Best movie of this year hands down!

Fresh and Exciting

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

For what this was and what this was trying to do - this production about the evolution and, unfortunately, demise of the horror host phenomena was first-rate! I was not around this for the most part due to age and location except for Elvira. More on her later. I did get a chance in the mid-eighties to catch Chilly Billy Cardille in Pittsburgh and absolutely loved him. I wished I had had a chance to see more of these - if not all. Some look like hosts that I would have loved to have watched. I was around for Chiller Theatre in New York in the 70's(loved, loved, loved it!). So what we basically get here is an introduction and survey course in Horror Hosts 101 - so to speak. It traces the first and then goes up to the present, where believe it or not, some areas are still fortunate to have these late-nite pioneers still gracing their screens. The documentary gets into many specific "giants" and has lots, lots, lots of interviews with the people that did this. Noticeably missing is Elvira though they do, for this documentary, a very stylish presentation of her importance(which cannot be underestimated). we see Vampira, Ghoulardi, Cardille, Zacherley, and many, many more. What we need to do it make these television shows of yesteryear available for those of us who saw them and want to see them again OR those, like me, who would like to explore this territory for the first time. Whatwe really need is a first-rate classic horror channel. They could get a real host I've and then on other nights show some of those classics that are still available. There is so much out there to be seen. Anyway, American Scary was a great documentary about a subject I would like to know more about.

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.

...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.

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.