Horrible Horror

Ten stars for the clips, minus two for lame hosting. If you like to revel in the wonderful awfulness of 40's-60's sci-fi and monster movies, this abbreviated collection may be for you. Most clips are enough to elicit good-natured chuckles, though a few run a bit long. Includes some great Bela Lugosi interviews from the 30's as well. Not being familiar with host Zacherley, who shows up at intervals, this was the first time I'd seen him. I'll take it on trust that he was popular some years ago, but here he's mostly just annoying---you may long for the voiceover riffs of Mystery Science Theater/Rifftrax. Still, this is a great compilation of clips from flicks that actually frightened audiences back in a time before today's explicit levels of gore, violence and occultism. Makes you think about how hardened we've become.....

Zacherley...Zacherley...Zacherley. Seems his 500 year lease has run out and he has to leave his castle. This includes clearing out his collection of really BAD Horror movies. This is a great compilation video of over 50 different horror and sci-fi films, and this is almost TWO HOURS long! Bad films are fun to watch ..sometimes.. other times they are tedious and very dull (There is a reason why they are called "BAD"..). Seeing abbreviated forms of these movies is often the way to go, and if you really would like to see one all the way, you can seek it out after seeing a bit of it here. This is also the perfect Hallowe'en party tape. Plug this in and watch it as you wait for the kiddies to knock on your door. It will definitely put you in the mood for a silly Hallowe'en.

This is a tremendously entertaining compilation of old b-movie trailers, clips and bloopers with wraparound skits by New York TV horror host Zacherle. The only serious drawback was that Goodtimes Home Video only released it at the inferior EP-speed so the tape required a lot of tracking control adjustment. I would have liked to have seen more stuff from the 60s/70s but this is only a minor complaint as this was meant to appeal to those with a certain nostalgia for the heyday of local TV horror hosts back in the 50s and the movies highlighted in this tape reflect what was shown on TV back then.

Former TV horror host John Zacherle (who also put in appearances in several Frank Henenlotter films) hosts this collection of movie clips from a dusty, cluttered dungeon set and interrupts the proceedings far too often. Most of the titles covered in this long tape (110 minute) are from the 1930s through the 60s.

Included are trailers (THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE), fun rare bloopers from ABBOTT AND COSTELLO horror comedies, TV serials like THE UNDERSEA KINGDOM, SUPERMAN and CAPTAIN VIDEO, some hilarious William Castle gimmicks like the 3-D 13 GHOSTS and "death by fright" insurance policies for MACABRE and THE SCREAMING SKULL, a special section for Bela Lugosi movies (DRACULA, GLEN OR GLENDA?, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and more), plus some rare and fun Lugosi interviews and great scenes from KING OF THE ZOMBIES with the hilarious Mantan Moreland.

My favorite trailer was for THE KILLER SHREWS, where a serious-sounding on-screen narrator informs us, "There have been recent sightings of giant killer shrews in Alaska!" Toward the end things are divided up by genre such as zombies (CARNIVAL OF SOULS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) and vampires (THE VAMPIRE'S COFFIN, THE VAMPIRE BAT). Also with SHE-DEMONS, THE BRAINIAC, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, THE BLOB (in color), HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, SPIDER BABY and many others. As you can tell, many of the titles covered do not fall into the category of "horrible horror."

I got my copy for $1.99 at Wal-Mart, so keep your eyes peeled for it!

Zacherle introduces clips from some classic cheesy horror films, as well as rare TV stuff. Watching this, my brother and I found some of the footage to be so weird that it was almost disturbing, particularly the god-awful Electro.

Two complaints: Zacherle's bits really try your patience after a while (that fast-forward button WILL come in handy); and the inclusion of Night of the Living Dead, a great film that doesn't belong alongside such side-splitting crap as Robot Monster, Bride of the Monster, et al.