- Fright Night (TV show)
Fright Night was the name of at least two science fiction and horror movie programs. One ran from 1970 to 1981, and the other ran from 1973 to 1987. Both programs were broadcast by KHJ-TV Los Angeles, and its sister-station WOR-TV New York City.
Los Angeles
"Fright Night" was a television horror show that presented low-budget horror and science fiction movies on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles between 1970 and 1973. The host for the show was
Larry Vincent (Sinister Seymour). He was noted for his style of criticizing the movies he presented in an offbeat and funny manner, usually appearing in a small window which would pop up in the corner, tossing a quip, then vanishing again.He show began with a voice-over introduction by a whiny-voiced, never seen assistant, who proclaimed him ". . .the Master of the Macabre, the Eppy-tome of Evil, SEEEEEEEYmooooourrrr!" He would then come out from behind the "slimiest of walls," and often lambaste the viewing audience for wasting their time watching such "stinkers." His films generally were poorly-written movies which had been distributed for late-night filler programming, in the days before satellite distribution became cost-effective for non-network stations.
He would frequently try to get a free meal from Pizza Fella which was a take-off on a then-popular franchise known as "Pizza Man." He would announce that a character was a "real four-flusher" -- followed by the sound of a toilet, flushing four times.
Elvira
When Vincent died he was replaced by Elvira ("Mistress of The Dark"). Upon Elvira's arrival the show was renamed "Movie Macabre".
Fiction
In the American horror movie "
Fright Night ",Roddy McDowall 's character, Peter Vincent, is also ahorror host for aCalifornia TV horror show titled "Fright Night;" Although the character's name is derived from veteranhorror film actorsPeter Cushing andVincent Price , and the character an amalgam of Cushing, Price, andChristopher Lee , the Peter Vincent character is also an homage to "Fright Night" 's host Larry Vincent.Fact|date=January 2008New York City
Fright Night was also a horror program that aired on New York's WOR-TV, Channel 9. As the Championship Wrestling show was ending, a Channel 9 off-screen announcer (either Ray Marlin,
Jesse Elin Browne , Barbara Daniels Korsen orTed Mallie ) would say "Now stay tuned for Fright Night, next on Channel 9."The opening featured a series of classic monsters from the
Universal Horror series.Bela Lugosi 's Dracula,Elsa Lanchester as the Bride Of Frankenstein,Lon Chaney, Jr. . as The Wolfman and thenBoris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster which dissolved into a skull from whose empty eye socket flowed wispy dry ice mist. Then two words appeared in the eye socket...FRIGHT NIGHT.From there the screen would give way to an incredible array of weekly horror films unlike those offered on any other station of the time. The show ran at various times throughout its history, ranging from midnight to 1 and 1:30 am."Fright Night" had its premiere on Saturday night,
October 6 ,1973 at midnight. The first film shown was one ofHemisphere Pictures ' television movies calledDecoy For Terror .From 1973 to 1979 "Fright Night" showed mainly the
Universal Horror classics likeDracula andFrankenstein . In fact,The Invisible Man became aChristmas tradition, broadcast whenever the Saturday night program fell on a Christmas weekend. "Fright Night" also later made a tradition of showing the violent Christmas chiller "Silent Night, Deadly Night " instead.In early 1979 the movies changed switched to more 1970s
slasher films andB-movies like: From 1979 until it's end in 1987, many famous horror and science-fiction movies debuted on Fright Night, like "Ben", "Evil Dead II ", "Halloween", "House of Dark Shadows ", "It's Alive", "Night of Dark Shadows ", "The Amityville Horror", "The Deep", "The Hills Have Eyes", "The Legend of Hell House ", "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ", and "Willard"."Fright Night" was discontinued in September, 1987.
External links
* [http://www.dvddrive-in.com/TV%20Guide/frightnight.htm Fright Night - WOR-TV]
* [http://latvlegends.com/Seymour/Seymour.html Article on Fright Night host Sinister Seymour]
* [http://www.tvacres.com/horror_seymour.htm Seymour the Sinister]
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