Midnight Movies?

[john]

The only horror host I've ever seen is Elvira and she hasn't been on around here since the 80s. My mother remembers Zacherley, but I never saw him. I think that was something that was more popular back in the 50-70s or so. Now, all the local shannels have been become network affiliates and they either show nothing late at night, or infomercials.

 The only other movie host I've seen was Joe Bob Briggs who used to host a lot of SF/horror movies. He started out on The Movie Channel, where he could pretty much show whatever he wanted, and then he moved to TNT where everything had to be censored. They probably fired him because he kept mentioning how the breasts and some of the blood had to be cut out of the movie in order to show it on TNT.

 Beyond that, I seem to recall a show on the weekends in the 70s called Chiller Theater. There was no host, but each show started with this cool claymation scene;

 It showed a foggy void with a dead tree, a pool of blood and the word CHILLER spelled out in free standing letters. There were some weird sound effects and a voice would say "Chhhhiiiiiiiiillllller-er-er" while a hand came up out of the blood, picked up the letters and then sank back into the puddle. You can see a brief portion of this intro in Idle Hands when the star is flipping channels.

 BTW, would anyone happen to have this on tape or know where I could download a copy? (the Chiller intro, not Idle Hands)

[jmc]

During the late seventies one of the UHF stations had a horror host--"Dr. Bela."  He kinda scared me when I was a kid but now I  realize he was playing it for laughs.  Later on he totally quit being scary and would give lost pet announcements on the air.  

We had movies shown on one of the independent stations on Saturday nights during the early 80s.  They had some local guys as hosts who did comedy sketches during the breaks--they weren't really "horror movie hosts" per se, just comedy guys and the sketches weren't related to the movies at all.  

Then the former independent station became a FOX affiliate, and there were no late night movies at all until a few months ago.  One of the network stations has started something called "WORLD' S WORST MOVIES" on Saturday nights.  I work then so I can seldom catch it, but I've taped it a few times.  I don't agree on their definition of "world's worst"--they played Night of the Living Dead one night and I consider that far from a bad movie.  They have annoying "pop-up" comments during the movie, but they're few and far between.  The hosts attempt to do humor but aren't that funny and lack the charm of the horror hosts of my childhood.  Still, I'm really glad to see horror movies on late night network TV, and at least they don't give them the MST3K treatment.  

I can't remember why they fired Joe Bob from TNT--I think they just wanted to revamp their saturday night programming.

[J.R.]

Joe Bob rocked. It was a tough choice between his show and MST3K most Saturday nights. I just wish a chennl would show B-flicks uninterrupted aqnd unedited. Showtime Beyond, which specializes in horror and sci-fi, could do something like that. AMC used to be good for unedited B, but now they have commercial breaks and edit out language and nudity.

[Lee]

Joe Bob is awesome!!! I was p**sed when Monster Vision got canned! Pretty much ruined my Saturday Nights(still haven't fully gotten over it). Last time I heard Joe Bob he was on the radio doing a Shiner Bock comercial! DAMN YOU TNT!!!

[Vermin Boy]

If anyone needs a Joe Bob fix, they can go to his website at http://www.joebobbriggs.com.

By the way, does anyone know if his "Dead in Concert" tape is worth getting? My local video store has a used copy for $5.

[Flangepart]

Joe bobb Briggs was the most original thing on TNT. Or as i call it, "The 24 hr Jaws Network". Joe Bobb refused to take the management too seriously, and if there is anything the High Sheriffs don't like, its being dissed. Bunch of pusilanimus poltroons. Ah well.......

[jmc]

Seen DEAD IN CONCERT....it's not terrible, but not nearly as good as any of his TV stuff.

[AndyC]

Loved the one where he had to introduce "Georgie Girl," and didn't know quite what to say.

"Oooooo, this is a really scary movie with Lynn Redgrave...and she plays a... girl... who's....a little....chubby."

Then he tries to convince everyone that it's really scary to see Lynn Redgrave put on weight, then he just gives up completely.