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http://sf.theboard.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl Passenger Information >> Boarding Deck - Forward Section >> MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies! http://sf.theboard.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1416699938 Message started by L.A. Connection on Nov 22^nd, 2014 at 6:45pm

Title: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by L.A. Connection on Nov 22^nd, 2014 at 6:45pm

Yeah, yeah. Classic movies. Ho-hum.

How about suggestions for your:

MARATHON FROM HELL!??

Like THIS tasty entry:

THE FLYING SAUCER (1950). Way back at SF/22 our collaboration with quixotic classic film distributor Wade Williams procured us this tasty morsel of........very little! Reams of stock footage. A guy wandering around Alaska. And, wandering. Walking, flying and smoking cigarettes (at one point he muses about the pristine beauty of our 50th state and then casually pollutes it with a cigarette butt!). There's a lame Commie spy plot involved and then in the last 30 seconds of the seemingly endless flick we get to see.........The Flying Saucer! All in glorious 35mm film! Just think of all the great movies forever lost on celluloid, but there was this stinker!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7sWqwLzaHI

EVIL L.A.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by da_Bunnyman on Nov 22^nd, 2014 at 10:51pm

Ah yes, Flying Saucer, truly pointless and made only so there could be a film called "Flying Saucer" in theaters before the phrase faded into obscurity. :)

ALMOST as dull is SF7's Slithis (AKA Spawn of the Slithis.) One of those films made because someone knew someone who could make a cool monster costume. With a wooden lead actor and a creature spawned from "organic mud" both of whom were equally frozen faced.
It might be the dullest (non art) film to play the marathon, if it weren't for this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMe3khAgXpw

For those of you who follow us on Facebook, forgive me for inflicting this on you again. But there is overacting and then there is this guy who literally woke up the entire theater crowd. Unfortunately he did not stay in the movie long and most marathoids faded back to sleep convinced he'd been just another bad dream.

Alas the audience at the marathon did NOT receive the Slithis Survival Kit mentioned on the poster

da EVIL Bunny has spoken

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by pogo on Nov 23^rd, 2014 at 3:02pm

Roger Ebert pointed out that films should be judged by different standards depending on their aspirations and resources. To make a true turkey you have to waste a lot of resources.
So. In no particular order, my Marathon from Hell:
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Battlefield Earth
Highlander 2, The Quickening
Adventures of Pluto Nash
Waterworld
Lost In Space
The Core
Zardoz (Sorry camp lovers)
and for David the P.
Howard the Duck

Title: Ebert: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by L.A. Connection on Nov 23^rd, 2014 at 3:24pm

Ebert makes a decent point there (I think that was why he and Siskel dropped their old 'Stinker of the Week' segment since they usually just beat up on low budget crapola). BUT, the Marathon has had its share of low budget "waste of resources", too (same goes for Ohio from what I've read).

pogo wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2014 at 3:02pm:

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by kirok on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 2:20pm

alphaville would be pretty hellacious

Title: Godard: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies
Post by L.A. Connection on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 3:08pm

kirok wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 2:20pm:

alphaville would be pretty hellacious

I just saw the new 4K restoration of ALPHAVILLE on the big screen.

THANK YOU for reminding me TO recommend it for the Marathon, Kirok!

It's an EXCELLENT movie!

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by kirok on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 4:45pm

it will be a snoozefest. it will get the dreaded clap off.

Title: Alphaville: MARATHON FROM HEAVEN
Post by L.A. Connection on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 5:23pm

kirok wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 4:45pm:

it will be a snoozefest. it will get the dreaded clap off.

Philistines!

Title: Re: Alphaville: MARATHON FROM HEAVEN
Post by da_Bunnyman on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 10:10pm

L.A. Connection wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 5:23pm:

kirok wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 4:45pm:

it will be a snoozefest. it will get the dreaded clap off.

Philistines!

Art films from that era are pretty notorious for being kinda dull.

