Scary Movie Month Weekend Marathon

 by Adam Riske

My thoughts on The Leopard Man, The Fly (1958), Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and more!

Like pretty much every year, I had a ticket to the Music Box of Horrors marathon at the Music Box Theatre this past weekend, but I opted not to go and did my own Scary Movie Month marathon from the comforts of home. The Music Box does a great job with their annual marathons, but in the past couple of years I’m becoming more of a homebody as to where I prefer to watch movies. I like not being cramped, being able to pause and put on subtitles, take long breaks, etc. The Music Box of Horrors is the ultimate horror party, but after the month I’ve been having so far, I needed something more chill.

I programmed an entire 24-hour marathon that would run from Saturday at 11am to Sunday at 11am knowing full well I wouldn’t make it the entire time, but part of the fun was just programming it and seeing how far I could get. I planned a lineup of 13 movies and made it through five of them on Saturday and picked up another two on Sunday. But first, here are the ones on the list that I didn’t get to: The Sixth Sense, The Crow (1994), The Fury (which would’ve been a first-time watch, I’ll get to it before October ends), Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (another first-time watch), Hannibal, and An American Werewolf in London.

Here’s what I watched - in order of my least favorite to favorite:

7) Hideaway

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 1.5 stars. This movie’s become a running joke for me over the years, which is too bad because it makes me forget how boring it is until it’s too late and I’m rewatching it again. It also has one of the silliest post-credits scenes ever.
• 7 Word Review: We all remember when Hatch battled Vassago

6) Pet Sematary Two

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 2 stars. It’s not bad, exactly, but it’s so unpleasant and nihilistic even by horror movie standards.
• 7 Word Review: Apparently haven’t outgrown my Jared Rushton phobia

5) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (First-Time Watch)

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 3 stars. I definitely needed to read about the movie after watching it (i.e. I didn’t totally get it) so that kept me slightly at a distance, but it was very well-made and had some memorable sequences.
• 7 Word Review: Brb gotta order Counting Crows Greatest Hits

4) The Leopard Man (First-Time Watch)

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 3.5 Stars. It’s impressive how good this movie is considering how most of the characters are complete dolts. One of my favorite Val Lewton movies.
• 7 Word Review: Why I’ll stop late night cornmeal runs

3) Spider Baby

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 3.5 stars. Fun, weird, Addams Family/Munsters/House of 1000 Corpses type mash-up. Great opening credits song and performances.
• 7 Word Review: Gold medal qualifier in “Still Would!” Olympics

2) Ghostbusters II

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 4 stars. It might just be kid nostalgia, but I love this movie. It’s not as good as the original, of course, but it’s so entertaining and looks better and better with every newer, lamer modern era Ghostbusters movie.
• 7 Word Review: I dunno this movie makes me happy

1) The Fly (1958) (First-Time Watch)

• Letterboxd Rating and Review: 4 stars. It’s pretty awesome. Great looking, an always terrific Vincent Price, silly and fun but also a little creepy towards the end, and pretty weird for something from the late '50s. Both this and the 1986 remake kick ass.
• 7 Word Review: Why can’t all movies look this good?

To keep my energy up between movies I made some phone calls, went out on my balcony (and saw some ladybugs, which is both good luck but also not the best because it meant I had to keep my screen door closed so they didn’t get inside), took a couple of walks, and had a lot of marathon-appropriate food like fun-size Kit Kat and Hershey bars and Reese’s Pieces, popcorn, pizza, water, etc.

I also watched a lot of horror trailers courtesy of a 35mm Horror Trailers playlist I found on YouTube which I set on shuffle. The trailers that played were – Deadly Friend, Aliens, Final Destination 3, The Amityville Horror (2005), Jaws, Halloween (1978), Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Vamp, The Fly II, Creepshow, The Thing (1982), Friday the 13th-Part V: A New Beginning, Terror-Vision, Audrey Rose, Misery, Evil Dead II, Jaws: The Revenge, Child’s Play 2, Christine, Friday the 13th Part II, Motel Hell, Altered States, Friday the 13th-Part VI: Jason Lives, The Return of the Living Dead, Pet Sematary (1989), My Bloody Valentine, Alligator, The Village, Nightmare, Nightbreed, The Guardian (1990), and Jacob’s Ladder (1990).

It was a fun experience and I’m hoping one day I’ll figure out how to crack the full 24-hours at home. For this year, though, I’m happy with myself for tapping out when I felt like it and not ruin my Sunday and early workweek just to grind out the marathon.

How about you? Do you do 24-hour marathons at home during Scary Movie Month? How do you pick out what you want to watch and where to schedule it? Any tips for how to stay awake and keep your energy up? What’s your opinion of the movies I watched?