''American Scary'' is a 2006 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the history and legacy of classic television

horror host A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror films and low-budget B movies are shown on television or the Internet. Usually the host assumes a horror-themed persona, often a campy or humorous one. Generall ...

s, written and directed by American independent

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

s John E. Hudgens and Sandy Clark.

Background

The film features nearly 60 horror hosts, including interviews with and vintage clips of many of the genre's stars, such as Washington, DC's Count Gore De Vol, New York City's

Zacherley John Zacherle ( ; sometimes credited as John Zacherley; September 26, 1918 – October 27, 2016) was an American television host, radio personality, singer, and voice actor. He was best known for his long career as a television horror host, oft ...

, Los Angeles' Vampira, Cleveland's

Ghoulardi Ghoulardi was a fictional character created and portrayed by voice announcer, actor and disc jockey Ernie Anderson as the horror host of ''Shock Theater'' at WJW-TV, Channel 8 (a.k.a. "TV-8") the CBS Affiliate station in Cleveland, Ohio, from J ...

, and Chicago's

Svengoolie ''Svengoolie'' is an American hosted horror movie television program. The show features horror and science fiction films and is hosted by the eponymous character Svengoolie, who was originally played by Jerry G. Bishop from 1970 to 1973, before ...

, among others. Non-host celebrities such as Neil Gaiman,

Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. From 1966 to 2012 he appeared in more than 100 TV shows, TV series and films. Among his more notable roles, he portrayed the ...

Forrest J Ackerman Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a pr ...

Tom Savini Thomas Vincent Savini (born November 3, 1946) is an American prosthetic makeup artist, actor, stunt performer and film director. He is known for his makeup and special effects work on many films directed by George A. Romero, including ''Martin' ...

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

Joel Hodgson Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960) is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. In 2007, ''MST3K'' was list ...

, and Bob Burns appear to reminisce about the influence of horror hosts on their careers and/or lives, as well as many modern hosts who keep the tradition alive in modern shows on

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

cable TV or the internet. The film premiered in October 2006 at the Hollywood Film Festival, and was released on DVD in February 2009. In April 2010, it won the award for Best Independent Production of 2009 at the 8th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.

References

External links

* * 2006 films American documentary films Horror hosts Documentary films about television 2006 documentary films Documentary films about horror 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{arts-documentary-film-stub

Background

See also

References

External links