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Rob Zombie will host 13 Nights of Halloween Films for HDNET Movies

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Many older horror fans miss the days of the classic “horror movie hosts”.   Starting with Vampira and Zacherley, and continuing with many regional hosts from around the country such as “Chilly Billy”, Ghoulardi, and Svengoolie, these hosts brought humor and commentary to these late night features.

In the syndication and cable era of the 1980’s, the trend continued with Elvira, Commander USA, and Joe Bob Briggs.  Unfortunately, most of the hosts were done by the late 90’s, but they would sometimes return for special Halloween programming. read more

Beloved Horror Host Zacherley Dead at 98

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Dread Central broke the news today that John Zacherle (better know by his stage name Zacherley) died yesterday, a day before the semi-annual Chiller Theater Convention that was named for his popular New York area horror television show from the 1960’s.

John Zacherle started out in early televison and radio broadcasting, but his real claim to fame came as the host of Shock Theater for WCAU-TV out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which debuted on October 7, 1957.  Zacherle started out as an undertaker/vampire character named “Roland” before switching to his trademark Zacherley.   read more