My family and I didn’t get cable until Halloween of 1994, so I spent a lot of those early years catching horror movies the old fashioned way. This was before streaming, the internet, and cable, so often times my horror education came from whatever edited horror movies were playing on network TV, what ever horror movie my mom allowed us to see in theaters, and of course, my mom’s VHS horror collection.
“Horrible Horror” was purchased by her in the late eighties, as back then a lot of stores sold VHS movies. I fondly remember visiting my local cashier and looking at the gallery of boxes they had on display in their windows to alert customers that they were selling VHS movies. And as with every trip that involved stumbling upon a store selling VHS, my mom always zipped to the horror section or would scramble to find a horror movie she loved or hadn’t owned. “Horrible Horror” was one of the many gems she’d picked out for herself out of sheer curiosity. And it eventually earned its place in my household as a favorite of mine, and my brother’s.
The VHS from Goodtimes Home Video was a compilation of Z Grade horror fare that clocked in at two hours and featured horror host and legend Zacherley. For some reason, despite the compilation garnering its fair share of violent and creepy clips, my mom put this on her mental list of movies we could choose from the more adult fare in our VHS library. Suffice it to say whenever boredom struck, my brother and I would pop in “Horrible Horror” and experience some of the most unusual and infamous horror films ever made.
Hosted by Zacherley, you’re treated to a treasure trove of horror from the 1930’s to the late 1960’s, and it’s an amusing experience. Zacherley definitely has a good time with the movies, and the segments in between the clips are wonderful to sit through. For anyone anxious to get a quick education in classic horror, “Horrible Horror” is still a great crash course and reference archive. For me it’s a special dripping with nostalgia and sentimental value, as I must have re-watched the VHS of the special at least fifty times a week, and would sit in awe at the amazing junk that would unfold for the duration of the tape. “Horrible Horror” thankfully still holds up and is so worth the watch if you haven’t had the pleasure of watching it, yet.
It deserves to watched, and held in high regard. It schooled me in horror big time. Here are five ways “Horrible Horror” helped mold me in to a horror fan.
5. It Features a lot of Independent Horror – For Better or Worse
Ed Wood was the ultimate independent horror director, and there are a lot of glances at some of his awful films here, from “Plan Nine,” to “Bride of the Monster.” There’s also looks at one of the biggest indie horror films of all time, “Night of the Living Dead,” right down to lower budgeted fare that were disastrous and disastrously fun like “Killers from Space,” and “Robot Monster.” Most of the films featured are schlock made on painfully low budgets and little to no resources, and it’s a fine archive for folks that might want to see what independent and underground fare looked like, decades ago.
4. It Didn’t Censor Itself
In the past, a lot of VHS releases were prone to delivering uncensored and unedited content for consumers. If you were lucky, you own the compilation of MGM Tom and Jerry cartoons that feature the uncensored shorts with the African American maid speaking stereotypical disjointed English, as well as a bit in “Magical Maestro” where an ink pen to the face of its opera singer character turns him in to a very cringe inducing Blues Singer in black face. That said, “Horrible Horror” showed off some of the best of the worst horror from the 30-60’s with a lot of the racial content included and uncut. In their contexts, they’re fascinating looks at how African Americans were often depicted. From Mantan Moreland being diced up in “Spider Baby,” and in “King of the Zombies,” it’s a great look at how America perceived other races, despite their intent of comedy and or satire.
3. It introduced me to Spider Baby
“Spider Baby” is one of my favorite films of all time. It’s a demented, funny, and odd horror comedy about family. I never knew what “Spider Baby” was until so many years in to my twenties when I discovered it on Turner Classic Movies in America. I spent most of my childhood glancing at the infamous clip of Jill Banner mutilating Mantan Moreland as he helplessly crouches down stuck to an old window, and always wondered what in the world the movie was. I never knew it garnered such a fascinating back story, as well as a seasoned director behind it. It’s hard to believe this film nearly disappeared so many years ago.
2. It introduced me to the horror host
As a child I was very, very familiar with Elvira, but I always figured she was more a horror personality than horror host, per se. Years later, I became familiar with Elvira as a horror host and enthusiast. Really my first introduction to the horror host was Zacherley, who was one of the most demented hosts I’d ever seen at the time. I fondly remember watching the tape of “Horrible Horror” and being astounded by his antics, which usually involved enthusiastically introducing certain segments, and at one point playing with two wind up toys that he greets with joyous laughter and clapping. This ends in him having to catch his breath from the excitement. Suffice it to say, Zacherley showed me what horror hosts did to compliment the horror movie experience, and it’s a shame they’re no longer on modern television. Folks like Zacherley, Elvira, Svengoolie, and Joe Bob helped enhance the community experience.
1. It helped me experience the bad movies, so I could appreciate the good ones
You have to really see the bad movies so you can appreciate the good ones, and “Horrible Horror” featured a lion’s share of clips from really bad horror movies. Granted, not all of the movies on the tape are bad. There are clips from “Night of the Living Dead,” “Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” and “Spider Baby,” but there are also clips from crapola like “Killers from Space,” “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” and “The Alligator People.” There are also a lot of interviews and press footage featuring Bela Lugosi, and other noted horror celebrities to boot. The special has its various sections, including the section I always dreaded: Zombies.
There are a ton of clips to some of the worst movies of all time on the special, and even if you’re one of the humorless horror buffs that would dismiss a lot of the schlock featured on the special, there’s inherent value in the footage featured as well as some priceless chunks of movies that always made me laugh. I fondly remember one movie featuring giant lizards wreaking havoc on human beings in a jungle and seeing the lizard wrangler’s hand appear on the green screen pushing the lizards around. It’s raucously funny. I also fondly remember giggling at clips of “Robot Monster” as a woman is besieged by an obvious stuntman dressed in an ape costume and a Martian helmet. Even then I figured they were probably just making it all up as they went along. “Horrible Horror” is a gallery of Z Grade horror at its finest, and I think it is required viewing for any blossoming horror buff.