The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:27 am 
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Just to give you all a heads up, your intrepid Marathon Co-Director will be headed to Philadelphia this weekend for the 10th Annual Exhumed Film 24-Hour Horror Marathon! If you're not familiar with the Exhumed boys, they've been running local Horror, Sci-Fi, and Exploitation shows since the mid-'90s, first in New Jersey and then at the International House in Philly. EF's Harry Guerro has been a major friend of the Marathons for the last ten years; he often helps us acquire many of the 35mm collector prints you see on our screen.

The unique aspect of the EF Marathon is that they don't announce any of the titles in advance! Yep, you buy your ticket, show up, get a list of vague clues for all the films, and then sit back and wait to see what unspools. And for the last 4-6 years, they've sold out within an hour of putting tix on sale in August! I've tried to attend for the past two years, but this will be the first time I actually make it out for the festivities (alongside longtime Marathon co-conspirator Scott Cozzolino.) I'll make sure to post a report early next week.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:41 am 
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Joe Neff wrote:
Just to give you all a heads up, your intrepid Marathon Co-Director will be headed to Philadelphia this weekend for the 10th Annual Exhumed Film 24-Hour Horror Marathon! If you're not familiar with the Exhumed boys, they've been running local Horror, Sci-Fi, and Exploitation shows since the mid-'90s, first in New Jersey and then at the International House in Philly. EF's Harry Guerro has been a major friend of the Marathons for the last ten years; he often helps us acquire many of the 35mm collector prints you see on our screen.

The unique aspect of the EF Marathon is that they don't announce any of the titles in advance! Yep, you buy your ticket, show up, get a list of vague clues for all the films, and then sit back and wait to see what unspools. And for the last 4-6 years, they've sold out within an hour of putting tix on sale in August! I've tried to attend for the past two years, but this will be the first time I actually make it out for the festivities (alongside longtime Marathon co-conspirator Scott Cozzolino.) I'll make sure to post a report early next week.


This is good to know because I have brother (news boy baby in the costume contest a few years ago) who has come to a handful of SATCs and a few Two Headed all nighters, and lives in Philly. I'll pass this on to him as he likes going to the 24 SATC but can do something local.


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 1:10 am 
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Shucks, between the Halloween festivities and my being sidelined for a few days by a head cold, I've plum forgotten to update this thread with a report from Phildalephia! So, in belated fashion, here goes!

As I mentioned before, the Exhumed Films Marathon lineup is always a secret until each film unspools on the screen. While we stood in line before the doors opened on Saturday morning, we were given ballots with vague clues for each of the 14 films in the lineup; the top 4 scores would win prizes at the end of the event. Oh, and we were also told that for the first time in the event's history, the films would should in chronological order! Which was a side effect of the all-'80s lineup that the Exhumed crew chose in honor of the 10th Annual Marathon.

The final lineup ended up as:

MOTEL HELL
THE BOOGENS
VISITING HOURS
CUJO
EYES OF FIRE
NIGHT SHADOWS
MONSTER DOG
SCREAM FOR HELP
THE MUTILATOR
THE HITCHER
HOUSE
RAWHEAD REX
CHILD'S PLAY
SOCIETY

Some notes:

-The chronologically ordered lineup was a neat concept, but it seems like the films were picked and then the unique order, as in practice parts of the lineup felt a bit off-kilter (with the last five films coming on like gangbusters.) Subsequently, the four films from NIGHT SHADOWS to MUTILATOR ended up feeling like a prolonged detour into Z-grade material.

-But! BUT! Taken individually, two of those films were great! MONSTER DOG is the 1984 Italian oddity with Alice Cooper as a rock star returning to his home town for a music video shoot. It took awhile, but when I came around to its goofy charms I was sold something fierce. It's also one of the great fog films of the '80s. And SCREAM FOR HELP was undoubtedly the smash hit of the Marathon, a wry, self-reflexive comedy thriller about a teen girl who thinks her stepfather is out to murder her mother. We might have to inquire about either of these for a future Horrorthon.

-EYES OF FIRE is so excellent that it's surprising its reputation isn't greater. A spiritual companion to THE WITCH, it's a strong indie flick that gets great mileage out of atmosphere and slow burn creepiness.

