Tag Archives: Movie Hosts

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH LESLIE RICE FROM TERROR OBSCURA

Leslie Rice laying down the cinematic law on his web show Terror Obscura

Leslie Rice laying down the cinematic law on his web show Terror Obscura

Anne Rice, Jerry Rice, Condoleeza Rice … and now Leslie Rice joins those cultural titans as the most celebrated Rice since Uncle Ben’s.

Leslie Rice aka Fear Fan, is the creator, writer, director and star of the web series Terror Obscura in which he offers his wry and incisive look at various horror films from the obscure (duh) to the mainstream and from enjoyably bad Golden Turkeys to genuine classics. In my opinion out of the countless web shows that offer film criticism Terror Obscura is the most consistently watchable and Rice’s commentary provides genuine analysis, not just a synopsis of the movie being reviewed.

Balladeer’s Blog’s recommendations would include Leslie’s detailed analysis of the Nightmare on Elm Street series plus his hilarious takes on stinkers like Funhouse and Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. There are plenty of others to choose from including his new feature, Fright Bytes, in which Leslie offers much briefer takes on all things horror.    

Growing up in St Louis, MO Mr Rice began flirting with horror films by viewing the movies his parents would let him rent from the video store at the end of the street. His youthful favorites included Godzilla, Rodan, the Universal horror films plus Old School science fiction like Forbidden Planet.

When he turned 16 Leslie took his earlier dabbling in horror films to the next level. Enjoying the new freedom offered by a driver’s license and the income from his first job, Fear Fan dove into the harder stuff like Nightmare on Elm Street, Predator, Candyman and Aliens.

The college years came along and Rice, still based in St Louis, put his enthusiasm to practical use by reviewing movies for the college newspaper and then for his internship. His move into online video reviews will be covered in the body of the interview.      

Leslie’s early career as a riverboat pilot along the Mississippi has been extensively documented and I think we’re all very familiar with his heroics after the sinking of PT 109 (damn show-off) so I began the interview on a more personal note: 

Balladeer’s Blog: How long have you been dating Lindsay Lohan?

Leslie Rice: Only since she’s hit rock bottom. We met when she drove her car through my living room, and we’ve been a thing ever since.

BB: What was “the senses-shattering origin” of your Terror Obscura webcasts?

LR: I’d just discovered a Continue reading

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FOUR PEOPLE WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOVIE HOSTS

Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my love of bad movies and the B-movie hosts of the past. Previously I’ve examined many of those beloved figures including Randy and Richard from The Texas 27 Film Vault and many others. This time I’ll take a light-hearted look at figures who would have made perfect movie hosts themselves.

Shrimpenstein4. SHRIMPENSTEIN – Created by Michael Dormer and Lee Teacher, Shrimpenstein the pint-sized monster was the central figure of his eponymous television show on KHJ television in California from 1966-1968. Gene Moss portrayed Shrimpenstein’s fictional creator Doctor Von Schtick and also sang the show’s opening theme song. The program aired and made fun of the VERY limited animation Marvel Comics cartoons of the 1960’s like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk.

Supporting figures on the show were Wilfred the Weenie Werewolf, a hot-dog hungry lycanthrope plus the Tijuana Bats, bat puppets who would sing sendups of popular songs. The good doctor and Shrimpenstein often took irreverent potshots at Continue reading

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THE SEVEN MOST INFLUENTIAL MOVIE HOSTS: 1954 – 1987

Mad Marvin

Mad Marvin

Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog are familiar with my fondness for bad movies and for movie host shows. The bad movie subculture and the realm of movie hosts have always walked hand in hand with many movie hosts even appearing in various schlock film classics during their careers. Here is a salute to some of the most influential figures who made hosting bad and/or weird movies the time-honored American folk art it is today.

7. MAD MARVIN (Real name: Terry Bennett)

Program: Shock Theatre

Run: 1957 – 1959

Home Base: Chicago

Comment: Long before Jerry Bishop’s more well-known host Svengoolie and his even more famous “son” played by Rich Koz, Mad Marvin brought late-night b-movie fun to the Windy City. Marvin was a mad beatnik and was described in contemporary accounts as ” a combination of Charles Addams, Ernie Kovacs and Jack Paar.” Bennett’s program was so popular in Chicago that celebrities like Continue reading

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BAD MOVIE PAGE: THE NEWLYDEADS (1987)

 I recently received an email requesting that I review the hilariously bad 1987 horror film The Newlydeads. As it happens I reviewed that flick in 2010, so here it is again. As a reminder to new readers if you want an immediate bad movie fix on a particular film you can check my Bad Movie page to see if I’ve reviewed it already. Here is the link: https://glitternight.com/bad-movies/

THE NEWLYDEADS (1987) – Category: A neglected bad movie classic that deserves a Plan 9-sized cult following   This film is about an undead transvestite slasher called Jackie who preys on the couples at a honeymoon hotel. Hey, if the Sleepaway Camp horror films can have the Continue reading

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MOVIE HOSTS: MR PLINKETT

 I’ve been debating with myself for over a year now about whether to include Mr Plinkett, the fictional movie critic from Red Letter Media’s site, in my Movie Host section. I’m amazed to learn there are still people out there who haven’t tasted the Harry S Plinkett experience (and for the record, it tastes like pizza rolls ) so that got me energized to finally add an article about him.

