I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (1998) – Directed by Aris Iliopulos, this is the film that was made based on that notorious unproduced script written by THE Ed Wood, the master of badfilm behind Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 From Outer Space and more.
The identity of the screenwriter is the main draw for this cultiest of cult movies. A secondary draw is the way even the smallest roles are performed by famous, infamous or fashionably esoteric figures. Think of I Woke Up Early The Day I Died as an arthouse companion to 1994’s Ed Wood from Tim Burton.
There’s no dialogue, Easter Eggs regarding Wood’s various Golden Turkeys abound and excerpts from the actual screenplay appear on screen at times in case viewers are skeptical that the weirdness they’re witnessing really was in the original script.
Billy Zane is in the lead role as a violent mental patient who overpowers his nurse, dresses in her uniform and escapes from confinement. He pulls off an armed robbery but has the proceeds stolen from him in turn at a bizarre funeral held by a deranged cult. Zane then commits multiple murders as he works his way through the list of people who may have the money from his heist. Continue reading
SCORPIO (1976-1977) – From September 18th, 1976 to August or September of 1977 Scorpio (actor name unknown) hosted Thing Theatre at 1:00pm on Saturday afternoons. Thing Theatre aired on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s WPGH-TV, which was back after having declared bankruptcy years earlier when 
Losing interest, Barrett and the others wandered off, leaving the coffin sitting there. As one does, I guess. Suddenly, a man in tattered clothing with messy hair and sporting an eyepatch emerged from the coffin evilly laughing at how he had fooled the others. 
PENNY DREADFUL – Rose Marie Earp starred as the cleverly named Penny Dreadful on KMBC in Kansas City, MO. In the 1960s, KMBC aired two Movie Host shows on Saturdays. Chiller was broadcast at 10:30pm and Son of Chiller at 6:00pm. Son of Chiller was hosted by Penny Dreadful from the tower room of her creepy castle. Chiller was hosted by Gregory Grave, whom I’ll cover at another time. 
Rose Marie Earp is the earliest Movie Hostess I’ve found using the name Penny Dreadful, but there have been others since her 1960s run. Though Penny aka the Dreadful One did schtick typical of regular horror hosts her costume looked more like the outfit worn by the female alien in the bad movie Devil-Girl from Mars (1954). 
EDDIE L. DRISCOLL played several different Movie Host characters during his THIRTY-THREE years working at the same television station – WLBZ Channel 2 in Bangor, Maine. That Maine location made Driscoll’s characters the Movie Hosts that a certain horror author had watched in his youth (see below). Eddie’s shows aired throughout Maine and into Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
Over the years, he worked there as a cameraman, weather man, kiddie show host and much more. He retired from WLBZ in 1987. His Movie Host characters: 
UNCLE GORY – From 1964 to 1967 Eddie hosted his new Saturday night at Midnight show titled Weird. On this Bad Movie Show he played Uncle Gory, a Dungeon Master in a fur vest and a mop-top wig. Uncle Gory hosted from his dungeon with a human skull displayed on a slab near him. He presented each week’s movie like it was a story coming to life from a book he was reading aloud. 
THE OLD LADY OF NIGHTMARE ALLEY was the character who hosted the film show Nightmare! on KTLA in Los Angeles. She was played by the elderly actress Ottola Nesmith, who started in Silent Films in 1915 and appeared in over 100 movies, including Invisible Ghost with Bela Lugosi. 
Ottola’s Movie Hostess character The Old Lady eschewed the sex appeal approach of predecessors like Vampira and instead employed a memorable gimmick, albeit one which once got herself and KTLA in legal trouble. 
SCREAM-IN (June 20th, 1969 to August ?, 1971) – Love-Ins begat Laugh-In which begat Scream-In, a Bad Movie Show that went off the air when the station broadcasting it went bankrupt. Scream-In was previously titled Shock it to Me, a clever combination of the old Shock syndicated horror film package and the Laugh-In catch-phrase “Sock it to me!” 
COAGULUS – The name of the actor playing this vampire character has not come down to us. Some sources state that Coagulus hosted WPGH’s original version of Scream-In titled just Supernatural Movie (later Shock It to Me) beginning in February 1969 – the same month the station started broadcasting. 
DRACULINDA THE GHOUL-GIRL – Liz Herring, the Assistant Program Director at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC put her theater experience to good use as North and South Carolina’s Movie Hostess Draculinda the Ghoul-Girl. Draculinda hosted films on Nightmare, which aired Saturday nights at 11:00pm.
This Movie Host show would open with thunder and lightning as well as screams and the sound of a werewolf howling. Fake blood would drip down the screen. That would be followed by the appearance of Draculinda, seated on a stool with a spotlight on her. 
BLACK ROSES (1988) – This legendarily laughable attempt at a horror film belongs to quite a few niche sub-genres. It’s a Canadian horror movie, it’s one of the wonderfully campy Heavy Metal Horror productions of the 1980s and most importantly for trivia lovers Black Roses is one of the Big Three Canadian turkeys to feature Frank Dietz in a supporting role. (The other two are Rock’N’Roll Nightmare and Zombie Nightmare. ) 
THE BEARD aka THE WEIRD BEARD – This veteran of television and radio – real name Bob Lowrie – first gained the nickname “the Beard” from his time as a rock ‘n’ roll DJ. It is not known if the “Weird Beard” variant nickname started during his radio career or if it was coined to distinguish his Movie Host character from his DJ persona. 
Assisting the droll host was the beautiful Sugar, played by Letitia McKee, a former Miss Teen Hawaii and Miss Bikini. (She’s shoveling Hawaii’s famed sugar at right.) The program produced 126 episodes. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s love of Movie Host Shows is no secret. Recently I thanked Mike Pieper from
*** THE 1991 ELMER AWARDS – The awards were presented as the episode’s Host Segments. The Golden Turkey being shown was Bela Lugosi’s anti-classic The Corpse Vanishes. Hosting the Elmer Awards were Joan as Mrs. Spooks, owner of Spooks Hotel, and her seldom-seen husband, mad scientist Dr. Spooks (at left). Elmer himself accepted on behalf of each winner. 
MOST RIDICULOUS LOOKING CREATURE: Nominees – The Sea Creature in The Creature from the Haunted Sea … Zontar in Zontar, the Thing from Venus … The Giant Gumby Rock Creatures from Missile to the Moon … The Giant Brain in The Brain from Planet Arous. WINNER: The Sea Creature.
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