Source: Sean Kotz (Press Release)After 18 months of production, Horse Archer Productions will release its much anticipated documentary, “Virginia Creepers: The Horror Host Tradition of the Old Dominion,” with a debut at Monster Fest 6 in Chesapeake, VA on October 10.
The film, which looks at more than 50 years of hosting horror movies on the Virginia and DC airwaves features extensive interviews with all known living hosts, previously unheard audio and video footage from shows not seen by the public for nearly four decades.
Horror hosting, as it is commonly known, was a very popular form of local entertainment in many markets for decades and survives to this day, largely on cable access television and the internet.
“We have put a lot of research and leg work into this film,” said Sean Kotz, co-producer and co-director of the full length feature documentary, “but we have also been fortunate to find passionate people with photos, audio and video that would have otherwise been lost.”
Kotz said the idea for the film evolved in 2007 after he moderated a panel of Virginia’s hosts including Count Gore De Vol, The Bowman Body, Dr. Madblood, and Dr. Sarcofiguy at MonsterFest that year, an annual event at the Chesapeake Central Library.
“There were a lot of funny stories swapped at that table and it got a tremendous response,” said Kotz, “and I started thinking about the fact that we had a great little tradition in this state with some legendary names that are known nationally.”
The documentary runs chronologically, starting with “Jonathan,” whose show appeared on WSLS in Roanoke on February 6, 1958.
Soon after two female hosts, Ghoulda and Hazel Witch hit the Richmond airwaves while Ronald began his show on Friday the 13th in 1959, running off and on for nearly a decade.
From there, the film takes it the subject right up to the present day and talks with hosts who are still producing their shows in various forms.
Additionally, the film is hosted itself by Mr. Lobo, a California host whose show, Cinema Insomnia, has been syndicated in Virginia with a great deal of praise and success.
As a result, the producers have already seen pre-orders come in from across the country, which they say is an indicator of how important these shows were to people in general.
“This documentary is also very much about the transformation of television,” said co-director/producer, Chris Valluzzo. “Originally, local talent was very important for a variety of programs but gradually infomercials, syndication and corporate ownership pushed most of that out.”
Noting that both Bowman Body and Dr. Gruesome’s Movie Morgue were beating Carson in Richmond on Friday nights through two decades, Valluzzo said it is not surprising that so many people care about this topic.
“It is more about comedy and localism than it is about being scared,” he said.
Rob Floyd, co-founder of Monster Fest, says the October 10 premiere of Virginia Creepers is an exciting event for everyone involved.
“The fact that a past Monster Fest was the inspiration for Virginia Creepers makes me very proud,” said Floyd.
“Horror hosts are just as much fun today as they were when we were kids and remind us that someone else out there ‘gets it’ like we do.”
Sean Kotz adds, "One of the things that makes this documentary special is amount of recovered audio, stills and video and the fact that we discovered three shows that there was no previous public record for. In other words, we were able to add to the recorded history of the subject AND we found and restored audio going back as far as 1958 and video as far back as 1973 (at least).
We've also tried to do a little more than just document the individual shows, but also, show how TV and media has changed, why the format more or less died out because of corporate ownership and the rebirth of the form which happened with Virginia's own, Count Gore De Vol."
The documentary, which also features original songs by Virginia musicians, is available at http://www.virginiacreepersmovie.com/ and and is likely to appear at future conventions and film festivals.
People can also search for “Virginia Creepers” on YouTube to see a mini-documentary, a music video trailer and a few clips from the film.
MINI-DOCUMENTARY LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSOBMiig0Fc
MUSIC VIDEO/TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYEy6a5WLIM
I hadn't heard of this movie until this post. Sounds cool. BTW- I'm in central VA.
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