Forget pumpkin spice season… Svengoolie is kicking off the scares early with 5 spine-chilling horror classics airing on free TV this August!
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Indeed, spooky season is creeping up on us, and if you’re already eyeing Halloween decor and plotting your costume, why not get a head start on the scares with Svengoolie. Hosted by the legendary Rich Koz (aka Svengoolie), the show blends classic horror and sci-fi films with comedy sketches, bad puns, and parody songs… all with a little help from his “Sven Squad”: Gwengoolie, IMP, and Nostalgiaferatoo.
This month’s spooky season pregaming has it all: vampire hunters, mad scientists, dinosaurs from forgotten lands, a Karloff and Lugosi dream team, and one very angry Zuni fetish doll that really needs to calm down. The vintage thrills haunt your screen every Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on MeTV.
So clear your schedule, dim the lights, and prepare to scream…
August Kicks Off With a Swashbuckling Vampire Hunter and a Universal Monster Favorite
Tonight (August 1), Sven kicks things off with the 1974 Hammer horror gem, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. Swashbuckling soldier-turned-vampire hunter Captain Kronos (Horst Janson) teams up with the wonderfully named Professor Hieronymus Grost (John Cater) to investigate a series of mysterious deaths where young women are rapidly aging. Turns out, they’re dealing with a vampire with a taste for youth rather than blood. The lovely Caroline Munro co-stars as Carla.
A swashbuckling, vampire-slaying franchise that never was… tune in to savour the glorious ’70s cheese and pour one out for the franchise that got away.
Next up, Sven serves up the first horror film to star an actor who would go on to play nearly every classic monster in the Universal Studios roster. Lon Chaney Jr. stars as Dan “Dynamo Dan” McCormick in Man-Made Monster (1941). Dr. Paul Rigas (Lionel Atwill) subjects Dan to dangerous experiments, turning him into a living electrical weapon under the mad scientist’s control.
It was just the beginning for Chaney. Later that year, he would play the doomed Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941), before going on to portray Frankenstein’s monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Dracula in Son of Dracula (1943), and the Mummy in three Universal outings.
The Sven Squad Returns With a Dinosaur Romp
On August 18, the Sven Squad (Gwengoolie (Sarah Palmer), IMP (Scott Gryder), and Nostalgiaferatoo (Bill Leff)) is crashing the party with House of Svengoolie, their once-a-month special where the kids prove that a love of horror is ageless. This time, they’re serving up The Land Unknown, a 1957 sci-fi adventure following Commander Harold Roberts (Jock Mahoney) and reporter Maggie Hathaway (Shirley Patterson), whose helicopter takes an unexpected detour into a warm Antarctic crater. Spoiler: it’s not a spa retreat.
What they find instead is a hidden prehistoric world where dinosaurs are very much alive and very much not interested in being discovered. It’s a bit of a departure for the squad, who usually lean toward more modern fare… but hey, sometimes you just have to go back to the classics.
Way, way back.
August Wraps Up With Two Horror Classics Set to Prime Monster Kids of All Ages for Spooky Season…
On August 22, Sven returns to the dungeon for a real treat: monster legends Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in Universal’s 1935 horror classic, The Raven.
Lugosi plays Dr. Vollin, a Poe-obsessed surgeon who, naturally, has filled his home with torture devices. When he becomes dangerously fixated on dancer Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware), he enlists escaped killer Edmond Bateman (Karloff) to help him get his twisted revenge.
Of course, the film is “inspired” by Edgar Allan Poe’s beloved poem in the loosest possible sense. But hey, it’s a cool title!
Finally, August bows out on the 29th with a shriek when Sven hosts the 1975 TV movie that had Generation X sleeping with the lights on: Trilogy of Terror.
Originally airing on ABC on March 4, 1975, Karen Black plays four parts across three terrifying tales in this made-for-TV horror anthology directed by Dan Curtis and based on Richard Matheson’s short stories. Of course, the unforgettable segment is “Amelia,” where a murderous Zuni fetish doll turns a woman’s apartment into a nightmare.
So whether you’re a die-hard horror fan or just dipping your toes into spooky season early, Svengoolie has you covered this August. Grab your popcorn, lock the doors, and whatever you do… don’t answer if a Zuni fetish doll comes knocking.
Svengoolie airs Saturday nights from 8 to 10:30 pm ET/PT on MeTV.
