Svengoolie

I'm surprised there aren't more comments here, since probably every horror fan in the suburbs of Chicago grew up aware of Svengoolie. Host Richard Koz employs every trick in the horror host book (and invents a few along the way) to assault the viewer's comic sensibilities between commercial breaks. The humor is terrible and falls along the lines of bad puns, corny song parodies, and rubber chickens catapulted by mysterious off-screen forces. Like all horror hosts worth their salt, Svengoolie seems more satisfied to elicit groans than laughs, but if you're watching movies like Attack of the Puppet People or House of Dracula, you probably don't have enough discretion or self-respect to care anyway. By which I mean, it's all part of the campy charm.

I'm not much a fan of so-bad-they're-good movies, so I tend to watch Svengoolie in thirty-minute increments before losing patience and changing the channel, or leave it on as background ambiance while doing other things, but every so often I get caught up in a film and wind up watching the whole thing. You'd be surprised how good some bad movies actually are, and the movies chosen for the show tend to fall into the category of "misguided" rather than "incompetently made."

My only real complaint about Svengoolie's approach is his extensive use of sound effects (usually audio clips from shows like Animaniacs or The Simpsons) during the film. I find them distracting rather than funny, especially in cases where it takes a moment to determine that they aren't actually part of the film itself. Sometimes the sound effects are kept to a minimum (or not used at all) while in other episodes they splash across the audio landscape with irritating frequency.

But that's a minor complaint. Svengoolie is an interesting Chicagoland curio that keeps alive the schlocky spirit of TV hosts past. Fans of B-grade horror thrills will want to keep an eye on this one.

When Screaming Yellow Threatre was on the air in the early 70's, the identity of Svengoolie was a thinly veiled Secret. Many viewers knew that the part was played by WFLD's main announcer, Jerry G. Bishop. I enjoyed watching the segues into and out of the movies and the commercials. There were loads of cheesy props and rubber chickens and cries of Berwyn! (a Chicago suburb) Once a plywood coffin collapsed amidst the laughter of Svengoolie and stage hands alike and they cut right back to the movie. I ran into Mr. Bishop at a social gathering in the mid-70's, several years after Screaming Yellow Theatre was off the air. I expressed my admiration for his character Svengoolie. He responded, "He's dead, man! Let him Rest in Peace." Berwyn!

This is my second favorite horror host show, it really was a welcome surprise because I live in the Seattle, Washington, I honestly never knew about this guy and show until we recently had Me TV and saw his show; let alone I never thought I'd ever see another horror host program as it's became sort of a lost practice, which I think sucks, personally I'd like to see more of these kinds of programs again, with the huge amount of horror films we continue to have now why not, seeing this shows it can still be done.

This kind of program was a real treat for me, what really surprised me was its popularity and how long it's been going on. This show was at first localized in the Chicago area which is why I never heard about it, I don't live there, before it became nationalized. This show had some T-Shirts and some cool goodies, there were fans of all ages, even plenty of celebs are fans like Mark Hamell, Robert England knowing that is awesome. There is even a museum display of his show that was put up in the Chicago Museum of Communications (my favorite kind of museum) to commemorate his years on the air, that is double awesome.

It's not hard to see why this show is great, Rich Koz as Svengholie is just a fun host he's sort of this undead mad scientist, I think. It doesn't matter, really like the coffin he always comes out of which looks like Greatful Dead cover art. Even like his dungeon set which is cool looking as it looks like a science lab but also looks homey like the kind of cave a horror fan would have as there are some relics from the premiering film.

The character Svenghoulie he's funny he's got some of the best jokes and lines, really like that he makes some jokes on the premering film and gives some commentary about it whether the film is good, bad or so bad it's good. I like it whenever he gives some bad joke or two and suddenly rubber chickens just keep flying at him which is better than rotten vegetables flying at you. He sometimes has a brief back and forth with some mutant chicken puppet, which is funny from how strange it is. And near the end of the movie or after there would be a little skit, those are always hit or miss but that's how it is in sketch comedy.

He shows is a bit educational as he actually presents some historical facts about the film and who was involved, so it shows he knows his stuff. I love it when he would sometimes have some special guest appear which is always a surprise because no one expects it, like in one episode it was Vicki Laurence from "Mama's Family" she was playing the Naomi character as she was in costume and putting on the same persona, that was really funny and shows she hasn't lost it. But the best one was seeing Gilbert Godfred which is awesome because here we have two horror movie hosts together. Really liked the back and forth between the two which was funny and genuine. I also really like it whenever Sven goes outside his dungeon and he goes to certain places which tie in with the movie of the week. Like a car museum in one episode and in some others a horror convention or two. And he would collect some comments from fans and non-fans, some more historical facts or just tell a joke or two. It's just fun seeing this guy engaging outside and show us the sights.

So, if you're a horror movie fan or even a casual fan and you seek out horror movies or horror host TV, Svengoole is your guy, Saturday Nights with him are the night of your life.

Rating: 4 stars

Takes me back to my childhood, watching Creature Feature and The Ghoul Show. Keep it going!

This nightmare theater is fun. I enjoy everything about that this show. Every part of it is pure entertainment! Reminds me of the fun Friday nights watching Nightmare Theater in the 1970's when I was a kid!