by Neal Mates

Exhumed Films has been running a 24-Hour Horror-thon (a marathon screening of horror and cult films) in a theater at International House every year around Halloween since 2007. I have been attending it every year since 2008. Sadly, this may possibly have been the last one.

The organization that runs International House plans on putting the building up for sale in January 2020. This is forcing the Lightbox Film Center, who runs the theater, to vacate. The group has recently made an agreement with The University of the Arts to take up residence and run a screening room in the Gershman Y downtown and operations there should commence some time around February.

However, this potentially leaves Exhumed (who focuses on screening only on film) in a bit of a lurch. Finding another venue that can project film and be willing to allow them to run shows that last this long is getting increasingly difficult in the age of digital projection. They are working on building The Space in Evesham, NJ. The Space will house the group’s 35mm film archive, two screening rooms, a vintage arcade, and a pop-up shop for Diabolik DVD, a company run by members of Exhumed. They have a GoFundMe page set up to help them complete the work. 

They will have a lot of programming there, but it would not be conducive to the larger screenings. They are apparently in talks with other places for future programs, but it is quite possible that this might’ve been the final Horror-thon in this form. So, while Horror-thon was still a celebration, it was also a little bittersweet.

Most years, I put up a series of posts on my Facebook page detailing the films shown, along with links to YouTube clips and trailers. Hopefully, this will give people who might not be familiar with the sort of programming you can expect when you go to an Exhumed show.

(NOTE: The short description listed before each write-up were the only clues that were given to help people fill out a ballot and guess the titles. So, every year, sell-out crowds buy the tickets having absolutely no clue what they’ll see. It should show you the sort of trust the audience puts in the programmer’s hands to what they’re going to watch. I don’t usually try to fill mine out, but I took a couple of stabs this year. I actually managed to get the first one right!)

MOVIE #1: Remake of a genre classic that matches – and maybe even surpasses – the original

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 

The day started off great with Philip Kaufman’s classic remake. While the original film was an allegory of the Red Scare prevalent in the culture in 1956, this one has a somewhat more "new age" veneer, especially exemplified by Leonard Nimoy's psychiatrist character. One huge highlight is a scene-stealing Jeff Goldblum, in one of his earliest sizable roles. Great performances from the cast all around, and Donald Sutherland's final scene is a GIF for the ages.

MOVIE #2: Intellectual and influential psychological horror with a sci-fi slant

The Stepford Wives (1975)  

The next film was another 70s classic, based on a novel by Rosemary's Baby author Ira Levin. Another one playing off the paranoia of the time. Iit would be nice to think we've gotten past that by now. It'd be nice, but..

MOVIE #3: Infamous Eurohorror grossout/sci-fi/exploitation film

Contamination (1980)  

Also known under the name Alien Contamination, this silly Italian sci-fi from 1980 by Lewis Coates (better known as Luigi Cozzi), was certainly influenced by Alien. Not really influenced in terms of plot, mind you, but certainly in one special effects gag that is repeated many times in the film. If you've seen Italian knockoffs, you know what to expect. Killer score by the mighty Goblin. It's definitely one of those films that plays better with a crowd. And was better than the next film we saw, which was also overseen by Cozzi

MOVIE #4: Giant monster movie that you have surely seen before, but almost certainly not like this

Luigi Cozzi’s Godzilla / Cozzilla (1977) 

This is an odd duck in the history of Godzilla films. At some point in the late 70s, Luigi Cozzi oversaw the colorization and re-edit of the 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters, starring Raymond Burr. Out of newsreel footage, he created a prologue on the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, and interspersed a lot of similar footage into the scenes of Godzilla's rampages. It is also, of course, mostly dubbed in Italian.

The shoddy results of all this was somewhat clear on screen. I say "somewhat" because, even without the haphazard placement of gels on the film to give it "color", the print they were working from almost looked like a bootleg print several generations removed from the original. It was incredibly muddy, and the synth-heavy elements added beyond the original score, which sounded cool, stood out in contrast to the rest of the film.

