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I came across this entry on Wikipedia and it got me thinking about all of these old B-movie shows that popped up on TV in the '70s, '80s and even, to a limited degree, the '90s. They used to be great venues for odd, arcane and downright cheesy B thru Z movies, often hosted by some schlocky TV personality with cheesy puns. Sadly, the proliferation of home video in the '80s pretty much killed off the phenomenon and now with all kinds of websites devoted to tracking down these kinds of movies you really don't need TV shows like that anymore. Still, I remember the good ol' days as it were...

Altho, in the '90s a local Buffalo station started running Off Beat Cinema, a late night movie show hosted by a bunch of beatniks in a cafe. I have lots of fond memories of that show and its good to see that its still going strong and basically cashing in on nostalgia more than anything else at this point.

Anyone else remember these old shows? Are they any good books covering this phenomenon? I'd love to hunt one down or maybe research one if none exist.

I don't know if there are any good books, but there are books (I have a fondness for this subject too). It's surely just regional pride speaking, but the book on Ghoulardi (Paul Thomas Anderson's dad) is an enjoyable read. The Cleveland area was great for this type of program, even into the '80s. You had Ghoulardi (who is often said to be the first host of this type, but that's highly debatable), and later The Ghoul, but also Big Chuck & Hoolihan (later Big Chuck & Little John) on Friday nights and Superhost on Saturday afternoons. Superhost usually had a gothic horror at noon and then a Godzilla-type disaster/sci-fi movie at "tooth hurty".

This one is a good overview of the horror hosts. I'm sure there are others, but those are the only two books I've read or know of. Well, except for Zacherly for President.

When I was a kid in the late-70s/early-80s, there was a TV show called BOO! that showed Hammer films and creature features from the 50s and 60s. It had a great intro, going through a graveyard when a hand juts out of the earth. Don't know if this was regional or what.

My god. This is bringing back a lot of old memories. Yes, I remember the creepy hand and the graveyard. Was that called "Chiller"? I used to watch it every Saturday afternoon while my teen aunt experimented cooking through a Betty Crocker cookbook and I was her "food critic". Pig-in-the-blankets with mayo-stuffed canned pears resting on lettuce and bottomless glasses of Tang and Chillers made up so many Saturday afternoons of my childhood.

There was one particular black & white show that scared the fuck out of me.. its images still linger with me over so many, many years but I can't remember the title! It has a bald man with huge eyes - the most dead looking man I've ever seen (zombie?) - crashing through a science or medical lab. Does anybody recognize this?

When I was growing up, we had the Acri Creature Feature. They revived it a couple years ago, but it's just not the same... The company still gives out DVDs with recordings of the old show, though!

Matt wrote:I don't know if there are any good books, but there are books (I have a fondness for this subject too). It's surely just regional pride speaking, but the book on Ghoulardi (Paul Thomas Anderson's dad) is an enjoyable read. The Cleveland area was great for this type of program, even into the '80s. You had Ghoulardi (who is often said to be the first host of this type, but that's highly debatable), and later The Ghoul, but also Big Chuck & Hoolihan (later Big Chuck & Little John) on Friday nights and Superhost on Saturday afternoons. Superhost usually had a gothic horror at noon and then a Godzilla-type disaster/sci-fi movie at "tooth hurty".

This one is a good overview of the horror hosts. I'm sure there are others, but those are the only two books I've read or know of. Well, except for Zacherly for President.

Ah, thanks for the links, Matt. Yer a life saver! I will indeed track down the Ghoulardi and horror hosts books. Sounds like a good place to start.

Galen Young wrote:Growing up in Portland, Oregon I used to watch a late night show called "Sinister Cinema". (can't believe I found a mention of it on this site).

Thanks for this link. That's a nice resource. I will look thru it when I have more time.

I also came across this message board dedicated to Creature Double Feature. There are a few threads on its brief revival in the Boston area last year.

Michael wrote:My god. This is bringing back a lot of old memories. Yes, I remember the creepy hand and the graveyard. Was that called "Chiller"?

