Creature Features is a generic title for a genre of horrorTV format shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and culthorror 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.
In October 1957, Screen Gems released a bundle of old Universal horror movies to syndicated television, naming the collection "Shock!".[1] They encouraged the use of hosts for the broadcasts. This is why many of the early programs were called "Shock Theater". Viewers loved the package, as well as the concept, and ratings soared. A "Son of Shock!" package was released in 1958.[2]
Creature Features was another film package that was released in the early 1960s and added to in the 1970s. The films in this package ranged from horror and science-fiction films of the 1950s, British horror films of the 1960s, and the Japanese "giant monster" movies of the 1960s, and 1970s. This package also included an uncut print of Night of the Living Dead
Creature Features usually aired on Friday or Saturday night, around eight or nine o'clock. In some cities it aired on Saturday afternoons alternating with Kung Fu Theater and/or Bikini Theater. Because it aired after the traditional Saturday morning cartoon time block, it introduced many teenagers to classic monster movies.
Later history
TV horror shows of this sort became more scarce during the early and mid-1980s, partly because acquiring broadcast rights for these films became considerably more expensive in the new era of cable television. Another reason for the decline of these shows is the change in Friday and Saturday night viewer demographics, as young people are decreasingly likely to stay home on those nights. Or, if home, unlikely to watch broadcast television, being more likely to be gaming or engaged in social media.
Broadcast cities (US)
Metropolitan Areas
These are the major metropolitan areas of the United States in which Creature Features was seen:
Creature Feature was also the name of a horror program broadcast on WQAD-TV in the Quad City area. From 1968 until 1977 it was hosted by a local business man named Chuck Acri, sponsored by Acri's home improvement business. ("Acri" rhymes with "BAKE-ree").
In addition to Acri's signature greeting, "Hi, Chuck Acri here!", and pitches for his company's products, some intermissions featured a comical Dracula imitator called "Vincent Hedges" (played by actor Ken Gibson) along with other actors playing classic movie monsters. The short filmed segments were produced as silent movie skits, underscored by an instrumental version of "The Windmills of Your Mind".
Acri marketed and distributed the program from the Quad Cities, including Milan, Illinois, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa (KCRG) to Peoria (WEEK) and Springfield (WICS), Illinois. Acri's Creature Feature may have had the widest distribution of a local, hosted TV horror movie program in the U.S.
1968, WSJV-Channel 28 (South Bend, Indiana)
Creature Features was also the name of a horror show which aired on Saturday nights in the South Bend Metro Area on WSJV-TV Channel 28, from 1968 till 1977. The show featured artwork of 4–6 monster heads on a blue background used during announcements, or another watercolor of a black castle on a long winding road in the moonlight. It was mentioned in a letter from Joseph Meeks in issue #10 (March 1994) of Scary Monsters.
It also played as "Double Creature Feature" and featured the bug-eyed monster from Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1966) in the title card.
Creature Features first aired from July to August 1969 on a test run, and was found to be a hit. It was continued on the air from November 1969 to August 1973, but was cancelled due to poor ratings and competition from WPIX's Chiller Theatre. Over the next six years the show would be rebroadcast periodically, but never with great success. It was re-broadcast in 1979–1980, but cut again due to poor ratings.
1970, WGN-Channel 9 and WFLD-Channel 32 (Chicago)
Creature Features was introduced into the Chicago metropolitan area on Chicago's WGN Channel 9 in the fall of 1970. Hosted by Carl Greyson, and later Marty McNeeley, this version of Creature Features ran until 1976. The show used the theme music of Henry Mancini's Experiment in Terror. After WGN canceled its version, WFLD Channel 32 briefly used the title (sans 's' – it was called "Creature Feature") for its own weekend screenings of horror movies; no host appeared on the WFLD version. This show ended with the premiere of Son of Svengoolie in 1979.
