The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Regardless, ENDHIRAN is being booked because of it's newness factor. The same standards should apply as to premiere's:

1. Would it be booked if it weren't Brand New?
2. Would you book it 7 years from now?

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

When I started this thread it was to simply point out that this marathon needs more classic and well know movies and not another film that 99% of the audience never heard of.

Over the years the marathons have been the perfect place to discover both old and new movies but the best part is seeing that rare film on the big screen that I loved as a child but I wasn't old enough to see on big screen, this line-up is lacking in that area, does that mean I won't enjoy the "premieres"? No, not at all. Bruce as proven time and time again that he knows whats best for the marathons, I was just expressing my opinion that it would be nice to see 1 or 2 more true classics added to the line-up. Maybe something from the 70's and a horror/sci-fi movie from 2001 would be great also, maybe something with a "slasher in space" twist to it.

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Jaws3dfan®
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Premieres (or perhaps just "new movies", since Endhiran and Cargo aren't technically premieres) are my favorite parts of the marathon.

I love the old movies, be they classics or otherwise (and who among us couldn't love King Dinosaur? ), but the reason I love movies in the first place is because they're always taking me somewhere I haven't been before.



Well here's question #1: I've never seen Late For Dinner. I doubt its anywhere near as good or classic as something like Soylent Green or even Food Of The Gods. But I've never seen it. Would I rather see something I have seen before or something I haven't seen before?

Now obviously, that question does not apply to the people who have already seen Late For Dinner. But I got the impression that LFD was included in this year's lineup because it's flown under a lot of people's radars, and from what it sounds like, a lot of folks on this board haven't seen the movie. (Let alone the people who don't post on this board, who are probably even less likely to have seen the movie.)


And now question #2 is: why isn't Iron Man being included in the list of classics too? Most folks are in general agreement on its quality. Is there some imaginary arbitrary cutoff point for classics? Does Jurassic Park count as a classic? I'd imagine a movie like Iron Man will sell more tickets -- to people who weren't automatically going to the marathon -- than any other "old" movie on the list. Seriously. Anybody who says War Of The Worlds or Planet Of The Vampires is their #1 draw among the non-"premieres" was almost certainly already going in the first place.


So what is a classic? Is it anything from before 1990? Can a movie from 1989 be a classic, while a movie from 1991 cannot be a classic? That's silly. Any arbitrary date is silly, be it 1990 or 1970 or whenever. So is a classic any movie you've seen before and enjoyed? If that's the case then I declare Thor to be a classic!

I think the answer is that a classic is whatever you want it to be in your own head. There are some people who really don't think King Dinosaur is a classic. Most folks would agree that just because a movie is old doesn't mean its good. We don't all share the same taste in tea and we don't all share the same taste in movies.


You know what, changing tacks here, I was just thinking of what "classic" movies could be added to this year's marathon, and most of them seem to have played over the past decade or thereabouts. So I'd like to throw out another question: what are the best "classics" that have never played at the Columbus sci-fi marathon?



Now, that said, one final point: the world of movies is changing. We've discussed before what kind of huge effect VHS and DVD have had on the sci-fi marathon in general. Home video has changed some people's attitudes about seeing old movies in the theater (ie. there's no need for the marathon anymore when you can just watch it at home at your leisure).

And the change continues today. (And no, I'm not talking about the annoying trend to show everything in 3D.) Netflix and Video On Demand have made even more movies available to people. On the other hand, it seems like there are more movie too. Growing international markets have obviously added many movie to the overall tally, and one need simply look at this year's lineup of Cargo, Troll Hunter, and Endhiran to see that the number of "quality overlooked new movies" is simply mathematically more likely to grow from overseas sources than from US ones. But of course cheaper digital filming and editing have made movies easier to make in both North America and worldwide.

So what will this mean for marathon lineups going forward? Will the old argument that vhs/dvd have rendered classics pointless now change to an argument that netflix/vod will render "overlooked new smaller movies" pointless? (And seriously, has everyone here seen Moon and Monsters by now? I should hope so.) Does the future lie in foreign overlooked recent gems like Cargo and Endhiran? (Or The Host or The Great Yokai War?)

