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Don't Believe the Hype

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

For what this was and what this was trying to do - this production about the evolution and, unfortunately, demise of the horror host phenomena was first-rate! I was not around this for the most part due to age and location except for Elvira. More on her later. I did get a chance in the mid-eighties to catch Chilly Billy Cardille in Pittsburgh and absolutely loved him. I wished I had had a chance to see more of these - if not all. Some look like hosts that I would have loved to have watched. I was around for Chiller Theatre in New York in the 70's(loved, loved, loved it!). So what we basically get here is an introduction and survey course in Horror Hosts 101 - so to speak. It traces the first and then goes up to the present, where believe it or not, some areas are still fortunate to have these late-nite pioneers still gracing their screens. The documentary gets into many specific "giants" and has lots, lots, lots of interviews with the people that did this. Noticeably missing is Elvira though they do, for this documentary, a very stylish presentation of her importance(which cannot be underestimated). we see Vampira, Ghoulardi, Cardille, Zacherley, and many, many more. What we need to do it make these television shows of yesteryear available for those of us who saw them and want to see them again OR those, like me, who would like to explore this territory for the first time. Whatwe really need is a first-rate classic horror channel. They could get a real host I've and then on other nights show some of those classics that are still available. There is so much out there to be seen. Anyway, American Scary was a great documentary about a subject I would like to know more about.

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.

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 is a nice little walk down memory lane for adults who grew up during the generation that enjoyed their local version of "Creature Feature" on television. Where I grew up, it was on Friday and Saturday nights and decades later I have a warm place in my heart for Count Gore De Vol. So it wasn't at all surprising that I gravitated towards this documentary when I saw it listed on Netflix.Some background is needed for you young whippersnappers. Once or twice a week, in most of the major cities had a local horror movie evening (usually starting around 11pm or later). This film is about these local hosts--local celebrities who were hardly recognized outside their local markets (with only a few exceptions, such as Vampira). In most cases, the films they showed weren't all that great and sometimes watching the host's antics during commercial breaks made these sub-par films worth watching. And in every case in every market, the sets and acting were all pure cheese--enjoyable, fun but certainly cheese!Now as far as the documentary goes, it was quite enjoyable but suffered from a few problems. First, the musical track was really too invasive and too omni-present. Less would have worked better. Second, while I adored seeing all these local hosts after all these years, I don't know why they had other celebrities there as well (other than, I assume, they'd appear for free). The telepathic lady from "Babylon 5" and Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds", for examples, were shown quite a few times but I would MUCH rather have seen more of the hosts or old clips or more about the history of these shows. Third, and I can't at all blame the film makers, but seeing this stretched out--with more time for specific hosts would have been nice. I wanted more on The Cool Ghoul and Count Gore De Vol and also more on hosts I wasn't familiar with before the film. As they say, though, in entertainment it's important to keep them wanting more, so in this sense the film was a real success--and walk down memory lane.