1970, KDNL-Channel 30 (Saint Louis)
Baron Von Crypt's Shock Theater aired on KDNL TV Channel 30 in St. Louis Missouri from 1970 to 1971. with a refilmed reboot in 1976. KDNL's Shock Theater hosted by a campy vampire named Baron Von Crypt and his side kick Igor. Each week Shock Theater brought St. Louis its share of late night screams. Showing films by Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and other classic horror favorites. During Halloween KDNL featured Shock Week. Where the Baron brought Horror Movies to the TV screens every night. Baron Von Crypt has made very few live appearance, but when did materialize it was at the legendary St. Louis Checkerdome where lines of fans waited to meet him. Baron Von Crypt had his share of catchphrases, "Blu", "Think About It" and "Trust me Punky" were some of his most known. Von Crypt made it into the pages of the now legendary TV Guide with full ads announcing his upcoming shows Shock Week Promotions. Mark Lashley as he is known in real life is also acknowledged as being the originator and designer of The McDonald's Happy Meal. Something he helped invent during his time in advertising. Out of nowhere in 2016 Baron Von Crypt reemerged. And with fan support he entered the modern era with interviews, Facebook pages, and chat groups. Soon classic episodes were revamped and showing worldwide on The Eerie Late Night Horror Channel and The Monster Channel on Roku. Again based on fan support and Peer group recognition, in 2017 Mark Lashley and Baron Von Crypt were inducted into the Horror Host Hall Of Fame at The Sharonville Center in Cincinnati Ohio. Where the legendary Baron Von Crypt made his first live appearance in 40 years.
1971, WUTV-Channel 29 (Buffalo)
Creature Feature was the name of a show broadcast by WUTV Channel 29 in the Buffalo area. In 1971 WUTV aired the program on Saturday night. It later moved the program to Friday nights. It featured a collection of Japanese monster movies, American International Pictures movies and various titles from Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures and other B movie companies. It eventually changed the name of the program to Sci-Fi Theater and moved it to Sunday Nights. It made a brief return in the late 70's on Saturday afternoons, but the contracts for the rights to most of the station movie packages began to run out and the station did not have the financial resources to renew or acquire new packages.
1971, KMTV-Channel 3 (Omaha)
KMTV Channel 3 in Omaha, Nebraska, aired a long-running show called Creature Feature. It was broadcast from 1971 to 1983, and was hosted by Dr. San Guinary (John Jones). It was broadcast throughout the Omaha Area. Long after the show was cancelled, and after its host had died in 1988, the show was rebroadcast from 2001 until 2003, hosted by a new character known as "Son of San Guinary".
Creature Feature returned in 2011 as a live theater show within Omaha as Creature Feature Live, featuring a reboot of the Dr. San Guinary character. This was followed by the return of Creature Feature to Omaha area television in February 2013 on Fox Network's KPTM Fox 42 station, in a one-hour format featuring locally produced horror shorts and the new Doc (Christopher Palmer) continuing the previous Doc's comedy, as well as performing charity events with the character.
During much of this era, KTVU also ran classic horror films on Saturday late mornings under the Chiller Diller title, with no studio host; these were generally seen after the day's airing of Soul Train.
Creature Double Features was the name of a show broadcast by WKBG Channel 56 in the Greater Boston area. In 1972 WKBG, a station in the Kaiser Broadcasting chain, aired its collection of Godzilla movies on Saturday under the title, The 4 O'Clock Movie.
Shortly thereafter, they started calling it Creature Feature and then Creature Double Feature. The show quickly became a staple of the station's Saturday programming schedule during the 1970s and early 1980s. The final show was sometime in 1983.
Creature Feature was shown from 1973 until 1995 on WTOG Channel 44 in the Tampa Bay Area. Its host was Dick Bennick Sr., performing under the name "Dr. Paul Bearer". The show created a large fan-following, and was recognized as the longest-running Creature Feature in America.[5] The show was canceled after Bennick died following open heart surgery in 1995. In October 2004 Dr. Paul Bearer's long lost nephew; Professor Paul Bearer hosted Creature Feature but only for that month ending in a Halloween triple feature. There were talks to possibly bring the show back again in 2005 but nothing further developed.