Oddly I remember trying to watch this film several times, it used to show up on Channel 56 Sunday afternoon movies.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by da_Bunnyman on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 10:41pm

You want art, you got it.
From SF29, our sole excursion to the Dedham Community Theater comes this infamous film
A large international cast, every one of whom seems to speak a different language onscreen.
But the worst part was the film refused to end. I'm half convinced it's still running.
I found a DVD of it at a rental store sale which claimed it featured an even longer uncut version. How can something be longer than eternity!

Poster image stolen from Rosemary's Baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWuMYPOYTAw

It only LOOKS interesting.

franchises available.

Title: Re: Godard: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies
Post by David the Projectionist on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 11:15am

L.A. Connection wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 3:08pm:

kirok wrote on Nov 25^th, 2014 at 2:20pm:

alphaville would be pretty hellacious

I just saw the new 4K restoration of ALPHAVILLE on the big screen.
THANK YOU for reminding me TO recommend it for the Marathon, Kirok!
It's an EXCELLENT movie!

   In your diseased opinion. In actuality, it's a stupid, boring, pretentious, incoherent piece of rancid garbage (like everything else made by the supremely untalented & worthless Godard) which will narcotize the audience into a stupor from which it will never recover.
   It never ceases to amaze me how many of the ever-dwindling people on this board are in awe of utter crap. Snowpiercer & Moonraker arent bad enough? Lets run The Postman, too.
   Jesus.

Title: Godard the god: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggeste
Post by L.A. Connection on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 12:07pm

Just like Tarkovsky's SOLARIS, Godard's ALPHAVILLE will likely remain in the marathon of the mind. Both are very good, but, aren't "Marathon movies". I know that, and so have the marathon programmers since the beginning.

But, to compare SNOWPIERCER and ALPHAVILLE to Costner's bloated disaster show's David's tiny narrow perspective on what constitutes a good movie more than anything.

David the Projectionist wrote on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 11:07am:

L.A. Connection wrote on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 3:37am:

There won't be many more movies shot and shown that way (a travesty, but, a sad reality for now).

Not true. Tarantino is shooting his latest in 65, & intends to release it fairly wide on 70mm.

I guess David's dyslexia is kicking in again. He seems to have read "many more" as "no more".

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by kirok on Nov 30^th, 2014 at 7:16pm

as i've said many times before, badness does not preclude a movie from being shown at the marathon. i did see slowlaris at the harvard film archive with a packed house and the reaction was very positive.
if some people love alphaville and some people hate it, it should be shown.

Title: Demonlover MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested mov
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:10am

SLITHIS might surprise folks who hated it at SF/7 all those years ago. One of our former Ohio Marathon guests, Carter, and I saw SLITHIS in a nice 35mm print a couple of years ago and were entertained (AND we did get our Survival Kits!) Is it a "good" movie? Nope, but, decent retro schlock. Of course, at SF/7 folks were lead to believe they were seeing a decent new film and that certainly wasn't the case.

DEMONLOVER - Yes, there is a cut that is Fourteen minutes longer than the general release USA version! SF/41? Nah, it's an arthouse film that didn't work on its own terms, let alone at the Marathon (not nearly as bad as some would have it, though).

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by Caleb451 on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 8:50pm

Tarkovsky's SOLARIS would be pretty painful at 2AM, but I think, if programed correctly, the Soderbergh remake may work nicely with our crowd.

Title: Tarkovsky for Dinner: MARATHON FROM HELL
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 9:13pm

Caleb451 wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 8:50pm:

Tarkovsky's SOLARIS would be pretty painful at 2AM, but I think, if programed correctly, the Soderbergh remake may work nicely with our crowd.

Then, let's show the GREAT version - Tarkovsky's - at 6pm! Dinner break for the philistines!!

We could even offer drink coupons or something to lure the cinema illiterates out the door!!

EVIL L.A.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by da_Bunnyman on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 9:57pm

You're losing your touch.
A TRULY Evil L.A. would have suggested the American remake.

