Which of your favorite horror DVDs were special late-night TV memories? [Archive]

wago70

09-14-2006, 05:53 AM

I've had many but the ones that stick out are THE DARK 1979. I saw this on the CBS late night movie and some how, some way they drew out the running time to 2 and 1/2 hours:eek: Yes, that was the loooooongest THE DARK I've ever tried to sit through. Next thing I know, it was Monday morning and I missed the ending! When I was just a wee lad, I was scared mindless by the creature in HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES. The only other time I was able to see the film was on DVD so many decades later. It's still a favorite. When I first saw DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS, I thought I had missed half the film since it starts off with a chase scene. I was only 7 and didn't know my Hammer catalog yet (I still don't as much as I should). There's so many more I'll share, but I want to hear all of yours first.

Peter Vincent

09-14-2006, 01:58 PM

I have a pretty sweet memory of seeing Phantasm on network TV way back when. The finger scene creeped teh hell outta me & I had trouble sleeping!

I also remember a night where I made myself stay up 'til 1am for Godzilla Vs. The Smog Monster. I was a Godzilla nut growing up and this was BEFORE the VHS boom, so that gives U an idea of how old that memory is. I think I made it through half of it.

Ah, those old school Halloween marathons have classic memories. They're hard to replicate despite digital enhancements & the ease of Tivo and DVD. Its just a very nostalgic feeling...

wago70

09-14-2006, 04:23 PM

Godzilla was a staple of my late-night viewings. I would fight sleep to see any of those films! However, our stations didn't have the big Godzilla library so I never saw the solo films of Mothra, Rodan and Ghidrah. I think it was around 1980 when I was finally struck by the fact that the films were dubbed in English! Yes-as a child that never mattered or occured to me that the Japanese actors were not English speaking Americans.
It was about 1982 that I noticed late-night TV was changing. They were showing less and less of the Vincent Price films, Hammer films, Universal Horrors...instead, films like "Audrey Rose", "Play Misty for Me", "The Other" and such were being featured more. I knew times were really changing when FRIDAY THE 13TH made it's showing on TV (including Creature Features uncut). I'm glad I was a kid during the '70's and early '80's. It's only NOW some of those films are appearing on DVD.

baggio

09-14-2006, 05:09 PM

I knew times were really changing when FRIDAY THE 13TH made it's showing on TV (including Creature Features uncut). I'm glad I was a kid during the '70's and early '80's. It's only NOW some of those films are appearing on DVD.

I was going to say Friday the 13th also.(saw it on a B&W tv)

Also remember staying up for Night of the Living Dead , Day of the Triffids, and oddly Psychic Killer

Fumi

09-14-2006, 05:12 PM

I have some memories of Bugs (the one where the fire spurting cockroaches crawl up out of the earthquake hole). That was enthralling when I was a little kid. Haven't seen it since then. Also, Night of the Lepus. I was so little I actually took that seriously. And Gargoyles. That one didn't scare me too much, even then. Had a cool scene at the beginning though.

Paff

09-14-2006, 05:43 PM

As I mentioned in my review, The Beast Within was a staple of late night cable programming in the 80s, and I still throw it in the player from time to time.

DrHerbertWest

09-14-2006, 06:01 PM

A lot of movies I came across on HBO or Showtime late at night, such as Child's Play, House, Phantasm III, etc.

wago70

09-14-2006, 06:15 PM

Ah, yes pay cable! We had Showtime since 1979 and they were not big on horror AT ALL. The next few years I was only able to see: "The Comeback", "Parts - The Clonus Horror", "When A Stranger Calls" and "Tintorrea" not much else. It was so disappointing to see HBO getting all the flicks I wanted to see ("The Fog", "Prom Night", "Humanoids from the Deep", "Without Warning"...all of those great films) and my dad refusing to get it. Showtime was enough as it was.
Fed up with this programming, I wrote a letter to "Letters to Showtime" in 1981 requesting all those films. They wrote me a letter back right away and said they'd do their best to fulfill my requests and that they were finding out that Horror films were among their strongest inquiries. Within a few months most of my requests were finally shown (except Prom Night...NBC beat them to that one)! Pretty soon, Showtime was getting a lot of horror fare (good and bad). Showtime got the popular stuff and the not-so-popular stuff ("The Prey", "Satan's Mistress", "The Hearse"). I even saw "Hell Night" at 12:30 in the afternoon once.
Back to late night, it was about 1987 when I FINALLY saw "Trilogy of Terror". Forbidden to see it when I was a kid, I was not disappointed. I still have that recording (on the same tape as the first two episodes of Friday the 13th the Series).

Peter Vincent

09-14-2006, 08:45 PM

...Also remember staying up for Night of the Living Dead , Day of the Triffids, and oddly Psychic Killer

Ah, Day of the Triffids, not one of my fav old B-movie flicks by a long shot, but was played over & over...why???

It was my VERY FIRST VHS tape! Bought it like WAY back then for a then-cheap for VHS $10 or something! Played that EP recorded flick over & over for a while.

