Ever since there was a section designated for mommy and daddy only at the video store, horror was the next best thing for curious kids. The VHS cover art was enough to transfix and terrorize impressionable young minds. Witnessing the damned, defiled, and detestable devilry underneath it all, however, was a defiant and scary experience. The rite of passage emboldened kids, even the ones too innocent, to seek out more depraved flicks from the dark recesses of nightmarish minds.
Parents were not always willing to scare their children. They feigned Christian primness and protection from the supposed corrupt pictures. Adults didn’t understand how the horrors of the world were safely understood through the lens of a horror film. Luckily, an omen from hell found its way in the form of fallen angels bringing a happy medium. Spawned were the horror hosts with silly, sadistic souls. The macabre personas eased everyone into the forbidden and taboo with a campy, flippant sense of humor. Late-night horror hosts cared to scare us silly with their creature features, and they will for the rest of time.
10 Dr. Sarcofiguy
John Dimes is the only Black TV horror host (so far) in the world. On Halloween in 1995, his show The Scary Movie was aired for the first time on the Virginian Falls Church Community TV station. Dimes is a comedian, having performed at the Apollo Theatre and worked with the likes of Dave Chapelle, Patton Oswalt, and Wanda Sykes. He has also written horror-themed satirical works (such as his mockumentary guidebook, The White Corpse Hustle: A Guide for the Fledgeling Vampire), comparable to the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. Being the first of anything is scary stuff, and Dr. Sarcofiguy is the horror host to do it!
9 Dr. Creep
Also known as The Creeper and Dr. Death, Horror Host Hall of Fame inductee Barry Lee Hobart was the star of Shock Theater on the WKEF Television in Dayton, Ohio. Hobart was initially a camera specialist before the station needed higher ratings for Saturday night broadcasts. He suggested a horror movie show; the station gave him the green light, and became the certified creep. Hobart also co-hosted the kids show, Clubhouse 22 in the afternoons, gaining him a loyal following. Dr. Creep haunted day and night to reach cult status! His ghostly skull complexion, Dutch beard, and monk’s robe make this caricature of Dr. Caligari a friendly fiend indeed.
8 Coffin Joe
N.T.M.
Brazilian filmmaker and actor José Mojica Marins is the immoral undertaker with a devil on both shoulders. The grave character’s first appearance came in Brazil’s first horror film in 1964, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. The mad mortician has since been compared to Freddy Kreuger with his visions of death and hellfire, and his violent lust and headstrong atheism. Coffin Joe hosted three shows from the late sixties to the mid-nineties: Além, Muito Além do Além (Beyond, Much Beyond the Beyond), Um Show do Outro Mundo (The Show from the Other World), and Cine Trash. A demented charm pervades Coffin Joe and earned him the title of Brazil’s National Boogeyman.
7 Mr. Lobo
An internet horror host, Erik Lobo has devoted himself to the role as a debonair yet lovingly incompetent Rod Serling. Every Halloween season, he curates marathons with hours of B-movies and intermissions of nostalgic footage for his nationally syndicated show, Cinema Insomnia. Since 2001, the show has been aired across multiple stations and currently streams on Twitch and the web television service Roku channel OSI 74 (Outer Space International). Lobo’s zeal and guile for the genre shows most through his signature catchphrase: “They’re not bad movies - just misunderstood!”
6 Svengoolie
Played originally by radio and TV personality Jerry G. Bishop, the show and title character were passed down to actor and broadcaster Rich Koz in 1979. Svengoolie is a portmanteau of Svengali (a popularized villain from the George du Maurier 1894 novel Trilby) and ghoul. He performs comedic intermissions while sharing cinematic factoids in his dark carnival garb and skull makeup. Svengoolie is still going strong, striking an odd balance between goofy and morose.
5 Bob Wilkins
The soft-spoken horror host of Creature Features gave B-movies a chance to shine out of the San Francisco Bay Area. From 1971 to 1984, Wilkins’ show often achieved higher ratings against network programming like Saturday Night Live. The show’s slogan was “Watch horror films, keep America strong!” and nothing proves your citizenship like blood-curdling screams. He was a conscious curator with a dry humor, an easy-going awareness of the hyperbolic genre. The fatherly image of Wilkins was completed by his yellow rocking chair and a cigar in hand, ready to celebrate the kitschy, creepy, and campy.
4 Vampira
Maila Nurmi had the honor of being television’s first horror host at KABC-TV in 1954 with her series, The Vampira Show. A sultry and foreboding femme fatale, Nurmi knew how to lull viewers’ inhibitions and awaken their cold sweat of fears to make them feel alive. Despite being on the air for only a year, her tongue-in-cheek wit made her a lovable horror icon: “Do you like my cocktail? Well, it hates you.”
3 Rod Serling
Serling is best known for his hosting on the anthology science fiction series, The Twilight Zone. After its success, Serling hosted the horror-themed anthology series, Night Gallery. The show was born from a made-for-television film that gave Steven Spielberg his directorial debut. The premise: Serling is a curator who displays and explains abstract paintings based on the stories presented, most of which were inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and Serling’s original ideas. Serling delivers a sobering reality among the mythologized and frightening fantasies.
2 Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Cassandra Peterson was the spooky valley girl for Elvira’s Movie Macabre from 1981 to 1986. She later starred in the horror comedies Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001) before returning as a host for specials on Hulu, This TV, and Shudder. Inspired by Vampira, the hostess with the mostest laid into her perverse persona. Her curves will cast a curse on you! Her performance is simply robust! Elvira represented the carnal desires people repress to be polite. By being overtly sexual, she released our inner demons (pun intended) and made the scary season sexy again.
1 Joe Bob Briggs
Joe Bob Briggs (John Bloom) was off-the-cuff funny, often getting the crew to laugh during tapings of his original show MonsterVision on TNT. The drive-in host routinely discussed the films he aired, held fan contests and mail calls, and mocked the network’s censorship. Joe Bob is also famous for his “Drive-In Totals” which is a list of obligatory tropes in the film placed on a counter for his comical critique. He now resides at Shudder as the host of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. With the devil’s charm and antics, his lucid, blunt self-awareness and charisma, made this TV cowboy movie critic right at home no matter where he was.