The one thing that comes to mind as similar to this was the 1984 release of Fritz Lang's Metropolis overseen by music producer Giorgio Moroder. Both tinkered with the original film by re-editing, colorizing, and adding a modern score to supposedly appeal to new audiences. Both worked as well as you'd expect (spoilers: they don't!). Both could be good to watch once for historical perspective and forgotten.

Also, I should note that this print, Contamination, and one other later film screened were in their original Italian language, with no subtitles. The English subtitles were overlaid with a separate projector live and advanced manually by someone in the projection booth. They did a fantastic job keeping up with the films, and the translations were fantastic. That definitely helped.

Movie #5: Enigmatic horror film that is so mysterious, it’s even a mystery to us!

Basket Case (1982)

As a bit of a palette cleanser, we were then treated to Basket Case, Frank Henenlotter's goofball 1982 low-budget classic about Dwayne and his formerly conjoined twin brother Belial getting revenge on the surgeons who separated them.

There isn't much to say about the film that hasn't been said before, beyond giving a content warning for rape. Beyond that scene, the movie is silly fun.

Movie #6: OK, look, this technically isn’t a horror movie. But this amazing psychological thriller/satire is written & directed by a horror icon, so that’s gotta count for something

Twinkle, Twinkle ‘Killer’ Kane (1980)

The next film that was shown was certainly the most unexpected surprise, and quite a welcome one, too. Twinkle, Twinkle, 'Killer' Kane (also released under the title of The Ninth Configuration) is the directorial debut of writer William Peter Blatty.

Blatty is best known as the writer of The Exorcist and this film can be seen in some ways as a side story for it, even though this is not in any way a horror film. It starts off more as a farce about inmates at a military mental asylum in the Pacific Northwest who have a new psychiatrist take charge, but then gets increasingly darker as the film progresses. 

There are some scenes available on YouTube for it, but I am reticent to put any up, because they seem to give away major plot points. I will say, however, if you think I'm joking about the connections to The Exorcist, I will tell you that the infamous Pazuzu statue makes an appearance very early on. Blatty himself sees the novel as the second part of a trilogy with The Exorcist and Legion (the basis for The Exorcist III).

Movie #7: Weird, obscure Italian horror / creature feature

Quella Villa in fondo al parco (aka The Rat Man) (1988) 

THE TRAILER IS VERY NSFW DUE TO BEING THE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF 'GRATUITOUS NUDITY"

The last of the films that had separate projected subtitles was this ridiculous Italian monster movie from 1988. The titular Rat Man was revealed early on in the film, and I thought that it looked like Marlon Brando's inexplicable sidekick from the legendary flop The Island of Doctor Moreau. This character inspired the creation of Dr. Evil's Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies. I checked on IMDb later and, sure enough, it was the same actor.

You can’t really criticize it. It’s beyond good or bad. You just have to let the outrageousness wash over you...

Movie #8: Supernatural horror/blaxploitation mashup

J.D.’s Revenge (1976) 

Little personal factoid: this is one of the films I considered showing as my pick for my Psychotronic Film Society screening. Judging by how it went over, it probably would’ve been a good choice.

I first saw the trailer for this as part of a streaming program called "The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made". As the trailer progressed, I got more and more pissed off. I've seen some bad blaxploitation in my day, but this looked great! Interesting story, solid cast of dependable character actors, and well shot. 

Soon after, I came across a DVD of it in a pawnshop by my job. I watched it and, just as I thought, it was a damn good movie. Glynn Turman gives a fantastic performance as the possessed man, inhabiting and fleshing out both characters. The scenes of domestic violence are jarring, and one character's defense of it is disgusting. So, fair warning for that.

Arrow Video recently released a restored Blu-ray of it, and I'm sure I'll pick it up at some point.

Movie #9: Creepy foreign 1960’s horror/sci-fi oddity

Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968) 

We're now in the overnight hours of Horror-thon, which is usually when they start putting up the really bizarre films to mess with the sleep deprived psyches. This is the period where films like Night Train to Terror, The Night of a Thousand Cats, and Trick or Treats are unleashed.

Things start rolling with this trippy Japanese import from 1968, also released as Body Snatcher from Hell. A plane hijacking is interrupted by the appearance of a UFO, causing the plane to crash into, I guess, an abandoned quarry. The survivors start bickering with each other. The hijacker runs away and winds up walking into said UFO, which turns him into a space vampire with a split down his face. Things devolve from there. 