Don't even PAY me to watch that movie no more!

wago70

09-14-2006, 08:51 PM

Heheehee - I didn't see Triffids until a few years ago on Italian DVD. I could never watch that whole movie when it aired.
One of the best memories I have is going to bed on a Friday night and then waking up around 11:30 to the sound of my visiting relatives laughing with my parents in the living room. The movie on Creature Features was INVADERS FROM MARS. My relatives were hungry after their 4 hour drive and we all ordered Pizza and had it delivered. By the time the movie was over, it was only us kids still awake - and one of the Universal Mummy films came on. :)

Luna

09-15-2006, 12:15 AM

Evil Dead Guy

09-15-2006, 12:50 AM

I have a good memory of Beyond the Door, i waited up till 1:00AM in the morning to watch. Though i seen it at the drive-in years earlier, but i had to watch it again.

betterdan

09-15-2006, 01:05 AM

I used to be scared as hell when The Gargoyles would come on late night tv. :nervous:

Shokk

09-15-2006, 01:22 AM

I used to be scared as hell when The Gargoyles would come on late night tv. :nervous:

:lol: Good one!

WOR and Wpix (NY) always had good flicks on late night.I would say my most fond memories would be most of the Vincent Price films.They were always on..

wago70

09-15-2006, 01:26 AM

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the late night ABC-TV movies. Those were always great fun to watch way after I should have been asleep. They showed all sorts of great 70s/early 80s TV horrors like Crowhaven Farm, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, Bad Ronald, Midnight Offerings, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby (yeah, I know), The House That Would Not Die... I could go on!

Where's the love for ABC and Aaron Spelling TV movies?? :D

P.S. - DAMN THE INFOMERCIAL TO HELL.

I agree!!! I was able to see "Don't be Afraid..." at about 3:00 a.m. My first and last time in 1983. "Midnight Offerings" I saw the premier 9:00 broadcast in Spring of '81. "Bad Ronald" I saw when it first aired and never got to see it again...until last year sadly in a time compressed broadcast.

SaviniFan

09-15-2006, 01:51 AM

Twisted Brain and Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things had regular late night airings when I was a kid.

Damage

09-15-2006, 01:51 AM

I remember watching Contamination several times on Elvira's Movie Macabre. Of course it was the US cut known as Alien Contamination and every time something gross happened, they'd cut to Elvira wretching. Fun times.

I also remember watching Bug as a kid. I was in grade seven and it was the big year-end overnight school trip. Five guys in a hotel room, no parents, and you want lights out?? Fuggedabowdit! We stayed up late and watched Bug and had a great freaking time.

zompirejoe

09-15-2006, 02:50 AM

PHANTASM, DEADLY BLESSING, DR. TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS, BLOOD AND LACE, WARLOCK MOON, DEATHDREAM, CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, TWISTED BRAIN, GARGOYLES, to name a few.... i was a pretty bored kid with a sleeping disorder, so i was up late almost every night. weekends were great though ,there were lots of horror films on, and lots of KOLCHAK reruns. where i lived in PENNSYLVANIA they always used to show FRIDAY THE 13TH THE SERIES, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, and MONSTERS back to back on saturday nights. followed by GHOST HOST THEATRE and CHILLER THEATER, and on some nights an ELVIRA hosted show. those were the good old days......

Pukenstein

09-15-2006, 02:53 AM

Deathdream, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, and NOTLD on late night TV. These were on Sat nights often, they scared the crap out of me.

Luna

09-15-2006, 03:14 AM

WOR and Wpix (NY) always had good flicks on late night.I would say my most fond memories would be most of the Vincent Price films.They were always on..Oh, hell yeah! This should bring back many pleasant memories:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WPIX&search=SearchI agree!!! I was able to see "Don't be Afraid..." at about 3:00 a.m. My first and last time in 1983. "Midnight Offerings" I saw the premier 9:00 broadcast in Spring of '81. "Bad Ronald" I saw when it first aired and never got to see it again...until last year sadly in a time compressed broadcast.Wow, excellent! I don't remember what years I saw them, aside from a range of say, 1977-1982/3ish. Damn, those were some good times. :)

DrHerbertWest

09-15-2006, 04:51 AM

I'm pretty young (I don't know the ages of every one else on the board), but growing up, the only thing I had that was deemed close to "late night monster movie shows" was MonsterVision... Which I loved. It was my first introduction to one of my now-all time favorites, ROTLD.

Erick H.

09-15-2006, 05:21 AM

Our local horror show was DR. MADBLOOD'S MOVIE,and my best friend and I spent the night at each others houses almost every weekend to see all of the great (and not so great) films.I got my first exposure to Hammer films,Amicus and loads of other Peter Cushing,Christopher Lee and Vincent Price (lots of A.I.P) flicks through MADBLOOD.Standouts for me were THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES,THEATER OF BLOOD and FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED.GODZILLA films were always favorites.I also saw a lot of rarely screened (nowadays,at least) horror films on THE CBS LATE MOVIE.I saw television premieres of stuff like SHOCK WAVES,THE PSYCHIC (Fulci's SEVEN NOTES IN BLACK),and the hard to find Giallo THE SECRET OF SEAGULL ISLAND.When the late 70's-mid 80's horror boom was on ,PHANTASM and TOURIST TRAP were big faves.I'm very nostalgic about those days.

mutleyhyde

09-15-2006, 06:18 AM

Well, I've still yet to get it on dvd, but my favorite TV movie of years past is 'The Guyana Tragedy' with James Earl Jones and the spooky-as-fuck Powers Booth. I haven't checked on it in a while, but last time I checked, no one had put it on dvd yet. I am waiting with anticipation.

