedicated PEAKS Freaks. In fact, we knew of a solid handful of people who, over the years, have said that they'd buy a ticket just to see that. Now aside from our pal Mike Olenick, we're not quite sure that any of them ultimately did so. But that's the bet you have to take in this era of the event: the stalwart egalitarian formula for booking the Marathons has to also adopt to what has people talking, particularly in a modern media landscape where niche fandom can have a lot of appeal.

And, of course, there's also our dedication to pushing the genre forward in some way, a philosophy that we've stated many times in the past. We don't really have any interest in organizing a pure nostalgia fest (even though the majority of the film lineup is from the past), in part because of our personal credo, but also because screening premieres and offbeat films can draw in audience members who might be on the fence about attending, while also giving us ammunition for future premieres and publicity. It sounds much more impressive when we can go to distributors and tell them that we hosted the first local screenings of DEATHGASM, HOUSEBOUND, etc.

At this point in the booking, we wanted to include a few more recognizable titles in the lineup, if only because that strategy has also helped to draw more casual fans to the event in the SHOCK years (see THE EXORCIST, THE SHINING, etc.). And when we found out that DAWN OF THE DEAD was available for booking, we jumped at the opportunity. Knowing that we could make a digital copy look really nice on the Drexel's screen also swayed us quite a bit. And the film works well as a classic, an energetic romp, a gorefest, etc. Many of you have seen it countless times, but as we always have to remind ourselves, there's a swath of the audience that has either never seen EVIL DEAD 2, DAWN OF THE DEAD, etc. on the big screen or at all. It's an inevitability of keeping an event like this going for so long: enough of the audience will turn over that the remaining veterans will have to watch films here and there that they personally have seen ad nauseum (see ALIEN and ALIENS at SF32, which a few longtimers complained about....but which were really well-received and actually helped us retain more of the audience until the end than we've had in years.)

So now we had most of the lineup booked. We knew that we wanted to pay tribute to Christopher Lee, and we hadn't played a Hammer film in an unconscionably long time. We had a lead on a nice print of HORROR OF DRACULA, but it was fragile enough that we didn't want to take the chance of something going wrong with it. So instead, we chose THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, based mostly on Lee's preference for it and to follow up on its cancellation from the 6th NIGHT OF THE LIVING DREXEL in 1993. Soon thereafter, we replaced TEENAGE WEREWOLF with THE KILLER SHREWS, in many ways because we needed a pre-DEVIL black and white film...and something schlocky and humorous.

This all lead to the final films that we booked before our big rollout: IT FOLLOWS, HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. As I've stated before, film rentals are still a major concern when booking the lineup. And when expensive titles are booked early on in the process, the later film choices can often be shaped by those early choices. With only around 300 seats to sell, we need to be able to budget a minimum number of tickets we need to sell in order to turn a profit; this, then, establishes the roughly consistent amount that we budget for film rentals and shipping every year. At this point in the process, we had DAWN OF THE DEAD, DEATHGASM, and THE KEEP, all of which were rather pricey (THE KEEP was a collector print that also had to be cleared through the studio that owns the rights, so we were paying two entities...plus shipping for two film cans, which can be pricey these days.) We thus knew that, realistically, we had to scale back on how much we paid for remaining titles, and the triumverate that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph seemed to fit the bill nicely. I've explained the booking philosophy behind IT FOLLOWS before. HOUSE came from wanting another 35mm title, and something that was a bit more gory. And CREEPS has become a beloved stalwart of 80s genre cinema, one that also gave us another goofier and gory film.

The booking of GERMAN ANGST forced our hand in several ways. As I mentioned at the event, we had the opportunity to show SUN CHOKE (which looks very good and is worth seeking out....maybe we could even screen it next year). But it seemed like booking it would add another deliberate film to a lineup already flush with them. In casting a wide net for a second premiere, we also had an offer for a title that would've played like gangbusters, maybe even as a closer. But the screening fee that the distributor requested was far too high for our budget, and eventually the timing of its release also became a problem. When the dust cleared, GERMAN ANGST was there, both affordable and a relatively unknown entity (it made its Fantastic Fest premiere less than a month ago.) And from most reports, it provided the nastiness and gore that our more hardcore Marathoids love. But booking it also required us to play it at a reasonable hour. We also wanted to play TWIN PEAKS when people were wide awake. And DEATHGASM requires an energetic audience to achieve its full effect. At this point, I suggested the PEAKS, DEATHGASM, ANGST, DAWN quartet, mainly to balance out the two heaviest films in the lineup with two crowdpleasers. We considered playing DAWN last in the lineup, but I argued that CREEPS would be punchier and shorter. And that DAWN would be more of a pick me up from the heaviness of ANGST. Whether I was right or not? Who knows.

