# Horror Hosts



## uncle willie

ok how many of you rember hooliang and big chuck,big chuck and
little john,superhost of channel 43,the cool ghoul and of corse
ghoulardie?
damn i lived for superhost and hooliang,big chuck and little john
growing up. i have superhost on tape with the blob,how i hope nothing
ever happenes to that tape.
i was woundering what you use to atch,i know inthe old days{the 60"s
and 70's}a lot of independent channels had movie host. vcr's of the
80's really killed the whole movie host thing. now people can watch
anything they want,why stay up to watch an old b-film when you an
watchwhat you want.

to me we are losing an art form that will never retrun to what it
once was!


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## Zombie-F

could always see if you can have a photo lab transfer the tape to DVD for ya.

The only horror hosts I really remember are of more recent history. People like Elvira, Rhonda Shear, and Joe Bob Briggs.


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## RAXL

Damn, Rhonda Shear was friggin' HOT!


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## Johnny Thunder

I'm a huge fan of the old horror hosts, and the newer ones popping up all over the country. Here's a few websites for people to check out:

http://myweb.wvnet.edu/e-gor/tvhorrorhosts/

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/3257/

http://www.geocities.com/horrorhostunderground/


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## Johnny Thunder

Of course Maila Nurmi, better known to genre fans as Vampira, TV's first Horror Host, passed away on January 10, 2008 at the age of 86.

I am a huge fan of the Horror Hosts and their history, and for whatever you think of them, her influence is obvious and staggering. Granted, much of her character was based up on Charles Addams works, but she nonetheless was a late night phenom while she haunted the late night airwaves. Most fans might only remember her from Ed Wood's infamous Plan Nine From Outer Space, forever immortalized by Tim Burton in his biopic Ed Wood, but she was an accomplished actress and performer.

































http://blogging.la/archives/2008/01/rip_vampira_aka_maila_nurmi.phtml

Now Bob Wilkins passed away on January 7, 2009.

R.I.P.










BOB WILKINS - CREATURE FEATURES HOST


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## Revenant

I'm going to be totally despondent when we lose Zacherley. He's 91 now. Of course living in St Louis all my life I never saw his show live, but he's my favorite of the horror hosts. I absolutely cannot keep a straight face when I hear that laugh.

And it's a crime about Vampira... they never committed any of her shows to film. I think the only film of her in action (besides _Plan 9_) was the intro clip to her show.


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## Spooky1

I grew up watching "Creature Feature" with it's host Count Gore De Vol.


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## Fiend4Halloween

Creature Feature was the best!!!! Great post and pics Johnny. We got one of the copies of the program for her wake and got to see her grave.


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## RoxyBlue

Big Chuck and Hoolihan (the weatherman) were favorites of mine when I was in junior high/high school (remember Pizza Fight of the Century when they pitted the reigning champ against a German shepherd?). I also remember Ghoulardi - we loved watching the cheesy horror flicks he hosted.


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## Don Givens

feldjager said:


> ok how many of you rember hooliang and big chuck,big chuck and
> little john,superhost of channel 43,the cool ghoul and of corse
> ghoulardie?
> damn i lived for superhost and hooliang,big chuck and little john
> growing up. i have superhost on tape with the blob,how i hope nothing
> ever happenes to that tape.
> i was woundering what you use to atch,i know inthe old days{the 60"s
> and 70's}a lot of independent channels had movie host. vcr's of the
> 80's really killed the whole movie host thing. now people can watch
> anything they want,why stay up to watch an old b-film when you an
> watchwhat you want.
> 
> to me we are losing an art form that will never retrun to what it
> once was!


Most people on this site probably won't recognize most of these shows because they were all local to NE Ohio. They were pretty good and do bring back a lot of memories.


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## Don Givens

RoxyBlue said:


> Big Chuck and Hoolihan (the weatherman) were favorites of mine when I was in junior high/high school (remember Pizza Fight of the Century when they pitted the reigning champ against a German shepherd?). I also remember Ghoulardi - we loved watching the cheesy horror flicks he hosted.


Yeah, they called the champ Mushmouth and he could eat an entire pizza in well under a minute.


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## MooreEnt24

My personal favorite host is the "Ticket Master" from the *Theatre of Shadows*.