There was also a made for tv movie called something like 'Where Have All the People Gone?' I'd like to scope out. The commercials always had me hooked, but I never got to watch!! :mad:

wago70

09-15-2006, 07:21 AM

All great films, everyone. Here's one I'll never forget: being alone at night watching Creature Features' very mild showing of TARANTULA. All lights are out, I'm safe watching the TV when all of a sudden, a TV spot for the theatrical re-release of THE EXORCIST comes on. Talk about ruining the mood! I got up so fast, ran to the kitchen and turned on the light...and was afraid to run back to the couch until the commercial WAS OVER! Even then, I waited about 10 more minutes before I scrambled back to the couch to hide under the blankets!
A late night trailer for THE EVIL DEAD caught me off guard one time as well even though I was well-jaded by horror at the time. That trailer actually had narration and was set up nothing like the Anchor Bay trailers. Again, it scared the crap out of me.
A late-night trailer for TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE got me good, too. Again, it was the scene of Sally struggling to push Franklin along and then Leatherface bursts out of the dark with his saw. The shot froze and then the titles came on the screen followed by, "NOW PLAYING EVERYWHERE!"
Again - all alone watching the nice, innocent older films and something like the (then) current films come out of nowhere like the boogeyman. Great times!

betterdan

09-15-2006, 07:24 AM

haha cool Wago.
I remember me and my brother and sister getting scared to death when we saw the trailer for Ruby on tv. Don't ask...we were young. ;)

Agent Z

09-15-2006, 07:30 AM

Travel back with me to the mid-70's, when I was around twelve apples high, give or take an apple, and well before cable television was a common staple of most households. Television sets were floor models and many people invested hundreds of dollars (my father included) on giant, loud, motorized outdoor antennas....which, for the most part, fared no better or worse than the $10 throwaway rabbit ears that can be picked up at your local Wally World these days.

We lived in a rural stretch of Ohio, about 40 minutes outside of Dayton. Our outdoor NASA antenna picked up...hmmm...maybe five stations? One of those channels was home to Shock Theatre, hosted by Dr. Creep (http://www.horrordvds.com/vb3forum/showthread.php?t=16574&highlight=creep+horror), which really loaded the Saturday nights up with many, many great horror films.

I remember being in my little Spider-Man pj's (shaddup!) and trying to stay awake until Shock Theatre would come on the air. Man, I was rolling around on the living room carpet, fists balled-up in my tired eyes, ignoring my parents' pleas for me to go to bed cause, well, I had to see King Kong VS Godzilla at all costs!

Of course, I would always wake up in the next morning's sunlit living room, realizing that I had fallen asleep before and during Shock Theatre. As a kid, with all the priorities that a kid has at that point, that was the worst feeling in the world. My little heart was broken! Would I ever be able to stay up to see Shock Theatre on a regular basis? Will they ever show King Kong VS Godzilla again?!

Thankfully, at some point, Shock Theatre was moved to Saturday afternoons...and my early love/study of all things horror began. I remember watching such classics as Burnt Offerings, The Fly, Night of the Lepus, Trilogy of Terror, along with a steady diet of Hammer and the aformentioned Godzilla-Fu.

When I think of fun times watching television as a child, I think of Shock Theatre first and foremost, followed by the original The Twilight Zone....and our local PBS airing Night of the Living Dead every Halloween. Fun times! :)

Oh, and this is all before the vcr craze took foot.....that's when the obsession really took off. :p

wago70

09-15-2006, 07:37 AM

Oh I've lost many a battle with sleep back in those days. It was my ma who told me to take a nap in the day and that would help me stay up. It worked, but the hardest thing to do was sleep on a Saturday when you are off from school for the weekend.
We got our first VCR in 1983 and it never played a single "vintage" horror film. I'm so glad the stations played them often, however. I also want to give props to good ol' MONSTERVISION on TBS some years ago. They brought that tradition back in their own way, didn't they?

Shannafey

09-15-2006, 01:45 PM

The first time I saw The Hills Have Eyes, was at 3am in the morning!! I have good memories of watching Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, but ironically I remember it being on in the afternoon most times! One film that actually terrified me as a kid is Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. Trilogy of Terror gave me nightmares as well!!

wago70

09-15-2006, 04:02 PM

"Children Shouldn't..." is awesome. I loved that creepy electronic music. I got to see it only once late night in 1982. I loved that finale. I caught "Shivers" (then known as "They Came From Within") late night from a Sacramento station once. I don't recall the film being edited at all. Those '70's films are still tops.
In 1982 Showtime broadcast a film called "Stranger in the House". Under the title was stated: "also known as BLACK CHRISTMAS".
The first shot that is a point of view of the killer (shuffling up to the sorority house) somewhat startled me. I was hooked from beginning to end. I told as many kids at school (7th grade) as I could about it. Almost everyone watched it the next showing (there weren't many and there was never a showing before 11:00 at night as I recall) and were really talking about that one!
It was re-broadcast again in 1985 on Christmas Eve and that was the last time I was able to see the film for many years.

wago70

09-15-2006, 04:16 PM

Luna thank you for posting that link to Youtube. TV intros are getting more exposure there after I did some searching! That's awesome :)
Regarding BUG - this got more primetime showings in my area (I grew up in Reno, but our best channels came from San Francisco/Oakland and Sacramento) and I could never get into it. I do recall the trailers when it was playing theatrically, though.
I only got to see one Elvira presentation and that was "New Years Evil". Although I have had the newspaper clipping of the very brief theatrical release of that film, I didn't find my slasher-thirst quenched one bit by the film. Although Fangoria introduced me to the allure of Elvira I had no idea what she was really about other than looking awesome in that magazine. I was immediately amused and caught off-guard by her comedy. She was a hoot and when I looked for more listings in TV guide of her show in our area, there weren't any.