The unfortunate side effect of all this was that STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL...had to play in the wee hours. At one point, we discussed playing it earlier, but that 36cm erection kinda scared us off. Which is odd, because most of the film is fairly classical and fit for an earlier timeslot. We also discussed switching THE KEEP and DEVIL RIDES OUT, or even possibly playing THE KEEP as a closer. But that would've placed all our 35mm content in the last 1/4 of the event. And it seemed like DEVIL's extensive dialogue and featuring of Christopher Lee would play better than KEEP's oblique surrealism in the later hours.

Anyway, that's a rather long-winded explanation for how this lineup came to be. In execution, it turned out to be a bit more difficult to schedule than we thought. But I still think that this was a very strong slate of films. We tried our damndest to book a marquee guest, but when that fell through, we wanted the quality and rarity of the lineup to sell the event. As I've mentioned many times before, our profit margins are so thin that booking a lesser known guest always poses the potential of negating us ending up in the black. It's not an ideal situation, but it's a tradeoff that we've made to be at the smaller Drexel Theatre, which has given us such a fertile sandbox in which to play. Seriously, the control they give us allows us to pull off all aspects of the show that you see every year, even if a guest doesn't come along with it.

I'm guessing the movie that "would've played like gangbusters" was an Eli Roth homage to Rugerro Deodato?!?!

I think any feedback provided is only out of love and the issues are miniscule because, maybe I'm speaking for myself or for all horror-thoids alike, but you guys pull off such a fantastic event year after year. Although, I do sort of miss one persons violent, vitriol "because he pays good money for a quality product" (not really) and your subsequent responses!!

Anyway, thanks again for another great event. You and Bruce are appreciated more than I think you know!

Joe - thanks for that behind the scenes. I am always fascinated to hear the thought process and mechanics of both obtaining movies and then scheduling them. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I thought this lineup was great. Maybe a little more -- deliberate, I think is the word you use -- but that isn't a bad thing IMO. I like to be pushed. Otherwise I'd be sitting at home and just watching '80s horror movies, reliving my youth.
Huzzah.

I'll buy this. I think Dawn would have been a much tougher closer than Creeps was.

I'd be absolutely thrilled if you announced that Alien and Aliens would play every single year from now on. Brilliant movies, worth watching countless times.

I know some people love the obscure and ultra rare stuff, but it's the Inception's and Exorcist's (or maybe in the future, The Conjuring's and The Martian's) that will get people to buy a ticket to the marathon for the first time. Though it boggled my mind when we saw how many people at the marathon hadn't seen Inception or 2001 when they played.

That said, when was the last time Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness have played? Heck, how about playing all 4 next year! Or better still, make them the final 4 films. I know I'd stick around until the very end. Start with Evil Dead, then Evil Dead 2, then the 2013 Evil Dead, and finish with Army of Darkness. Even if the order isn't perfect, that way it alternates nicely between serious and fun.

Not Worldsfinest and I thought of an idea of a sequel thon...where you play the first of one movie, then a sequel of several others...for example...

Night of the Living Dead (Romero)
Halloween 2
Nightmare on Elm Street 3
Friday the 13th Part IV

and so on and so forth...the problem we came up with was that, it would be incredibly limited because I think the only movie with 12 sequels is Puppet Master!! haha

On an only slightly-related note, it appears this forum recently set a new record for number of users online at one time, with 49. Curiously, though, it happened at 4:11 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 14. I believe I noted that the last record, which was around 40, happened during or shortly after the announcement of the lineup for the 2013 SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK.

