Virginia Creepers | |
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Directed by | Sean Kotz Christopher Valluzzo |
Written by | Sean Kotz |
Produced by | Sean Kotz |
Starring | Mr. Lobo Bowman Body Count Gore De Vol Doctor Madblood Dr. Gruesome & Skeeter Dr. Sarcofiguy Ghoulda Hazel Witch Jebediah Buzzard Karlos Borloff Ronald |
Release date |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Virginia Creepers: The Horror Host Tradition of the Old Dominion (or simply Virginia Creepers) is a 2009 documentary film about horror hosts from Virginia directed by Sean Kotz and Christopher Valluzzo. [1]
Kotz and Valluzzo would later release a documentary focusing on horror host Bill Bowman, Hi There Horror Movie Fans: The Bowman Body Documentary, in 2011.
The documentary focuses on horror show hosts from Virginia and Washington D.C.. Hosts featured in the documentary include the Bowman Body, Mr. Lobo, Count Gore De Vol, Doctor Madblood, and Dr. Gruesome & Skeeter.
Kotz has stated that the documentary gave them the ability to " not only show the progression of hosts but the progression of television history." [2]
Paul Carupe of Rue Morgue reviewed Virginia Creepers saying "The doc ably captures the ramshackle charm of these local productions, the dedicated people that made them and how they became neighborhood stars in the process." [3]
On October 30, 2009, Horse Archer Productions released the film on DVD. The DVD cover is a visual reference to the 1945 film House of Dracula . [4]
Kotz and Valluzo began work on a documentary focusing on the horror host Bowman Body, Bill Bowman, after the release of Virginia Creepers. They stated that they were approached several times by fans who wanted to "see more of Bowman and they especially wanted more clips from his shows." Researching for the documentary was a challenge as Bowman's show, Shock Theatre, aired before the advent of taping on VCR. Little footage existed as "the station didn’t want to tie up expensive tape with clips from Shock Theatre.” Only thirteen minutes existed of the original footage. [5] [2] [6]
Kotz researched air times for Shock Theatre via copies of the Richmond Times Dispatch in order to compile a filmography of the show during its time on WXEX. He also researched Bowman's shows in other areas of Virginia, Cobweb Theatre (Charlottesville, WVIR) and Monsterpiece Theater (Fairfax, WNVC), noting that WNVC likely only showed public domain films as it was a public broadcasting station. [5] At the height of its popularity Shock Theatre surpassed The Tonight Show in ratings for Central Virginia. [7]
Hi There Horror Movie Fans: The Bowman Body Documentary was released in 2011 and premiered at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Virginia. [8] It has been credited by its director, Eric Miller, as assisting in the creation of the PBS show Midnight Frights. Miller, and the show's host Armistead Spottswoode, were both featured in Hi There Horror Movie Fans and its predecessor Virginia Creepers. The pair were recognized by the Richmond PBS programming director due to their appearances and were offered a chance to create a new series. [6]
In 2015 Bowman began hosting new episodes, which were filmed at the Ashland Theater. Films featured in the episodes included House on Haunted Hill . [9]
Clive Barker is an English writer, filmmaker and visual artist. He came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the Books of Blood, which established him as a leading horror writer. He has since written many novels and other works. His fiction has been adapted into films, notably the Hellraiser series, the first installment of which he also wrote and directed, and the Candyman series.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien, who also played the supporting role Riff-raff. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The production is a tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s. The film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick. The film is narrated by Charles Gray, with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions, including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.
Shock Treatment is a 1981 American musical comedy film directed by Jim Sharman, and co-written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien. It is a follow-up to the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While not an outright sequel, the film does feature characters from the previous film, most portrayed by different actors, as well as several Rocky Horror actors in new roles. The film stars Jessica Harper as Janet and Cliff DeYoung in a dual role as Brad and the film's main antagonist Farley Flavors, with O'Brien and Patricia Quinn playing sibling character actors, Cosmo and Nation McKinley, and Nell Campbell playing Nurse Ansalong.
Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. It stars Gina Philips and Justin Long as siblings returning home for spring break who encounter a violent truck driver portrayed by Jonathan Breck. The film takes its name from the 1938 song, featured in the film under a version by Paul Whiteman. Patricia Belcher and Eileen Brennan also appear in supporting roles, with Salva making a cameo appearance.