-In general, the print quality was spectacular, a side benefit of the International House's archival projection capabilities. Even the 16mm print of VISITING HOURS looked really nice.

-Another unique aspect of the Exhumed Marathon: no real intermissions. The EF guys make announcements and hand out prizes before the first film, but they eschew all introductions after that. Instead, you get a non-stop barrage of films and trailers for the rest of the show, the house lights coming up partway for the trailers and shorts. It requires a more diligent planning for meals and bathroom breaks, but it's also a fun change from the typical Marathon format.

Glad that I FINALLY got to make it out, and I'm looking forward to going back next year!


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 9:35 am 
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Joe Neff wrote:
MONSTER DOG is the 1984 Italian oddity with Alice Cooper as a rock star returning to his home town for a music video shoot. It took awhile, but when I came around to its goofy charms I was sold something fierce. It's also one of the great fog films of the '80s. And SCREAM FOR HELP was undoubtedly the smash hit of the Marathon, a wry, self-reflexive comedy thriller about a teen girl who thinks her stepfather is out to murder her mother. We might have to inquire about either of these for a future Horrorthon.


Obviously being a HUGE Alice Cooper fan I would be all for a screening of MONSTER DOG at the Horror Marathon. The recent Blu-ray release is AMAZING...the VHS and DVD releases were very dark and cropped making it almost unwatchable but the Blu-ray has a crisp clean look and of coarse its in the correct aspect ratio instead of being cropped. It's just to bad the voices were all dubbed, would love to see MONSTER DOG with the original Alice Cooper Vocals track.

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


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 2:06 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:35 am
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Joe Neff wrote:
Shucks, between the Halloween festivities and my being sidelined for a few days by a head cold, I've plum forgotten to update this thread with a report from Phildalephia! So, in belated fashion, here goes!

As I mentioned before, the Exhumed Films Marathon lineup is always a secret until each film unspools on the screen. While we stood in line before the doors opened on Saturday morning, we were given ballots with vague clues for each of the 14 films in the lineup; the top 4 scores would win prizes at the end of the event. Oh, and we were also told that for the first time in the event's history, the films would should in chronological order! Which was a side effect of the all-'80s lineup that the Exhumed crew chose in honor of the 10th Annual Marathon.

The final lineup ended up as:

MOTEL HELL
THE BOOGENS
VISITING HOURS
CUJO
EYES OF FIRE
NIGHT SHADOWS
MONSTER DOG
SCREAM FOR HELP
THE MUTILATOR
THE HITCHER
HOUSE
RAWHEAD REX
CHILD'S PLAY
SOCIETY

Some notes:

-The chronologically ordered lineup was a neat concept, but it seems like the films were picked and then the unique order, as in practice parts of the lineup felt a bit off-kilter (with the last five films coming on like gangbusters.) Subsequently, the four films from NIGHT SHADOWS to MUTILATOR ended up feeling like a prolonged detour into Z-grade material.

-But! BUT! Taken individually, two of those films were great! MONSTER DOG is the 1984 Italian oddity with Alice Cooper as a rock star returning to his home town for a music video shoot. It took awhile, but when I came around to its goofy charms I was sold something fierce. It's also one of the great fog films of the '80s. And SCREAM FOR HELP was undoubtedly the smash hit of the Marathon, a wry, self-reflexive comedy thriller about a teen girl who thinks her stepfather is out to murder her mother. We might have to inquire about either of these for a future Horrorthon.

-EYES OF FIRE is so excellent that it's surprising its reputation isn't greater. A spiritual companion to THE WITCH, it's a strong indie flick that gets great mileage out of atmosphere and slow burn creepiness.

-In general, the print quality was spectacular, a side benefit of the International House's archival projection capabilities. Even the 16mm print of VISITING HOURS looked really nice.

-Another unique aspect of the Exhumed Marathon: no real intermissions. The EF guys make announcements and hand out prizes before the first film, but they eschew all introductions after that. Instead, you get a non-stop barrage of films and trailers for the rest of the show, the house lights coming up partway for the trailers and shorts. It requires a more diligent planning for meals and bathroom breaks, but it's also a fun change from the typical Marathon format.

Glad that I FINALLY got to make it out, and I'm looking forward to going back next year!



Joe, please try to bring Rawhead Rex, Motel Hell & House to some future Columbus marathons!


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