Title: Solaris: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movie
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 10:11pm

da_Bunnyman wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 9:57pm:

You're losing your touch.
A TRULY Evil L.A. would have suggested the American remake.

Nope, that's the easy way out! If you show the remake, the philistines will have:

A. Clooney
B. English dialogue
C. A lot shorter movie (I've always called the remake the Cliff's Notes version)

Make 'em sweat it out with no name Foreigners, Russian, Subtitles AND all those gloriously slow and tedious extra minutes!

SIXTY-EIGHT more long long minutes! Over an extra HOUR of slow grim mind-numbing TORTURE!

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by pogo on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 11:50am

Having experienced both the European Solaris (12 years ago) and the Clooney (2 years ago) at the Cleveland Marathon I feel obligated to reject the above characterizations of these two epics.
One of the joys of the Cleveland Marathon is that the auditorium has an honest to goodness stage where a dozen early arivees can actually set up mattresses.
I have never slept as soundly or recouped more energy than during the showings of Solaris. Not only were the waving reeds on the screen extremely soothing (European version) on the rare occasions that my eyes opened, -stimulating a quick return to restful sleep - but the overall effect of both films was that the rest of the audience was also asleep, stifling the comments & noise that is unfortunately common at Cleveland.
Some films fit specific venues, particularly at 3:00AM.

Title: Kill 'em with sleep: MARATHON FROM HELL
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 2:45pm

pogo wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 11:50am:

Being serious for a moment, yes, I see the cathartic point of having a 'sleep period' for the wimps who can't stay awake for 24 measly hours. But, something like the Russian SOLARIS is 3 hours long. That's an awful lot of time to 'waste' if you are going to alienate 90% of Marathoners. You only have 11-14 slots available, and something like SOLARIS is the equivalent of 1 1/2 by itself.

Now, as to the MARATHON FROM HELL!:

3am? Are you NUTS!?? Try 6 PM! Prime time! Everbody is awake! And, if really wanna torture 'em, put SOLARIS on at 5pm, Followed by 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY at 8pm Followed by DEMONLOVER at 11pm!

That triple bill will KILL all the philistines!!

Title: Re: Kill 'em with sleep: MARATHON FROM HELL
Post by pogo on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 5:35pm

L.A. Connection wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 2:45pm:

Being serious for a moment, yes, I see the cathartic point of having a 'sleep period' for the wimps who can't stay awake for 24 measly hours. But, something like the Russian SOLARIS is 3 hours long. That's an awful lot of time to 'waste' if you are going to alienate 90% of Marathoners. You only have 11-14 slots available, and something like SOLARIS is the equivalent of 1 1/2 by itself.

3am? Are you NUTS!?? Try 6 PM! Prime time! Everbody is awake! And, if really wanna torture 'em, put SOLARIS on at 5pm

Serious??? Wimps???
I'm not talking a wussy 24 hour Marathon. I've kept awake for the entire show - once in Boston & once in Columbus. But Cleveland averages 29-30 hours so a three hour break is about right if you plan on getting home & not driving off the road.
I do admit that your 6:00PM is a scenario from hell if torture is the object - in Columbus or Boston, but in Cleveland it would be a mitzvah after sixteen hours of films. Depends on the venue.

Hell scenario? Put on Meet The Feebles or Re-Animator right after people have taken a dinner break. (You may note that I am not a slasher fan.) Upchuck city.

Title: Re: Kill 'em with sleep: MARATHON FROM HELL
Post by da_Bunnyman on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 10:56pm

pogo wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 5:35pm:

L.A. Connection wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2014 at 2:45pm:

Being serious for a moment, yes, I see the cathartic point of having a 'sleep period' for the wimps who can't stay awake for 24 measly hours. But, something like the Russian SOLARIS is 3 hours long. That's an awful lot of time to 'waste' if you are going to alienate 90% of Marathoners. You only have 11-14 slots available, and something like SOLARIS is the equivalent of 1 1/2 by itself.

