I'm not familiar with all of these, as I'm a Brit, but I love the names (eg Dr Gangrene) and word play (eg sin-sational)! I was in America for the first time when I was 15, and as we were tucking into the Thanksgiving meal I innocently asked what we were giving thanks for, to be told @Freedom from you lot!"
I guess the whole "horror host" thing is kind of exclusive to the U.S., I'm not sure but they're all pretty entertaining and make for a great way to turn a bad movie into a not so bad one :)
Great article - certainly brings back memories I'd long suppressed! Not that in Western NC we had any of these types of hosts (well, Elvira was in the mix somewhere I vaguely recall) - but 70s and 80s TV certainly wasn't shy of providing great scares, some of which stick with me to this day. Dark Shadows, Twilight Zone, Fantastic Stories .... Good stuff!
Thanks, Bryan! :) I still love 70s and 80s t.v. and all the shows you mentioned are classics to me and I'm a huge Dark Shadows fan. Pluto T.V. has an entire channel dedicated to Barnabas and the gang and I love it!
Thanks So much for sharing! I would hate to guess what a mess I would be if cable had been around when I was growing up. 3 channels and cartoons only on Saturday mornings. lol I would like to say it’s easier but sometimes having Too Much to choose from spreads you thin. Apparently being in Louisville a designated horror host wasn’t actively pursued. Like you, I would stock pile the snacks, candy, soda only I camped out to Creature Features on Saturday Nights. You mentioned social life. Haha Parents- it’s 10 O’clock- do you know where your children are?? Happy Halloween 🎃!
Haha, thank you! Regarding what you mentioned about cable being around during my formative years, that's something my wife and I say all the time. If we had all those options as kids, we probably wouldn't have ever left the house, lol. I grew up about an hour north of Louisville, but never got to experience any t.v. from the area back then. I guess we had an anti-social life? :) Happy Halloween!
We read a lot. Wrote. Used our imaginations to occupy ourselves. Socializing was at school haha. We pretty much stayed out of trouble. My favorite is to hear a kid nowadays say they are BORED. Ex: instead of sleeping I’m reading and just noticed the Spotted Lanternfly has been spotted in Cincinnati! Now I need to determine where that info goes on my circle of concern. I need more RAM. Bahaha
Oh, wow...I haven't thought of these guys in ages! We used to watch 'Chilly Billy' Cardille who hosted Chiller Theater (Pittsburgh) on Saturday nights. Then there was Ron Sweed as 'The Ghoul' also hosting a late-night Saturday horror show (Cleveland). He loved blowing stuff up. Fun times!
Mr. Lobo talks about Chilly Billy quite often and The Mummy and the Monkey are huge "Ghoul" fans. I've never seen either of them, but they sound fun. Who doesn't like explosions?? :)
I'm the same way, but these are the tamer ones from like the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Stuff like Universal monsters and old drive-in type of films. Lots of fun and more cheesy than scary :)
These were great! What a perfect slice of local horror hosts. In Detroit it was Count Scary, who you can find on YouTube and Wikipedia. Stations here also picked up Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. On Saturdays, all year round was Saturday Thriller Double Feature. You can find the commercial and intro on YouTube. Good stuff, Mark!
Thanks, Brian! I will have to check out Count Scary, he seems like my sort of host. Elvira was great back in the day and is also one of the pioneers of the genre, imo.
I'm not familiar with all of these, as I'm a Brit, but I love the names (eg Dr Gangrene) and word play (eg sin-sational)! I was in America for the first time when I was 15, and as we were tucking into the Thanksgiving meal I innocently asked what we were giving thanks for, to be told @Freedom from you lot!"
LOL! That's a great line :)
I guess the whole "horror host" thing is kind of exclusive to the U.S., I'm not sure but they're all pretty entertaining and make for a great way to turn a bad movie into a not so bad one :)
Great article - certainly brings back memories I'd long suppressed! Not that in Western NC we had any of these types of hosts (well, Elvira was in the mix somewhere I vaguely recall) - but 70s and 80s TV certainly wasn't shy of providing great scares, some of which stick with me to this day. Dark Shadows, Twilight Zone, Fantastic Stories .... Good stuff!
Thanks, Bryan! :) I still love 70s and 80s t.v. and all the shows you mentioned are classics to me and I'm a huge Dark Shadows fan. Pluto T.V. has an entire channel dedicated to Barnabas and the gang and I love it!
Thanks So much for sharing! I would hate to guess what a mess I would be if cable had been around when I was growing up. 3 channels and cartoons only on Saturday mornings. lol I would like to say it’s easier but sometimes having Too Much to choose from spreads you thin. Apparently being in Louisville a designated horror host wasn’t actively pursued. Like you, I would stock pile the snacks, candy, soda only I camped out to Creature Features on Saturday Nights. You mentioned social life. Haha Parents- it’s 10 O’clock- do you know where your children are?? Happy Halloween 🎃!
Haha, thank you! Regarding what you mentioned about cable being around during my formative years, that's something my wife and I say all the time. If we had all those options as kids, we probably wouldn't have ever left the house, lol. I grew up about an hour north of Louisville, but never got to experience any t.v. from the area back then. I guess we had an anti-social life? :) Happy Halloween!
We read a lot. Wrote. Used our imaginations to occupy ourselves. Socializing was at school haha. We pretty much stayed out of trouble. My favorite is to hear a kid nowadays say they are BORED. Ex: instead of sleeping I’m reading and just noticed the Spotted Lanternfly has been spotted in Cincinnati! Now I need to determine where that info goes on my circle of concern. I need more RAM. Bahaha
Oh, I know! I couldn't imagine the "bored" kids if they lived back when we were growing up! Good times :)
Oh, wow...I haven't thought of these guys in ages! We used to watch 'Chilly Billy' Cardille who hosted Chiller Theater (Pittsburgh) on Saturday nights. Then there was Ron Sweed as 'The Ghoul' also hosting a late-night Saturday horror show (Cleveland). He loved blowing stuff up. Fun times!
Mr. Lobo talks about Chilly Billy quite often and The Mummy and the Monkey are huge "Ghoul" fans. I've never seen either of them, but they sound fun. Who doesn't like explosions?? :)
I have never watched any horror movies, probably because they would scare the heck out of me.
I'm the same way, but these are the tamer ones from like the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Stuff like Universal monsters and old drive-in type of films. Lots of fun and more cheesy than scary :)
These were great! What a perfect slice of local horror hosts. In Detroit it was Count Scary, who you can find on YouTube and Wikipedia. Stations here also picked up Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. On Saturdays, all year round was Saturday Thriller Double Feature. You can find the commercial and intro on YouTube. Good stuff, Mark!
Thanks, Brian! I will have to check out Count Scary, he seems like my sort of host. Elvira was great back in the day and is also one of the pioneers of the genre, imo.
Thanks again and glad you enjoyed :)