When I was five years old, I had my first sleepover with a friend from kindergarten, Matt. It was at his house and it was Matt who introduced me to a local late night classic television show, Creature Features.
The movie broadcast that night was I Was A Teenage Werewolf starring Michael Landon. We eventually went to bed and about twenty minutes later, I saw the werewolf in Matt's bedroom closet, so of course I screamed my ass off. Matt's mom came in and when it was obvious she couldn't convince me that there wasn't a werewolf in the closet, my parents were called and I was sent home. It amazes me that I was allowed to stay up and watch Creature Features after that incident, but there was no stopping me. I was HOOKED.
Bob Wilkins was the host and with his cigar and dry-wit, introduced me to such cheesy horror films as Tarantula, The Beast With Five Fingers, The Deadly Mantis, It Came From Beneath The Sea, and the movie that introduced me to Joan Crawford (and I'm still a fan of hers today), Trog.
Bob was also in the habit of showing true classic horror films like The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man, and War Of The Worlds. It was also his show that had the honor of broadcasting for the first time ever on television, Night Of The Living Dead (unedited, no less). I stayed up for that one, against my parents wishes, and another childhood trauma was born.
By the way, I'm still pretty sure there was a werewolf hiding in that stupid closet.
...and ya know, I just realized why we both are attracted to geeky-dorky bespectacled types. Damn you, Bob Wilkins.
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