2023 Year End Review – Part 1: The Highlights

Continue reading

Turkey Day 2023 – 20th Anniversary Celebration

Continue reading

Discover the Horror Podcast: Episode 56 – Turkey Day 2023

Continue reading

20th Anniversary of Turkey Day Coming

Continue reading

Turkey Day in May 2023

The first part of our Turkey Day 20th Anniversary was yesterday, and I have survived to tell the tale! In fact, we all did! It was a little different this time out because we spent some time doing a little filming here and there for a documentary about just how crazy we are for doing these little get-togethers for the last two decades, all in celebration of these cinematic shipwrecks. We had around 15 people joining in this year, most of which stayed here from the very beginning right to the very last film, knocking out SIX features (and about 21 pizzas!) before it was all said and done.

It is really hard to believe that not only have I continued this crazy tradition, but that I have more than a few die-hard friends that actually look forward to these little marathons with great joy and excitement. Yes, we are all mad cinephiles. It really is hard to explain to most people what exactly the reasoning is behind these, and even more importantly, why they are so much damn fun. But if you know, then you know and don’t need the explanation.

Continue reading

Turkey Day 2022

20 years. Two whole decades of Turkeys. In fact, 174 films during those years. I started doing this little mini marathon back in 2003, on my own, as a way to celebrate the type of films that most critics would scoff at. Two years later, I was joined by my friend Aaron Christensen, who has never missed one since then. While it took a few years of it just being Aaron and I battling through these wonderful cinematic shipwrecks, by the time we got to 2010, the number of people joining us on this mad quest started to grow. We had 6 that year, increasing year by year to around a dozen each time. In 2010, we started our second annual event, Turkey Day in May, because there was just too much Turkey to do it only once a year! We did go online during the pandemic, where during those online adventures, we did get 20 to 25+ people watching online, so that was kind of cool. But it just wasn’t the same as being in the same room with other fans.

Before we get to the films, I wanted to send out a huge thanks to those that have attended my little crazy marathons. I started this because I wanted to give these movies the appreciation that I feel they deserve. As I’ve quoted many times before, the only bad movie is a boring one, and the ones we’ve screened over the last 20 years are far from boring. Well, okay, most of them weren’t. With every person that started attending, they not only understood that statement, but they believed 100% of it, and relished in the outrageous titles, sometimes just plain bat-shit crazy. Never making fun or shitting on these, we treat them with love and respect. My fellow Turkey Day attendees are more dedicated film lovers than any serious critic I know. Because we can see past the flaws of low budget, maybe with not the most talented cast, or a script that doesn’t seem possible that someone would not only want to film, but actually get it done with a straight face! For that, I am forever grateful to consider these fellow demented cinephiles my friends. They really know and understand what true cinema is.

Continue reading

Turkey Day 2021

I seem to say this with every Turkey Day report, but it never ceases to amaze me. This was the 19th year I’ve held my little annual marathon, which means next year will be two whole decades since I started this maddening excursion. Even more crazy is the amount of people that are anxious to join me on that quest. Granted, since 2019, we’ve had to hold them online, which has been fun, but I have to admit that it is just not the same. I’m really hoping that by next year, we can get back to the in-person marathons, but we’ll just have to see. I know that is going to disappoint some of the people that have been able to partake in the online version, but maybe that just means you should start your own Turkey Day event!

Nonetheless, my first official Turkey Day was in November of 2003, where I was by myself. That’s dedication for you. But that was the last year going solo since the following year the number started to increase until we were hitting close to 15 or more people before the pandemic started. Going online, I think we hit over 25 joining at some point. In May of 2015, we started holding Turkey Day in May, simply because there were just too many turkeys to only hold this even once a year! So, from 2003 when it all started, this was the 26th Turkey Day Marathon. That . . . is a lot of Turkeys. But it also was a lot of fun as well.

One of the things I posted earlier this month was about what I was thankful for. To have a group of friends, and even some I never have met, join together for these crazy viewing parties is something I am forever grateful for. To those that joined in, even if it was for only one or two films, thank you.

But let’s get the movies!

Continue reading

Prepare for Turkey Day 2021!!!

It is that time a year again, folks. Time to set aside those classic movies and dive right into the mud! We are just a few weeks away from our annual Turkey Day Marathon, which once again, we will be doing it online, like we have been for the last 2 years. It will take place on Friday, November 26th, at 10am sharp! We are scheduling at least 5 features, but maybe more if everyone is so inclined. I have 7 planned out, so we’ll have to see how the day goes. So, mark you calendar! I’ll be posting the link once we get a little closer but will also be having a trial run with a screening of 1 film on Saturday the 20th. Not sure exactly when but probably around noon. This will be just so everyone can try to get logged in and see how it all works, especially if you’ve never done this before, or (like me) you might have forgotten and want to make sure you don’t have any issues.

Continue reading

Turkey Day 2020

We may have just set a record with this year’s Turkey Day, at least when it comes to attendance. Once again, with the pandemic raging on, we were force to hold our Turkey Day marathon online, through a streaming service. This time though, we opened it up to everyone if they wanted to join in. And I think we had around 20+ people in the screening throughout most of the day. So for that, I think it was a great success. We did have a few glitches in the beginning, but thankfully my technical staff (aka Jason Coffman) was able to help me fix the problem and from there on went on with very little issues. Continue reading

Turkey Day in May 2020 – Pandemic Style

Graveyard of Horror 1

I started holding my Turkey Day events way back in November of 2003. In 2015, we started a second one, Turkey Day in May. Ever since these started, we have never missed holding one. The numbers for each of the events varies from time to time, but there is always a group of us enjoying some of these cinematic road bumps. And then the pandemic started. As much as I wanted to gather a group of friends and still hold our May event, it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Originally, I had just planned on doing it by myself, watching the movies I had planned. But then talking to Turkey Day regulars Aaron Christensen, and then Jason Coffman, they informed me of this streaming thing you can do where people just log in and can see what you’re playing on your computer. Now originally it would be nice to have video and audio of everyone attending but it really would just have been too many people, and the chatting might have interfered with the actual audio from the movie. Jason mentioned using Kast, which has a chat room feature, so at least people could still communicate, make jokes or whatever, and still be able to watch the film. So after a few trials, on May 30th, we held our first online Turkey Day event. We only got through 5 movies instead of our usual 7, but I think it turned out pretty good. Not to mentioned the fact that we had more people at this event, hitting past 20 people at times. Continue reading