Ah the memories of youth… As a kid I used to love watching the late-night horror movies on British television, it was there where my love for the genre was born: the double-bills of Hammer horror, the RKO classics, Amicus, Tigon, and the amazing films of Freddie Francis et al. It was like being allowed into a world not made for kids, especially the time I caught Blood on Satans Claw on TV one night – that was one experience I will never forget!
In fact for years I was freaked out by one such late night horror anthology film – Tales That Witness Madness. As a kid I watched it in and out of consciousness, falling asleep whilst trying to watch this, what I thought at the time, amazing film. There is one segment in the film where a young girl is fed to the guests at a luau – now that story stayed with me for years and I often thought I’d dreamt it! It wasn’t until the birth of the internet that I could finally find out what the hell I’d seen that late night on television.
Obviously as the years went by I grew up and started watching even more late-night horror, this time progressing into more modern films such as the Friday the 13th series, Halloween and its sequels, The Thing… In fact it was a Friday the 13th showing of Friday the 13th Part VI late night on BBC One that actually introduced me to that franchise. And my love for Friday the 13th Part VIII comes from seeing it for the first time as a kid when it was shown on the Beeb! I could go on and on.
Sadly it seems those horror heydays have passed and late night television is now full of repeats of daytime programmes or crappy late night phone-in quiz shows. But it doesn’t have to be like that. There is a ground swell beginning in the UK horror community, a call for the return of the classic late-night horror double bills to the British television airwaves! Spearheaded by horror fan Cyberschizoid, a campaign has been started, asking for – nay demanding – the return of the late night classic horror double bill to BBC 2:
Television has become so bland in the last decade that it has become impossible to find any of the classic old horror films being screened anywhere, even on the BBC. Years ago, BBC2 would screen regular horror double bills on Saturday nights which featured cult movies from Universal, RKO, Hammer Films and beyond.
There’s a Facebook group, website and a petition all geared up in support of this worthy cause and I urge you – if you’re a UK horror fan please sign the petition, there’s already over 200 fans that have, but they need more signatures to make a real impact. It’s amazing to think that some kids today have no concept of classic horror, Hammer or otherwise. Perhaps it’s time for today’s kids to learn a lesson in horror history…
