American Scary (2006)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

For what this was and what this was trying to do - this production about the evolution and, unfortunately, demise of the horror host phenomena was first-rate! I was not around this for the most part due to age and location except for Elvira. More on her later. I did get a chance in the mid-eighties to catch Chilly Billy Cardille in Pittsburgh and absolutely loved him. I wished I had had a chance to see more of these - if not all. Some look like hosts that I would have loved to have watched. I was around for Chiller Theatre in New York in the 70's(loved, loved, loved it!). So what we basically get here is an introduction and survey course in Horror Hosts 101 - so to speak. It traces the first and then goes up to the present, where believe it or not, some areas are still fortunate to have these late-nite pioneers still gracing their screens. The documentary gets into many specific "giants" and has lots, lots, lots of interviews with the people that did this. Noticeably missing is Elvira though they do, for this documentary, a very stylish presentation of her importance(which cannot be underestimated). we see Vampira, Ghoulardi, Cardille, Zacherley, and many, many more. What we need to do it make these television shows of yesteryear available for those of us who saw them and want to see them again OR those, like me, who would like to explore this territory for the first time. Whatwe really need is a first-rate classic horror channel. They could get a real host I've and then on other nights show some of those classics that are still available. There is so much out there to be seen. Anyway, American Scary was a great documentary about a subject I would like to know more about.

American SCARY is a nice little walk down memory lane for adults who grew up during the generation that enjoyed their local version of "Creature Feature" on television. Where I grew up, it was on Friday and Saturday nights and decades later I have a warm place in my heart for Count Gore De Vol. So it wasn't at all surprising that I gravitated towards this documentary when I saw it listed on Netflix.Some background is needed for you young whippersnappers. Once or twice a week, in most of the major cities had a local horror movie evening (usually starting around 11pm or later). This film is about these local hosts--local celebrities who were hardly recognized outside their local markets (with only a few exceptions, such as Vampira). In most cases, the films they showed weren't all that great and sometimes watching the host's antics during commercial breaks made these sub-par films worth watching. And in every case in every market, the sets and acting were all pure cheese--enjoyable, fun but certainly cheese!Now as far as the documentary goes, it was quite enjoyable but suffered from a few problems. First, the musical track was really too invasive and too omni-present. Less would have worked better. Second, while I adored seeing all these local hosts after all these years, I don't know why they had other celebrities there as well (other than, I assume, they'd appear for free). The telepathic lady from "Babylon 5" and Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds", for examples, were shown quite a few times but I would MUCH rather have seen more of the hosts or old clips or more about the history of these shows. Third, and I can't at all blame the film makers, but seeing this stretched out--with more time for specific hosts would have been nice. I wanted more on The Cool Ghoul and Count Gore De Vol and also more on hosts I wasn't familiar with before the film. As they say, though, in entertainment it's important to keep them wanting more, so in this sense the film was a real success--and walk down memory lane.

Not a lot of documentaries shot on a shoestring like this one is convey the love and admirations the filmmakers of "American Scary" do for their overview of local horror hosts. The unpolished nature of this film actually adds to the overall message- that the horror movie host was something from another time and is (with few exceptions) sorely missed. Interviews with the people that brought these characters to life as well as people who were influenced by them are slices of time that make us lucky they've been captured on tape; too many people (Forry Ackerman; Vampira; Bob Wilkins plus quite a few more) have died since being interviewed for this piece which is a pity. Thank God these people are on here to share their thoughts. A small film with a giant heart- buy it or rent it, but SEE IT!

Many, many years later my childhood memories of Milwaukee horror movie hosts Dr. Cadaverino, Shirley the tarantula and Tolous NoNeck often rivals my memory of the movies themselves.Though none of my childhood horror hosts were included in John Hudgens shockumentary (no surprise considering the hundreds of hours of footage squeezed into this precious 90-minute film), American Scary still brought back a cavalcade of warm memories from my childhood in Milwaukee to watching Son of Svengoolie with my wife and my own children in Chicago.All-in-all, American Scary is a very entertaining and inspiring look at a uniquely American phenomenon: the late-night horror movie hosted by the big kid who never grew up and seems to have forgotten that Halloween only comes but once a year. The inspiration of my local horror hosts has never left me and apparently neither has it left all the others who, inspired by their own local childhood horror hosts, continue to host those same low-budget, z-grade sci-fi and horror movies on cable access TV and on the web; carrying the torch to a new generation.