The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

For those marathon veterans or returners....what one element draws you back year after year? Is it the films? Is it the genre (sci-fi or horror)? Is it the audience? Is it the shorts and trailers? Is it the hosts? Is it the special guests? Is it the prize giveaways...the contests....the yummy concessions? Maybe some of you don't come if you don't like the lineup or if you don't like the guest/guests. Of course it is the whole event that you like, but try to narrow it to the one thing.

For me...man it's tough to say. On one level I want to say the audience...but if that were the case, then why don't I go to the all-nighters. I just go to the 24 hour marathons. I mean, I do live 1000's of miles away, but if I go for the audience then would half a thon matter?

Hmmmm, maybe I do go for the films. I know that it depends on the lineup sometimes for me. If I am going to fly across country, I had better want to see the films. Well, now that I think about it, I have gone to some that I really didn't love the lineup (those were Boston Marathons by the way). So if I had to narrow it to one thing, it's my friends. It is a great opportunity for me to hang out with my friends, some that are just marathon friends and some that are long-time friends. An all-night event is OK, but if I am going to do it - I like the fun, pain, and torture of enduring the whole 24 hours with my friends. Never letting them sleep. Leaving no man behind. I started going to these right at the time that I met most of my friends. It was early college - 1991. So I will always associate the marathons with the meeting of my friends who will remain friends for life.

Ahhhh, so sentimental.

Outstanding question!

The first marathon I went to at Studio 35 was because of the special guest---Bruce Campbell. I was a HUGE fan of the Evil Dead movies when they originally came out. I have always loved horror marathons, so the films were a bonus!

I have to admit, after my first marathon I was hooked on the whole experience. Maybe it is a commonality with the audience that I do not share with the people in my everyday life. I feel like I "belong" in a sense.

I love it all, man...the lack of sleep, the sugar buzz from the concessions, the flicks, the costumes, the screams, the laughter...Wish they'd bring back the special guest idea and the 24 hour marathon, though. I'd pay $50 a pop for that!

2 days and counting! Let their be death, torture, and blood and guts for all marathonoids!

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"that was longer than a heartbeat"

I just really, really dig seeing these kind of films with this kind of crowd - it's the two things coming together that make for such a memorable experience. Spread out over many hours and many movies, the vibe is like a rock concert, it has that kind of resonance and buzz. The crowd become a part of the show, there's a festival feel to the whole thing. You don't normally get that at a movie theater, and you certainly don't get it watching the movies at home.

These are my kind of people! That's how I feel when I get there. I couldn't go thousands of miles. I'm glad I live in Ohio and can get there by car. So, yes, it is the crowd. It is sharing a love of the movie experience with people who feel the same way.

I wish the horror marathons were 24 hour like the scifi. I wish they were at the Gateway like the scifi. (I love that theater.) But, I will keep coming anyway...to both.

I think the film lineups have been great. I enjoyed meeting Tom Savini.
But, I'll come anyway.

I've been to about 30 Trek and media and comic conventions starting in 94 including 5 or 6 Mid-Ohio Cons and they affect me the same way. My kind of people. I feel at home there.

Whether, it is a good thing or a bad thing, most people don't feel the same way about it as we do.

So, thanks Bruce and Joe. Keep it up. We'll keep coming.

Having attended every Horror marathon and just about every Sci-Fi marathon I would say the marathons are apart of me. I don't think about eating, breathing or sleeping because they are things that I simply must do to survive and the same goes for the marathons, I actualy tried quiting the marathons a few years back but found I could not do it. The marathons become a part of you and like a vampire you must feed it or you will die. As long as there are marathons I will be there and when they stop having them a piece of me will die, I only hope the fond memories will be enough to keep me alive.

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Jaws3dfan®
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My first thon was one of the 24 hour ones over at the Studio 35 with special guest Joe Bob Briggs.

I like all of the aspect of the thons. Especially the weird movies they show in the after hours.

This will be my 15th thon since 2000. Two Thons per year except last year.

Well I be watching some flicks to get ready like Fearless Vampire Killers and Burial Ground.