I'm leaning towards an answer that says there are more new movies than ever being created these days. And the marathon lineup will have to reflect that, whether its a low budget flick like Lunopolis, or whether its expanding your horizons to include something like Endhiran.

Frankly, I think this year has a pretty solid mix of both old movies and new movies. 5 classics (if you include LFD and IM) and 4 new movies (5 if The Revenant is added).

I can't speak for the organizers (would I even know their language?), but I can give my perspective as a long-time marathon attendee.

I divide science-fiction cinema into three categories.

1. Classics, pre-1968.

Why 1968? 2001 a Space Odyssey. Now whatever your personal opinion about Kubrick's opus, if you listen to writers and directors who were pioneers of the next generation of modern sci-fi (Lucas, Scott, Spielberg, Carpenter, O'Bannon, Corman, etc.) - they almost universally cite this movie as a profound influence.

That's a pretty critical transition point. Coming at the height of the moon race, it was paired with a quantum leap in film effects technology which would be replicated and refined for decades.

So personally, everything immediately gets divided into "Pre-2001" and "Post-2001" in my book. Some of the greatest works in film science fiction come before this film, but the look and feel of films after just hold a totally different and unique tone.

2. The Renaissance Years (1968-1993).

Why 1993? Jurassic Park (see below). Honestly, there's no CLEAR boundary here, as there are fuzzy examples of the transition throughout the 90's. But it's as good a place as any to try and define a cutoff.

Essentially, from the mid-90s on, three critical things (and one tangential) start to happen to Science Fiction.

First, Special Effects once again leap into a new era ... the era of digitally generated effects comes of age. Sure, Tron and The Last Starfighter paved the way, but it wasn't really until Jurassic Park came along that Hollywood felt like it had been proven (fiscally) that digital effects technology could open new doors to the creative process.

Second, the big-screen was really no longer the king of the castle. VHS and home theater had largely begun to surpass theater profitability in the 80s, and by the 90s DVD had become the new standard in entertainment viewing. No, cinema was not dead, but distributors were now approaching films with a different viewpoint ... no longer did a film HAVE to make its money in domestic or international box-office gross. Now films could be green-lit expressly for the purpose of a release to video.

Third, the rise of the Internet changed the way that films could be marketed and the speed with which "word of mouth" could expand a film's popularity. Digital distribution was starting to become a possibility as early as 2000, and the rapidly growing Internet was an information explosion unparalleled in cinema (or human) history.

Finally, on a more local scale, this was the crowning era of our own fledgling marathons. They were proven and still strong (if beginning to stumble) and the concept of being able to see new films as a premiere was really rolling into play.

So anything from before this rough 1993 date, but after 1968 ... those are the films that came out during my childhood. Those are the films that I remember seeing on the big screen with an audience when I was young. They're easily as important to me as anything which came before.

And let's not forget that some of the landmark films of science-fiction came during this period ... Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, etc.

3. The Digital Age (1993-Present)

The title says it all ... continual refinements in digital technology led to a whole new effects world. Films can now be made on people's desktops and distributed entirely through the Intertubes with nary a film distributor having any say in the matter. The process has changed irrevocably, for better and for worse.

This is definitely a different era than it once was. And obviously new premieres are going to fall into this category. I also consider this the category for "recent sleepers" that people might not have had a chance to see. Films like Slither, Moon, or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow are well worth seeing in the theater, but due to limited distributions a lot of people completely missed them.

Something like Iron Man? Well, I'm not in the camp that you "need to have a recent big-seller" to draw people in. But that and Star Trek were films the audience enjoyed seeing, so maybe they keep people in their seats a bit longer.

Anyway, that's how I split things up. For my money, I like to see marathons generally divided between the three. Old-Classics, Near-Classics, and New-Classics. Start with 3 of each and then fill in the last few slots with whatever else is available, thematic, and takes your fancy.

Oh, and show Zardoz. Always show Zardoz.

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

This probably can't be emphasized enough. If you take out many of the external factors that have influenced attendance over the years (theater changes, no eating inside the Capitol Theater, poor and ill-timed promotion), it becomes fairly obvious that the formula which has worked best for the Columbus Marathons throughout their storied history has been based in lineup diversity, a mix of the new and the old, the well-known and the obscure.

