This weekend, (as per my annual Halloween ritual), I'll be attending The Return of The Incredible Two-Headed Marathon: Revenge of the Horror Hosts 2 at the Drexel Grandview Theatre here in Columbus, Ohio.

My first horror marathon at the Drexel (the infamous Drexel North which is now sadly a drugstore) was in 1994 or 1995 I believe while I was still in college and I've been attending them pretty much yearly ever since (save for missing one or two). They started out as 24 hour marathons but in recent years have been scheduled down to 14-15 hour all night extravaganzas which is fine by me especially with my busy schedule drawing these days (or is it that I'm getting too old and I actually need sleep now?).

But I never miss an opportunity to participate since this raucous film festival of fiendish delights always brings my fellow horror aficionados of Ohio (and other parts of the country) from out of the woodwork, which in the past have included special guests like B-movie icon Bruce Campbell, director and living legend George Romero, master make-up artist Tom Savini and horror "drive-in" connoisseur Joe Bob Briggs. I've even met other directors, producers and actors from some of the films this festival brings so it's fun to rub elbows with talents in this industry since, as a comic book creator, I'm just a closet film director anyway.

Here's the skinny:

This year's festival of fright returns to the Drexel Grandview in beautiful (and soon to be blood splattered) downtown Grandview Heights, Ohio for 14 hours of maniacal mirth and mayhem. The premiere all night celebration of cinematic excess begins 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 22 and continues with blood chilling precision until Noon on Sunday, October 23.

The event is once again being presented by the horrifying terror twins of Joe Neff and Bruce Bartoo, rising from the murky depths to distill their forty-three years and over two-thousand hours of marathon experience into one blood curdling night of unrelenting scream-a-rama terror. The slate of celluloid nightmares for this year's Nightmarathon includes:

The Ohio Premiere of Three... Extremes - The groundbreaking horror omnibus from Takashi Miike Audition, Ichi The Killer, Chan-Wook Park Oldboy and Fruit Chan! Vibe Magazine calls it "the sickest, most twisted flick you'll see this year"! Check out this sneak preview featuring the beautiful and exoticlly entrancing Bai Ling (Senator Bana Breemu from RotS coming soon to a DVD deleted scenes menu near you).

The Shining - Jack Nicholson stars in this controversial terror classic as the leering looney of a husband, Danny Lloyd is one of the great cinematic kids in peril and Shelly Duvall just tries to keep her wits together. With Scatman Crothers and plenty of "REDRUM"! A 25th Anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece of horror!

Black Sabbath - A rare 35mm screening of the *original Italian cut* from a true master of the macabre, Mario Bava. Boris Karloff serves as host (and participant) for three atmospheric tales of terror, all bathed in Bava's tradmark lush colors.

The other films that round out the festival include -

The Brood - Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar star in director David Cronenberg's (History of Violence) disturbing classic. Cronenberg followed up Shivers and Rabid with this one which is perhaps his most personal film, a disturbing story of repressed memories, the legacy of brutality and the unholy art of Psychoplasmics!

Demons - Dario Argento (Suspiria) produced this gonzo gorefest directed by Lamberto Bava about a group of horror fans trapped at a horror movie premiere with a band of bloodthirsty creatures! Yes, it's all that and more in this absurdbly entertaining romp that was a smash hit in Europe. A horror marathon within a horror marathon, will real life imitate art? Come to the show and find out!

Legend of the Wolfwoman- Thanks to the good folks at Grindhouse Films, the Nightmarathon audience has a chance to see lycanthropy run wild in this infamous erotic Spanish thriller in 35 mm. Daniella is a nubile young lycanthrope on the prowl for fresh prey. Can any man hope to satisfy her bloodthirsty desires?

Kung Fu Cannibals - It's got kung fu! It's got cannibals! And it comes from the vaults of Hollywood sleaze maven Johnny Legend. What more could a Nightmarathon audience ask for?

Plus a calvacade of vintage trailers and shorts! Coffin-loads of prizes! The annual costume and scream contests! And even more surprises!

For more information on the event and to purchase tickets check out the The Drexel Grandview Theatre's official website.

In the meantime, check out this interview with Marathon host extraordinaire Joe Neff from my pal Kevin Carr at 7 (M) Pictures and learn even more about the The Return of The Incredible Two-Headed Marathon and this year's line-up of films.

Who will survive and what will be left of them? Wish me luck on Saturday night, I'll be too scared to sleep and too tired to scream!