mid-1970s, WCIX-Channel 6 (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale)
Creature Feature originally aired late 1972-early 1973 on Friday nights at 11:30pm out of WCIX-TV channel 6 an independent station broadcasting out of southern Miami-Dade County, Florida. The original host was the laid-back local radio personality Arnie Warren and his even more laid-back beagle Amos. The opening title as well as the segues into commercials was a still of Boris Karloff as the monster from the 1931 Universal film Frankenstein. The next incarnation (1974 or 1975) was with wacky local morning radio host Bwana Johnny this time formatted as a Saturday afternoon children's show with a live audience, new theme song, and opening sequence with the host wandering the streets of downtown Miami filmed in super fast motion. Unlike the previous host's easygoing relaxed style Bwana Johnny would be more active, interrupting and even inserting himself into the film with humorous dialogue to bizarre effect. An even later version of the show did not have a horror host per se, but relied on a voiceover actor to provide the bumpers and rejoins. This version began with a disturbing animated six fingered hand growing out of the ground, reaching toward the sky while "The Entrance into Sogo" from Barbarella played in the background. WCIX's Channel 6 Creature Feature played the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s in addition to RKO and American international's post atomic bomb films. Later Japanese Toho, British Hammer, and Amicus films were added to the roster. The show went off the air due to WCIX-TV being acquired by the south Florida CBS affiliate WFOR-TV to the dismay of many local horror fanatics, who had grown up with these types of shows.
The Creature Features was the name of a horror show which aired on Friday nights at 11:30 P.M. in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area on KSHB-TV Channel 41 beginning in 1981 through 1990. The hostess was Crematia Mortem (played by radio and TV personality Roberta Solomon). The title of the show was later changed to "Crematia's Friday Nightmare."
Assisting her were such characters as Rasputin and later Dweeb, her mostly unseen sidekicks voiced by KSHB's announcer, Paul Murphy. Other folks to visit Crematia's spooky castle home included her mother Desiree, her sister Cremora, and their strange old cousin, Henry. Channel 41's Creature Feature could be seen via cable in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma and parts of Texas.
The theme music for the Creature Feature was written (and played on a Casio keyboard) by KSHB-TV's Creative Services Director, Rob Forsythe.
1983, KBSI-Channel 23 (Cape Girardeau)
Misty Brew's Creature Feature aired every Friday Night at 11pm CST, on KBSI TV 23 The Fox Affiliated Station for The Paducah, Ky/Harrisburg, IL/Cape Girardeau, Mo Television Market. Making her television debut in 1983, Misty Brew continued to host a variety of Creature Feature movie until late 1989. Her signature greeting was "Good Evening Human Creatures." And she continued to surprise, invigorate and entice her audience over the years. Generating much fan mail from across the heartland. Misty was often accompanied by various campy co/host like Drac, Freddie, Wolifie, DT, Mother Zombie, and her old dear friend "Frankie". Her on-air personality progressed from Dark and Mystical to Wacky off the wall shtick with a Midwest flare. Her sassy jabs and pop culture heckles were a favorite of her viewers. Misty Brew often made personal appearances and Fan Meetings. She was a regular in local newspaper and TV Guides from the late 80s. Misty Brew's Creature Feature aired classic films like Psycho, Swamp Thing, Phantom of the Opera, The Haunting, Theater of Blood, and the yearly Halloween Marathon. "In Missouri GREGORY GRAVE hosted Shock! (in the late 1960s and early 1970s.) However, it was the unforgettable MISTY BREW (1983–1990) that most people still remember!" In 2014 Misty Brew returned with brand new episodes of her show, seen on YouTube, Kreepy Kastle, The Monster Channel and on Roku. In 2015 the first issue of Misty Brew's comic book, and Action Figure was released to stores. Misty Brew was inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame in 2015.
