The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Well, all ... having just regained consciousness after the long trip home (and subsequent coma), I just wanted to give Bruce and Joe a big round of virtual applause in thanks for yet another top-notch event.

"Freaks" was a great choice for fill-in. As was pointed out to me, I did see it on the big screen at the 2003 "Nightmare at Studio 35", but it's a classic that everyone should get a chance to see at least once in the theater.

"Them" was a particular treat to me. I thought it was exceptional. Really captured the psychological horror edge. I'm probably going to have to go looking for this one in the future.

"To the Devil, A Daughter" held up surprisingly well. And hey, who could beat a surrealist nudity montage during Nastassia Kinski's full-frontal scene ?

"Black Sheep" ... what can I say. Blood, guts, gore ... sheep. Does anyone really need anything more?

"Tourist Trap" was a painful substitute, to be sure, but it just wouldn't be a marathon without a little 80's shtick thrown in. Admittedly, I was drifting in and out through most of it, so other opinions may vary. Still, Tanya Roberts ... *roar* ... even clothed!

This was my first viewing of "Maniac", believe it or not. Again, drifting hither and yon to the realms of slumberland, but I was awake to see Tom Savini's head explode. Certainly can't go wrong there. A bit long-winded and repetitive for a psycho-killer retrospective, but since I slept through half of it, it didn't weigh me down much.

Alas, I was called away because of a work problem and had to skip "Near Dark" (though I've seen it on the big screen before ... and it's typically a crowd pleaser.) Hopefully people enjoyed it.

Again, just wanted to say that despite the few points of adversity concerning the missing films, I think the marathon was a grand success ... the substitutes were very worthwhile choices (each in their own way ), and the crowd was even better behaved than usual.

Another golf clap for our Horrific twosome, and a pat on the back to everyone for such a wonderful time.

See you in Sci-Fi'dom, come April!

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

The event started off with a disappointing announcment that Zombie was dropped from the lineup but I was bound and determined to make this a great marathon experience reguardless....and it was!!

WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

I had never seen FREAKSbefore so I was interested in see it and I must say there is nothing I love more than a movie that delivers what it promises and there are plenty of FREAKS in FREAKS not to mention from now on when ever I hear the phrase "one of us" I will instantly start humming Guble Goble Guble Goble one of us one of us.

ILS aka THEM was very good, although most people don't like to read a movie I didn't find the subtitles hard to follow and the action and suspense were amazing. I was unfamiliar with the true story behind the movie so was caught off guard when we find out that children were beind the killings. I kept waiting for the giant ants to appear but other than that it was a good movie.

To the Devil a Daughter was a highlight of the marathon for me, I love Hammer films and of coarse Christopher Lee is the man, the print quailty was very good and the nudity montage that was spliced in to the print in place of the underaged Natasha Kinski nude scene was funny.

Than we have BLACK SHEEP, Somewhere Peter Jackson is saying to himself "I don't remember making a killer sheep movie". I think I was expecting a little more from this movie but it was still lots of fun and very gory. Bruce and Joe were 2 for 2 on the Premiers this year!!!

Tourist Trap played inplace of the missing gorefest Make them Die Slowly and of all the possible great 80's horror films that could have been showed this was not the best possible choice, although I realize it was a last minute available print but it's just not a great film..if only Tonya Roberts would have dropped that halter top!!!

Maniac was interesting but I could not shake the feeling this was an edited print...Vince can you help me out in this??? It seemed like the goriest parts were missing. Other than that it was well worth a watch.

and last but not least we have the Aliens cast reunion in NEAR DARK which I say is still one of the best vampire movies ever, it's right up there with Lost Boys, Fright Night and Count Yorga and a great movie to end the marathon with!!!

Of coarse we also had some great trailers and the usual Costume contest and Scream Contest....I still say the glory days of the costume contest have passed us by and this should be cut from the event unless there are more than 5 people in actual costumes.

There was one other MAJOR highlight of the marathon...this was when Joe and Bruce both confirmed they would like to see the Horror marathon become a 24 hour even again. This is not a promise that it will be but maybe a glimmer of hope that one day it will be 24 hours again.