Japan has a long a vibrant history of horror and sci-fi, and this film doesn't add much to it, but the color and lighting of the UFO was pretty cool

Movie #10: Atmospheric zombie movie we loved as kids – and still love!

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1972)  

Next up was this early film by Bob Clark (A Christmas Story, the original Black Christmas, Porky's, etc.) Clark collaborated extensively with star Alan Ormsby (who has also had a fairly eclectic career in film) on this ultra low-budget zombie movie.

Shot on a small island near Miami, Ormsby is the asshole director of a small theater troupe who decide to spend a weekend in a small house near a cemetery. After a prank that involved exhuming one of the plots, he tries to impress the company by making a dead man rise from his grave by using a grimoire. Thinking that he's failed, he and his friends take the corpse from the cemetery back to the house to continue partying. I'm sure you can figure out what happens from there.

The makeup effects were really good (Ormsby wound up writing a book on monster makeup), and the score (seemingly composed on early modular synths) was quite effective. Stay for the last shot playing behind the end credits.

Movie #11: Absurd, psychedelic supernatural favorite

The Manitou (1978) 

This was a really weird one. I don't know why, but it's hard to suspend my disbelief when a horror film stars Tony Curtis. Yes, I can picture him playing a huckster psychic. That's fine. But having him work with a Native American medicine man to destroy an ancient evil spirit growing out of a lump on the back of a woman's neck?? Really, that's what this film's about. Don't try to make sense of it…

Movie #12: Crazy Hong Kong martial arts/horror/fantasy movie, but probably not the one you’re thinking of

Evil Cat (1987) 

It was around this point when I started nodding off. I can't be completely certain about the plot of this supernatural actioner from Hong Kong. I believe it is about an ongoing battle between an evil cat spirit and this one family who, generation after generation, must defend the human realm. I think that's what it's about. Release prints from this period of Hong Kong films didn't have the most accurate or understandable English subtitles. Maybe I'll give it another go some time.

Movie #13: Grim, gory vampire movie

30 Days of Night (2007) 

We started heading into the home stretch with this 2007 film, based on a graphic novel. A group of people in a small Alaskan town above the Arctic Circle must defend themselves from a group of vampires who decide that a month with no sunlight would be the perfect place for their buffet. Not much to really say about it. It was alright for what it was. So it goes.

Movie #14: Made-for-television horror classic

The Night Stalker (1972) 

Watching this on the big screen was a rare treat!! Written by horror legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) and produced by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows), The Night Stalker was a made-for-TV movie that premiered to huge ratings in 1972. It was followed by the equally wonderful The Night Strangler in 1973, and a short-lived but highly influential series the following year. (The X-Files wouldn't exist without it.)

The Night Stalker follows Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), a former big-city reporter reduced to working for a small daily paper in Las Vegas. There is a series of murders at night that he believes may actually be the work of a vampire. However, it's played completely straight and it still holds up.

It was projected from a 16mm print, which is how programs were delivered to stations at the time. There were even frames projected that said "Place Commercial Here" where they were to, literally, splice in the commercials.

Movie #15: One of our favorite monster movies of all time

Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (1990) 

The Night Stalker was over around noon, which would've been the last film for previous Horror-thon's. However, since this may be the final one, they decided to go a LITTLE further. That's why we got Nightbreed.

Written and directed by Clive Barker, and based on his novella "Cabal", the film follows a young man named Boone. While being treated by his psychiatrist Decker (David Cronenberg!!), Boone is convinced that he has committed a series of horrific murders. Fleeing the police, he tries to escape to Midian, a mythical city in his dreams full of creatures that would accept him as a fellow monster.

I won't say anything further about where this film goes. The makeup effects are topnotch, the score is composed by Danny Elfman, and Cronenberg looks like he is having so much fun in the biggest acting role he's ever had. 

Definitely left the crowd on an upbeat, but bittersweet, note. Hopefully Exhumed Films will be given the opportunity to do more special screenings like this in another venue. At least we geeks will still have our memories.