31 Days of Fright: Countdown to Exhumed VIII

While sitting around the fire pit the other night, my daughter and her best friend began treating us to renditions of Christmas carols. On October 18th. It was all a little much for me until I realized that my own personal Christmas was arriving exactly two months early.

Yes, I'm talking about the Exhumed Films 24 Hour Horrorthon, the eighth installment of which will be taking place this coming weekend at Philly's International House on my old college stomping grounds.

Longtime readers are probably already familiar with Exhumed Films and the annual Horrorthon, but in case any new readers have landed here thanks to our new issue (available from our website) or CINESLUDGE (our new podcast venture) here's a quick recap...

Started in the late 1990s in the South Jersey/Philly region, Exhumed Films began reviving big screen horror in area theaters. Screening actual prints of the flicks (no video projection here), the group arranged spectacular double bills, zombie flick marathons and other events over the years. Best of all, Exhumed audiences treated the films like the fans they were, with MST3K nonsense and (largely) unfunny catcalls discouraged.

When the group's tenth anniversary rolled around in 2007 they rolled out their biggest event yet – a 24 hour horrorthon in which none of the titles would be announced prior to them hitting the screen. And what a lineup it was, starting with John Carpenter's classic HALLOWEEN and ending 24 hours later (give or take) with Lucio Fulci's gory GATES OF HELL, with detours into slashers (PIECES), WTF classics (PHANTASM), giant monsters (GODZILLA VS THE COSMIC MONSTER) and more along the way. (You can read a recap of Horrorthons I thru VI here.)

Unlike that first year, the Horrorthon is now an almost instant sell-out, with people still clamoring for extra tickets on the event's Facebook page.

And as in previous years, Cinema Arcana editor Bruce Holecheck is the only man brave enough to wallow in such an unhealthy dose of sinema and join us in our fight against sleep and the noxious combination of bologna and feet.

Last year's lineup was a solid, consistent show filled with some first time viewings, a couple welcome surprises that I'd not seen in years and one eye-violence-filled grimefest that had me squirming in my chair for 90 minutes...

• DEMON KNIGHT
• MONKEY SHINES
• REVENGE OF THE LIVING ZOMBIES (aka Bill Hinzman's FLESH EATER)
• MANSION OF THE DOOMED
• INFERNO
• WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE
• TINTORERA
• the original HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW
• NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR
• THE PARASITE MURDERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN)
• GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD
• TOXIC ZOMBIES
• DARKMAN
• DEMONS 2

What does 2014 have in store? And, as Exhumed likes to say, who will survive and what will be left of them?!

Watch the ER blog for a post-Horrorthon recap and stay tuned to CINESLUDGE for an on-the-ground report from the trenches!