1980s, KPLR-TV-Channel 11 (Saint Louis)
Saturday Night Shocker aired on KPLR-TV TV Channel 11 in St. Louis Missouri in the 1980s
KOFY TV 20 (San Francisco)
Creepy KOFY Movie Time aired on KOFY TV 20 on Saturday nights from 2009 to 2019. The program was hosted by local radio personality No Name, and Balrok, a demon, who claimed to broadcast from caves under the KOFY studios. The hosts had a snarky frat-boy style and had many off-color guests, including local comedians, burlesque performers, and adult film actresses. The broadcast featured an in-house band, the surf/punk band The Deadlies, and the hosts were often flanked during the broadcast by a variety of comely bikini clad models/actresses/fans.
KOFY became a Grit affiliate in 2022, and Creature Features was dropped. However, new episodes of the series continue to be produced; the show can be viewed on YouTube.
Broadcast cities (international)
1972, Sydney, New South Wales
Originally produced as Awful Movies, from 1966–1968, on the 0–10 Network, it was picked up by the Seven Network, ATN-7 and aired as Creature Features in New South Wales in 1972.
The 0–10 Network had four different actors host Awful Movies, as Deadly Ernest. Ian Bannerman in New South Wales, Shane Porteus in Queensland, Hedley Cullen in South Australia, and Ralph Baker in Victoria. Deadly Ernest would appear in short comedy skits during the commercials, with other characters. One of the Deadly Ernest would start with himself and another ghoul, dressed in undertaker's attire, running outside and inside the Studios to a fast-paced instrumental tune.
Creature Features which aired on ATN-7 Channel 7 was hosted by "Vampira" – played by Jill Forster.
2001, Cinemax
During Halloween 2001, Cinemax broadcast a series of five television movies they called Creature Features:
Each reused the title of a low-budget movie produced by American International Pictures during the 1950s. Some of the new movies were remakes of the earlier films, and some only had the title in common.
Board game
In 1975, Research Games Inc. released a board game based on Creature Features. The gameplay greatly resembled Monopoly, however, instead of buying properties, houses and hotels, players would purchase Universal films like Frankenstein or Dracula, then purchase the stars involved, such as Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi.[8]
SCTV parody
Second City Television's "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" was a recurring sketch that parodied both horror TV shows and the films featured on them. The fictional show was hosted by Count Floyd, played by the station's newscaster, Floyd Robertson (both played by Joe Flaherty), and recurring characters included fictional film villains Dr. Tongue (John Candy) and his servant, Bruno (Eugene Levy).
Creature Double Feature is a television show, syndicated in the Boston and Philadelphia area during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It sometimes also aired under names like Sci-Fi Flix and Creature Feature. The show aired classic monster movies, with the name "Creature Double Feature" based on its airing two movies during its three-hour time slot. The movies broadcast were taken from the classic Universal Horror movies of the 1930s to 1950s, the Hammer Studios and American International Pictures films of the 1950s, Roger Corman's horror films of the 1960s, and Toho Studio's "giant monster" movies of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series created by William Gaines and Steven Dodd that ran for seven seasons on the premium cable channel HBO, from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996, with a total of 93 episodes. The show's title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name, published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Most of the program's episodes are based on stories that originally appeared in that comic or other EC Comics of the time, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.
John Zacherle was an American television host, radio personality, singer, and voice actor. He was best known for his long career as a television horror host, often broadcasting horror films in Philadelphia and New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. Best known for his character of "Roland/Zacherley", he also did voice work for films, and recorded the top ten novelty rock and roll song "Dinner With Drac" in 1958. He also edited two collections of horror stories, Zacherley's Vulture Stew and Zacherley's Midnight Snacks.
Rich Koz is an American actor and broadcaster best known for his portrayal of horror-movie host Svengoolie, as well as his early '90s children's cartoon showcase The Koz Zone. Koz is also the host of the syndicated Stooge-a-Palooza program. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
KOFY-TV is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of Merit Street Media. It is owned by CNZ Communications, LLC, alongside Class A station KCNZ-CD and low-power station KQRM-LD. The three stations share transmitter facilities atop San Bruno Mountain. KOFY-TV's studios were previously located on Marin Street in the Bayview–Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco until 2018; the station has since maintained space at KGO-TV's studios north of the city's Financial District.
