The Secret of the Bermuda Triangle Revealed
Before MST3K we had … The Texas 27 Film Vault! Before Joel and Mike there was Randy and Richard! Balladeer’s Blog continues celebrating the FORTIETH anniversary year of this neglected cult show which debuted Saturday night February 9th, 1985.
MOVIE: The Giant Claw (1957)
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday April 6th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
SERIAL: The Lost City (1935) about a mad scientist who rules a high-tech city in the middle of the African jungle.
Randy (right) and Richard way down on Level 31 hosting The Texas 27 Film Vault
Film Vault Lore: Thank you to my fellow T27FV fan Dolores for this episode’s date, the serial and for this quote about Ken Miller, who played “Tex” on the show: “I loved the random bits of madness added by the gung-ho Tex each episode! He always reminded me of Robert Duvall’s character Kilgore from Apocalypse Now.“
The Movie: The Giant Claw is another of those staples of bad movie shows. It’s been presented by just about every Movie Host program at one time or another. Because of the film’s familiarity I will keep this review short.
Global UFO sightings turn out to be sightings of a gigantic (and ridiculous-looking) flying buzzard from outer space. As if that isn’t silly enough the destructive creature is also an ANTI-MATTER gigantic flying buzzard from outer space. Continue reading
Before MST3K there was The Texas 27 Film Vault. Before Joel and Mike there was Randy and Richard! Before Deep 13 there was Level 31.
SERIAL: Before showing and mocking John Carradine’s Billy the Kid vs Dracula our members of the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed and mocked an episode of the Mascot Serial The Phantom Empire (1935). 
THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY YEAR OF THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT CONTINUES! In the middle 1980s/ Way down on Level 31 came this pre-MST3K show about bad and campy movies. Film Vault Technicians 1st Class Richard Malmos and Randy Clower hosted the show along with their friend and cocreator Ken Miller as Tex plus Laurie Savino as the Film Vault Corps’ Mystery Clip Technician. 
QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966) 
Even the show’s co-host and co-creator Randy Clower has been bled dry of information on the show by me. Over the years other fans of the show – and a special shout-out goes to “the Cap’n” – have provided info here and there that often led me to concrete source material. 
FIEND WITH-OUT A FACE (1958)
Balladeer’s Blog has covered many, many Movie Hosts over the years. Pioneers from the 1950s like 
Among the many others that I’ve examined were big names like Elvira, Joe Bob Briggs, and Joel Hodgson of MST3K. Balladeer’s Blog even covered YT figures who combined movie hosting schtick with online film reviewing like 
THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW (1981) 
THE MOVIE: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow was a hilariously melodramatic and irrational documentary playing along with the silly notion that the 16th Century “seer” Nostradamus’ vague and noncommital quatrains predicted major future events. Orson Welles, in his “anything for money” phase, narrated the film. 
FRIGHTMARE THEATER (2015-2022) – Over the years, Balladeer’s Blog has examined plenty of Movie Host Shows, old and new. Frightmare Theater is another hostess-themed film show created, written and directed by Joel Stephens, just like 
Frightmare Theater delivers an entire coven of hostesses, led by Mistress Scarlet (Scarlet Ryan), the red head who rises from her coffin to host the bad movie proceedings. Some of her assistants are Original Cyn (Cyn Renteria), Sister Jane (Jane Victoria Colley) and Sister Monalisa (Monalisa Davinci). Stephens himself appeared as Boris the Butler for a while. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog my fascination with Movie Host shows of the past and present is pretty well established. I’ve written about such programs from the 1950s onward. Not long ago I covered “
This program was created, written and produced by Joel Stephens, famous for his many Movie Host programs that combine assorted old movies, cartoons and serials with the tradition of attractive female hosts introducing and commenting upon such superannuated programming. Similar Movie Host shows from Stephens include Frightmare Theater, Six Gun Theater, Mobster Theater, Your Afternoon Movie and others. 
Getting back to Dark Jungle Theater, here is an overview: 
Balladeer's Blog 