Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) dir. John Carl Buechler, Friday Four Inc./Sean S. Cunningham Films

Given this is Friday the 13th, why not keep the tradition going? We've seen Jason die, come back, and die again. Jason Lives showed Jason chained up under the murky waters of Crystal Lake. How would he come back?

Horror Countdown 2017: Demons of the Mind (1972)

Demons of the Mind (1972) dir. Peter Sykes, Angelo-EMI/Frank Goodwin Productions/Hammer Film Productions.

Moving back into the gothic horror for a bit, the 1970's saw the beginning of the end for Hammer, but they manages to produce some pretty darn interesting films in the meantime.

Horror Host 2017 Retrospective: Simon

Real name: Gary Newton
Years active: 1970-1973

Here's a host who managed to be in two states at the same time. Simon, of Simon's Sanctorum, was aired in both Boston on WCVB Channel 5 and in St. Louis on KPLR Channel 11. He was very much cut in the Edgar Allan Poe mold, often speaking poems to his unseen 'Devoted'. There doesn't seem to be that much footage of the show, but fans remember.  

Horror Countdown 2017: The Phantom of the Opera (1962)

The Phantom of the Opera (1962) dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

Hammer by this point had a winning formula with their take on the Universal Monsters. They nailed Dracula, charged up Frankenstein...so why not tackle the earliest Universal Monster? With their best director at the helm, how would they do Gaston Leroux's madman of the opera?

Horror Host 2017 Retrospective: Feep

Real name: Ed T. McDonnell
Years active: 1960's

Another first. Feep might have been the first animated host. Ed McDonnell actually played quite a few characters for WNAC-TV Channel 7 out of Boston. He played the space suited Major Mudd for the afternoon cartoon block and Lord Brumblebook for the Saturday afternoon jungle picture features. 

Feep, on the other hand, was a six inch high doll chromo-keyed against a backdrop and usually menaced by giant hands, that is when he didn't stumble into the films themselves. Another odd thing, is that Feep hosted Allied Artist features, rather than the traditional Universal Shock package. 

Ed McDonnell passed away in 1979. 

Horror Countdown 2017: Quartermass II (1957)

Quartermass II (1957) dir. Val Guest, Hammer Film Productions

What with the success of the first Quatermass serial and film, plus the sequel serial airing on the BBC after the first film, author Nigel Kneale found himself with a bit more clout, something Hammer used when they did a film version of the second sequel.

Horror Host 2017 Retrospective: Eddie Frame

Real name: Frank Kane
Years active: Late 1980's


A difficult one to classify. As best as I can tell, his show, Horrible Night at the Movies, was aired in Boston, but it seems it was syndicated out of New York. So would he be a Boston host or a syndicated one?

A different character at least, if we go by the opening crawl. It seems young Eddie Frame was your typical square-headed youth growing up in 1950's Eisenhower era America. Utterly typical, save for his love of bad movies. When his best gal dumps him, Eddie revs his motorcycle and drives towards a CGI computer screen, plunging himself through time and space.

From there he hosts the old and the weird with a showgal and a gorilla in a dress. Because you need a gorilla. Also, Commander USA did the writing.