evildeadfan123

09-15-2006, 05:06 PM

When I was a kid, we had 2 local stations doing late night horror flicks. One was Friday Fright Night, and the other was Creature Feature. I remember watching The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, Creeping Flesh, and assorted others that I can't remember, but the same station that did Friday Fright Night, also, at 3:00 PM Monday-Friday would have a movie on until 5:00 PM, and it was usually Sci-Fi, and some Godzilla movies. But, I still remember Friday Fright Night, they would start it at 10:30 PM, and it would go until about 8:00 Saturday Morning. At the beginning of FFN, the light was green and a fake Skull would turn, and a voice over, would say something, I forgot what it was, but I sure miss Friday Fright Night. I even went to bed, then went in the living room to watch a movie, pretty early in the morning. I had my pillow and a blanket, which I wasn't supposed to be up watching TV. My mom woke up, and said, "Alicia, what are you doing up watching TV." I think was about 8 or 9 years old at the time, this was sometime between 1979-1981.

Shannafey

09-15-2006, 05:26 PM

I just remembered the Chiller Theatre intro with the 6 fingered clay animated hand! Can't remember any films that were on, but anyone growing up in NYC at the time it was on, will definitely remember that!!

wago70

09-15-2006, 05:26 PM

Great story! Yes, that was indeed the prime years for me as well! :) We got the afternoon/after-school sci-fi courtesy of "Captain Cosmic" on Oakland's Channel 2 (now FOX).
More often than not, however, a really good one would come on at 1:00 in the afternoon and you had to have been home sick from school just to see them. I never lucked out that way.

FilmFiend

09-15-2006, 05:42 PM

Let's see, I remember seeing Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, Deathdream, Don't Look In the Basement, Hills Have Eyes (played with original happy ending and closing credits), Legend of Boggy Creek, Creature From Black Lake, Kingdom of the Spiders, Twisted Brain, Squirm, Horror Express, and a very low budget strange film about UFOs called Foes (not on DVD).

I also remember seeing a lot of severely edited Eurohorror on TV such as The Blood Splattered Bride, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, It Happened at Nightmare Inn (aka A Candle for the Devil- somebody please give this a DVD release!!)
Argento used to get on TV sometimes in the 80s such as Cat O'Nine Tails and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

There was one station that even showed Andy Milligan films on Saturday afternoons such as The Man with Two Heads, Legacy of Blood, and The Rats Are Coming The Werewolves Are Here.

Amazingly the first time I ever saw The Deadly Spawn was on TV in the 80s. The TV Guide had something else listed but this movie called The Deadly Spawn came on, so it blew my 14 year old mind!!! I asked for the old Continental VHS release for my birthday which was soon approaching. I can assure you that movie was uncut on TV!

Strangely, I used to see Fred Olen Ray's Scalps on TV also.

wago70

09-15-2006, 06:03 PM

Awesome! I was never lucky to see any of Fred's film on TV. In 1990, I stayed up extra late to see Fulci's ZOMBIE. It seemed like a long shot at the time. Even TV Guide listed "...gory shocker from 1980...". So, the time came and I was treated to an old, B&W film of the same title.

baggio

09-15-2006, 06:10 PM

FilmFiend

09-15-2006, 06:31 PM

wago70

09-15-2006, 06:57 PM

Not at nightime but does anybody remember the 4:00 pm movies on the channel that is now known as Fox. They would have a theme all week after school. Like Godzilla week or Sci/horror --- The Green Slime, Creeping Flesh, etc...
Our station would get lucky every great once in a while with theme weeks. Mostly at that hour, we'd get "Space Giants" or "Adam's Family". 5:00 indeed meant that kids' time is over and my parent's would take over the TV for shows like "Barney Miller" and "The Odd Couple".
Before FOX, Channel 2 was really happening, though! They rocked with the horror offerings.

Paff

09-15-2006, 08:00 PM

Not at nightime but does anybody remember the 4:00 pm movies on the channel that is now known as Fox. They would have a theme all week after school. Like Godzilla week or Sci/horror --- The Green Slime, Creeping Flesh, etc...

The ABC affiliate in NY used to have the 4:30 movie. I remember those. So does someone else, apparently:

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/TV%20Guide/430movielogo.htm

Myron Breck

09-15-2006, 08:04 PM

SHOCK WAVES used to come on late at night and scare the poop out of me. I saw JUST BEFORE DAWN on some Sunday afternoon show. And, speaking of tv movies, the ever-elusive DON'T GO TO SLEEP was also a favorite.

wago70

09-15-2006, 08:25 PM

"Don't Go to Sleep" - I've still not seen it yet. I've heard about the "pizza cutter going up the bannister" sequence which sounded creepy.

baggio

09-15-2006, 09:16 PM

The ABC affiliate in NY used to have the 4:30 movie. I remember those. So does someone else, apparently:

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/TV%20Guide/430movielogo.htm
wow, thats a great site, brings back memories.

baggio

09-15-2006, 09:18 PM

SHOCK WAVES used to come on late at night and scare the poop out of me.

Thats another one I remember too. Definitely a creepy late night movie.

