24th Yearly Sci-Fi Marathon at Drexel Theatre

The 24th Annual 24 Hour Ohio Science Fiction Film
Festival (affectionately known to those who attend as THE MARATHON blasts off for 24-hours straight of the best in both new and classic scif-fi movies on Saturday, April 14 starting at 12:00 noon at the Drexel Gateway Theatre, 1550 N. High St.


The Marathon will feature four film premieres of award-winning new science fiction features all showing for the first time in Ohio.

Carrie Anne Moss (Matrix), Tim Blake Nelson (Meet The Fockers, Minority Report), and Billy Connolly star in director Andrew Currie's FIDO, which takes place in a the town of Willard, a town forever trapped in the happy-faced façade of the fifties. But this is an Americana in an alternate reality where space dust has brought the dead back to life and young Timm's best friend is a six-foot tall Zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof.

In PUZZLEHEAD, Director- writer James Bai employs special effects wizardry in this futuristic take on the conflict between man and machine. In the near future, technology has been outlawed. A reclusive scientist creates a robot in his own image and names him Puzzlehead who becomes his connection to the outside world. PUZZLEHEAD has been shown in over 20 international film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival, Sci-Fi London And Cinequest.


Bizarre-looking monsters and supernatural beings from Japanese folklore are just part of the fun in THE GREAT YOKAI WAR, from Japan's master of mayhem, director Takashi Miike. In his most lavish film to date, Miike breathes new life into old spooks in a film that's been called the Japanese LORD OF THE RINGS. Starring Chiaki Kuriyama(Kill Bill Vol. 1) as an evil mistress who is turning the good Yokai into evil bio-mechanical robots to threaten humanity. Wildly inventive, very funny and featuring amazing special effects, THE GREAT YOKAI WAR is like a Miyazaki film reimagined by Sid & Marty Kroft.

The final premiere in this year's Marathon is the highly experimental AUTOMATONS and starring Angus Scrimm (Phantasm). In the distant future The Girl is alone, the last of her people, all others having died in a generations-long war. She continues the fight from her underground bunker with the aid of her Robby-the-robot style mechanical army. AUTOMATONS is about the horrors of war and robots and was filmed in "Robo-Monstervision" according to its director, James McKenney and was executive produced by cult film director/producer Larry Fessenden who also appears in the film.

Classic Sci-Fi hits this year include a rare showing of the 1980's FLASH GORDON starring Max von Sydow as Ming the Merciless; the Roger Corman produced Classic Sci-Fi hits this year include a rare showing of the 1980's FLASH GORDONMINDWARP: AN INFINITY OF TERROR; director Terry Gilliam's 12 MONKEYS starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis; the deliriously wonderful CHOPPING MALL about 8 teens trapped after hours in a high tech shopping mall; FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER featuring desperate Martians seeking bikini-clad breeding stock filmed on location in Cocoa Beach; schlock director Bert I. Gordon's KING DINOSAUR, one of the best examples of a movie so Bad its Good about a new planet that enters our solar system; from the director of Sound of Music and West Side Story, Robert Wise, comes STAR TREK: The Motion Picture; and finally, extraterrestrials invade the earth in the 2006 sleeper, SLITHER, starring Michael Rooker and Elizabeth Banks.


Also on tap will be selected sci-fi shorts, vintage trailers and cosmic cartoons plus a myriad of contests, including the annual Marathon Costume Contest!


Tickets for the 24th Annual Ohio Science Fiction Film Festival are $30 until April 8th, $34 from April 9-13 and $36 at the door(if available). Tickets are on sale now at the Drexel Gateway Theatre, 1550 N. High St., the Drexel Grandview Theatre,1247 Grandview Ave, the Drexel East Theatre, 2254 E. Main St. and Laughing Ogre Comic Shop, 4258 N. High St. Phone orders are available by calling the Drexel Business Office at (614) 222-0947, ext. 6 from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. weekdays.


for complete information visit www.scifimarathon.com or www.drexel.net


Contact: Josh Rosenfield, Drexel Theatres Group, Ph (614) 222-0947, Fx (614) 222-0962
Joshua_rosenfield@hotmail.com