Can you believe that it has been 20 years since I made the crazy decision to spend all of Black Friday watching some of the finest in cinematic shipwrecks? And what’s even crazier, is that now I am not alone in that celebrating. While it did start by myself in 2003, once we got to 2010, the number of people joining in had grew, as well as the number of films we’d get through. While we started with 4 or 5 titles, once we hit 7 features, it seemed that was the standard going forward. I think our record of attendees was at 14 or 15 people. To think back of when I started this idea, and then jump ahead two decades and realize that not only am I still doing it, but that a trusted group of people join me each and every time for this insane celebration.

Plus, for over a decade now, my friend and podcast co-host Damien Glonek has also been holding his own Turkey Day Marathon in New Jersey. And it seems that my plans for World Turkey Domination is going out even further to other states, like my other co-host Aaron AuBuchon in St. Louis, and our friend Scott Bradley in California.

Even in the dark days of the pandemic, we went online for the marathon for a couple of years and even went international with some that were attending. While I did like how we had more people attending than the live events, it just wasn’t the same thing.

For those new to this site, who are wondering exactly what I’m talking about, or want to know what exactly a Turkey Day Marathon is, or simply what defines a movie as a “turkey”, let me try to clarify. Unlike something like MST3K, we actually like and enjoy the films that we screen. This isn’t about making fun of the film, while there are a few jokes here and there, and plenty of laughter. It isn’t poking fun at them but enjoying them in a different way than maybe the filmmaker intended, but we are still entertained. We’re not criticizing, but maybe amazed by the fact that actually got made and released? Or that with a budget of $20,000, they were able to get this released. Or, simply in awe of the creativity they had instead of a budget, talented cast and/or crew. Despite all of that, their hearts were into it, and it does show in the final product. They were not making a “bad” movie on purpose. That is the difference between what we screen and the more modern Sharknado type of films. They are intentionally making them cheesy, and I think you lose something there when you do that.

And the Marathon lets like-minded fans of these oddities join together and have a great time admiring these treasure that most film fans would scoff and turn their heads away from. Not us. We’re professionals!

This coming Black Friday will be our 20th Anniversary of our Turkey Day Marathons and I know we’re looking forward to it like we do every year. And there is nothing saying that you can’t start your own T-Day Marathon in your neck of the woods. Just click on our link to the right, under Topics, that shows Turkey Day Marathons, so you can read through our different adventures, and what we watched over the last two decades. If you do decide to hold your own, please let us know all the details! How many attended, what did you watch, and so on! We really would love to make the Friday after Thanksgiving be known around the world as Turkey Day, instead of the commercialized Black Friday! You can help with that!