Calgary Halloween horror movie marathon exhibited cult-classics this weekend

Could you challenge yourself to pull an all-nighter and do 12 hours of scary movies?

The 12-hour Halloween horror movie marathon kicked off at the Globe Cinema this weekend on Oct. 29.

Today's the day – are you marathon ready? Tonight, join us for our annual 12-Hour Halloween Horror Movie Marathon at @GlobeCinema. The event runs from 7pm until 7am the next morning. How many survivors will we have this year?

???? https://t.co/TMzBhiLr11 pic.twitter.com/0K2DmnLXon

— Calgary Underground Film (@CUFF) October 29, 2022

The Halloween event put on by the Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) featured seven new and classic movies.

The event screened a selection of seven movies that ran from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

One of the festival organizers says they encouraged attendees to dress up but to be comfortable.

“We encourage pillows and blankets because you never know when you might want to catch a quick cat nap,” said Cameron Macgowan, Lead Programmer of the Calgary Underground Film Festival.

He adds the Globe Cinema is a historic building so the seats aren’t the thickest and most comfortable material so to be prepared.

He says they encourage people to stay as long as they want as the ticket covers the whole night so it’s up to you to come for a flick or two.

Some people even show up in the middle of the night after being out partying all night long.

“We kick off with a film called Kids versus Aliens which is a sci-fi horror film that’s about an alien attack on a kid’s Halloween party from director Jason Eisener from Nova Scotia.”

The same director also made a movie that was famously called Hobo With a Shotgun starring Rutger Hauer.

“But then we get into the classics so we have films like House by the Cemetery which is a very classic Italian slasher film by maestro Lucio Fulci.

Followed by the drive-in classic Carnival of Souls which is very akin to the original night of the living dead, lean, mean, eerie, and very strange and surreal.”

“Grizzly, which is a nature gone wild film from the mid-70s and [has] beautiful bear footage as well which I always appreciate in films, they’re such majestic animals.

“Bride of Reanimator which is the sequel to Stuart Gordon’s cult classic mad scientist picture Reanimator and this is a sequel that doubles down on gore.”

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“And that takes us to the one and only The Lost Boys from director Joel Schumacher, the amazing vampire picture filled with nostalgia and great music that holds up today.”

He says only about a handful of people who attend usually manage to make it the whole night and in the morning.

“I’d say there’s probably 60 to 70 people that watch all seven movies so kudos to them.”

And those attendees that made it to the end of the movie marathon by 7 a.m. were rewarded with a bowl of Count Chocolate cereal for breakfast.

The event also included a costume contest before midnight which was voted by applause.

“We have a lot of regulars that really look forward to this event every year and it’s amazing to see the little rituals they’ve personally come up with to get them through all seven films.”

–With files from Lisa Grant