I can't believe another year has come and gone.

Great Job Bruce, Joe and everyone at the Drexel.

_________________
Jaws3dfan®
Follow me on Twitter

Great job! Great marathon as usual. The concessions: great job...Tomato soup and hot dogs are my new favorite middle of the night snack.

The films: not a clunker in the bunch. loved the sheep...Don't take that the wrong way...but the sheep were my favorite... edging out Caroline Munro and her maniac. I had not seen Freaks before. Great substitution.

See you in April.

Black Sheep was a brilliant movie!!!
Just the right amount of laughs without going insanely overboard like some horror/comedy movies.

I had just seen Freaks on tv a week or so ago, but luckily I didn't watch the whole thing so I still enjoyed last night's showing of the movie. A true classic.

Mothra costume = incredible!

I really enjoyed Them. Great movie and a great ending. They did a really nice job of creating a scary atmosphere.

To The Devil A Daughter was sloooow. Not a bad movie, and the montage was funny, but boy was it slooooow. I think it needed a soundtrack.

Black Sheep was so fun that I'm actually thinking about looking for this movie on dvd.

Tourist Trap, well, I don't recall ever having seen that movie before, so that was a plus. Nothing that I'd go out of my way to see again. The very final scene with the freeze frame of the girl driving the jeep was funny though.

I'd actually seen parts of Maniac before, but never the whole thing. I liked the subway bathroom scene. I was a little disappointed with the exploding head, I thought it'd be a bit more than what we got. Good movie.

Near Dark was fun to watch. A good film to end on. It was pretty weird to walk out into the blazing sunlight right after that ending.


Overall, a great marathon yet again this year. I loved it and I'm already looking forward to next year's sci-fi marathon. Thank you so much for showing Black Sheep and Them and all the other movies.

First Tourist Trap was released in 1979. Anyway here is my thoughts.

Freaks It was a nice substitute for Zombie. A great classic.

Them A good French thriller. Make me jump a few times.

To the Devil a Daughter. It was slow but the splice was worth it staying awake for.

Black Sheep. A Classic splatter flick. With great sick humor.

Tourist Trap why Joe? It was a waste of 90min. Very messy, boring, and pointless. It was the Automatons of the horror marathon.

Maniac classic flick

Near Dark one of the best vampire flick.

The Monthra costume was the best.

I was disappointed that there was no shorts this year.

Is it my imagination, or was this the year of the slow film? Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time, but I had a really hard time staying awake this year. Anywho, on to the flicks …

Freaks – A great flick. Not my first time seeing it, but my first time seeing it on the big screen. I would much rather have seen Zombie, but thems the breaks.

Ils – This started my downward spiral. A slow film that made it seem longer than it really was, but a great ending that made staying awake worth it.

To the Devil, a Daughter – Another slow flick, but not as slow as I was lead to believe. I nodded off a few times during this one. The montage was hilarious and I’m really glad I didn’t sleep through it.

Black Sheep – It was my second time seeing this movie, which was a good thing because I was asleep for about 30-45 mins. of it.

Tourist Trap – Why? Not slow, but not entertaining enough to keep me awake. I wasn’t hardcore sleeping through it, but I wish I did.

Maniac – I agree with the consensus that this may have been an edited copy. All anyone ever told me about this movie was “There’s a great slow-motion head exploding scene.” I really didn’t think it was that great. It’s almost as if we saw the last few seconds of the head exploding. WTF?!? Anyway, this was another slow flick that kept me drifting in and out of sleep.

Near Dark – Great way to end the marathon!! This woke me up, and validated my friends telling me to watch this for years. They said it was my kind of movie, and they were right.

I loved the conversations I had in line with random strangers, I loved the scream contest winner (this year and last, when she screamed, I almost had to hold my ears), I loved the Mothra costume, I loved the decorations, and I’m really looking forward to the Sci-Fi marathon.

_________________
Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

Just got back from buying a DVD of Black Sheep. I would have bought Maniac also if it had been in the store.