The long lasting Marathon traditions in Columbus, Boston and Cleveland each have their own personality. It's what makes them each enjoyable in their own twisted way. Cleveland is the all-night sleepover with the sometimes annoying crowd and absolutely no premieres; it's also the event that has often taken more programming chances over the years than its two sister events. Boston relies on its bred in 70's Cambridge audience loyalty, with a lineup that usually trends toward the classic and the recently overlooked, with local premiers sprinkled in here and there. It also shows almost no trailers and shorts, but in my many years of attending the event, that deficit has never really ruined my enjoyment.

Like it or not, the Columbus Marathons have long relied upon premieres of many stripes as a calling card. And no, not all of those premieres have stood the test of time: consider that (unless my math is wrong) Dead Alive is the only premiere in Columbus Marathon history to have a repeat screening (at the first and last Nightmare at Studio 35 events). But does a premiere not aging well negate its worth in the Marathon continuum? No.

Rolfe Kanefsky's There's Nothing Out There is not considered to be a genre classic and there has been no outcry for a repeat booking of it. But longtime Marathoids still rave about its screening at the 4th Night of the Living Drexel and how in many ways Kanefsky stole the show from prime Guest of Honor Brian Yuzna. No one talks about Split Second anymore, but those who saw its World Premiere at the 6th It Came From The Drexel North still have fond memories of co-star Neil Duncan's Q+A following the screening.

My first Horror Marathon (1993) featured the U.S. Premiere of Yuzna's Return of the Living Dead III, a relatively minor genre entry that I thoroughly enjoyed; many of my best memories about that Marathon are associated with it. And who can forget Kathy Long and the non-classic Knights? Or the penis/rat duel at the conclusion of Beyond Re-Animator (another Yuzna film! Sorry Brian, I promise that I'm still on your side!)

The point is that many of these are not genre stalwarts years later. But their inclusion in the lineups was an integral thread in the building of the great Marathon quilt. Some of the premieres over the years haven't resonated past that 24 hours, but they lead to word of mouth about the general Marathon coolness. And they keep the events from becoming pure nostalgia fests.

But that doesn't mean that we should just load up on premieres every year. The guiding principle that I've followed in my years of booking/co-booking Marathons has been to construct the best overall lineup, the slate of films that will most likely work best in union (and I know that you've all been to a Marathon or two where it's been clear that said lineup was quite the Frankenstein's Monster patchwork). Some of these lineups have had several premieres. Some have had one. But I hope that they've all worked as cohesive filmic statements.

Many years ago, someone closely involved with the Marathons (not Bruce) shot down the idea of playing a film like Woody Allen's Sleeper at the 1999 time travel-themed event because that film wouldn't sell tickets. It was one of the most ridiculous utterances about the Marathons that I've ever heard. Would people flock to see Sleeper alone? No. But as one part of a strong lineup it would have made perfect sense.

Yes, the advent of DVD/digital media has made seeing old school classics in top notch form a lot easier. But there are still classics, near-classics and obscure films that haven't made it to DVD. Many longtime Marathoids forget that an entire new generation of attendees have never seen some genre staples such as Evil Dead 2 or Re-Animator, let alone seen them in a theater. And even seemingly overplayed gems still have value: Psycho received some of the best applause at last year's Horror Marathon.

As several of you have so concisely stated, the advent of On Demand day and date releases has complicated the definition of a premiere somewhat. But I would still say that something like Troll Hunter counts as a legit premiere, if only because it hasn't seen a wide theatrical release yet and is not on DVD. The theatrical experience still means something. If not, we wouldn't still be attending these things we call the Ohio Science Fiction and Horror Marathons.

Can I just say that if I saw Sleeper on the lineup I would literally jump for joy then do 3 cartwheels.

All good points, but I'm going for an easier definition of classics. I think a classic has to withstand the test of time but I'm going for a relatively short time. I think 10 years is a good point to revisit something you once loved and if it stands the test of time and if let's say 65% of the target audience, i.e. the marathons in the case of genre films, agree it's a great film after a decade has passed-then it's a classic. And I know there are some films that are instant classics like The Matrix, but if it can't hold up 10 years later (like the 5th Element imo) then it's not a classic no matter how much you may still enjoy parts of it.

