Panel discussion on the role of TV horror hosting in creating the "Monster Kid" subculture of the 1950s--1970s with Geek Film Festival attending director Sean Kotz (VIRGINIA CREEPERS).
In late 1957/early 1958, Screen Gems released two film packages for TV distribution called the "Shock!" and "Son of Shock!" packages which contained most of the classic Universal Studios horror titles like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, etc. Almost overnight, every major market had a horror host that drew huge ratings and was a hit with kids.
It created a sensation and directly contributed to the success of Famous Monsters Magazine (edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, the greatest genre geek of all time), the rebirth of horror films in Hollywood, the success of Hammer films in the US, the creation of the Addams Family and Munsters TV shows, horror comics and the invention of monster toy lines and Aurora model kits. It also created a kind of symbolic counterculture to the straight backed, straight laced 1950s especially where kids were concerned.
HORROR HOSTS AND MONSTER KIDS
