Once thought to be deceased, hosted horror movie shows are still alive, or rather, still undead, on local public access.
This year, MetroCast Cable, which services residences throughout Waterford, East Lyme, New London, and Montville, picked up Penny Dreadful’s Shilling Shockers, a humorous homage to old late-night horror shows, such as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Commander USA.
Begun in 2006 by a group of horror-loving friends in Worcester, Mass., the show is now seen in all six New England states on more than 50 public access channels.
The show does two, seven-episode seasons per year and sends DVD copies out to public access channels.
According to Danielle Gelehrter, who plays the witch-***-host Penny Dreadful, the show harkens back to late night TV before infomercials and re-runs became staples on local stations.
“Local stations used to produce their own shows,” Gelehrter said. “Every station had their Bozo the Clown or horror programs.”
Over time, local television stations were either bought by larger conglomerates, or found it was cheaper to air re-runs.
“It’s more lucrative for stations to show re-runs of Everybody Loves Raymond,” Gelehrter noted.
Public access, however, has become the perfect home for the hosted horror show, as well as the mix of B-movies, silent pictures, and odd classics such as The Seventh Seal and M they screen every week.
“You can do what you want,” Gelehrter said, “but we try to keep it accessible and family-friendly to keep the kids interested.”
“We’ve had stuff such as The Brain That Wouldn’t Die or The Beast of Yucca Flats,” she added. “We mix it up.”
Creative Director Rebecca Paiva said the show tends to stick to older films that are more campy than gory, such as the decided non-masterpiece Attack of The Giant Leeches.
“We don’t really show slasher films,” she said. “We try to make it kid friendly.”
The selection of films available is limited to movies that are in the public domain and are not subject to strict copyright laws. Paiva said it would be too expensive to get some of the more “name movies.”
“We pay for this out of pocket,” she said.
The two-hour show, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Channel 25, is divided into five segments where the viewers’ guide, Penny Dreadful and a cast of regulars, interrupt the film to comment on the story thus far or to perform a skit.
“It’s silly, fun stuff with some silly jokes,” Gelehrter said. “Some ‘spells gone wrong’ gags.”
Paiva and Gelehrter said the much-missed Mystery Science Theater 3000, previously seen on the Sci-Fi Network, also inspires them.
Gelehrter and Paiva met in college at the Rhode Island School of Design, where they both still work.
They soon found out they had a shared love of campy horror movies from the past, such as the Hammer Studios pictures with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. The duo collaborated on another comedy show before they hatched the idea for Penny Dreadful.
“It was fun for a couple years,” Paiva said, “but then we got interested in the [horror].”
Gelehrter, in fact, prefers the older films to today’s CGI-laden horror flicks.
“It’s not really my thing,” she said. “The older directors didn’t have huge budgets and they were resourceful. They had to use their imaginations to make something out of nothing.”
Meanwhile, Gelehrter and Paiva are still having fun with the show, and hope to expand it to more cable companies in the region.
“People keep asking for it,” Gelehrter stated.