Not the same thing. CHILLER is animated, and BOO! had a live-action intro, really spooky, with the hand all covered in earth (and worms?) rising from the depths of the grave. I haven't been able to find BOO! but the CHILLER intro I think you're referring to is on youtube.

1970's - Fright Night at 1am Saturday Evening / Sunday Morning on WOR Channel 9 New York. This is where I first saw Equinox.

I never got to see any of these creature-feature type shows; I think I was too young and living in the wrong part of the wrong country. I watched most of the old horror films of my childhood on video. The only movies I really remember seeing on tv were westerns, and damn did I love a good barricade-inside-the-cabin scene. Although this is more like when I was five.

Man, you guys were lucky. Closest I ever got to any of what you're describing was USA Up All Night. Which wasn't bad, really, but didn't quite have that regional specificity that Ghoulardi, etc., did.

what I remember growing up in NYC was Chiller Theater every Saturday night on WPIX, with the hand wriggling up from a grave--six fingered. Many great B movies like Invaders from Mars with the terrifying police station, the swamp the parents disappear into. Another, whuich I haven't been able to place had black-hooded aliens with eyes like sunny side up eggs that would float in the darkness--ring a bell for anyone?

Michael, we might be remembering the same movie.

Just watched the Youtube--that's the one, though in the late 60's I saw it in B&W.

Wow, is YouTube the best or what? Here's some Ghoulardi for ya.

ezmbmh wrote:what I remember growing up in NYC was Chiller Theater every Saturday night on WPIX, with the hand wriggling up from a grave--six fingered. Many great B movies like Invaders from Mars with the terrifying police station, the swamp the parents disappear into. Another, whuich I haven't been able to place had black-hooded aliens with eyes like sunny side up eggs that would float in the darkness--ring a bell for anyone?

Sounds like the craptacular Invasion of the Eye Creatures which was a remake of the much cooler Invasion of the Saucer Men. The Eye Creatures were basically white blobby looking guys with a lot of bumps (that sort of looked like eggs) that I guess where supposed to be eyes. But you might be talking about a different movie

On one of my last visits to this site a few days ago I had just mentioned CREATURE FEATURE & CHILLER THEATER (with the hand w six fingers eating up the trees) on the MONSTERS & MADMEN box thread, about the infamous early 70's broadcast of HORROR HOTEL aka CITY OF THE DEAD what made me soil my dry goods with poo.

Matt wrote:Wow, is YouTube the best or what? Here's some Ghoulardi for ya.

Nice. That's awesome. Thanks for the links.

HerrSchreck wrote:On one of my last visits to this site a few days ago I had just mentioned CREATURE FEATURE & CHILLER THEATER (with the hand w six fingers eating up the trees) on the MONSTERS & MADMEN box thread, about the infamous early 70's broadcast of HORROR HOTEL aka CITY OF THE DEAD what made me soil my dry goods with poo.

Actually, your post(s) inspired me to create this thread. It got me ta thinking about all these vintage B-movies and how there used to be a venue for them on TV before home video and the internet made it much easier to track down some of these gems.

I think that's one of the reasons why I like Tim Burton's Ed Wood so much. It seems, in part, to be a love letter to schlocky B-movies and even a little bit to presenters like Vampira as well.

This looks interesting.

Trailers from Hell... showcases classic horror and exploitation film Previews of Coming Attractions. Viewers can opt to watch the original trailer intact and/or enjoy a new version punctuated with pithy and humorous commentary by iconic horror directors. The first five episodes of the show feature Joe Dante,(Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Howling, Piranha) talking about Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, From Hell It Came Monster from Mars, The Terror and The Unearthly.

I came across this recently. Looks like an entertaining read and a trip down memory lane...

I WAS A TV HORROR HOST
By John Stanley.
Recommended. Signed! Memoirs of a Creature Feature Man.
Close encounters with Vincent Price, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Elvira and more. Great anecdotes and inside stories from the Golden Age of TV horror movie hosts Stanley and Bob Wilkins. More than 550 photographs many in print for the first time.