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

I'll second this. Well, maybe not cartwheels, but the jumping for joy thing.

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

Joe you forgot NIGHT LIFE starring Scott Grimes and John Astin. This has been a log time favorite premiere of mine especially because it's never seen an official home video release, especially DVD. Would love to see this one make a repeat performance at a future marathon.

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And who can forget Phil Tippett introducing his film Starship Troopers 2? I must admit that I found the actual movie not as crappy as I feared, simply because Mr. Tippett was so upfront and honest about how not so proud he was of the product. I think he landed on his feet, though, and was a very personable and generous guest.

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Aliens? Us?
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IMO I still consider Troll Hunter a pseudo premiere. The reason why is that it does have a wide release via ON DEMAND. Since Comcast and Time Warner are the biggest cable providers. If someone want to see Troll Hunter and live in rural America that person now have a chance to see it.

I put Endhiran as a recent release. Anything that is three years or under I consider recent. Endhiran did have a proper theatrical release. It was released up in Cleveland Ohio last year.

But a release via TV or video does not equal a theatrical release. It simply doesn't. The rights are handled differently, the money is accounted for differently, and the experience is completely different.

Have you ever posted something knowing that it was going to cause you trouble? Well this is one of those posts:

Ok here is the thing about marathon premiers, I remember when the premieres were fun movies like:

Night Life (1989)
Knights (1993)
Dead Alive (1992)
There's Nothing Out There(1992)
Split Second (1992)

This was back in a time known as The 80's, lets not forget The 80's didn't die right away but around late 1992-1993 something horrible happened...The 80's died and the 90's are to blame for the death of fun!!

The 80's were all about Sex, Drugs and Rock -n- Roll, it was a non-stop party filled with excitement. The 90's were all about political correctness, depression, hatred and basically Bullsh!t.

And than it happened..someone in Hollywood said "hey what if we add a grey filter to an already depressing movie" and the sheep of the 90's went Bah bah for it.

Flash forward to 2008 and what do we end up with?? Premiers like "Let the Right one in" OMG what a depressing movie, it was grey and dark through the entire movie and if I had to live in a place like that I would either move or kill myself, the story was ok but the cinematography was awful.

None of this is Bruce's fault, he schedules the only movies that are available and its not his fault they are all crap. I long for the days of fun movies again and luckily that day is coming soon, seems like I am not the only one sick of the depressing films and Hollywood is finally getting back on track.

The 90's were amongst the worst decades in American History but with any luck the Party will start again.

P.S. 90's Music was even worse than the movies!!

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If you count the series of 1980's awful hair metal bands and new wave good music.

Magnet the film distributor decides to release their some of their films ON DEMAND first then into theaters. IMO that they could get more revenue via ON DEMAND. The last three new movies I watched was not in theaters but VOD. These are Hobo with a Shotgun, Super, and Troll Hunter all in1080i. All of them have yet to have a proper theatrical run of two weeks or more here in Columbus. IMO the smaller indie distributors Magnet and IFC feels that VOD is a better option than trying to get their films book in mid size to small movie theaters.

Yep, the Marathon hasn't had any fun/goofy or fast paced premieres in a looong time...unless you count Space Truckers in 1998...but other than than? Nothing...unless you want to throw in Six String Samurai in 1998...or Free Enterprise in 1999. But really, the premieres stopped being fun after that.

Oh, you had Top of the Food Chainin 2000...and The Convent in 2001....and of course there were

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (2002)
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2002)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Beyond Re-Animator (2003)
Versus (2003)
Saw (2004)
Helix...Loaded! (2005)
Evil Aliens (2006)
The Great Yokai War (2007)
Fido (2007)
Black Sheep (2007)
Big Man Japan (2008)
Time Crimes (2009)
Alien Trespass (2009)
Tokyo Gore Police (2009)
I Sell The Dead (2009)
Stingray Sam (2010)
Robogeisha (2010)
and the numerous Godzilla/Gamera films that have shown since the mid-'90s.

But other than that? Yep, no fun and games to be found.