Monsters HD was a 24 hour, seven-days-a-week, linear horror film and monster movie network. It was launched on October 1, 2003, in the United States and premiered exclusively on the Voom DTH satellite platform, owned by Cablevision. The home theatre webzine, Widescreen Review, alluded to Voom's Monsters HD as having "the largest collection of HD Horror films" when Echostar's Dish Network picked up Rainbow Media's Voom Suite of High Definition Channels. Rainbow Media's AMC Network and its annual October "Monsterfest" programming of horror films served as the springboard and promotional platform for the launch of Monsters HD. Monsters HD commissioned the digital restoration of its film library, bringing them to high definition, and presented world television premieres of films like the Director's Cut of the Stuart Gordon film version of H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond.
A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror films and low-budget B movies are shown on television or the Internet. Usually the host assumes a horror-themed persona, often a campy or humorous one. Generally there are breaks in the film where the host comments on various aspects of the movie. Many horror host shows also include skits involving the hosts themselves, sometimes with a sidekick or other supporting characters.
Count Gore de Vol is a television horror host who originally appeared on Washington, D.C.'s WDCA from 1973 to 1987. Originally named M.T. Graves and played by announcer Dick Dyszel, the character first appeared on the WDCA version of the Bozo the Clown program. When the character got a positive reaction, he was given his own program, called Creature Feature. The choice of Gore de Vol as the character's name was either a pun involving the name of acerbic author Gore Vidal or the name of a prominent Washington, D.C. funeral home, "de Vol". Gore de Vol became the Washington/Baltimore area's longest-running horror host, broadcast every Saturday night on WDCA from March 1973 to May 1987.
Marvin was a television horror host, played by Terry Bennett, who originally appeared on Chicago's WBKB from 1957 to 1959.
It began with a dark night sky, broken by long fingers of lightning that ripped down from the sky. Deep-throated thunder followed, and another flash of lightning. That dark old house would then appear on the TV screen, dark but for a patch of light glowing through a cellar window. Down there, in the cellar, Marvin would be waiting for us....
Erik Lobo, better known by his stage name Mr. Lobo, is an American artist and comedic actor best known as the horror host of the nationally syndicated American television series Cinema Insomnia. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Creature Features is a program of horror shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and cult horror movies of the 1930s to 1950s, the horror and science-fiction films of the 1950s, British horror films of the 1960s, and the Japanese kaiju "giant monster" movies of the 1950s to 1970s.
Doctor Madblood, was a horror host character who appeared in the following television shows:
The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film written, directed, edited, and co-developed by John Erick Dowdle. It is about the murders of a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, told through interviews and footage from a cache of the killer's snuff films.
Salvatore Francis Martin Piro was an American actor who was the president of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club, a position he held from 1977 until his death.
Barry Lee Hobart was a local television personality widely known to fans as Dr. Creep. He was a horror movie host on WKEF Television in Dayton, Ohio.
Jeepers Creepers 3 is a 2017 American horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. The film is the third installment in the Jeepers Creepers film series, serving as a direct interquel between Jeepers Creepers (2001) and Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003). Jonathan Breck reprises his role as The Creeper. Gina Philips returns in a cameo as Trish Jenner, her first return to the series since the original film. The film was shown in theaters on September 26, 2017, in what was originally announced as a one-night-only showing and was then shown again on October 4.
Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a 2010 American independent romantic thriller-horror film written, directed, and executive produced by James Nguyen, and starring Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Birdemic tells the story of a romance between the two main characters as their small town is attacked by birds. It also was inspired by the environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which led to the film having an environmental message.
Cinema Insomnia is an American television program presented by horror host Mr. Lobo. It began airing in 2001 on KXTV in Sacramento, California, and from 2003 to 2008 was nationally syndicated, airing on broadcast stations across the United States. Since 2015, the program has aired on OSI74, a web television service on Roku.
Sailor Bob is an American children's television program produced by WRVA that aired from 1959 to 1969.
Dr. Shock was a prominent 1970s fictional character, appearing on television as a horror host presenter, that was created and portrayed by magician Joseph Zawislak, commonly known as "Joe Zawislak." The character was created as an on-air host for the broadcast of B-rated horror movies for Philadelphia WPHL-TV Channel 17 that included three different show titles during his career: Scream-In, Mad Theater and Horror Theater. Dr. Shock, whose sign-off, "Let there be fright!", became a mantra for legions of school-age fans in Philadelphia for this local beloved celebrity. Fredy Benton, a young comedy writer and impressionist who worked with Dr. Shock in the early days, said that the horror host performed a version of the rubber chicken gag later made popular by Svengoolie.
The Projection Booth is a podcast featuring discussions of films from a variety of genres with critical analysis. As of February 2021, more than 500 episodes had been released.