Sunday, October 8, 2017

Svengoolie

I did not grow up with horror hosts as a kid.  We had some kind of "control voice" that introduced both "The Outer Limits" and "Sci-Fi Flicks" on Channel 2, but there was no actual host to watch.  Hence, I have no emotional attachment to these types of shows like many of my friends do.  I've never really cared about seeing them, though I have enjoyed several documentaries about the phenomenon, both reading and watching them.

Now, thanks to MeTV airing Sven's show, I can sort of experience it.  I generally enjoy the episodes, as Sven has a lot of knowledge about the movies he shows.  Sometimes he mentions older shows and the mistakes they have, but overall his information is pretty accurate.

His humor is usually corny and pretty tame, and the sketches can be hit or miss, but that's true with all humor.  He comes across like a real fan with a love of all the same sorts of things I enjoy- comic books, wrestling and of course, monster movies.

Sometimes I wonder about the movies he shows, as the "Inner Sanctum" movies are barely genre specific, though they tend to be enjoyable.  He does air quite a variety of shows, though I wish he would mix up the styles, as it seems he goes through phases, Universal, 70s horror, Japanese, etc.  There are always fans who complain he isn't showing enough of any type of variety, but that's true about every fandom.

They only thing I never like is the so-called "Svenvision" which adds sound effects and video effects in an effort to be funny.  It never is.  The movie will be fine without it. 

Thanks, MeTV, for bringing this experience to us on Saturday nights.  Go here for more info!

2 comments:

Vaughn Banks said...

In the 60s and 70s we had a great horror movie host in the Detroit area, Sir Graves Ghastly.

TC said...

One of our local stations had a host for its afternoon "Million Dollar Movie"-type show in the late 1960s. He wore a sort of Dracula costume and did a fairly good Bela Lugosi impression.

Al Lewis hosted a Saturday show in the 1980s, as his "Grandpa" (from The Munsters) character. I think it was on Ted Turner's TNT or TBS cable super station, and, IIRC, that channel was also re-running The Munsters on week nights at the time.

And, of course, there was Elvira's syndicated show in the 1980s. The movies were awful, but the introductions and host breaks were fun.

Sven does a good job. The gags are corny, but fun. And he really does seem to know the trivia and background information.