creature feature

Count Gore DeVol. Vampira. Zacherley. Do these names mean anything to you? They are three of the dozens of "horror hosts" featured in a documentary called "American Scary." The film debuts October 21 at the Hollywood Film Festival.

The movie's director, John E. Hudgens, works at a television station in Knoxville. John had previously attracted some attention with the short films he made for the Star Wars Fan Film Awards.

Yesterday John showed me a couple of clips and a deleted scene from his new movie. The clips featured legendary voiceover announcer Ernie Anderson in his earlier life as Ghoulardi.

It's fitting that Ernie continues to work from beyond the grave. My manager has some sort of deal for radio stations to license Ernie's voice. They have archives of him reading just about every imaging statement a program director could want.

The deleted scene was hysterical. Unfortunately it had nothing to do with horror hosts. It featured Tim Conway describing a disastrous puppet show that he and Ernie Anderson once did on live television in Cleveland. It gives us a good reason to look forward to the DVD.