Great idea! Okay, I have waited long enough for this and am excited to finally post my review of the 2015 Shock Around The Clock 24 Hour Horror Marathon! First, I absolutely must thank Bruce Bartoo, Joe Neff, the entire staff and management of the Drexel Theater, every single person responsible for running the website and/or forums and all of the volunteers who helped out in ANY WAY at all (and I mean ANY way, even telling others about the marathon online or etc.) You all ROCK. I love you guys (and gals?). The Drexel Theater is my second home, and the theater attendees that regularly attend the Sci Fi and/or Horror marathons are not my friends. They are my family, so you all can think of me as your brother. LOL As you know, families don't always get along. True to form, I was sitting on the left side of the theater in one of the back rows, maybe the 3rd or 4th row? And some semi famous person who shall go unnamed as well as his family/friends kept getting up during movies, over and over and over and over. It got to the point of sheer annoyance. Some advice: PLEASE make sure that anything you have to do is done BETWEEN movies, NOT DURING if you can help it. There's lots of breaks in between all the movies, yet, these people waited until DURING the movies to get up. It drove me nuts. THIS is why I always sit at the very edge of a movie aisle at the Ohio movie marathons from now on, so that IF I have to get up during a movie, I do not walk in anyone's way, or have to step over their feet, or bump into their knees! I mention this to allow for a better movie watching experience to all. And now for my thoughts on the films:

THE KEEP:
I really wanted to see this, but unfortunately, for some weird reason, I COULD NOT STAY WIDE AWAKE! I didn't full on 'sleep', but I bobbed my head up and down and FOUGHT to stay awake VERY, VERY HARD! From what I was able to see and hear of the movie, it looked great, but it is hard to follow the story line of a movie when you are fighting sleep worse than any characters are fighting evil monsters in a movie.

IT FOLLOWS:
This was my FAVORITE of the marathon, and I probably love this movie more than anyone else that attended the event! I've spoken about it on the thread for it, so I'll save you all from having to read it again. If you haven't read it, please go read it. The soundtrack is the best thing about the movie, but I also love the simplicity of the story. It's not a crazy, drawn out plot. It is simple, and I also disagree with a previous poster that the rules of the villain "changed". I don't see how they changed. The villain is like a virus. It's coming for you, but if you have sex with someone, it has to kill them BEFORE it kills you, in order. No one can see, hear or smell it but you, but ANYONE can touch and be touched by it.

SHOCK VALUE: THE MOVIE:
An okay movie, not great, but definitely interesting given that it came from Horror masters to be. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it were not for the TERRIBLE back pain and headache I was suffering through. During this movie, I had to step outside for some reason. I can't remember why. I think to pick up my Donatos sub?

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME:
Okay, I feel it is only fair to give you all a warning:
This review will NOT BE POSITIVE, and I have VERY little good to say about this movie, so if you love this movie or the series and are easily offended, you may not want to read below.

Okay, so......WHAT THE F&%K WAS THIS!!!????? This is by far the worst movie I have ever seen at ANY marathon of any kind at any theater, for all time!!! First, it's not even a Horror film in any way, shape or form, and trust me, I was wide awake through out the entire thing. The only thing "Horror" related about this piece of garbage was the horrible acting! Please bear in mind that I have never (and will never, ever) watch any episodes of the show or the reboot show, nor do I care for David Lynch. Is there a single scene in the movie in which the lead character is NOT screaming or crying? This movie is just weird and stupid. Why should I care about any of the characters, especially the one who is killed at the end? I really do not understand why whoever decided to book this film booked it. There was a similar incident where a Peter Jackson movie screened at a previous, 12 hour Horror marathon by the name of "MEET THE FEEBLES". Even though I did enjoy that movie, it was NOT Horror and never should have been screened at a Horror marathon. I am a dedicated, lifelong fan and attendee to the marathons and rarely complain about anything. My ONLY complaint about the marathons is that Joe and Bruce please stick to the genre of films they are hosting a marathon for. I just don't see this as Horror, even if I LOVED this movie.

Now for the good things (and there aren't many):
* I LOVE the music. It is very beautiful.
* A lot of the actresses in this movie are very sexy, especially Laura's friend in the club scene (MEEOWW!!!!!!!!!!)
* Ray Wise is such an over the top actor. Love that guy. Great performance.....even if I DIDN'T understand what the hell the movie was about.

