All-night Horror Marathon Saturday
For three years now, with the generous support of Jenny Cowperthwaite and several volunteers, I have planned the all-night horror marathon at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs. This year’s marathon features seven movies, plus more than 50 trailers, a costume contest, and other giveaways. It starts Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 p.m. (Doors open at 9 p.m.) Tickets are $20 each, and can be purchased online now. Tickets will also be for sale in person at the box office starting Saturday at 8 p.m.
The lineup this year is pretty exciting. On 35mm, we have Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, the area premiere of The House of the Devil, Stuart Gordon’s cult classic Re-Animator, and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion. We’re also showing Shaun of the Dead, the original Friday the 13th and George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in high-def digital projection. In addition to the films, we have the usual variety of popcorn and gourmet concessions, and we offer Domino’s Pizza.
Our first two marathons were a lot of fun, even with some hiccups. The first year, a meager but enthusiastic crowd of 35 people showed up for an eight-movie lineup that included The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing, and Evil Dead II, all on expensive 35mm prints. (That was also the year that a print of Jeepers Creepers II showed up instead of Jeepers Creepers.)
About 80 people showed up in year two, when we showed 35mm prints of another eight movies, including Jaws, Psycho, Videodrome and Eraserhead. We also had our first costume contest and gave out a stack of DVDs as prizes.
This year’s marathon is particularly special, because it is our first as a nonprofit theatre. This change doesn’t impact the marathon in any particular way, but it’s nice to continue this relatively new tradition even as the theatre begins a new chapter in its 80-year history. We’ve also established a friendly relationship with Joe Neff and the folks at the Columbus marathon, who were kind enough to give us a shout-out at their 24-hour event last weekend in spite of my wisdom-teeth-related absence.
We’ve sold more pre-order tickets than ever before, and we’ve had more outreach and inquiries from folks who are excited about the marathon and want to help out in any way they can. If you like to have a good time and see great movies on the big screen, I hope you’ll join us. Just — as our Holiday blogger reminds you — remember to bring a pillow.
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