Hehe


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## Brad Green

Count Gore DeVol out of Washington,D.C. and Chilly Billy in Pittsburgh (he also had a bit part as a news reporter in the original "Night of the Living Dead). Really wish TCM or AMC would bring back the horror host setup, maybe if we started a petition....


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## Johnny Thunder

Horror hosts and their history is one of my passions - I grew up with Uncle Ted out of Scranton/Wilkes Barre, as well as Stella out of Philly on Saturday Night Dead, and of course nationally in the 80's Commander USA on the USA Network. Through various books and recordings, I have been fortunate enough to learn more about them all on a national level.

My dream is to do a show - combining love of Halloween and costumes with horror flicks 

There are a lot of hosts currently out there, whether they be on local affiliates or the web. I am lucky to have my bud Skullboy get me Svengoolie's shows, who still haunts Chicago's airwaves.

Here are a few more links for anyone interested in the subject:

http://www.horror-wood.com/hhosts.htm

http://g.webring.com/hub?ring=jeepersring

http://myweb.wvnet.edu/e-gor/tvhorrorhosts/index.html

http://www.americanscary.com/bios.html

http://www.horrorhosts.com/


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## scareme

Do any of you midwesterners remember Acri Creature Features? It had Chuck Acri and Vincent Hedges. It was out of Illinois, but we could pick it up in Iowa. I used to watch it on Sat. nights. They would show old scarey movies and they crew would put on skits through out the night. The them song was Windmills of Your Mind, and I still think of the show when I hear that song.


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## Sickie Ickie

Son of Svengoolie of course.


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## HouseBloodthorn

Johnny Thunder said:


> Now Bob Wilkins passed away on January 7, 2009.
> 
> R.I.P.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BOB WILKINS - CREATURE FEATURES HOST


Having grown up in Northern California (Sacramento and the Bay Area), Bob Wilkins was our guy. "Creature Features" was on Saturday nights and was my introduction to both the TV Horror Host and horror movies in general.

He didn't wear spooky outfits, make-up or speak with a bad accent. He had a sparsely decorated set of a table, chair, a skull candle and, of course, his now trademark cigar. He had a deadpan delivery style and a very dry wit. He almost always made it seem as if you were wasting your time staying up to watch the grade-Z horror movies they always showed and would skewer the films as beyond bad, but you could clearly tell he loved the genre. He even occasionally had guests, some relatively famous, and also attend the newest craze... conventions.

As I was fairly young at the time, Mom would have nothing to do with my little brother and I staying up late and watching the show in Sacramento. We'd try to devise some way of 'sneak watching' it. Okay, mostly I would. Thankfully, though, when we would go visit my Dad in the Bay Area, he'd make the popcorn and watch with us. This is why Dads rule.

Needless to say, Mr. Wilkins was a fairly big influence on my childhood and I thank him posthumously for his work. He is missed and will always be remembered.

As he was fond of saying...
"Keep America strong. Watch Horror movies."


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## Johnny Thunder

Great post, Dr. K - I know you admire and love the hosts - and their flicks - as much as I do.


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## TheEvilSquire

I grew up watching Dr Shock. He was stellar!


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## ScreamReaper

Hey everyone,

I was trying to come up with some ideas for a new thing we're about to try at Rocky Mountain Terror in addition to Trick or Terror Haunted House. I can't speak too much right now as to the details, but in the process, I was reminded of the show Creature Feature. Upon researching this, I stumbled upon http://www.horrorhostgraveyard.com and found a whole community of horror hosts, still keeping the tradition alive.

Is this something we are missing our on in the Haunt community? Do any of you know much about the Horror Host community? JT, I would especially love your thoughts on this, and think it would make a great segment for you on Hauntcast in an upcoming month.

If you have never heard of this, check out that link I placed above. This should be an interesting conversation thread.


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## RoxyBlue

The horror hosts I "grew up" with were Ghoulardi (Ghoulardi - Wikipedia, the free [email protected]@[email protected]@/wiki/File:Ghoulardi.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2f/Ghoulardi.jpg/220px-Ghoulardi.jpg"@@[email protected]@en/thumb/2/2f/Ghoulardi.jpg/220px-Ghoulardi.jpg) and Big Chuck & Hoolihan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chuck_and_Lil'_John), both Cleveland-based. I loved the cheesy skits and the even more cheesy B horror movies they showcased.

