How did you get interested in horror films and horror hosts?
DG: I think kids have a natural attraction to monsters. It's a natural extension of fairy tales. I grew up in the era of the 'monster boom', the early to mid-60s, when horror and science fiction films had established themselves as broadcast staples. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it seemed every local station had one or more regularly scheduled horror movie programs. My earliest childhood memories include films like Bride of the Monster (the first horror film that gave me nightmares), Tarantula, Creature Walks Among Us and The Magic Sword.
The defining moment for me was one Halloween night when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was trick or treating with my brothers when my bag started to tear - this was back in the days when a kid could literally gather a shopping bag of booty in the course of an evening. I was close to home and ran in to grab a new bag. My dad was laying on the couch in the dark watching Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and I walked in just as the monsters were being revived. The whole image - the monsters on the screen, my dad on the couch - imprinted itself deeply onto my psyche. That movie defines Halloween for me, and ever since it first came out on video tape, I've watched it ever year and think of my father.
The shows I was seeing at the time were unhosted, but most had a menacing voice announcer introducing the film and setting the mood. This was back when you only had three stations, four stations tops, to choose from. Sometime in 1969, my mother bought portable TV that had additional UHF stations, and there I discovered KEMO CH 20, which had a program called Shock It To Me Theater — and this show had a host called Asmodeus. Shock It To Me had the Universal package, so I finally got a chance to see the classic Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy and Wolf Man [characters and] movies I had been seeing in Famous Monsters of Filmland. So it was pretty exciting time. Shock It To Me was also where I first saw Carnival of Souls, which really popped the top off my skull and spanked my brain.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
excellent interview on a great topic - I loved Elvira when I was in LA and the Ghoul here in Cleveland, keeping you company while you watch the (mostly) bad scay movies. Thanks Rechercher!
2 - Pereire
Very cool story. Merci bien Rechercher!
3 - Vic R
What an informative and well-written piece. Great to know that even the hosts in different markets didn't know each other. My cousins from Cleveland and ourselves from Chicago used to regale each other with tales of our local Creature Feature horror hosts and the movies they showed. Great stuff, Rechercher.
4 - Tom Terrell
In the late '60s, my sister Bevadine and I would dance on Zacherley's "Disco Teen Dance Party". We'd go down to Newark, NJ's Symphony Hall on Thursdays and Fridays to tape the show. They'd have local bands and big time R&B acts. We became local celebs a la American Bandstand. And Zach was the coolest, nicest cat. We were his favorites. Man it was a gas!! Zach was one of my TV idols. To meet him and talk and hng out with him was beyond the pale. Cat was Kyrpt Kool!!
5 - Doktor Goulfinger
Hey there Tom:
Man! That is so cool that you were on Disc-o-teen!
Zacherley is indeed the coolest. When I think of horror host royalty, I consider Zach the King, Vampira the Queen and Ghoulardi the court jester. They are clearly the most influential, and you cannot discuss host history without placing them at the top of the pyramid.
And thank you, Rechercher, for the nice editing job on my clumsier responses. The illusion of eloquence is uncanny.
DokG