Copyboy

09-15-2006, 09:40 PM

Wow! You all are making me so jealous! I feel like I missed out on something great in my childhood! The only thing I remember from when I was really young in the 70s was the Creature Double Feature on Saturday afternoons from Boston's WLVI channel 56. They would show the classic Universal horror movies, Godzilla movies (along with all his friends' flicks) and Hammer. Of course, I was never allowed to watch any of these as I was prone to nightmares from the likes of the oh-so-terrifying Halloween episode of Little House on the Prairie when the diabolical Mrs. Oleson had her head chopped off and served on a platter, but I would spend as many Saturdays as possible at friends' houses where I would catch as much of this forbidden fruit as I could.

In the early 80s I spent as many nights as possible at a friend's house so I could watch all the horror movies on HBO that I wasn't allowed to see in theaters. I remember that WOLFEN was my first ever R-rated movie. WOO HOO! I was a happy boy!

Around the same time I would stay up late during school vacations and that's when I fell in love with the original TWILIGHT ZONE and they also used to show NIGHT GALLERY which would sometimes really freak me out. I was also introduced to JUST BEFORE DAWN and RITUALS in edited for television versions which still managed to scare the bejesus out of me!

Ah yes, the good old days . . .

wago70

09-15-2006, 11:02 PM

Hehehehe - that episode of "Little House" was just on earlier this summer :)
RITUALS! Love that film - saw it in '81 late one night (of course) only because there was nothing else on TV. It wasn't even in the TV guide and I didn't even know it was remotely a thriller until further into the film. I was hooked. Loved the ending, too.
Soon after (a matter of weeks, actually) the film was featured as a "dog" on the Siskel and Ebert "Sneak Previews" show. It was known to them as "The Creeper" and the following week, Ebert corrected himself and said the title was RITUALS and he also stated something like, "...and it just goes to show what lengths they'll stoop to sell a movie these days...".

eric_angelus

09-16-2006, 12:42 AM

My home town (Erie, PA) used to run a show on Saturday nights called The Late Great Horror Show. Two movies, starting at 11:30. The first was almost always a 30's or 40's monster movie (Universal mostly). The second feature was either a Hammer or Amicus movie...or else a Japanese monster movie. Some of my best memories are of The House That Dripped Blood and Vampire Circus...both of which scared the shit outta me when I watched them by myself. The show ran from about 1981-1985 and was replaced by Elvira's Movie Macabre...which gave me see first looks at Tombs of the Blind Dead, New Years Evil, Schizoid, Blood on Satan's Claw, etc.
On Friday nights, I remember watching a show on cable on a Cleveland station called The Big Chuck and Little John Show. They ran such stuff as Asylum, Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural, Baron Blood, Tower of Evil, Tourist Trap, and a bunch of other great stuff. Afterward there was usually more horror movies right up until dawn.

wago70

09-16-2006, 01:16 AM

Prime years, I tell ya! They never came back, unfortunately :(

Luna

09-16-2006, 03:11 AM

eric_angelus

09-16-2006, 05:50 AM

I have fond memories of watching Vincent Price films and Godzilla type movies on the (NYC area) 4:30 movie and hey, wago, you MUST see Don't Go To Sleep! That's one of the movies I remembered fondly, even if barely after so many years, and it was such a blast from the past to see it again recently! I bought the VHS, possibly from eBay or half.com. I forget which. :)
Is this the movie with Valerie Harper where the daughter goes nuts and attacks with a pizza cutter? If so, I remember it well...haven't thought about that one in years!

scott71670

09-16-2006, 06:48 AM

I used to watch something called Theater Bizarre on channel 23 from Albany, NY. We used to get it through this antenna on the dark side of my house. Every so often the picture would go out and you'd have to go move the antenna to get it back, and this was usually at 3 in the morning. (It was on the side of the house so it was easy to do) You'd run like hell to get out there and back because you'd be so scared!!!
But anyway I saw some fun flicks on there. Here's some of the titles I remember... and there's a lot because this is what sparked my interest in horror in the first place: Rituals, Bad Ronald, Zotz, Twonky, Survival Run, Just Before Dawn, Horror rises from the tomb, phantasm, exorcist, halloween 1 and 2, a ton of godzillas and gameras, the maijin flix, initiation of sara, the uncanny, dr. terror's house of horrors, trog, the thing (old), a ton of hammer, bunny lake is missing, macabre, shock, berserk, face of fire. I have gotten most of these on dvd (legit or otherwise) and someday would like to put together a website.
They'd show 3 flicks in a row until 5:30 and my week centered around this activity. Oh, and I lost my virginity one night while they were showing "phantasm" so I'll have to throw that one in there too.

wago70

09-16-2006, 09:28 AM

Great list! Although the horror host intros are well remembered, by far THE ABSOLUTE BEST was from a late night program that came from Sacramento called GASP! THEATER. The music was freaky ("Suspiria"-ish) and the clips they showed included: the dolls with the lit-up eyes from "Beyond the Door", a woman in a nightgown floating and spinning in mid-air (had to be a dream sequence from a film) and other shots from cool '70's films.
The more popular CREATURE FEATURES stopped with the vintage clips in the late '70's in their intro and included: the lightsaber fight from STAR WARS, Ripley running down the corridors in ALIEN and the mothership behind Devil's Tower from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.
I preferred GASP! Theater's intro. Oddly GASP! would show Sunday about 2:00 a.m and sometimes in the middle of the week. It was short-lived and to this day I long to have their intro captured on tape

wago70

09-17-2006, 03:49 AM

PHANTASM was a first-time view for me on late-night TV from a station in Sacramento (Channel 40). I don't think they cut anything out except: the language, the opening sex scene and the death-by-ball of the mausoleum attendant. I immediately ordered the one sheet poster from the Movie Poster Place for only $6.50 (this was 1982). It was mint condition (and still is :)).