Ernie Anderson (aka Ghoulardi) passed in 1997.


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## austenandrews

I watched Sammy Terry in high school. His incomprehensible weirdness was perfect for a teenager digging on antique horror flicks.

I guess it's a natural that lots of folks would be keeping the tradition alive on the internet.


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## ScreamReaper

Are they so different from us? We set up pro and home haunts. We work all year for October. They are like an old school version of us, just all year long. Some are very cheesy, but the heart is there.

And no offence by "old school." Its an old-school trend and people, very similar to us, are fighting to keep it alive. Smaller budget, even for the home haunter, but they LOVE old school monster movies. Pretty cool in my book.


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## ScreamReaper

I think it would be great to have a horror host as part of a haunt.


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## Johnny Thunder

Hey man - I merged this thread with the existing one.

I'm a HUGE horror host fan, as I posted previously. Grew up with Uncle Ted, Stella and Commander USA, and currently watch Sven and Elvira on TV. There are also tons of other active horror hosts (check out the links in the thread) out there now doing their cool haunted thing. A good resource for the history of the hosts is Scary Monsters Magazine, and any number of good books on the subject.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'd LOVE to be a horror host.


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## RoxyBlue

Johnny Thunder said:


> I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'd LOVE to be a horror host.


I'd be a fan for sure:jol:


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## ScreamReaper

Right on JT! Any chance of you doing a segiment on this in an upcoming Fright Flicks? I think this is something everyone in the Haunted House world would really dig, if they knew more about its current place in horror. 

Truth be told, I think I'm going to try to put together a horror host show in our queue line. But instead of old school horror movies, show local indy horror movies. Our local indy horror movie community has been making a lot of strides to get some recognition lately, and this may be a way to both help them out, and provide a great show for the queue line in our haunt.

What is everyone's thought on my idea?

Hey JT, what did you mean by "out there now doing their cool haunted thing?" Are there horror hosts out their doing this at haunts currently?


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## Johnny Thunder

RMT - definitely will try to do on Hauntcast - been meaning to do so for a while and all of a sudden we're halfway into season three. Time flies and all. Thanks for the kick in the ass 

I only meant on TV and the net but definitely dig your idea at the haunts. I know at the Bates Motel, Randy has a huge screen so while customers are in line to buy tickets or wait for the hayride they can watch video presentations. A host there along with a film would definitely be kick-ass entertainment!


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## Saturday8pm

Out here in lower CT we got Channels 5, 9 and 11 out of NYC and LOVED "Creature Features" with The Creep Lou Steele, "Fright Night" on WOR and "Chiller Theatre" on WPiX.

In the early days, "Chiller" featured John Zacherly as the host 'til '64, well before my time. After that it was hostless but quite popular! This show ran the longest of all three: '61 to '82. Mostly '50s drive-in flicks and foreign films aired on "Chiller". It sported several intros over the years but the most famous was the six-fingered hand that rose from a swamp. This weird claymation short was reportedly created by Rankin and Bass of "Rudolph" fame. It returned in '08 with Zacherly for Halloween night. Mind you, Zach is still going strong at 90+ years young! Wow! He loves what he does. Dunno if the show returns this year, but keeping an eye out for it.

WNEW Metromedia Channel 5 had announcer Lou Steele do a straight Bob Wilkins-type character, The Creep, in simple sunglasses on a small soundstage with just spotlights on him. From '69 'til '73, the intro was a psychedelic Rorsache Ink-type graphic that seemed to represent the face. It faded in and out to the music of "Visitors from Outer Space" which was a rework of the soundtrack to "It Came from Outer Space". Scared the crap outta me! It tanked in the ratings but returned from time to time in The Late '70s. Mostly Universal fare.

Channel 9's "Fright Night" really had a wonderful variety. The most repeated film was '74s "Silent Night, Bloody Night" with Mary Woronov. It ran from '73 to '87 or so and also had no host, just a voiceover announcer.

All these shows intros can be found online now on YouTube® and elsewhere.

Detailed playlists can be found here.


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