12th Annual Horrorthon

For the first time, I was able to witness the experience known as the 12th Annual Horrorthon at the Aero Theatre. Over 12 hours of movies, pizza and insanity that rivals Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight. And before you get all mad at that assessment, I have two words for you: Corn Gorn. All hail the living god, Corn Gorn! I wish I could explain exactly what the hell it's supposed to be but, I can't. I don't know either however, it makes for an interesting night. Other denizens of the Horrorthon were Randy (who gives candy), Abraham LinkedIn, Sub-Zero (who has resurrection abilities), and, of course, Bride of Corn Gorn. Other randomness includes a recurring ad about catheters, a gohper looking for Allen, and a guy dresssed in silver leather singing about something while an eagle flies about. While writing this, it has become clear that any explanation sounds completely bonkers. The movies were just as wild as the other accoutrements.

An American Werewolf in London

While the Horrorthon is known for stupidly bad films, they do try to have a good one in the mix. I've never seen An American Werewolf in London before and I technically still haven't. Every now and then I get migraines. Sometimes they go away on their own but, when they don't, I have to sleep otherwise they just get worse. Unfortunately, this was one of those times where I needed to sleep but, my day was set up in a way that didn't allow me to sleep. As you can guess, I slept through most of this film. Sorry. What I did see, however, didn't really interest me. I didn't find the humor all that funny and I was not a fan of the ending. One plus was seeing Jenny Agutter in a different role. I've only seen her in Call the Midwife so, it was nice seeing her here.

In between the films, one of the guys along with the Birthday Badger (a taxidermied badger) would toss DVDS and movies out to the crowd. Some of them even hit the ceiling.

Popcorn

Here is exactly the kind of movie you expect at an all night Horrorthon. Cheesy 80s slasher. The plot centers around a girl named Maggie and her film class' all night Horrorthon (how fortuitous). They end up finding a film called The Possessor (which would have been a better titile for the actual movie) and Maggie realises that the film plot kind of matches her dreams. Maggie's mom gets worried and tries to leave with Maggie. Maggie says no and they stay. Here comes the stupidity, Maggie's mom gets a creepy phone call late at night to go to the theatre (where the horrorthon is being held). So she goes. Alone. In the middle of the night. and tells no one where she is going. If you think she gets killed here, you are sorely mistaken. The horrorthon proceeds as expected. Some laughs, some fun, and half the class (including the professor) gets murdered in creative ways. Come to find out this was all a weird reenactment of the night that Maggie's parents died and she gets saved by a well-meaning boyfriend (we're unsure if they've broken up earlier or not) unleashing an old mosquito prop. Movie ends with Maggie, her two friends, boyfriend, and mom all safe. Still unsure why the title is Popcorn as it's not used as a murder weapon or is even vital to the plot.

The Tingler

The third film was of a higher standard than the rest. Vincent Price in a cheap B horror movie from the 50s-60s. The whole premise of the film is that Price is researching about the body's response to fear. Along the way, he discovers that fear takes the form of a rubber lobster/yerk combination along the spine causing the ridigity that can be associated with fear. And yes, I do mean a rubber lobster/yerk creature which I'm guessing was a limitation of the time that led to the hilarious creature. Something that struck me throughout the film, Price was vastly over-qualified for such a role. The acting was good overall but, he lent a seemingly out of place dignity in such a film. It's kind of like Liam Neeson in Phantom Menace. They just both outclassed the rest of the cast. Still a lot of fun.

I should mention that it was at this break where the craziest thing happened. The guy throwing DVDs actually hit a girl with one of them. Everything stopped. She wasn't seriously injured but, he went "I just ruined the Horrorthon" be fore running off stage to check on her.

Hack o' Lantern

And now we reach the last film I saw (there were three more after this), Hack o' Lantern. Let me start by sayibg that whatever you are imagining right now, yes, it's exactly what you expect. This film made my night. The "plot" (and I use that term loosely) is about how poor man's Tim Curry in a Southern(?) accent is grooming his grandson to take over his Satanic cult until his other grandson puts a stop to it. That's not really what happens. Yes, there's a Satanic cult in this little town (with the cemetary right smack dab in the middle of town) and yes, the leader is grooming his grandson to tale it over but, the whole good brother preventing it doesn't actually happen. It's more like grandpa gets killed and then transfers his powers to the other grandson because he's the closest person when grandpa dies. Evil grandson is in the cemetary grieving over his mother as she dies on the grave of her husband (who her father killed 13 years prior). It's an awesomely bad movie that perfectly explains the entire genre of cheap 80s slashers.

Overall Rating for the night: 4/5 stars