Mark Relford

09-18-2006, 03:41 AM

I was also introduced to Phantasm on late-night TV, courtesy of a local horror host named Sammy Terry. His evil laugh would scare the bejesus outta me! :eek:
USA used to show some cool stuff in the 80's. (The Children and Toxic Zombies.) I would give anything to see Toxic Zombies again. :(
My most special late-night memory was watching the original NOTLD for the first time. Remember the corpse upstairs? I had nightmares of that damn thing for years!

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/3257/sammy10.jpg

wago70

09-18-2006, 04:53 AM

Although NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was part of our (well, actually Bay Area's) Creature Features intro...that film NEVER played on TV in Reno!!!! Ever! I looked for it nightly in the TV guide from 1977 to 1983...which was when I finally able to rent the old Media ("Meda") VHS. Suddenly in 1984 it was shown on MTV Halloween night (with Elvira hosting :)) But prior, our area never showed it.
It did, however show up on a Triple Drive in Feature with (get this): The Exorcist and Maniac. What fun that must have been!!
USA - Groovie Moovies~!!!! I loved that afternoon show. Why, I still have a complete recording of that when Comander USA presented William Malone's SCARED TO DEATH one afternoon. I'm lucky to have this since it actually has a few scenes not in the theatrical version :).

Luna

09-18-2006, 08:43 AM

Is this the movie with Valerie Harper where the daughter goes nuts and attacks with a pizza cutter? If so, I remember it well...haven't thought about that one in years!That's the one! :D

wago70

09-18-2006, 11:54 PM

More, more, more!!! Which ones did you hate? For me, I was disappointed in staying up for FUNERAL HOME. When I saw the TV spots in 1983, the announcer said, "...this movie is so terrifying, so shocking - we can't show you any scenes from it..." while the camera panned over the movie poster art.
When the film hit Showtime a year later, I was way underwhelmed. After picturing in my head what ghoulish, gory things can happen in Funeral Home, I was expecting GATES OF HELL shenanigans.
I love the film today, but then, I turned my nose up at it.

Luna

09-18-2006, 11:58 PM

Hmm, good question. I'm not sure I hated any of them, but I do remember being maybe five years old at most and really excited about seeing some King Tut movie on what might have been CBS's late movie, sometime around midnight or 1am. I even set up camp downstairs and opened up the couch bed to watch it so I'd lay with my head at the foot of the bed, very close to the television (hooray for killing your eyes!) and all I can really remember is the movie starting, being bored and sleepy and eventually waking up the next morning... oops.

Hey, I did a quick search and found it!

The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980) (TV)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080582/

8 May 1980 -- Yep, I was five when this sucker was aired. I'm kind of sad to read that Tom Baker had a role in this movie and that it was cut down significantly. This makes me want to see it again to see if it was really that boring. :lol:

rxfiend

09-19-2006, 01:13 AM

Shokk

09-19-2006, 01:51 AM

I used to watch Sammy Terry as well. I was scared of the guy, lol. Great times. I wish stations would start this trend back up. Maybe if a horror channel ever gets started up....

There is one...Monsters HD. The UK has The Horror Channel and Canada has Scream.Not sure if any have a host though..

wago70

09-19-2006, 04:42 AM

Great posts, everyone!!! Keep 'em coming! When I visit my parents in Reno (almost once a month - a whole weekend), I treat myself to "Zomboo's House of Horrors". He's the current Saturday night horror host for the Reno area. He's so much fun to watch. It's funny, we didn't have a horror host when I grew up there...we had to turn to the Bay Area TV stations and now that I live HERE in the SF Bay Area...I have to go to Reno to delight in the fun of late-night horror and the campy hosts...talk about IRONIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, earlier this year, Zomboo had an excellent print (better than any DVD I've seen so far) of ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES. Me and my two best friends ordered Pizza and hot chicken wings (Reno is a 24 hour town...so this is not a problem) and delighted in the show.
Check out his website: http://www.zomboo.com
Sure, he's not Bob Wilkins, Elvira or any of your favorites...but he's one of the last.
I'm visiting again in two weeks and I can't wait to see what's on. All summer long he's been presenting Mexican made horror films. However, all summer long...somehow, some way a vintage Godzilla movie has been on SOME cable channel between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on Friday or Saturday night. Each time I've stayed at the childhood home...a Godzilla movie has been on those nights. I kid you not. I've been keeping track and ever since March they've been on.
Sorry to carry on, but I thought I'd share. My mother (who stays up all night because my dad's retired and it's her only quiet time to herself) has said, "....these are NEVER on when you're not here!" Can't wait for another 2 weeks to see what's on and if my Godzilla karma will be on again.
:) I kid you not!!!!!!!!

Agent Z

09-19-2006, 05:09 AM

Oh I've lost many a battle with sleep back in those days. It was my ma who told me to take a nap in the day and that would help me stay up. It worked, but the hardest thing to do was sleep on a Saturday when you are off from school for the weekend.

Yeah, oversleeping on a film back then was traumatic when you're a kid! :lol:

When you're so young and don't understand exactly what films are and how they work, you don't know if King Kong and Godzilla are gonna get together and fight again. I thought it was a once in a lifetime battle royale being filmed live! :)

Another area where kids aren't quite clued-in yet is when theatrical films premiere on network television: it's their first time seeing it, so it has to be brand new, right?

