Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

poe426 Because I grew up watching late-night horror hosts on television (in glorious black and white) and going to drive-ins, I watch documentaries like American SCARY and DRIVE-IN BLUES and long for "the good old days." The last time I searched the 'net, I found- much to my amazement- that there are, indeed, a number of drive-ins still operating around the country (none of them, unfortunately, near enough to make a trip practical)- but of the venerable late-night horror hosts there doesn't seem to be any sign. Certainly not locally: hereabouts, interactive programming like Public Access or locally-hosted "creature features" simply aren't part of the Corporate Plan (what the local low-brow commercial cable system hasn't monopolized, the Media Mogul has). American SCARY isn't quite as nostalgic as I'd hoped it might be (too many hosts are given too little time), but it's worth a look and is a reminder, if nothing else, that there once were Late Night Giants who strode the Airwaves.

MrGKB ...and thus perhaps limited in its appeal to a general audience, "American Scary" will nonetheless keep most genre fans happily entertained and somewhat enlightened. Its through-line struck this viewer as more of a history lesson than anything else, but the various anecdotes and reminisces are well-edited and introduce a reasonably diverse array of the notables being examined/interviewed. The main thesis of horror hosts as archetypal storytellers/jesters---as well as their inspiration to several generations of creativity and culturally acceptable transgression---is amply supported, as are the factors that allowed them to come into being, most notably the economic motivations of local TV stations in the formative decades of the Fifties and Sixties. As an Ohioan, I was pleased to see the prominence of Cleveland explored, and glad to see luminaries with whom I was more closely familiar, i.e. Dayton's "Dr. Creep" (RIP) and Cincinnati's "The Cool Ghoul" (RIP). On a side note, I was just a touch disappointed that another of Cincinnati's inimitable late-night hosts, Bob Shreve, couldn't be mentioned, although understandably since he wasn't, strictly speaking, a horror host, despite his shtick and spiel being very much in the same vein as his spookier brethren.No matter. Director John E. Hudgens and writer Sandy Clark, "Star Wars" geeks both, have apparently moved on to other pursuits, but can be justly proud of the loving homage they put together back in the mid-Oughts, some half a century after the cultural meme they've examined first saw the moonlight of deepest night. Highly recommended to anyone who stayed up past their bedtime to join one of these beloved entertainers.

FilmEdgeNet I got a chance to see American SCARY at Comic-Con 2007 and was thoroughly impressed and entertained by the film. John Hudgens and Sandy Clark have collected a most impressive treasure of interviews and archival footage of the most notable (and notorious) horror host personalities spanning the decades of the horror host phenomenon.The documentary is a great treat for horror fans who may have been born in the wrong time or the wrong city to have seen classic hosts like Zacherley, Vampira, Ghoulardi of the 1950s and 60s to more contemporary hosts like Elvira, Son of Ghoul and Count Gore De Vol. Unless you're an avid bootleg collector, the video clips and old kinescope transfers may be the first footage you'll see of these monster mavens in action. Even based so much on archival material, the production quality remains excellent throughout.Horror host interviews are well balanced with comments and recollections from many prominent filmmakers, critics and fans including genre historians Forrest J. Ackerman and Bob Burns, makeup artist Tom Savini (the Romero DEAD films), TV host Joel Hodgson (MST3K), Leonard Maltin and many more.With the recent passing of Maila Nurmi (Vampira), this fondly crafted tribute to television horror hosts deserves to be seen and enjoyed by fans everywhere. I hope the filmmakers will release it on DVD soon so its value and quality can be appreciated by all.

pastorZ Many, many years later my childhood memories of Milwaukee horror movie hosts Dr. Cadaverino, Shirley the tarantula and Tolous NoNeck often rivals my memory of the movies themselves.Though none of my childhood horror hosts were included in John Hudgens shockumentary (no surprise considering the hundreds of hours of footage squeezed into this precious 90-minute film), American Scary still brought back a cavalcade of warm memories from my childhood in Milwaukee to watching Son of Svengoolie with my wife and my own children in Chicago.All-in-all, American Scary is a very entertaining and inspiring look at a uniquely American phenomenon: the late-night horror movie hosted by the big kid who never grew up and seems to have forgotten that Halloween only comes but once a year. The inspiration of my local horror hosts has never left me and apparently neither has it left all the others who, inspired by their own local childhood horror hosts, continue to host those same low-budget, z-grade sci-fi and horror movies on cable access TV and on the web; carrying the torch to a new generation.