The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Had a great time again this year. The Gateway is a solid venue, and I don't really have any solid complaints there - the largest one being the trek to the car for anything needed is just a bit further than perfection would desire. But still - very happy to be there.

Though I would've liked to see it, I'm glad that SLITHER wasn't shown, just because we had a very full lineup even without it. Perhaps something else could've been cut instead (*cough*Automatons*cough*), but this made the overall Marathon time just about perfect. An extra feature would've run WAY too long, or resulted in shorts/trailers getting cut more. I was OK with the number of shorts - would've liked one or two more Flash Gordon serials (perhaps instead of one or BOTH Spaceboys). Would've liked to see a few more trailers.

I WOEFULLY miss the days of a costume contest that at least some people took seriously. I guess too many gag/one-liner costumes beat out stuff people had put a lot of time and effort into, but it seems like the options get more and more inane every year... I was happy with the Ringwraith guy winning this year because at least he'd put SOME effort into it.

Movie thoughts:

12 MONKEYS - A good movie. Slow, but entertaining. Cerebral without being completely over-the-top mindwarping like some other Gilliam movies (*cough*Brazil*cough*)

KING DINOSAUR - Forced perspective giant lizard/crocodile goodness. Nice cheesy classic sci-fi B movie. That they tried to comment on nuclear weapons at the end was quite funny. Stock footage ahoy.

THE GREAT YOKAI WAR - Interesting... I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth, so can't comment on that angle. This was one of those "Man, the Japanese are into some WACKY stuff" kinds of movies. Fun to watch.

PUZZLEHEAD - Acting was a little stiff, but I have a feeling that was intentional, to play-up the antisocial nature of the characters, and the disconnect between the android and the maker. Enjoyable.

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACEMONSTER - An interesting twist, in that Frankenstein wasn't the classic green neck-sparkplug monster, but instead an android made to man a long-term space mission. Another classic sci-fi B movie, filled with lots of cheese.

FIDO - Very well done. A great send-up of 50s Donna Reed Americana, mixed with some Cold War fun and zombies! Strongly recommended. Billy Connoly was quite entertaining for not having any lines other than growls and grunts.

AUTOMATONS - SWEET MERCIFUL JEBUS MAKE THE PAIN STOP. NEVER, EVER WATCH THIS MOVIE IF YOU VALUE YOUR SANITY.

CHOPPING MALL - Robot security guards go crazy and kill the sexed-up mall teens. VERY 80s. Loved it.

NIGHT OF THE COMET - Slower, but I still enjoyed it. There are other movies in a similar vein which are better (Omega Man), but this is another 80s film. Needed more zombies and a bit more action.

MINDWARP: AN INFINITY OF TERROR - This was just bizarre. Lots of gruesome deaths, some whacked-out gory monsters... Fun.

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE - Better than I remembered, but still WAY too long and subpar. I'm not a huge Trek fan anyway, and this one could've easily been fit into a 1 hr episode of the show, if not trimmed to 30 minutes even! The solid 1/2 hr spent panning around the outside of the refitted Enterprise at the beginning will put anyone to sleep.

FLASH GORDON - I love Flash Gordon, and this went over VERY well with the crowd, a good high-energy movie to get everyone charged up as the send-off. The serials were good (the older movie serial better than the TV ep), but this is where it's at for me. A great ender to the Marathon, and got the crowd up and going in no time.

Thanks for all the nice comments re: my film CHOPPING MALL. I'm glad most there seemed to enjoy it. I just wish I had the time to make it out there and enjoy the marathon with you. Good luck until next year. May I suggest you possibly check out THE LOST EMPIRE, DEATHSTALKER 2, RETURN OF SWAMP THING or NOT OF THIS EARTH.

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Jim Wynorski

You aren't the only one to mention this, but I finally decided to come to Wise's defense a bit. A good chunk of the audience the film originally played for was folks who had only seen and loved the TV series and had been longing for another adventure with the crew of the Enterprise. They had only ever seen the less than stellar models of the Enterprise from the show and here was a chance with a big budget to show the fans the ship in glorious detail. I'm sure the fanboy's at the time loved it. I know as a 9 year old kid I thought it was great.