I wanted to add my praise for the decorations.

Summarizing my review:

Best movie: Black Sheep
2nd: Maniac
3rd: Freaks
No Automatons.

I do have to say that Freaks was the best for me, I had never got around to seeing it before and it was everything I tought it would be. I also liked the first hour of Tourist Trap but after that I feel asleep (it was a little too long). Black Sheep was hysterical too. By the way, would any of you gusy know of a missing wallet found during the marathon? I was so warped out of my mind and assumed I had it with me when I drove home (I live in KY). Please respond back if you do.

_________________
"I sent the club a letter stating: PLEASE EXCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO A CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER"

groucho marx

I was writing quite a lengthy reply but when I went to post it I was asked to sign in again. Oh well.

This was my first experience with the Horror Marathon. I was quite shocked to see that somewhere between 200 to 300 people showed up. Is that a pretty accurate number?

I had never been to the Grandview Drexel before and I was surprised at how comfortable the seats were. Someone told me months ago that the seats were pretty uncomforable but I found that the seats were super comforatble. Definitely well suite to a marathon!

A lot of people have already commented about all of the positive experiences at the marathonan and the great environment. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the marathon goers were quiet when the movies were playing and considerate of other people. With that being said:

The biggest disappointment of the night was the announcement of "Zombie" and "Cannibal Ferox" were not going to be played. Something was said about the distribution company or the company that usually supplies films thought that the event was going to be next weekend. Those were two of the films that I REALLY wanted to see in the theatres, for various reasons. I was a little hesitant to believe that no one knew that they weren't going to be showing the films until 10 PM that night.

If I would've known that "Zombie" and "Cannibal Ferox" were not going to play and then be replaced with "Freaks" and "Tourist Trap" I very well may not have attended. I wonder if that's the reason that nothing was said before hand. Who knows.

Freaks - Never seen this before. Dialogue was very hard to understand but I think that's attributed more to many people in the movie not being trained actors. I had a hard time understanding roughly half of the dialogue. Somewhat interesting movie. I could see this being very controversial in 1932, when it was released. Scary? Not at all

Ils - I had never seen this before either and was surprised at how scary this film was. Interesting premise and apparently based upon true stories. Scary? Yes.

To the Devil A Daughter - I had read before hand not to expect much from this movie so I wasn't too bummed out by this one playing (but then again I expected "Zombie" and "Cannibal Ferox" to cancel the mediocrity of this one out). I wouldn't rent this movie but if I was bored and saw this come on the TV I would probably watch it. Maybe I'm a little different but the whole nude scene didn't strike me as making me the least bit interested in watch this film. Perhaps some people found that the only redeeming part of this film and maybe that's why it's almost universally mentioned? The 15 second montage was humorous but didn't transform this film at all. Scary? Not at all.

Black Sheep - I know that a lot of people find comdey/horror films appealing so I'll won't trash this movie but I just don't enjoy mixing humor with horror. For me, one cancels the other out. I understand that a lot of people like these type of films and that's cool. I knew this one was playing so no biggie. Scary? Nope. Come on, they're sheep. This one just wasn't my cup of tea but I know that a lot of people liked it.

Here is where I had to bail (around 6:40 AM). I just couldn't shake the sleep deprivation monkey off of my back. I really should've gotten more sleep the night before. A lesson learned.

I really wanted to see "Maniac" as I've wanted to see that movie for the past several months. Can anyone else confirm if the screening of "Maniac" was indeed an edited version? I'm quite curious.

I'm a big horror film fan myself but I had never heard of "Tourist Trap". I looked it up and most of the reviews for it tend to be pretty bad. Most of the reviews on it for this board tend to reflect that opinion as well. I just wonder why this film was chosen? Filler apparently?

I saw "Near Dark" again about 6 months ago. Seeing this again at the marathon would have been fine as I think that this movie is quite original and well made.

On closing, I was happy with the venue and all of the people involved but I would just like to see scarier films next time. There are tons of new and old films that are truly scary and disturbing.