I remember when Halloween made its network premiere on a Sunday night, and going to class on Monday morning and watching the poor teacher have to ditch her lesson plans to address a roomful of rabid kids still jacked-up on their first taste of Myers madness! :banana:

We got our first VCR in 1983 and it never played a single "vintage" horror film. I'm so glad the stations played them often, however. I also want to give props to good ol' MONSTERVISION on TBS some years ago. They brought that tradition back in their own way, didn't they?

I think my father bought our first vcr (a Panasonic top-loader) in 1983 also. After we picked it up, we drove from Dayton to Englewood (OH) and stopped off at a new video rental shop in town. My parents had to put down a $100 deposit and pay a yearly membership fee (like $35, I think) before they could even scan the selection, the big and small VHS and Betamax cousins of each movie sitting next to one another on the shelves. :p

Our first two rentals? Flash Gordon and The Sword and the Sorcerer. :banana:

My God, we weren't prepared for the sex-fu of TSATS. My parents thought it was a PG flick I think. My poor mother probably wanted to lock us in closets with crucifixes when the harem scene came up. :lol:

Grim

09-19-2006, 05:29 AM

Well, every Friday the 13th film. I remember a very vivid night of The Fly (86), The Beast Within, and Night of the Living Dead (90) on Monstervision. Basically Monstervision kinda exposed me to a bajillion horror films, albeit edited.

wago70

09-19-2006, 07:22 AM

Yeah, oversleeping on a film back then was traumatic when you're a kid! :lol:

When you're so young and don't understand exactly what films are and how they work, you don't know if King Kong and Godzilla are gonna get together and fight again. I thought it was a once in a lifetime battle royale being filmed live! :)
RIGHT ON!!! That is exactly what I thought too, at the time!!!:lol: Kids really DO take things literally, don't they!

The first movies our brand new VCR played (thanks to me dictating - at 12 years old - what we'll be watching): THE FUNHOUSE, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and ZOMBIE.
We had many families from the neighborhood visit the house, too. The best film? TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. That Wizard video tape played at least 5 times for everyone those few days! Everyone loved it.

We, too, had to pay a HEFTY deposit to rent those first few years. :) Two days later...HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, CARRIE...oh my gaw, basically ALL the films we know and love (but I missed at the movie theater for one reason or another).

rxfiend

09-19-2006, 12:47 PM

There is one...Monsters HD. The UK has The Horror Channel and Canada has Scream.Not sure if any have a host though..

i know about Monsters HD, unfortunately it's not widely available. i was thinking more readily available channels like HBO, Showtime (i realize Showtime has a "Showtime Beyond" which is very cool) or even SCIFI.

wago70

10-16-2008, 03:21 AM

Misanthrope666

10-16-2008, 03:43 AM

My choices would have to be The Gate, the first 4 Halloween films, and the Friday the 13th series.

Mattapooh

10-16-2008, 04:05 AM

The big one I remember was Grizzly, it came on TBS late one night in the summertime in about 1992 (I think we first got TBS up here about then) and I found it pretty scary... then the ending made me bust a gut and I never forgot it, I still love the fact that I own it on DVD now.

Other stuff I remember was It when it first aired (the first half scared the hell outta me, the second half was a huge letdown) and Alien, which my dad convinced me to stay up and watch with him. I just remember being pretty much like :O the whole time.

Erick H.

10-16-2008, 06:09 AM

Speaking of Late-Night memories, allow me to present the scariest Intro to late-night horror watching I ever experienced :). This one guaranteed I turn ON the lights before it came on. When the intro was over, I was relieved by the "normal" commercials that came on before the feature started. This was usually on after 1:00 a.m. (sometimes as late as 3:00 a.m.) in the early '80's when I lived in Reno. The station was from Sacramento. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_slRrERM2is

Fun clip Wago.I always liked the credit sequences that the horror shows would come up with.Our DR. MADBLOOD's MOVIE had a fog enshrouded old estate and creepy lettering that was oddly set to the instrumental section of the old Sugarloaf hit "Green Eyed Lady".I used to like the MOVIE MACABRE opener with Elvira vamping her way down the cobweb strewn hallway,the theme music still runs in my head (as does the image of that little black dress).

scott71670

10-16-2008, 06:48 AM

Where I'm from we got Theater Bizarre form Albany NY on WXXA channel 23. It used to show all Friday night with 3 movies and the only way we could bring in the station was with an antenna on the side of the house and if it shifted (it was only on the side of the house) you had to go and fix the antenna at 3 am on the woods side of the house, and there werent even windows on this side of it, and no neighbors for literally miles...
They'd start with an old Twilight Zone episode at 11, then 3 films. I used to get home from school on Friday, take a nap and then wake up around ten o'clock. Here's some of the movies I recall seeing on there:
Trog, Halloween 1 and 2, Exorcist 2, Fright, Horror rises from the tomb, THX 1138, logan's run. all godzillas and gameras, bad ronald. house where evil dwells, all the amicus. the howling, phantasm, the fury, carrie, the shining, hush hush sweet charlotte, dead ringers, magic, squirm, a force of evil, scream of the demon lover, last woman on earth, the hypnotic eye, children of the corn, all the majin films, girly, prophecy, all the hammers and universals, the mask (in 3d!), baby jane, straightjacket, barbarella, rosemary's baby, cruise into terror... I could go on all day.