Count Floyd is a fictional character featured in television and played by comic actor Joe Flaherty. He is a fictional horror host in the tradition of TV movie hosts on local television in both the United States and Canada.
Monsters HD was a 24/7, 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.
Bob Wilkins was a television personality.
Fright Night was the name of two science fiction and horror film programs. One ran from 1970 to 1981, and the other ran from 1973 to 1987. Both programs were broadcast by KHJ-TV Los Angeles, and its sister-station WOR-TV New York City.
William Robert Cardille, also known as "Chilly Billy", was an American broadcast personality from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was well known to regional viewers as a late-night horror host, but is perhaps more widely remembered for his appearance in George A. Romero's landmark zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1968), portraying a fictional version of himself; he also appeared as himself in the 1990 remake.
Dr. Gangrene is a television horror host based in the Middle Tennessee area, played by actor/writer/producer Larry Underwood.
Creature Features a classic horror film show broadcast in the New York Metropolitan Area, on WNEW, Channel 5. It was hosted by Lou Steele, who became familiar to Channel 5 viewers for starting off the 10 o'clock News by asking: "It's 10 p.m.; do you know where your children are?"
Shock Theater is a package of 52 pre-1948 classic horror films from Universal Studios released for television syndication in October 1957 by Screen Gems, the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. The Shock Theater package included Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man as well as a few non-horror spy and mystery films. A second package, Son of Shock, was released for television by Screen Gems in 1958, with 20 horror films from both Universal and Columbia.
Chiller Thriller was a kid-friendly horror showcase that aired on New York City television station WOR-TV on Saturday mornings as early as 1974 and as late as 1977.
Midnight Monster Hop is a horror host television show that first aired in 2006 on HSTV in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Chiller Theatre, or Chiller Theater, was a late-night horror and science fiction movie program on WIIC/WPXI, Channel 11, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It aired from September 14, 1963 to January 1, 1984. It was hosted by Bill Cardille, known to fans as "Chilly Billy". It was a Saturday night tradition for two generations of Pittsburghers. Two films were shown, one starting at 11:30 p.m. and the second starting at about 1:00 a.m. In between films, and at random times during the films, breaks were taken for skits such as reports from the "PSS"; in these skits, Bill Cardille would go into another part of the WIIC studios and pretend he was broadcasting from the (nonexistent) Pittsburgh Subway System. Other characters included Captain Bad, Maurice the Matchmaker, and Mr. Magnificent. Cardille and WIIC publicist Robert Willis wrote the skits, followed by staff director/producer Michael Styer and sometimes Channel 11 staffers were enlisted to play bit parts. At the end of the show, Cardille would sit on a stool and banter with the studio crew.
Chiller Theatre was a Saturday night television series broadcast by Channel 11 WPIX in New York City that showed classic horror movies.
Chiller Theatre aired on various local television stations in the Green Bay market from 1984 until early 2009. It last aired Saturday nights on WGBA - Channel 26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin following Saturday Night Live, and then Saturdays on WACY 32 at 11pm. The show is hosted by Ned the Dead and his sidekick Doc Moreau. The program features classic horror movies and other cult films. On March 28, 2009, The Ned the Dead Show premièred with a new format and new movies. However, the show still takes place at the Chiller Theater. New cast members have joined Ned the Dead and Doc Moreau, including Vicki Vixen, and Small Town Steve. The Ned the Dead show also features independent films and videos in a segment called Sconniewood.
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.
The Film Detective is an American classic film restoration, distribution, and streaming company based in Rockport, Massachusetts, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cineverse. Launched in 2013, The Film Detective offers an extensive library of over 3,000+ hours of classic films and television series, with a focus on both renowned classics and B-movies across genres including comedy, drama, film noir, horror, musical, mystery, science fiction, and silent. Services offered by The Film Detective include a classic film and television app on web, iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV; a 24/7 linear channel offered across multiple leading OTT platforms including Sling TV, Plex, STIRR, DistroTV, Local Now, and Rakuten TV; and exclusive, limited-run Blu-ray and DVD releases.
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