3am? Are you NUTS!?? Try 6 PM! Prime time! Everbody is awake! And, if really wanna torture 'em, put SOLARIS on at 5pm

Let's up the ante and run Solaris for the marathon crowd all of whom will be seated in a nice Clockwork Orange forced viewing chair.

Meet The Feebles, oh gawd, that is a disgusting film, lets add the marathons own They Came From Within with it. Blood is one thing but those two go far beyond just blood.
Hey we could create a new marathon souvenir like seen on this page.
http://www.freddyinspace.com/2011/07/i-think-im-gonna-be-sick-horror-movie.html

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by Frank on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:32am

They Came From Within is over the top? You must have been one of those folks who rushed out of Cinema 1 at SF3. They Came From Within does not belong on any Marathon From Hell list.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by pogo on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 7:03pm

Was not familiar with They Came From Within. (and after seeing reviews would not want to be within a block of being "familiar".)
It's Cronenberg. Why do people who claim to like SF love violent and gut wrenching slaughter?

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by Frank on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 7:32pm

Because it's Cronenberg, that's why. Don't like your science occasionally infused with gut wrenching slaughter and violence, that is your bidness.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by da_Bunnyman on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:48pm

Frank wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:32am:

They Came From Within is over the top? You must have been one of those folks who rushed out of Cinema 1 at SF3. They Came From Within does not belong on any Marathon From Hell list.

Nope, I was there till the end.
But it's still an unsettling film with those things going down people's throats and other places.
I'm figuring it's anti marathon worthy from the fact it pretty much emptied Cinema 1
But maybe we're made of stronger stuff these days.

Anti marathon films should either be hated, walked out on or slept through by the majority of a crowd.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by pogo on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:52pm

Frank,
You pegged me right in the bunghole. While science fiction movies are rarely about science and on occasion I can enjoy films with large components of "gut wrenching slaughter and violence," it's not what I would generally pick. Hence Cronenberg, & the specific film in question I can miss.

Title: Star Crystal! MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 16^th, 2014 at 3:40pm

1993. Coolidge Corner. SF/18. Those dreaded wee hours. The Marathon audience "eagerly awaits" the rare 35mm showing of a mid-80's lost epic, STAR CRYSTAL! What unfolds over the next 91 minutes has lived on in excruciating memory for those who survived (and stayed awake).

It is the year 2032 and on Mars someTHING is found in a rock. So, of course, the astronauts take it on board and.......you get a mutant cross between E.T. and ALIEN. As with many of these extreme low budget efforts (it was a pick-up for bottom feeder studio New World) you have to wade through amateurish acting for most of the movie to get to the monster parts. When they finally appear, the few in the audience who were still awake...uh...stuggled to stay awake. It ends with an E.T. like speech, "I will always remember you" and then THE WORST PART: One of those groaning shrill end credits songs that seems designed to destroy what few brain cells the survivors have left. Here is the trailer, but the WHOLE movie is on youtube for those who DARE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZr4l6jlNuI

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by da_Bunnyman on Dec 16^th, 2014 at 11:04pm

Pretty sure I slept through Star Crystal.
Really cheesy trailer, check out 55 seconds in when the group runs around some vintage mall escalators.

Worst part is Corman made some halfway decent low budget sci-fi films that never seem to show up.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by Frank on Dec 17^th, 2014 at 12:26am

da_Bunnyman wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:48pm:

Frank wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 10:32am:

They Came From Within is over the top? You must have been one of those folks who rushed out of Cinema 1 at SF3. They Came From Within does not belong on any Marathon From Hell list.

No, we were made of stronger stuff back then as well (refer to Bill Landis' Sleazoid Express), just not the wimps in Cinema 1.

