(dramatic music)
(screaming)
- (sighs) Screaming relaxes me so.
(exciting music)
- The modern horror genre arguably got started
on a June night in 1816 when Lord Byron
challenged his companions at Lake Geneva
to write ghost stories to tell each other.
That challenge resulted in Frankenstein
and the modern vampire as we know it.
Now here's the part where it'll probably sound like
I'm reaching, I think it's that origin story
with a group of story tellers sitting around a fire
that has led horror to be drawn to anthologies
and horror hosts.
It's probably no shock to you all that I,
someone who talks about horror movies on the internet,
have a huge love for horror hosts.
And while the internet has changed a lot
I thought we could look back at the history
of how we got here.
Vampira, played by actress Mila Nermey
was the first horror host.
For a single season from April 30th, 1954
to April second, 1955 the Vampira show ran
on KABC in Los Angeles at the glamor ghoul
in her long, tight black dress
reclining on a Victorian couch introducing movies.
Now that probably sounds a bit familiar to a lot of you
who have never even seen Vampira.
But she was the first to do it.
She was Morticia Addams before Morticia Addams.
Literally.
She based her look on the nameless character
from Charles Adams' cartoons in The New Yorker
who wouldn't be known as Morticia
until the TV adaptation a decade later.
What's really crazy about the character of Vampira
and her influence is her short tenure.
A year in, ABC tried to buy the character from Nermey.
She refused, they canceled her.
That was it for Vampira.
But she started a format that would thrive
and launch a million monster kids.
Then in 1957 Universal Studios packaged
52 of their classic horror films as Shock Theater
and distributed them around the US
for television syndication.
And encouraged the use of hosts for the broadcasts.
This led to a wave of late night costumed hosts
taking to the air to introduce the films
with stand outs like John Zacherley, originally appearing
as Roland in Philadelphia before moving to New York
and presenting as Zacherley,
becoming nationwide sensations.
Zacherley really leaned into the horror comedy
side of things and incorporated cut away gags,
parodying the films he was presenting,
which has kind of become the standard.
Zacherley even had a hit record
with Dinner For Drac, breaking the top 10 in 1958.
And that's sort of what my introduction to Zacherley was,
not Dinner With Drac in 1958, but from Rock and Roll.
He and the Ghastly Ones do a great cover of CCR's
Sinister Purpose on Rob Zombie's
Halloween Hootenanny compilation.
The Shock Theater package hitting television
created a monster craze in the late '50's
that would also benefit from Forrest J. Ackerman's
Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine
and comics like Tales from the Crypt.
While the horror hosts of the era were mostly made up
of weather men and other personalities already employed
by the respective stations presenting archival films
during the late '50's a genre series would emerge
that would change everything.
Rod Sterling was already an established name in television
when he created The Twilight Zone
an anthology series which presented original sci-fi,
fantasy and horror tales which used the freedom
of genre storytelling to tackle stories and theme
that he felt were being suppressed and censored elsewhere.
The show with Sterling narrating through each stand alone
story until its twist ending is one of the most
beloved franchises in television history.
And has spawned a movie, countless imitations
and three revivals including an upcoming version
executive produced and hosted by Jordan Peele.
While The Twilight Zone brought about a new kind
of horror host one that presented original material
it didn't mean that the Late-Nite Schlock host
went anywhere.
In fact they thrived through the '60's with names like
Ghoulardi, Sammy Terry and Moona Lisa
ruling their local airwaves.
Some of the characters from the original monster craze
are still going like how Mark Carter replaced his Father Bob
as Sammy Terry and Rich Koz took over
the reigns of Svengoolie.
First replacing Jerry G. Bishop as Son of Svengoolie
from 1979 to 1986 then when the show was resurrected in 1995
Bishop encouraged Koz to drop Son of
and he's been Svengoolie every since.
Now expanded from the original Chicago market
to reach audiences nationwide Saturday night's on METV.
While the horror hosts didn't go anywhere
through the '70's popularity did dip a bit.
But there was a resurgence in the early '80's
thanks to the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira.
The origin story of Elvira actually circle us back
to Vampira which shouldn't really come as any surprise.
Looking to revive Fright Night not the movie
which featured a horror host but the LA area horror show
that had been hosted by Sinister Seymour
producers reached out to Mila Nermey she was on board,
but according to Wikipedia she wanted Lola Falana
to take over the role, producers said no and Nearmy walked
which was kinda her thing.
Auditions were held to find a new hostess
and Cassandra Peterson won the job,
but since Nermey owned Vampira,
remember she refused to sell the rights the character
of Elvira was created.
And as you can expect there were some lawsuits.
But it was ruled that characters that just shared
a close resemblance that if anything could be sourced
back to Charles Adams.
The hostess and movie macabre went on to be
a media sensation throughout the 1980's
and has been a staple of pop culture ever since.
In fact, there's rumors of another sequel
to Mistress of the Dark and talk that a new version
of Elvira's movie macabre may be making its way to Netflix.
It was at the very end of the '80's that arguably
the greatest horror host of the greatest horror
anthology series made his debut.
Tales from the Crypt sound so weird it had to work.
I mean someone said let's have a puppet corpse
introduce a bunch of short films starring and created
by A-list Hollywood talent based on horror comic books
from the 19050's.
And they said it with a straight face
and then it actually worked.
Thanks in large part to the John Kassir voiced Crypt Keeper
who would also make the leap to Saturday mornings
with the markedly tamer Tales from the Crypt Keeper.
There are definitely a group of horror fans around my age
who would cite the Crypt Keeper as their first horror host.
But for me that honor goes to a group of Canadian kids
sitting around a campfire.
The Midnight Society of Are You Afraid of the Dark?
met weekly with each member taking a turn
submitting a tale for approval.
It wasn't a traditional horror host set up for sure,
but it was an effective one that cultivated
a new group of monster kids.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is even moving to the big screen
it and Annabelle Creation's scribe Gary Dauberman
has written the film which is due in theaters this fall.
But beyond Kids in the Woods the '90's also saw
the emergence of something else that would change
the landscape of horror hosts, the internet.
Count Gore de Vol of Washington D.C. who originally
broadcasted from 1973 to 1987 lays claim to being the first
horror host on the internet with his online series
which dates back to 1998.
But it's not just existing hosts taking to the web
the last few years has seen a rise
in a new generation of horror hosts.
Like Blair Bathory of Fear Haus who has been hosting
her carefully curated selections of short horror
since May of 2015.
The show is now weekly with new episodes on Wednesdays
and they've even expanded to a Fear Haus Watch Club group
on Facebook for fans of the series to join the discussion.
There's also Deadflix hosted by hellbound video store clerk
Morgul from the team at Grind Mind.
Their series is an anthology of original short films
with new episodes coming monthly.
So like the horror hosts going back to the '50's
even the internet has hosts who introduce pre-produced films
and hosts who present original works.
Ad of course I can't forget Joe Bob.
Joe Bob Briggs is a bit different
than your usual horror host having originally been known
as a Drive-In critic
before hosting Drive-In Theater and Monster Vision.
These days he set up show with the folks over at Shudder
where the last Drive-In knocked out three epic marathons
in 2018 and now news is out that a weekly series
will be coming to the streaming platform in the new year.
Look I know I missed a bunch here including Grandpa Al,
but who's your favorite horror host?
Do you prefer original anthologies
or archived presentations?
Let us know in the comments.
And remember Frighthype and Cryptv are all over the internet
until next time keep the horror on the screen
and off the streets.
(intriguing music)
- [Narrator] Watch new scary vids every Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday.
(upbeat music)