Horror Movie Hosts

[Mike...In 3-D!]

I didn't have a horror host growing up and I'm very jealous of you that did. I remember being a kid and knowing who Elvira was, but her show wasn't airing by then. The closest things I got were Elvira's 2010/11 run and Wolfman Mac's Nightmare Sinema/Chiller Drive-In. Elvira is Elvira, so I enjoyed that. I wasn't a massive fan of Wolfman Mac, on TV or otherwise.

My boss always tells me how he had The Ghoul to watch back in the day and rubs it in as often as he can.

[horrorhunter]

I didn't have a horror host growing up and I'm very jealous of you that did. I remember being a kid and knowing who Elvira was, but her show wasn't airing by then. The closest things I got were Elvira's 2010/11 run and Wolfman Mac's Nightmare Sinema/Chiller Drive-In. Elvira is Elvira, so I enjoyed that. I wasn't a massive fan of Wolfman Mac, on TV or otherwise.

My boss always tells me how he had The Ghoul to watch back in the day and rubs it in as often as he can.

Local TV was a beautiful thing back in the day. In the '70s when Dr. Shock & Dingbat hosted Shock Theater in Chattanooga they would make recurring jokes about some of the local characters in town who were nicknamed real people like "Mean" Uncle Floyd, "Black Jack" Blalock, and "Redbank" Rena. Some of the humor was hilariously off-color and some of the movies they showed featured uncut nudity like Brides Of Blood (1968) and Mad Doctor Of Blood Island (1969). That show was a great escape from the boredom of the rules of life in general, in much the same way that monster comics and mags were. And, it gave us plenty to talk about at school.

Now, greed has squeezed the soul out of local TV. Instead of local creative programs we have a sea of dreck in the form of infomercials and padded beyond belief local news. TV was actually better with 3 or 4 local stations before we were inundated with hundreds of channels of mostly pablum and no local programming aside from the padded news I mentioned. I would go back to pre-cable days in a heartbeat if it were possible. And yeah, I know, we wouldn't have the internet and couldn't be typing about all of this right now, but I had rather live it than type about it. We won't see the like of the '50s-'70s ever again.

[Hepcat]

Now, greed has squeezed the soul out of local TV. Instead of local creative programs we have a sea of dreck in the form of infomercials and padded beyond belief local news. TV was actually better with 3 or 4 local stations before we were inundated with hundreds of channels of mostly pablum and no local programming aside from the padded news I mentioned.

What's killed local TV programming is precisely the availability of hundreds of specialty channels from which to choose. Local shows can't draw the ratings/viewership to justify the investment it would take to produce local shows.

[Paul L]

.

... but I had rather live it than type about it. We won't see the like of the '50s-'70s ever again.

Here, here!!

[horrorhunter]

What's killed local TV programming is precisely the availability of hundreds of specialty channels from which to choose. Local shows can't draw the ratings/viewership to justify the investment it would take to produce local shows.

Yes, that certainly has a lot to do with it.

Virtually none of the local movie hosted shows or kid's shows from back in the day had much investment moneywise, they were mostly put together on a shoestring with the most significant investments being time, work, and imagination. Now it's just too easy to run the infomercials and pad the local news by several hours a week. It's all about making a quick buck instead of providing real local entertainment.

For all of those specialty channels none of them fill the void left by the demise of the Horror Hosts. The few monster oriented channels feature newer films mostly and pretty much ignore classic monster movies. It's a shame that out of that plethora of TV pablum we can't get one channel for fans of classic monster movies and everything that Monsterkids enjoy, like genre TV reruns, shows for monster collectors that feature toys, comics, mags, trading cards, DVDs/BDs, etc., and cool theater intermission films and trailers combined with classic monster movies for that Drive-in experience. Monster fans would pay up for a channel like that if it was done well.

[SkullBoy]

In response to the above comment(s) regarding 'pre-cable days'...I reckon we'll see those days again, perhaps sooner than you think. The growth of Netflix and Amazon's wave of cable-free show watching are evidence enough that the majority have had enough of their local providers. Lord knows I love just being able to power up my Xbox and flip on Netflix, Hulu or the MLB network and I'm set.

[Hepcat]

Netflix, Hulu or the MLB network?



Well that certainly won't enable more local programming. If you don't support your local station by watching it, you might find that it just disappears and then you'll be watching the same programming in Bangor, Maine as you would in Amarillo, New Mexico. TV programming will then be like Wal-Mart, the same everywhere. Moreover I don't believe that any of these services you've mentioned are free over the air.

And that's what we're railing on against.

[Hepcat]

Now that Zacherley has passed away, can anyone contribute any more stores of their favourite local horror hosts to fill the void?

[skully]

I remember Roland, (zacherly), Stella from Philly(Saturday nite Dead), Uncle Ted's Ghoul school.

[Monsters For Sale]

Creatures of the Night That We Loved So Well: TV Horror Hosts of Southern California - Second Ed


Here is a 365 page book that I recommend to anyone interested in Horror Hosts in general.  I have the 1st edition and it is chock full of detailed info:

https://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Night-That-Loved-Well/dp/1450758355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486842955&sr=1-2&keywords=Creatures+of+the+Night+That+We+Loved+So+Well



It has been updated and expanded in a 554 page 2nd edition.  I guess I will be getting that soon.

https://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Night-That-Loved-Well/dp/1511859091/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486842475&sr=1-1&keywords=Creatures+of+the+Night+That+We+Loved+So+Well

I corresponded with the author when he issued the 1st edition.  He is a very likeable and knowledgeable guy with a real passion for the subject.

[horrorhunter]

Creatures of the Night That We Loved So Well: TV Horror Hosts of Southern California - Second Ed


Here is a 365 page book that I recommend to anyone interested in Horror Hosts in general.  I have the 1st edition and it is chock full of detailed info:

https://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Night-That-Loved-Well/dp/1450758355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486842955&sr=1-2&keywords=Creatures+of+the+Night+That+We+Loved+So+Well



It has been updated and expanded in a 554 page 2nd edition.  I guess I will be getting that soon.

https://www.amazon.com/Creatures-Night-That-Loved-Well/dp/1511859091/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486842475&sr=1-1&keywords=Creatures+of+the+Night+That+We+Loved+So+Well

I corresponded with the author when he issued the 1st edition.  He is a very likeable and knowledgeable guy with a real passion for the subject.

The book is fun. I got Jim to sign mine. I'll probably get the 2nd edition as well.

Also, don't forget the card set. I got that from Jim Fetters too. This is info from monsterwax.com:

Another real oddball series is one I found on eBay called Horror Hosts Collector Cards (aka Creatures of the Night That We Loved So Well). It was a 43-card set with black and white photos/ publicity images of Southern California horror hosts. The green-bordered series was printed on flimsy stock and supposedly limited to just 50 sets (but not numbered). Be aware that the numbering sequence only goes up to 32, and the other eleven cards are bonus cards (usually with the letter "A" after the number). The series was issued to promote a self-published book by Jim Fetters on the same subject (Creatures of the Night That We Loved So Well).