# The Late Night Horror Show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171 "2013-01-24T02:08:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/1 "2013-01-24T02:08:15Z")
When I was growing up in the 70s there were numerous late night horror and monster movies on the local channels. Everything from the Japanese monster movies of Saturday night’s “Creature Feature” as well as Friday night’s “Chiller Theater” and “Moona’s Midnight Madness.” Okay so what movies remind you of the late night horror show in your local hometown when you were growing up? Mine would be the original “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” “Them” “Crack In The World” “The Colossus Of New York” “Pit And The Pendulum” “The Black Sleep” and of course “Godzilla” and “Rodan.” I know I am leaving some out; would the SDMB members please fill me in? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/2 "2013-01-24T02:18:55Z")
Well, I just happen to have a copy of [The Bob Wilkins Scrapbook](http://www.scifijapan.com/wyrsch/Creature.jpg) right here. A few movies that Bob screened on KTVU’s _Creature Features_ in 1972: Night of the Living Dead/House of Horrors Bride of Frankenstein/Phantom from Space Mummy’s Hand/Black Scorpion Night Creatures/Mummy’s Tomb Son of Godzilla/The Raven Blood of the Vampire/Mummy’s Ghost Invisible Man/House of Fear Day the Earth Caught Fire/Ghost of Frankenstein Last Man on Earth/Crime of Dr. Hallet ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/3 "2013-01-24T02:38:40Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Well, I just happen to have a copy of [The Bob Wilkins Scrapbook](http://www.scifijapan.com/wyrsch/Creature.jpg) right here. > > A few movies that Bob screened on KTVU’s _Creature Features_ in 1972: > > Night of the Living Dead/House of Horrors > Bride of Frankenstein/Phantom from Space > Mummy’s Hand/Black Scorpion > Night Creatures/Mummy’s Tomb > Son of Godzilla/The Raven > Blood of the Vampire/Mummy’s Ghost > Invisible Man/House of Fear > Day the Earth Caught Fire/Ghost of Frankenstein > Last Man on Earth/Crime of Dr. Hallet I can’t say I’m familiar with Bob Wilkins but what a great list you’ve provided! Such memories… ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/4 "2013-01-24T03:13:59Z")
“Chilly” Billy Cardille hosted “Chiller Theater” in Pittsburgh. It was so popular, I believe Saturday Night Live was broadcast locally on a different day for awhile. I remember staying up late and watching monster/horror movies, often with my dad. One of my better childhood memories. Can’t remember many of the movies: occasionally we’d get a Godzilla movie, but there are a few others I can remember. [_Gargoyles_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068622/reference) (gave me nightmares) _The Deadly Mantis_ _Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things_ I saw _The Raven_ on a Sunday afternoon. I recall a lot of funny, hokey, and scary movies on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Sometimes there would be two or three movies that seemed designed to grab a young kid’s attention. Maybe that was their intent, to babysit us on the weekends. When we got cable, we then had access to [SuperHost’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhost) bad movies. The host segments for Chiller Theater and SuperHost were bad - intentionally bad - but I miss them now. Maybe that’s why I liked MST3K so much when it was on. They tapped into that market of people who used to watch these bad movie shows with corny hosts. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/5 "2013-01-24T05:51:54Z")
[Zombies of the Stratosphere](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045352/)! Kind of misleading though, no zombies, just martians. And Leonard Nimoy. I loved The Raven. And Comedy of Terrors. And just about anything else with Vincent Price in it. Oh, forgot to mention - it was called Fright Night in our area. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/6 "2013-01-24T05:57:23Z")
If you’re interested, there’s a documentary called “American Scary” that’s a history of late night horror show hosts which is available for streaming on Netflix. It’s a bit long and meandering, but kind of fun if you enjoy that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/7 "2013-01-24T06:41:30Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I can’t say I’m familiar with Bob Wilkins but what a great list you’ve provided! Such memories… Bob Wilkins’ “Creature Feature” aired in both San Francisco and Sacramento from the late 60s to the 80s. Wilkins was rather different than your typical TV horror show host. Rather dress up like a vampire or mad doctor, Wilkins was a nerdy-looking host who did each show wearing a conservative suit and horn-rimmed glasses while chomping on a large cigar and introducing each movie in a deadpan manner. In many ways his show was similar to David Letterman’s during his early “Late Night” years at NBC. Wilkins would do interviews with Hollywood celebrities but also have on local oddballs and eccentrics (of which there was a bumper crop in California). Then, or course, there were the movies. As you can see from the list for the 1972 season, they ranged from classics as **Bride of Frankenstein** and **The Invisible Man** and cult favorites like **The Day the Earth Caught Fire** to big sticky bricks of rancid Velveeta. With the latter type, Wilkins would have field day snarking on their shoddy quality and often rerunning scenes with egregious examples of [special effects failure](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpecialEffectFailure). ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/8 "2013-01-24T17:07:02Z")
It was a Rite of Passage to be allowed to stay up late enough to watch Chilly Billy! I later worked with him at Wish 99.7 and told him that I grew up watching his show. Oops. Way to make the man feel old. (My grandmother used to watch the wrestling show he hosted. That’s what I knew him from as a youngster.) I second Gargoyles. I couldn’t sleep that night. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/9 "2013-01-24T18:23:58Z")
