Balladeer’s Blog continues its marking of the FORTIETH anniversary year of the neglected cult show The Texas 27 Film Vault, which debuted on February 9th, 1985.
In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class, hosted the program.
ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: Saturday September 28th, 1985 from 10:30pm to 1:00 am. Broadcast throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
SERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie our members of the Film Vault Corps showed and mocked a chapter of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).
In that serial Ming the Merciless unleashes a disease called the Purple Death on Earth, prompting Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr Zarkov to fly to the planet Mongo to find a cure and defeat Ming for good.
FILM VAULT LORE: Fellow Film Vault fan Doctor X-Rae (a lady, hence the spelling) informed me that this 1952 film was shown by our boys as part of a promotional give-away of tickets to the Chuck Norris movie Invasion USA which was hitting theaters back then. This would have been similar to the ticket give-away a few months earlier to the 1985 Godzilla remake, for which Randy and Richard showed King Kong vs Godzilla (1962).
HOST SEGMENTS: Some potential dispute here. Dr X-Rae thinks that this was the episode that showed Randy and Richard seeming to quit the Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) and through an oddball series of events, winding up in front of a firing squad … and getting shot!
It all turns out to be a dream – see my interview with Randy Clower for details. This would all tie in with the “it’s only a dream” style ending of Invasion USA (1952 version) but there’s no hard and fast rule that the Host Segments HAD to parallel the night’s movie. Randy himself is unable to help as he doesn’t recall either way.
THE MOVIE: Invasion USA presented a hypothetical invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union. Well, technically the invading nation goes unnamed but with their soldiers’ Boris Badunov accents it’s no real secret who it’s supposed to be. Continue reading
SERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie machine-gun toting Randy and Richard, as members of the fictional Film Vault Corps (“the few, the proud, the sarcastic”) showed and mocked another chapter of the Republic Serial Radar Men from the Moon (1952).
THE MOVIE: Blood Beach (1980) was one of the least effective horror films of the 1980s. It had a half-decent premise – a monster beneath the sand at a California beach sucking victims down into its hellish maw – but squandered that premise with incredibly slow pacing. 
In the middle 1980s The Texas 27 Film Vault was the show to watch on Saturday nights to see “Film Vault Technicians First Class” Randy Clower and Richard Malmos show and mock bad and campy movies preceded by episodes of old serials. Machine-gun toting Randy and Richard would also have comedic sci-fi adventures before and after commercial breaks. 
SERIAL: Before the movie an episode of the 1950 Columbia serial Atom Man vs Superman was shown. Kirk Alyn starred as Superman with Lyle Talbot as his archenemy Lex Luthor. Lex has his own secret identity in this serial – each episode he dons a lead mask and oversees the villainy as “Atom Man”. 
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 
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: 
LET’S TALK AT HOME (2001-2003) – This cult program is often called “Mexico’s MST3K.” Its Spanish language title is A Platicar a su Casa, which has been translated into English as Let’s Talk at Home, Do Your Talking at Home and similar titles.
Balladeer’s Blog has written a great deal about earlier Movie Host shows, from 1950s efforts like Vampira, Mad Marvin and others on up through Moona Lisa and Ghoulardi in the 60s and 70s to 1980s programs like Elvira’s Movie Macabre, Texas 27 Film Vault, Laraine Newman’s Canned Film Festival, etc,
The wisecracking hosts were Andres Bustamente and Trino Camacho, two legends in Mexican comedy. The jokes were what you would expect – shots at the poor quality and/or low budget of the films, their odd storylines plus some social and political commentary about life in Mexico. 
In that classically campy serial Gene Autry played a singing cowboy who saves the world from an advanced underground civilization that comes complete with killer robots who wear cowboy hats. 
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