Title: Corman: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 17^th, 2014 at 12:29am

da_Bunnyman wrote on Dec 16^th, 2014 at 11:04pm:

Title: Crystal: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movie
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 17^th, 2014 at 12:34am

da_Bunnyman wrote on Dec 16^th, 2014 at 11:04pm:

It was on at about 5am, so there were many who (fortunately for them) slept through it. But, us Marathon droids soldiered on. It wasn't a Corman film, however. As I noted, it was a pick-up that New World distributed. And, Corman already had sold the company by that time anyway so he was never involved.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by Frank on Dec 17^th, 2014 at 1:17pm

Speaking of Roger Corman, I would rather see Corman's stuff from the 50's than his later stuff at the thon... As for Star Crystal, who can forget the haunting ballad... Crystal of the Stars.

Title: Niagravation: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested
Post by L.A. Connection on Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 1:35pm

NIAGRAVATION

Director Joe Romano hustling to sell his movie. One of his stops? The Coolidge Corner Cinema for SF/21. The movie was booed off the screen. Romano was 'greeted' with a hail of abuse - but, his sincerity paid off, and the crowd actually cheered him as he left the stage.

The movie? Uh, not so cheery.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/USA-Weird-And-Wacky-Feature-Films/3277119aebd2856f57f4bd66e84b7296?query=MARGARET+THATCHER&current=2&orderBy=Relevance&hits=2&referrer=search&search=%2Fsearch%3Fquery%3DMARGARET%2520THATCHER%26allFilters%3DFE%3AKeyword%2CEntertainment%3ASubject%2CJohn%2520Walsh%3APeople&allFilters=FE%3AKeyword%2CEntertainment%3ASubject%2CJohn+Walsh%3APeople&productType=IncludedProducts&page=1&b=4b7296

Title: Re: Niagravation: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested
Post by Frank on Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 2:40pm

L.A. Connection wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2014 at 1:35pm:

I totally agree. The cheers were born of a feeling of guilt for the initial trashing that his movie received in the Q&A as well as Romano coming off as a decent guy trying his best to sell a movie. Unlike Julie Corman, he won the audience over. We did not change our minds about the movie but we liked him.

Title: Re: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested movies!
Post by kirok on Jan 2^nd, 2015 at 5:26pm

if you could destroy all copies of niagravation would you do it?

Title: Niagravation! MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-Suggested
Post by L.A. Connection on Jan 2^nd, 2015 at 6:35pm

kirok wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2015 at 5:26pm:

if you could destroy all copies of niagravation would you do it?

Wouldn't be too hard since, I believe, the only copies other than the print and neg the Director probably has, are VHS tapes that were privately sold by the Director himself. The few copies that exist outside of his circle of crew and friends are probably buried in landfill or at the bottom of stacks of tapes in Salvation Army stores...

Title: Now is the time?!: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-
Post by L.A. Connection on Jan 13^th, 2015 at 1:06pm

Good a time as any to show the Godard classic ALPHAVILLE, now that a remake is in the works!

http://www.thewrap.com/alphaville-remake-in-the-works-from-twin-peaks-cinematographer-studiocanal-exclusive/

Title: Re: Now is the time?!: MARATHON FROM HELL - ANTI-
Post by Frank on Jan 13^th, 2015 at 2:11pm

L.A. Connection wrote on Jan 13^th, 2015 at 1:06pm:

It will never be a good time to show this at the marathon. Zzzzzzz.....Zzzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Title: Schedule from Hell! MARATHON FROM HELL-ANTI-Sugges
Post by L.A. Connection on Jan 26^th, 2015 at 2:23pm

Feast on this SCHEDULE FROM HELL buddy boys:

Noon    MOONRAKER
            RAGNAROK
            CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
            EDGE OF TOMORROW
            Premiere of TRAIL OF MOTIVATIONAL FOLKLORE GROWTH
            THIS ISLAND EARTH
Midnight THEM!
            DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - yeah, 3 50s flicks in row!
4AM       2001 - Try to stay awake during this! :P
            IRON GIANT
            SNOWPIERCER
            BIG TROUBLE LITTLE CHINA