Oh boy. If like me, you grew up in Boston in the sixties and seventies, you may recall the early days of bad movies on the local VHF channels, 56 and later 38.
If so, here’s a blast from the past.
Sometime in 1968, Channel 56, WKBG at the time, started running nightly movies at 8PM (The Big Movie, I think they called it). I assume it was to draw viewers away from the local network affiliates who were showing I Dream of Jeannie, Here Come the Brides and other…er, classics. Channel 38 followed with the much missed Movie Loft.
But on Saturday nights 56 offered Creature Feature at 7 and Tales of the Unknown at 8:30 or 9PM. Brain was a regular on those Saturday nights. That movie is burned into my childhood neurons.
Makes Night of the Living Dead look like A Man for All Seasons.
Just for the record, man, Night of the Living Dead is a good movie. There are too many zombie movies in existence, but George Romero’s are the best, not least because they manage to come closer to being real movies about people than most horror movies ever do. Dawn of the Dead (the original) is not so hot, but Day of the Dead is also excellent. Land of the Dead, however, is just plain poor.
Sorry, but one needs to speak up in defense of the zombie every now and again.
Hey–you’re talking to a horror fan veteran! No disagreement on NOLD as far as being a classic. (I was making an analogy in haste.) I love a good zombie movie. In fact, whenever I think my kids are watching too much Dora or PBS Sprout, I wander into the living room, take the remote and say, “Gee, I wonder if there are any good zombie movies on tonight.”
Clears the room quicker than anything else.
BTW–one of Hammer’s classics from 1965, Plague of the Zombies, is still one of my favorites.
I grew up in Massachusetts and used to love watching Creature Double Feature on Saturday afternoons. As a kid, my favorite was the Gamera movies. Now looking back, I realize I was worshiping a giant turtle!
BTW, I am one of the “faithful remnant” who peruses your blog daily…
I remember Gamera! Glad to have you here, Bob. Thanks for reading.