Yes, it doesn't translate well to modern audience, and yes they use the technique too many times with V'GER, though done in an attempt to convey the sheer size of it. Clearly they were influneced by 2001, but 2001 was a different kind of film and a pioneer in that kind of shot, so it is a bit more excused, I think.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

I had not seen this movie since it was new. With nearly 30 years of bad reviews lowering my expectations, I found I really enjoyed it. I had a lot more trouble staying awake during Automatons and Mindwarp.

How could you NOT stay awake for Automotons? The positively RIVETING scenes with the RADAR Screen kept me awake until LAST NIGHT!

Keeping the 80's theme alive Robocop should show along with Night of the creeps and if Slither shows it's a great tie in with Night of the creeps as well. Rollerball is always a crowd favorite, Soylent Green and Logans Run would also be great. I think a good (or atleast fun) 3-D movie would play well especially if The Gateway could get a sterovision 3-D movie to work so we didn't have to use the old red/blue glasses.

If anyone is ever brave enough to make Automatons 2 I say we show it because we would know that we didn't even have to give it a chance and we could snark from begining to end instead of waiting 1/2 way through it.

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Jaws3dfan®
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I suppose was great for hardcore fans to get a better look at all the fancy ship-parts, but even trying to put it into perspective of the time, I've got to think this is taking fanservice just a bit too far.

It was definitely lots of fun. I'm a big horror junkie, so I was happy to see something that blended the two genres. I was definitely worried about staying awake for all those late night screenings, but I had no trouble with Chopping Mall. It was definitely a great time. Thanks for making it.

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Keep reading my reviews on HollywoodBitchSlap.com

And oh yeah, go check out my new film blog, GarageSaleCineaste

I agree with you, anything in 3D would be awesome, but the red and blue thing just gets tiresome. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way for any theaters nowadays to show the old '80s 3D movies, I think you need an obsolete projector for that, or am I wrong?

Also, it is not necessary to request LOGAN'S RUN any more. It is well documented that Bruce would snatch up any print of that film he could get his hands on, they are just not out there.

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

OHH YEAHH 3D! I would love any 3-D that we could get for the marathon.

I was in heaven when we got to see "Creature from the Black Lagoon" in 3-D a few years ago...even with the red-blue lenses it was a great effect, and seeing it on the BIG screen like that was unbelievable.

I wonder why our print of "Robot Monster" was not in 3-D at the marathon a few years ago.... I believe it was originally filmed that way.... does the 3-D print not exist or is it hard to get?

-Ryan
(Sanctuary)

Never say any ... lest we wind-up with some magic 3-D print of Automatons...

3-D can be fun, but I'd imagine finding quality 3-D prints of the older flicks is pretty tough, regardless of whether or not you need a special projector (which I honestly have no clue about).

First and foremost, thank you Bruce and staff for 24 years of the marathon. No matter how old I get (I'm 33 now), I'll always feel like a kid, coming to the Drexel to watch sci-fi. I hope you feel as appreciated as you are.



I was the sucker that got stuck sitting next to this guy. My tooth fillings were rattling, his snores were so loud (not to mention the body odor). If you're reading this, dude, go sleep somewhere else next year. Please. I'm begging.

Still, I enjoyed this marathon more than the last several, and the first-timer I brought with me enjoyed as well. It's good to see a younger crowd mixing in with the old-timers, but it always worries me when we don't sell out. All you people keeping your marathon addictions to yourselves-- for shame! We should all be bringing friends with us-- after all, it's one of Bruce's commandments!

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Favorite Marathon moments--
"Somebody give her a hand!!" -Marathon attendee, Terminator (1989 Marathon)
"Whatcha gonna do, knock my block off?!" - Street punk, Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1989 Marathon)

There is NOTHING worse than getting stuck next to somebody who stinks. They really need to do a smell test before they let people into the marathon.

Hmmm.... too bad "Fight Club" isn't really sci-fi - the soap-related giveaways for it could maybe help things out

The red and green 3d is doable, but I agree it would be tiresome after one film. In order to do the polarized 3d like they did in the 80's, they would have to rent a special silver screen and I think a special projector. They did a 3d festival a few years back here in LA at the American Cinemateque. I saw Flesh For Frankenstein, Jaws3, and a couple of others whos titles I forget.

If they did decide to show 3d, it would be a HUGE undertaking. They would probably have to hire specialist to come in and set the theater up. It would be AWESOME if they could pull it off.