American Scary

I got a chance to see American SCARY at Comic-Con 2007 and was thoroughly impressed and entertained by the film. John Hudgens and Sandy Clark have collected a most impressive treasure of interviews and archival footage of the most notable (and notorious) horror host personalities spanning the decades of the horror host phenomenon.

The documentary is a great treat for horror fans who may have been born in the wrong time or the wrong city to have seen classic hosts like Zacherley, Vampira, Ghoulardi of the 1950s and 60s to more contemporary hosts like Elvira, Son of Ghoul and Count Gore De Vol. Unless you're an avid bootleg collector, the video clips and old kinescope transfers may be the first footage you'll see of these monster mavens in action. Even based so much on archival material, the production quality remains excellent throughout.

Horror host interviews are well balanced with comments and recollections from many prominent filmmakers, critics and fans including genre historians Forrest J. Ackerman and Bob Burns, makeup artist Tom Savini (the Romero DEAD films), TV host Joel Hodgson (MST3K), Leonard Maltin and many more.

With the recent passing of Maila Nurmi (Vampira), this fondly crafted tribute to television horror hosts deserves to be seen and enjoyed by fans everywhere. I hope the filmmakers will release it on DVD soon so its value and quality can be appreciated by all.

Not a lot of documentaries shot on a shoestring like this one is convey the love and admirations the filmmakers of "American Scary" do for their overview of local horror hosts. The unpolished nature of this film actually adds to the overall message- that the horror movie host was something from another time and is (with few exceptions) sorely missed. Interviews with the people that brought these characters to life as well as people who were influenced by them are slices of time that make us lucky they've been captured on tape; too many people (Forry Ackerman; Vampira; Bob Wilkins plus quite a few more) have died since being interviewed for this piece which is a pity. Thank God these people are on here to share their thoughts. A small film with a giant heart- buy it or rent it, but SEE IT!

Although this documentary was a nice, brisk walk down memory lane, it failed to truly tap into what made these weekend horror-hosts so appealing and why they are thought so fondly of now.

The filmmakers had their hearts in the right place when they ventured on this endeavor, but it falls short in so many places. First and foremost is the almost machine-gun style they employ with their interview snippets. Each snippet is about 5 seconds long or so on average and seem to be thrown into the documentary at random places, without any real structure to it at all. Second is the length of the interview snippets. I would have loved to have heard more from people like Chuck Schowdowski, Jim Hendricks, and Joe Bob Briggs. The filmmakers chose to focus so much attention on trailblazers like Zacherley, Vampira, and Baron Daemon- which was fine, but they jipped the fans of latter day horror hosts like Commander USA, Sammy Terry, Joe Bob Briggs, Big Chuck & Lil' John, Son of Svengoolie, Son of Ghoul, Elvira, etc. I think the filmmakers got caught in the unfortunate web of making a documentary for themselves rather than for the fans of horror hosting in general which limits the scope of what this documentary could be.

Not to mention that they basically failed to show anything remotely resembling a horror con which are so important in keeping the memories of these old horror hosts (as well as movies and actors/actresses) alive and help fans get closer to the people they watched every week and idolized.

In the end it was a solid effort, but a more in depth documentary focusing less on the origins of horror hosting and focusing more on the impact over the broad history of horror hosting and why it's memory still burns so brightly now is a necessary follow-up. I would like to see something that caters to the fan side of the screen. Something that delves into the cultural impact that these horror-hosts made and does not neglect the horror hosts of the late 1970's throughout the 1980's and 1990's (which is the era that most of the DVD buyers likely remember the most).

Here's a suggestion - why not use a portion of the documentary following someone like Kevin "Son of Ghoul" Scarpino or Joe Bob Briggs around as they attend the horror conventions to get a up close and personal look at how these hosts have impacted the culture and help get more of a casual fans perspective. I would have been far more interested in watching the interaction between these hosts and the fans for an hour and a half than almost anything.

Again, a solid effort that has it's heart in the right place but suffers from being a salute to the filmmakers favorite hosts rather than to the industry as a whole.

American Scary (2006)

*** (out of 4)

Good documentary covering the history of horror hosts in America. Through interviews and clips, we see how this phenomenon started off in just one city and before long they were popping up all over the country. Among the people interviewed are Mike Price (Baron Daemen), Joseph Fotinos (Professor Anton Griffin), Leonard Maltin, Joe Bob Briggs, Jeff Thompson, Donald F. Glut, Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Bob Burns, Forrest J. Ackerman, Tom Savini and John Zacherle. Dozens of other hosts from various cities are also interviewed so more than likely you're going to see your favorite if you grew up with these sort of hosts. I grew up with a couple horror hosts in the late 80s but I think most people my age were just familiar with Joe Bob Briggs and his days on TNT. Those older are the ones that this documentary is really going to hit a core with because they discuss how studios were just starting to open their vaults to TV so these hosts had a whole slew of horror movies to show people. The hosts each talk about what they wanted to do with their cheap sets and what they did or didn't want to do with the movies. A lot of people look at these hosts (and stuff like Mystery Science Theater) as insults to the movies because they cut the films up and sometimes super-imposed themselves into the film. Maltin talks about being a film buff and looking back at some of this stuff and being horrified at what they were doing but he admits that as a kid he loved it. Fans of these hosts are going to love hearing from them after all of these years and if you never got a chance to see them then you're in luck because the documentary is full of clips showing some of their highlights.

Because I grew up watching late-night horror hosts on television (in glorious black and white) and going to drive-ins, I watch documentaries like American SCARY and DRIVE-IN BLUES and long for "the good old days." The last time I searched the 'net, I found- much to my amazement- that there are, indeed, a number of drive-ins still operating around the country (none of them, unfortunately, near enough to make a trip practical)- but of the venerable late-night horror hosts there doesn't seem to be any sign. Certainly not locally: hereabouts, interactive programming like Public Access or locally-hosted "creature features" simply aren't part of the Corporate Plan (what the local low-brow commercial cable system hasn't monopolized, the Media Mogul has). American SCARY isn't quite as nostalgic as I'd hoped it might be (too many hosts are given too little time), but it's worth a look and is a reminder, if nothing else, that there once were Late Night Giants who strode the Airwaves.