It’s not quite the same things but when I think of late night movies, I think of Night Flight and when I think of Night Flight, I think of Fantastic Planet which was something they would sometimes air that freaked me out. For the horror and sci movies, Channel 29 in Philadelphia which I got on my cable (I lived in North NJ) would air that kind of stuff on Saturday afternoons. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/10 "2013-01-25T15:00:32Z")
My main LNHS was Sammy Terry on WTTV-4 out of Bloomington, later Indy. Real name- Bob Carter- owner of Carter Family Music store, retired about 4-yrs ago & is now in a nursing home while his son Mark has taken the role. There were other LNHSs but Sammy was the king around here. As for movies that remind me of his line-up… The entire Universal Classic Monsters line; The Hammer Dracula & Frankenstein lines along with other random Hammer & Amicus productions; The AIP Corman-Price-Poe (& occasionally Lovecraft) line; Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (Mask of the Demon) starring Barbara Steele; A Mexican cheapie titled Brainiac- a warlock returns on the anniversary of his execution centuries ago with the return of a comet- he is disguised as a man but his real form in a pointy-tongued demon who sucks out his victims’ (can you guess?) BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/11 "2013-01-25T16:26:02Z")
The 70s was my introduction to horror movies on TV as well. LA had a long drought of horror hosts when I was growing up ( no one memorable between Vampira in the 50s and Elvira in the 80s) but each of the local stations had certain times blocked out for scary movies. Channel 5 would rerun the same movie five nights in a row at 8pm and strongly favored giant monster films (I can still recite _Monster Zero_ line for line.) Channel 11 had Creature Feature on weekend afternoons and was mostly 50s Horror and Science Fiction. The best, and the only one that regularly aired late night was a double feature on Channel 9. Very English. Very Indie. And very bloody. Even occasional nudity. The double bill I remember best was _Psychomania_ with the undead bikers and _Horror Hospital_ with hot and cold running blood. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/12 "2013-01-25T16:32:19Z")
In central Iowa in the 50’s and early 60’s we had [Graves End Manor](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uGZ4J4-XdU) with Malcolm (a butler-type), Claude (his Igor), and Igor’s girlfriend Esmerelda. Very low rent but very funny to us kids. The only movies I remember are the Universal Classics – Mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature – and all the Sons, Brides, Ghosts thereof. Great way to spend a Saturday night. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/13 "2013-01-25T17:15:42Z")
I recently found [Monster Madhouse](http://www.monstermadhouse.com/) on the local public access channel. It was past my bedtime, though, so I didn’t stay tuned for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/14 "2013-01-25T17:39:00Z")
We still have “Svengoolie” in Chicago, which is pretty much the same thing as all the others being cited here. I believe it is syndicated nationwide on some cable networks. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/15 "2013-01-25T17:44:33Z")
My first exposure to “Late Night” horror was on Saturday afternoons. In the 60s, San Diego’s high priestess of sci-fi and horror was [Moona Lisa](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5PoITcuFzSo/TcDeVkAUhKI/AAAAAAAADAQ/eSH4ZW8Xrrw/s1600/moona2.jpg). I had years of nightmares thanks to seeing [Caltiki The Immortal Monster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltiki_%E2%80%93_The_Immortal_Monster) on her show. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/16 "2013-01-25T18:28:57Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > We still have “Svengoolie” in Chicago, which is pretty much the same thing as all the others being cited here. I believe it is syndicated nationwide on some cable networks. Me-TV. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/17 "2013-01-25T19:22:11Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Me-TV. I just discovered Svengoolie recently (while waiting for _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea_, a guilty-pleasure show that’s on after it around here on MeTV). I haven’t gotten to the point yet where I specifically watch it, but I do find I tune in a little early so I can catch the last half-hour or so. He’s a nice combination of MST3K and the old horror-movie hosts I vaguely remember from my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/18 "2013-01-25T19:29:29Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I just discovered Svengoolie recently (while waiting for _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea_, a guilty-pleasure show that’s on after it around here on MeTV). I haven’t gotten to the point yet where I specifically watch it, but I do find I tune in a little early so I can catch the last half-hour or so. He’s a nice combination of MST3K and the old horror-movie hosts I vaguely remember from my childhood. Lately I’ve noticed that Svengoolie is running movies that aren’t horror. I think he had _Duck Soup_ on recently. I don’t mind, but it’s a little inconsistent. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/19 "2013-01-25T19:41:32Z")
In the northeast Ohio market, we had Ghoulardi and Hoolihan & Big Chuck. Wonderful memories. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171/20 "2013-01-25T21:04:09Z")
People from the Detroit and maybe DC areas in the 70s should remember [Sir Graves Ghastly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Graves_Ghastly) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late-night-horror-show/648171.md?page=2)