(screaming)

- (sighs) Screaming relaxes me so.

(exciting music)

- The modern horror genre arguably got started

on a June night in 1816 when Lord Byron

challenged his companions at Lake Geneva

to write ghost stories to tell each other.

That challenge resulted in Frankenstein

and the modern vampire as we know it.

Now here's the part where it'll probably sound like

I'm reaching, I think it's that origin story

with a group of story tellers sitting around a fire

that has led horror to be drawn to anthologies

and horror hosts.

It's probably no shock to you all that I,

someone who talks about horror movies on the internet,

have a huge love for horror hosts.

And while the internet has changed a lot

I thought we could look back at the history

of how we got here.

Vampira, played by actress Mila Nermey

was the first horror host.

For a single season from April 30th, 1954

to April second, 1955 the Vampira show ran

on KABC in Los Angeles at the glamor ghoul

in her long, tight black dress

reclining on a Victorian couch introducing movies.

Now that probably sounds a bit familiar to a lot of you

who have never even seen Vampira.

But she was the first to do it.

She was Morticia Addams before Morticia Addams.

Literally.

She based her look on the nameless character

from Charles Adams' cartoons in The New Yorker

who wouldn't be known as Morticia

until the TV adaptation a decade later.

What's really crazy about the character of Vampira

and her influence is her short tenure.

A year in, ABC tried to buy the character from Nermey.

She refused, they canceled her.

That was it for Vampira.

But she started a format that would thrive

and launch a million monster kids.

Then in 1957 Universal Studios packaged

52 of their classic horror films as Shock Theater

and distributed them around the US

for television syndication.

And encouraged the use of hosts for the broadcasts.

This led to a wave of late night costumed hosts

taking to the air to introduce the films

with stand outs like John Zacherley, originally appearing

as Roland in Philadelphia before moving to New York

and presenting as Zacherley,

becoming nationwide sensations.

Zacherley really leaned into the horror comedy

side of things and incorporated cut away gags,

parodying the films he was presenting,

which has kind of become the standard.

Zacherley even had a hit record

with Dinner For Drac, breaking the top 10 in 1958.

And that's sort of what my introduction to Zacherley was,

not Dinner With Drac in 1958, but from Rock and Roll.

He and the Ghastly Ones do a great cover of CCR's

Sinister Purpose on Rob Zombie's

Halloween Hootenanny compilation.

The Shock Theater package hitting television

created a monster craze in the late '50's

that would also benefit from Forrest J. Ackerman's

Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine

and comics like Tales from the Crypt.

While the horror hosts of the era were mostly made up

of weather men and other personalities already employed

by the respective stations presenting archival films

during the late '50's a genre series would emerge

that would change everything.

Rod Sterling was already an established name in television

when he created The Twilight Zone

an anthology series which presented original sci-fi,

fantasy and horror tales which used the freedom

of genre storytelling to tackle stories and theme

that he felt were being suppressed and censored elsewhere.

The show with Sterling narrating through each stand alone

story until its twist ending is one of the most

beloved franchises in television history.

And has spawned a movie, countless imitations

and three revivals including an upcoming version

executive produced and hosted by Jordan Peele.

While The Twilight Zone brought about a new kind

of horror host one that presented original material

it didn't mean that the Late-Nite Schlock host

went anywhere.

In fact they thrived through the '60's with names like

Ghoulardi, Sammy Terry and Moona Lisa

ruling their local airwaves.

Some of the characters from the original monster craze

are still going like how Mark Carter replaced his Father Bob

as Sammy Terry and Rich Koz took over

the reigns of Svengoolie.

First replacing Jerry G. Bishop as Son of Svengoolie

from 1979 to 1986 then when the show was resurrected in 1995

Bishop encouraged Koz to drop Son of

and he's been Svengoolie every since.

Now expanded from the original Chicago market

to reach audiences nationwide Saturday night's on METV.

While the horror hosts didn't go anywhere

through the '70's popularity did dip a bit.

But there was a resurgence in the early '80's

thanks to the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira.

The origin story of Elvira actually circle us back

to Vampira which shouldn't really come as any surprise.

Looking to revive Fright Night not the movie

which featured a horror host but the LA area horror show

that had been hosted by Sinister Seymour

producers reached out to Mila Nermey she was on board,

but according to Wikipedia she wanted Lola Falana

to take over the role, producers said no and Nearmy walked

which was kinda her thing.

Auditions were held to find a new hostess

and Cassandra Peterson won the job,

but since Nermey owned Vampira,

remember she refused to sell the rights the character

of Elvira was created.

And as you can expect there were some lawsuits.

But it was ruled that characters that just shared

a close resemblance that if anything could be sourced

back to Charles Adams.

The hostess and movie macabre went on to be

a media sensation throughout the 1980's

and has been a staple of pop culture ever since.

In fact, there's rumors of another sequel

to Mistress of the Dark and talk that a new version

of Elvira's movie macabre may be making its way to Netflix.

It was at the very end of the '80's that arguably

the greatest horror host of the greatest horror

anthology series made his debut.

Tales from the Crypt sound so weird it had to work.

I mean someone said let's have a puppet corpse

introduce a bunch of short films starring and created

by A-list Hollywood talent based on horror comic books

from the 19050's.

And they said it with a straight face

and then it actually worked.

Thanks in large part to the John Kassir voiced Crypt Keeper

who would also make the leap to Saturday mornings

with the markedly tamer Tales from the Crypt Keeper.

There are definitely a group of horror fans around my age

who would cite the Crypt Keeper as their first horror host.

But for me that honor goes to a group of Canadian kids

sitting around a campfire.

The Midnight Society of Are You Afraid of the Dark?

met weekly with each member taking a turn

submitting a tale for approval.

It wasn't a traditional horror host set up for sure,

but it was an effective one that cultivated

a new group of monster kids.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? is even moving to the big screen

it and Annabelle Creation's scribe Gary Dauberman

has written the film which is due in theaters this fall.

But beyond Kids in the Woods the '90's also saw

the emergence of something else that would change

the landscape of horror hosts, the internet.

Count Gore de Vol of Washington D.C. who originally

broadcasted from 1973 to 1987 lays claim to being the first

horror host on the internet with his online series

which dates back to 1998.

But it's not just existing hosts taking to the web

the last few years has seen a rise

in a new generation of horror hosts.

Like Blair Bathory of Fear Haus who has been hosting

her carefully curated selections of short horror

since May of 2015.

The show is now weekly with new episodes on Wednesdays

and they've even expanded to a Fear Haus Watch Club group

on Facebook for fans of the series to join the discussion.

There's also Deadflix hosted by hellbound video store clerk

Morgul from the team at Grind Mind.

Their series is an anthology of original short films

with new episodes coming monthly.

So like the horror hosts going back to the '50's

even the internet has hosts who introduce pre-produced films

and hosts who present original works.

Ad of course I can't forget Joe Bob.

Joe Bob Briggs is a bit different

than your usual horror host having originally been known

as a Drive-In critic

before hosting Drive-In Theater and Monster Vision.

These days he set up show with the folks over at Shudder

where the last Drive-In knocked out three epic marathons

in 2018 and now news is out that a weekly series

will be coming to the streaming platform in the new year.

Look I know I missed a bunch here including Grandpa Al,

but who's your favorite horror host?

Do you prefer original anthologies

or archived presentations?

Let us know in the comments.

And remember Frighthype and Cryptv are all over the internet

until next time keep the horror on the screen

and off the streets.

(intriguing music)

- [Narrator] Watch new scary vids every Tuesday,

Thursday and Friday.

(upbeat music)