Creature Features ran on WGN from the fall of 1970 until 1976. Every Saturday night, after the ten o'clock news, you could watch a classic horror movie -- usually a monster movie featuring Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula, or the Mummy...but occasionally you'd get to see one of the creepy psychological horror movies, or something lesser known, like Bela Lugosi in The Black Cat.
I was five when the show first aired, and I remember begging my mother to let me stay up. On nights when she wouldn't, I sometimes turned on the tiny black-and-white TV, anyway, but often fell asleep before the movie ended. My mother, to her credit, never punished me for not obeying.
Sometimes, the best part of Creature Features was the opening montage of movie clips and the voice-over of Carl Greyson and, later, WGN anchorman Marty McNeely reading a poem about ghoulish ghouls. There's something to be said for the days when every movie wasn't readily available via NetFlix or Amazon, when you had to wait (sometimes years!) to see a particular movie, and when a ridiculous little show on a local TV station was an actual event.
If you haven't ever seen Creature Features -- or if you haven't seen it in over thirty years -- check out the opening.
3 comments:
Thanks John for the memories,
I use to watch Creature feature every week. I have to admit at the tender age of 5 the opening montage scared the crap out of me. I remember peeking out from underneath my pillow while holding on to my mom until the movie started. By the time I was 18 I stopped holding on to my mom. I tried to get into “the Son of Svengoolie” but by that time the channel 11 line-up of Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Mary Hartman was more to my likening. WGN is having a 60yr anniversary special this Sunday. I’m sure it will touch on everything from Garfield Goose to Masterpiece Theater. It will be a don’t miss for me. Hope you get to see it.
Love the blog and I hope I can contribute to it in the future.
Theo
Another great memory for me! Lots of great nights spent down at our neighbors watching Creature Features while our parents were playing cards. The worse part, was we had to walk home!! I remember being so scared! My love for horror movies was birthed from those early years of watching Creature Features.
Sherry
Theo!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh My God!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's Jimmy D!
Write me.
james_davis33@hotmail.com
I loved creature features! But my best TV memory (besides Ray Rayner) was when once a year "Wizard of Oz" would be on TV!
All my cousins would come over and we would all watch it in my basement! It was so scary!
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