We've been having quite the spirited discussion about repeats at the Horror Marathon over at the official Marathon Facebook page. Join in if you'd like, or post your comments here. My original post is below:
Okay, so here's an interesting question for all of you (or maybe some of you) about a topic that often bedevils us in programming: repeats! Throughout the 30+ years of Science Fiction and Horror Marathons, we've had a few titles that have played two or more times (like SUSPIRIA, pictured here, which played in 1988, 1999, and 2013.) We try to space repeats out, although there have been some special cases in the past (FORBIDDEN PLANET played three times in the first ten years of Sci-Fi Marathons).
When an event lasts for this long, there's bound to be an evolution of the audience, and in what they may or may not have seen. Case in point: when we bookended SF32 with ALIEN and ALIENS, a few of the veterans complained about seeing them again. But we hadn't played either in 20 years, and we ended up having more Marathoids stay until the end than we'd had in years. Plus, a good chunk of relatively new attendees thought it was cool to finally see them on the BIG SCREEN.
Such programming can often be a tricky balance. We aren't looking to merely rehash the past, but we also know the value of films that have played well before. So to you, the relatively new Marathoids (say 5 events or less), we ask: which seemingly classic films which we've played before would you like to see again? And veterans, are there titles you've seen at past Marathons which should be resurrected? For the purposes of this discussion, let's stick to the upcoming Horror Marathon. And for reference's sake, here's a link to our pal Dave Zecchini's indispensable Marathon history archive, which contains a comprehensive listing of all the titles that we've unspooled since 1988:
http://www.vitruvianzeke.com/Marathonia/Marathonia.html