Customer Reviews

Television Horror Movie Hosts: 68 Vampires, Mad Scientists and Other Denizens of the Late-Nightairwaves Examined and Interviewed

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Back in the days when there really was such a thing as local television, stations across the country used local personalities to host late night horror movies. Many times these assorted mad scientists, vampires and ghouls were much more entertaining than the movies they showed. The late Elena Watson's Television Horror Movie Hosts helps relive the days when local television had personality and wasn't just full of syndicated reruns. Even if you are too young to have experienced these days, you will enjoy this book. It chronicles the lives of the hosts and hostesses from the big names such as Elvira, Ghoulardi and Count Gore De Vol to the lesser known characters whose careers were short lived. All and all this throughly researched book is a fascinating read that shows the creativity behind some of the more interesting people and times in television.

During the late 1950's, and early 1960's, television was still in it's infancy. (Some people still think that it still hasn't grown up!) Through the magic of television, the major movie studios particularly Universal Studios, found a new life for their old movies, and a way to recycle them to the new generations that never had the opportunity to see them. Universal Studios packaged a large percentage of their pre-1948 horror films, and distributed this bundle as Shock Theatre. Along with this package, they encouraged the local television stations to have a macabre host in hopes that they would expand viewership, and increase their ratings. Movie hosting, which was once popular on radio, initially crossed over to television, (Remember "The Twilight Zone", and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents?" You do? Then you're old!) Some of these movies were good, some were bad, some were just plain awful, but they were very inexpensive, and they made for great padding on those hard to fill time slots particularly, late Friday and Saturday nights. The mating of movie, and host proved to be a huge success, with the host achieving local star status. This was all long before video games, VCR's, and all of the things we have clamoring for our attention span today. As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, I lived for those Friday, and Saturday evenings when the likes of "Jeepers Creepers", "Seymour," and later "Elvira," creeped me out, as they cracked me up. This same thing was happening all over the country to the local television stations that had this horror movie package, and the ones that didn't, soon did, when they saw the popularity that their rivals were achieving. Often imitated, always unique, and different, these local weird hosts provided a special place for many of us growing up in that era. Elena M. Watson, in her book, "Television Horror Movie Hosts," has chronicled a piece of television history, that may seem trivial on the surface, but has proven itself unforgettable to those of us who were a witness to it, and in thinking about it, you realize the long term influence that these hosts has had on television, and it's generations of viewers since then.

It's hard to fathom a time when this was the best medium for innocent fun and Friday night entertainment. I had long sought a book that covered the lives of horror movie hosts but always turned up empty handed or given perplexed looks from book buyers,book merchants and the industry as a collective whole. It all began with the coming of age and fascination of these films and the people behind them that my interest grew. Overall, Elena M. Watson does a nice job putting together the brief histories of some of the genre's most notable figures however, there isn't so much about her as writer nor how she herself feels about them. It would have been nice to read some of her input as a fan because one cannot deny her passion after reading this. I really wish that more people jump on the bandwagon and write more books about this genre. This is a dying art thanks to video games and other useless forms of entertainment. I do indeed recommed this tasty book of who's who to anyone out there interested in the unsung heroes of horror movie hosting. I also recommed to read about them on line starting with the one and only Miss Vampira (Maila Nurmi)

The late Ms. Watson made a wonderful reference book of horror host history.She truly wrote the book on why we love these wonderful hosts and also gives a fantastic history on some of the "well known and remembered" hosts. Even though, the book is pretty "brief" as most reviewers would say about the book, you have to understand the "gathering" of information that was out there on horror hosts, which, at the time in the early 90s there wasn't much to go by (compare to today), so, i have to give Ms. Watson kudos for going by in what she had and as she said, she guessed there were at least 200 (horror hosts) altogether, but, only did 70 of them to have something of a decent book to write about. Anyways, please dont over look this great book, if you are a huge horror host fanatic, then you'll love it..highly recommended!

I will be the nay-sayer among the high praise reviews. Yes, it is fun to have a book collect and describe the late night horror hosts. I do not want a Ph.D. thesis on that subject, but Ms. Watson's book is so brief in its descriptions and analyses that I am very dissatisfied.

I ordered this book on Dec 16, 2006 but I have still not rec'd this book. As of today, Jan 19, 2007. I actually purchased this book as a gift for my son, I am sure he will love it if and when he receives it. We are very anxious to receive this book.