Fearless Vampire Killers showed at the 1st ever HORROR MARATHON at the Drexel North....man that was an awesome event

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Jaws3dfan®
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Simply put, I attend marathons because I love movies. I go for the entire experience. Would I be mad if they had no guests or contests or prizes? No. They help to deepen the experience and I really enjoy them, but they are not necessary. For me, there are two things that really make the marathon …

TRAILERS AND SHORTS: This is what makes these marathons better than the little marathons that I hold at my house for my friends. You may know the film lineup for the marathon, but you never know what to expect between the films. I absolutely love the trailers and shorts! And the second is …

CONCESSIONS: The concession stand needs to provide a wide variety of food for the marathon. I attend the marathon to see ALL of the films, therefore I don’t like to leave the theater for any reason until the marathon is over, and if all I have to eat at a marathon is popcorn and candy for 12 – 24 hours, I’m gonna puke!

This is why I look forward to the Drexel marathons each and every year. You can always look forward to a wide variety of entertaining trailers and shorts, as well as great concessions. Subs and burgers at Gateway, hot dogs and brats at Grandview, and both offer Pizza at the beginning of the marathon and coffee and donuts around 6AM. Tomorrow is the marathon and I can’t wait!! I’m really excited!

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

For me, it is just the atmosphere. The decorations, the people and the overall theme of the evening is a lot of fun to experience. Yeah, sometimes the film selection isn't optimal. But there is so much more to the marathon than movies. It is just a fun spooky night.

For me it's hard to narrow down to one thing, but in the simplest terms (and the most convenient definitions) it is the uniquness of the thing. It's a memorable theatergoing experience one way or another. Mostly it's for the films as well. It's a celebration of film in a unique format.

Plus usinoh is right: it gets in your blood. For me, it's almost like a fetish.

Sorry... I'm sharing too much.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

For me it is pretty much everything as well. But I guess the only thing that would keep me away is a lineup consisting of films that I either have seen a 100 times before, have on DVD or just don't like. But it would take all three of those things combined to make me stay away and no lineup yet has done that in marathon history IMO and hopefully never will.

Though I will say it is allot easier to hang for 24 hours in more comfortable theaters like the Arena Grand and the Gateway.

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This is a hard question. It's kind of cheating to say the atmosphere because that really encompasses everything. So if I had to narrow it down to one thing, it's the sense of discovery I feel every time. I can't tell you how many insane, wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) films I've seen for the first time at a marathon. Not just premieres, but older, overlooked gems, and the great shorts I've seen. Discovering a DVD for some movie you never would have heard of if not for some marathon trailer you saw, etc... Also there have been a numer of movies I never liked until I saw them at the marathon and the big screen/audience participation brings out a certain quality that I never realized the film posessed.

I wish the horror marathons were 24 hours again. I do have that advantage in Chicago, but they truly can't touch the Ohio marathoning eperience. Bruce and Joe are impeccable hosts and programmers-they do it for their own love of film and for the audience. Our host here, seems more interested in self-promotion and his own tastes rather than what audiences are interested in. Also there aren't any premieres and very few trailers here (thus harder to discover anything new). The audience is similar in that any event that draws horror fans together, gives me that feeling of belonging that others mentioned. But usinoh is right about the marathons being a part of my being. Ever since my first I've been addicted at have tried to make it to any marathon I can. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to Ohio tomorrow, but you'll all be in my thoughts.

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

Sense of discovery - Great answer! I am going to the all night horror thon here in LA. It's the 2nd annual event. Sense of discovery is exactly what is missing! I've seen most of the films except for The Children and they don't play many trailers other than a few on video, so there is no sense of discovery. With Joe and Bruce's events I always feel like I am being introduced to new things - things that I could only get at the marathon, whether it be a new film, a short, or a rare trailer I have never seen before. Case in point - SPACEBOY! OK...so that's the sci-fi, but you get the idea. What a strange discovery. Where the hell else are you going to see that. It's that feeling that you are a part of something that is unique.

It's not the films, per se, for me - but rather, a love FOR film, and genre film in particular.

I go back to the marathons for the same reason that, when I was a kid, I'd stay up late watching whatever Fritz the Nite Owl had to show us. Sense of discovery - yes, that's part of it, but not all. If that were all, then I wouldn't want to see films I've seen before.

So, when I say a love for film, I mean that the entire event is a celebration of the love I have for the filmic art. Premieres, lost classics that I may have missed thus far, repeat viewings of films I love, trailers, shorts - it's all part of that celebration.

The shared experience with the rest of the audience, the great job Bruce and Joe do hosting, the guests, the contests, and the sharing of the whole thing with dear friends - all of these are additional reasons why I love the whole experience of the 'thons, but, honestly, even if none of those factors were present, I would still attend, out of my affection for film, regardless of the lineup.

But then, I suppose, I'm a hopeless romantic - or so I've been told.