Purists and politically correct fools may object to my classifying Plinkett (pictured at left) as a movie host, but Continue reading

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RANDY CLOWER: BALLADEER’S BLOG INTERVIEWS A MOVIE HOST LEGEND

Clower (right) with co-host Richard Malmos as “Film Vault Technicians First Class” on The Texas 27 Film Vault

Before MST3K there was THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT! Before Joel and Mike lovers of bad movies had Randy and Richard! Before Pearl there was Laurie Savino! Before Devil Dogs, Observers and Deep 13 there came Cellumites, giant rats and Level 31.

In the mid 1980’s The Texas 27 Film Vault was the show to watch on Saturday nights for wry mockery of Golden Turkeys preceded by episodes of vintage Republic Serials like Radar Men From The Moon and Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders.    

The Texas 27 Film Vault is one of the great unsung Movie Host shows of the 1980’s and I was thrilled to get this exclusive interview with Randy Clower, co-star and co-creator of this legendary cult show from the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. “The Film Vault Guys” as they were often called by us fans, or “Vaulties”,  established the pattern that a few other Movie Hosts have since followed.

Clower, Richard Malmos and their friend Ken Miller put together a Public Access television show called The Trivia Guys and in a classic story of talent over budget the trio crafted the program with such care and detail it became a minor hit. The program had a very professional look for a Public Access production and its success prompted a PM Magazine feature on The Trivia Guys

Management at Dallas television station KDFI, Channel 27 ( the “27” in The Texas 27 Film Vault ) saw the PM Magazine feature and were impressed with the high- dollar look that Clower, Malmos and Miller had put together on a flyweight budget. They approached the trio about hosting a late-night B-Movie show since the Dallas/ Ft Worth area had been without its own home- grown version of that local tv staple since the days of Greg Bransom’s show Professor Cerberus and the Museum of Horrors.

Warming to the idea, the soon-to-be Film Vault Guys decided that vampires, mad scientists and creepy castles had been done ad nauseum in Movie Host shows by then and ingeniously went in a different direction.  Thus was born the Film Vault Corps, a fictional quasi- military organization that protected America’s schlock- culture heritage by safeguarding the bad, campy but loveable cinematic turkeys of the past. The men and women of the FVC carried out this task in various Film Vaults under every major city in the United States.

These vaults were Continue reading

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MOVIE HOSTS: CHRISTOPHER COFFIN (1961? – 1967)

 Christopher Coffin, AKA Reed Pasternak AKA Reed Farrell, deserves to be mentioned with the biggest names in the history of B- Movie Hosts. As you can see in the photo at left Coffin hosted his movies from a wheelchair and when you combine that with his wry, erudite sense of humor and his aristocratic manner I think the best way to describe him would be as a combination of Sheridan Whitehead in The Man Who Came To Dinner and Ghoulardi.  Or maybe I should  make that  a pre- Ghoulardi version of Ghoulardi, depending on what year you accept for CC’s premier.

I want to address the ongoing debate over exactly what year his program debuted. The advocates of a Continue reading

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FIGHT POST- HALLOWEEN BLUES WITH SON OF SVENGOOLIE

 No, it’s not Zonker Harris with scare makeup on, it’s Chicago’s own Rich Koz during the original 1979- 1986 run of his B-movie show Son of Svengoolie.

To help everyone get over their post- Halloween depression (I wear an orange and black ribbon to “raise awareness” about this troubling malady) here is a Continue reading

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MOVIE HOSTS – MAD MARVIN

 Chicago’s own Mad Marvin (Terry Bennett) was part of the First Wave of B-Movie Hosts and Hostesses of the 1950s. From 1957 to 1959 Terry (joined by his wife Joy soon after the show launched) entertained the Windy City late on Saturday nights with that metropolis’ version of Shock Theater.

Described as a “Mad Beatnik” and a “Mad Hipster”, Bennett’s Mad Marvin character had a macabre sense of humor that has made him a legend with Movie Host fans. In fact, television station management in Chicago and from around the country soon realized that, as with the likes of Vampira and Zacherley, audiences were tuning in just as much (if not more) to watch the antics of Mad Marvin as they were to watch the movies.

Bennett’s most over-the -top stunt involved him pretending to swallow poison on the air, then describing his body’s reaction to the potent potable (for you Jeopardy fans) as he acted like he was genuinely dying. The notoriety from this morbid joke caused the ratings to skyrocket. In a way, Mad Marvin was like a forerunner of the radio Shock Jocks of later decades.

That legendary incident and many other ghoulish gags, many of which centered around  Continue reading

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MOVIE HOSTS: GHOULARDI

 From January of 1963 to December of 1966 Ernie Anderson, AKA Ghoulardi, ruled the  Friday night airwaves in Cleveland with his b-movie show. To give you an idea of how popular his show was, Ghoulardi did what some of the top entertainers of their day consistently failed to do – HE BEAT JOHNNY CARSON’S TONIGHT SHOW IN THE RATINGS! Carson may have owned the rest of the country, but on Friday nights in Cleveland and vicinity Ghoulardi was the REAL king.

Ghoulardi, along with Vampira and Zacherley, is part of the Holy Trinity (or Trimurti if you prefer) of the early b-movie show hosts who proved so popular they ensured that the American folk art of hosting Grade Z films would not be just a passing fad. Those three pioneers (if you’re from Chicago you can add Mad Marvin) became pop culture icons and helped demonstrate how much fun bad movie culture can be.

In Ghoulardi’s case his catch-phrases like “Stay sick” and  “Ova dey!” were the “Hikeeba!” of their day. Anderson’s look was iconic, too, and his green lab coat predated Doctor Madblood’s and Trace Continue reading

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