I really wish there would have been more communication on the website about the change of plans when it came to the movies. I feel that a major change to the lineup should've been posted...if even that night. The initial hour delay could have been communicated on the website too. If I recall, we didn't get seated until around 10:45 PM.

Like I said, I don't want to be the buzzkill guy but everyone else has already pointed out a lot of the great things about the marathon.

I had a great time and want to thank you guys for putting on a good show. This is a unique event and I'm very much looking forward to next year.

Like most posters, I was disapointed that two of the big films didn't make it, and I agree that the replacements were a little lack luster ("Freaks" is great, but for an event like this, I think something more splattery would have gone over better). However, I can imagine the head aches asociated with trying to arrange for actual film prints of these movies (a big draw for me) and I'm sure you guys did the best you could in the amount of time you had.

The two premiers were fantastic. As was walking out into the daylight Sunday after watching Jesse and his gang burst into flames under the same circumstances.

My one complaint would be the lack of notice about when the doors would actually open. Given that there is a web site and a discussion forum for this event it seems like it would have been easy enough for someone to post offical news of the delay somewhere after "we just heard about this two days ago."

OK...marathon over, sleep obtained, looking forward to next year.

I think we can all say that there was some disappointment with Zoimbie and Make Them Die Slowly not being shown. As far as the lack of notice brought up earlier in this forum, I'm sure that even down to the last hours Joe and Bruce were doing everything they could to secure the films and I just appreciate the fact that they secured two other movies. I was okay with Freaks, I even mentioned while waiting in line after finding out that the original two were not going to be shown that I would be fine if they showed Freaks again because it rocks. Sure, not scary, but a classic.

Loved Ils, loved Near Dark, loved Black Sheep. Maniac was okay. Tourist Trap was horrible. What can you do? I will continue to come to the marathons every year for the overall experience. the price is right and the atmosphere is terrific.

An overall thanks to Joe, Bruce, and the crew for never failing to disappoint!

See all of you twisted marathon-hungry freaks next year!

_________________
"that was longer than a heartbeat"

The continuing late starts of the past few Horror Marathons has been a major source of frustration for me. Apologies for not posting info sooner.

As for TOURIST TRAP, FREAKS and the cancellations...Bruce and I found out about the Grindhouse snafu late Friday afternoon. We then spent the next several hours playing phone tag with the Drexel and each other, trying to figure out what we could sub in. We seriously pursued overnighting the two films, but with what we had available the logistics were not workable. The main reason we chose those two as replacements? They were readily available and they were each horror films. When dealing with notice that short, it's very tough to find suitable replacements, especially when there aren't a ton of 35mm collectors in town. It wasn't an optimal situation, but those two titles were the best we could do.

We held out hope that something else might fall into place on Saturday, which is why we didn't post any updates on the forum. This is only the second time in ten years of Horrorthons (the first being the RE-ANIMATOR cancellation at the 1997 Shocktoberfest all-nighter)that I've had to deal with a cancellation this late in the game, so it's still relatively unknown territory. Again, apologies if this cause problems for anyone.

And thanks again to all for attending. You're all a tremendous group of fans, always reliable and easy to deal with. Here's to more years of filmic fright to come.

Ok i suck i left before To the daughter a devil..

Having seen this movie before (anchor bay dvd is good) the young woman in the corset i brought asked to go back and have a drink and then come back for Black Sheep

We never came back Giggty giggty

Ok that being said i was really let down by the ZOMBIE and MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY cancel..

Joe and Bruce bust ass to do this so i won't complain.

Freaks, Great choice set the mood if you will

Them: hated it hated it i can not say anything other then, Can i sue the french for a hour and a half of my life being wasted?

And then i left....note next year don't bring a date....

_________________
You should be loyal to your hero's
They can turn on you!

"We never came back Giggty giggty"

Thanks for that info, Josh. Does anyone else have updates on sexual intercourse they had before, during or after the marathon?

Why so crass? I never said what we did when we left. We could have played Candyland till noon the next day..

_________________
You should be loyal to your hero's
They can turn on you!