Basically they'd show something mainstream first like Prophecy or My Bloody Valentine- sometimes uncensored. Then they would show either a tv movie or some eurohorror from the seventies, and then around 4:30 they'd bring out some old 50s scifi or horror (I remember thinking for years that I may have imagined parts of the Hypnotic Eye!!), followed by the nation anthem and Bullwinkle.

Another movie that really got me on late night tv was when CBS Late Night showed Blue Sunshine. It was the evening I had to be admitted for tonsilitis and chicken pox simultaneously at the age of 10. Watching that with a fever in the middle of the night in a hospital was creepy as hell!

wago70

10-16-2008, 10:36 AM

Awesome story, Scott71670! I love the mix of oldies and modern on Theater Bizarre - sounds fun!
I lost so much sleep back then in the late 70's/early 80's. I don't recall much naps, either.
In 1980/1981 era, it was fun to recover from all the late-night horror flicks by flipping channels to Showtime and catching the very end of something like "Sensuous Nurse" or "Sweet Sugar". Those 'adult' flicks helped me shrug off the creeps from being alone in the dark late at night watching the horror stuff.
Sometime around 5 a.m., I'd drift off the sleep only to be woken up by the household around 7 a.m. If it was Saturday morning, it meant cartoon time! ;) Then after that, it was the Saturday afternoon thrillers like "Godzilla" or "Tarantula". At 11 p.m. Saturday night, the cycle would start again.

wago70

10-16-2008, 06:17 PM

Some popular films I NEVER got to see on late-night TV:
*NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD - I had to rent this in 1982 on VHS. This never seemed to air and I was always on the lookout for it.
*BEYOND THE DOOR - only heard about it in review books, but I never saw it aired.
*ZOMBIE - yes,the Fulci film. In 1989, this was in TV Guide and Cable Guide as "ZOMBIE - 1980. Stars Ian MacCulloch, Richard Johnson...gory shocker set on a tropical island..." When I tuned in - I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE was the film it turned out to be :(

scott71670

10-18-2008, 05:41 AM

At one point the late eighties our local channel 62 scored this late night package which must have come from Lightning or Wizard Video- I can't remember which one. I remember channel surfing one Saturday night at midnight and comeing across Zombie Lake. So of course I had to start tuning in. They showed Night Fright, Orloff vs the Invisible Man, Oasis of the Zombies, Blood Waters of Dr. Z, and A Virgin Among the Living Dead. It was around 1988 or so and I was mindblown to see all this "big box" video product transported over to television (in case you haven't noticed, I've watched A LOT of late night television.

Angelman

10-18-2008, 08:00 AM

I remember watching Contamination several times on Elvira's Movie Macabre. Of course it was the US cut known as Alien Contamination and every time something gross happened, they'd cut to Elvira wretching. Fun times.

Yep! That is where I first saw it.

Other late night treats were Shock Waves (still SO great) and Massacre at Central High.

Devo1313

10-18-2008, 08:29 AM

I grew up watching Fritz The Nite Owl and even videotaped about 14 of them that I still have but films like Willard,Let's Scare Jessica to Death,The Creeping Terror,Shriek of the Mutilated,Jennifer,Squirm,Laserblast,Plan 9,Twisted Brain and The House That Screamed all hold a special place and love them even more now thanks to Fritz's commentary and fun while watching them back in the good old days.

CasEjonz

05-02-2009, 06:06 PM

Graveyard of Horror : I recently bought this flick on the cheap, cheap since it had the "Euro shock" banner on the DVD, I figured why not check it out. Then as it started, I remember watching this as a kid on the Channel 56 "Creature Double Feature" on Saturday afternoon. The opening scene with the undulating grave, and then the monster arises and all you see in a close up of its eyes, as it closes in on a victim. I recall being drawn in as the gravedigger "cleans up" afterwards and is picking up bloody bones, and pelvises, absolutely great stuff as a kid.
FLASH FORWARD to adulthood: now I see it differently, very disjointed, poor acting, but still enjoyable, like an old pillow, bringing back memories of my childhood. There is plenty of atmosphere and the sets were great, but there is just so many obvious things such as the identity of one of the cloaked figures. Then there is the monster itself, there is a good reason you just get POV shots or the close up on the eyes. The monster is ridiculous. I dont think they even make masks this goofy. Sure the creature is on the cover, but its still a howl when it shows up. This is probably not a film for anyone that is tied to modern horror films, as it will come off as a waste of time, and over-cheesy, but for vintage horror, its a trip back to memory lane, and a laugh when viewed years later.

CrazyFatEthel

05-02-2009, 10:47 PM

The Gate, Halloween 6, Terror Train, Halloween 4, Halloween 5, Funhouse, - most of which were on AMC when I was around 7,8.9. or 10.

evildeadfan123

05-03-2009, 01:24 AM

Where I live, our local CBS had Friday Fright Night, and I remember one night staying up late, actually early morning, and my mom saying "What are you doing up" I think the movie I watched was The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane. We also had Creature Feature on another local channel, but Friday Fright Night, I would watch that every Friday Night, at 10:30 PM. I sure miss Friday Fright Night. It was basically a fake skull with green lighting and someone saying "Welcome to Friday Fright Night" and they would announce what movies were going to be on for appoximately 6 hours. That was when I was about 10 years old. Also the same channel, from 3:00-5:00 would show Godzilla movies and other movies similar to Godzilla. Oh, the good old days. Miss it.