DEATHGASM:
LOVE this movie!!! It reminded me of the animated series on [adult swim] called "Metalocalypse". It was uber violent, bloody, gory, loaded with sex jokes and was WICKED awesome, but think it is stupid for me to care about a guy who betrays his "friend", lies to his love interest, then insults and beats the holy crap out of his "friend". What a JERK!

GERMAN ANGST:
I love this movie more than most people did. Maybe because I have German in me and feel honored to have a movie coming from mother Germany screen at my favorite event all year. The second story could have been better, like if the formerly deaf mute man turned bald leader had used the device to switch his dying girlfriend with the loud mouthed blonde girl, THAT would have made the movie a QUINTILLION times better!!! What the heck WERE those things in the third story? Vampires? I seriously don't remember!

DAWN OF THE DEAD:
There is probably some confusion over comments I made about the remake in that I don't care for the original Dawn Of The Dead. That is totally not true. I LOVE this movie dearly. It is a timeless classic. I just think the remake is better. That doesn't make me less of a Horror fan to appreciate a remake. Everyone has their own tastes. Likewise, I absolutely do not have any negative feelings towards the man who said he doesn't like It Follows. I respect his opinion. I DISAGREE with it lol but I respect that he offered it. That being said, this is one of the few films that exist where you see child zombies. An interesting bit of trivia about this, is that the mall jingle IS IN FACT the closing theme song for the show "Robot Chicken", despite who disagrees!

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MISS OSBOURNE:
This movie was okay, but for whatever reason, I couldn't stay fully awake. I fought sleep HARD. This seemed to be a "Bride Of Dr. Jekyll". Holy GOSH was the brunette in this HOT!!! YOWZA!

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY:
Another movie that I fought to stay awake during. It was one of the better movies that screened, but yes, I agree also. "BOB"!?? Lady, call him "BOBBY", not Bob, at least until he turns 13. Bob is so....adult.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT:
There was no reason for me to stay awake, so this is the only film that I decided to catch a little shut eye during zzzzz zzzzz

KILLER SHREWS:
I agree with another poster. I liked this more than I thought I would, given its silly premise.
"OH GOD, EVERYONE!!! RUN!!!! IT'S THE......shrews...." HAHAHA!!!!!
I recognize the main actor in this film from an episode of The Twilight Zone. It's nice to see him portray a more confident, tougher character than the patsy he portrayed in The Twilight Zone.

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS:
Okay, everyone. You all know how this works. I'm going to tell some corny jokes, and your job is to boo me or throw tomatoes accordingly, and......(blows whistle):
(gets up on stage)
- THIS MOVIE GIVES NEW MEANING TO THE TERM "GRABBING A COLD ONE"!
- THEY GOT A "STIFFY"!
- THAT GIRL'S DATE WAS "DEAD ON HIS FEET"!
Okay, I'm done.
How can ANYONE hate the 80's??? I LOVE 80's Horror and Sci Fi films (except for a few). Also, I disagree that Jason Lively should never be a hero. I think he did an AMAZING job! His character wasn't supposed to be a "bad ass" Arnold Schwarzenegger type. He was merely a college student that got caught up in a crapstorm of apocalyptic proportions. How the HELL did at least one of the alien parasites dig underground underneath a damn building, getting into that corpse? Those alien parasites are slippery flesh. The ground is hard packed dirt. Did it/they EAT the dirt to dig down into it? Concerning the original ending:





Lastly, just before the Costume Contest, I stepped out to go to Starbucks to buy a Caramel Machiatto, and then to CVS to buy a small bottle of Advil to take care of my RAGING headache!!! I completely missed it, so I was wondering if anyone has posted a video of it that I can watch?

If you had gone digital on this one there is a nice UK Blu-ray with the legendary restored footage from the Japanese print. It has a slightly more erotic bloodsucking scene and a bit more gore in Dracula decomposition scene.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Hall of Marathonia Updated

Pictures and Documents uploaded to the Archives

(And if you look around, you might find that a certain Science Fiction Marathon has been updated as well.)

Enjoy!

_________________
David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)