A horror movie Academy Awards? Here’s the closest thing that exists to such a program: THE HORROR HALL OF FAME, a short-lived series of TV specials broadcast in October of 1990, ‘91 and ‘92.
Horror award ceremonies were pretty ubiquitous by the early nineties. The Horror Writer’s Association’s Bram Stoker Awards, instituted in 1987, as well as the World Fantasy Awards, begun in 1975, were prestigious affairs, but the Horror Hall of Fame (an organization that appears to have been formed specifically for this program) outdid them both by attaining corporate sponsorship and broadcasting on National television. Of those broadcasts there are plenty of criticisms to be made (which I’ll be getting to below), but the show was a worthwhile endeavor, and could have stood to be furthered.
These shows have no direct connection with the 1974 ABC Halloween
special HORROR HALL OF FAME, but that program did bequeath the tone and attitude of the later ones. An hour-long trifle, it took place in front of a giggly live audience, and featured Vincent Price making bad puns (“I must warn you, this program is filled with chills, suspense, horror, the weird and the gruesome—it’s a lot like LET’S MAKE A DEAL”) and affectionately interviewing Frank Gorshin, John Carradine, John Astin, author Raymond McNally and make-up artist William Tuttle, who transforms actress Candy Clarke into a grey skinned witch. Also featured are clips from THE GOLEM, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, quite a few of Price’s own films and the then-current THE EXORCIST, as well as a lot of assorted silliness involving a goofy hunchback and a guy chained to a wall, and a plug for Famous Monsters of Filmland—whose editor Forrest Ackerman is credited as a creative consultant.
“I must warn you, this program is filled with chills, suspense, horror, the weird and the gruesome—it’s a lot like LET’S MAKE A DEAL”
Ackerman was among the board of directors of the HORROR HALL OF FAME of sixteen years later (other members, listed in the end credits of each program, included Clive Barker, Wes Craven, Richard Matheson, The Phantom of the Movies and George Romero). He was a large part of each program, credited as the “Hugh Hefner of Horror.” So was Vincent Price, who despite being extremely old and decrepit managed to fully retain the refinement and charisma that marked nearly all his film and TV appearances.
The site for these programs was a stage in Universal Studios, Hollywood (“the monster movie capital of the world!”), decked out with tombstone podiums and lots of mist, and hosted by Robert Englund. This illustrates the show’s nineties-centric bent; the two major genre icons back then, you’ll recall, were the Englund essayed Freddy Krueger and TALES FROM THE CRYPT’S Cryptkeeper, who it just so happens served as co-host (complete with theme music from the show).
The state of horror in the nineties was further evinced by the sorry lot of nominees for the Best Horror Film of the Year. Selected by the editors of Fangoria magazine (whose main editor Anthony Timpone was credited as “Consulting Producer”), those films included DARKMAN, NIGHTBREED, ARACHNOPHOBIA, GREMLINS 2 and TREMORS, with the winner chosen by votes cast by moviegoers at Cineplex Odeon movie theaters (one of the corporate sponsors mentioned above).
Beyond that the show consisted primarily of inductions of various classic horror movies into the Horror Hall of Fame, in the form of Kevin Yagher designed statuettes given out by various celebrities. Each presentation was accompanied by a mini-montage of clips from the inducted films and interviews with many of their principal actors and creators, amid frequent cutaways to Gremlins, a guy dressed as Beetlejuice, mummies and so forth seated in the audience.
Jason and Danny Pintaro (Cujo)
The presentations begin with actress Catherine Hicks, who inducts THE EXORCIST, with the late Jason Miller, looking extremely worn out, turning up to accept the award. Roger Corman gives a notably stiff and unanimated induction of Boris Karloff, while actor Tim Matheson for some reason inducts PSYCHO, with Janet Leigh and Patricia Hitchcock accepting. FRIDAY THE 13TH’s Jason (a guy in a hockey mask) and CUJO’s teenaged Danny Pintaro induct NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which comes complete with a plug for the then-upcoming 1990 remake (with NOTLD scripter John Russo confidently stating “I think the remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is gonna have the same impact as the original”).
Rick Baker, Joe Dante and John Landis induct Forrest J. Ackerman, who following a standing ovation (the full extent of his unfortunate behavior with the fairer sex wasn’t yet known in 1990) makes a bad pun and then states “I guess without a pun you wouldn’t know it was me.” Zelda Rubinstein inducts ALIEN, and Tom Skerritt accepts. A very old Vincent Price is inducted, from his Hollywood home via a videotaped segment, by Roddy McDowell.
We also get a frizzy wig sporting Phillis Diller doing a brief comedy routine (her best line: “Be nice to your children because they will be choosing your rest home”), and Sam Kinison (“I’ve had some experiences in horror: I was married twice and my movie agent’s been legally dead for three years!”) delivers a gag-packed dissertation about the year’s upcoming horror flicks. A series of dumb-assed make-up tutorials with make-up artist Steve Johnson and Linnea Quigley delivers very little outside a lot of elementary school level humor, and CHILD’S PLAY’S Chucky turns up to narrate a “Horror from around the world” montage featuring clips from THE LIFT, AMSTERDAMNED, WOHI BHAYANAK RAAT and A CHINESE GHOST STORY—and of course plugs CHILD’S PLAY 2
The final presenter is Anthony Perkins, presenting Best Horror Film, to
ARACHNOPHOBIA(!?). Its director Frank Marshall accepts in what was clearly a pre-planned segment, in which a fake spider drops down from the rafters to snatch the trophy away.
HORROR HALL OF FAME II, from 1991, provides more of the same. Robert Englund returns as host, recreating the playground scene from THE BIRDS and stating “This hosting job is for the birds!” The Best Film nominees—MISERY, CHILD’S PLAY II, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, PREDATOR 2 and JACOB’S LADDER—are at least a bit stronger than the previous year’s.
Things get going with a grinning Adrienne Barbeau inducting THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and a soft-spoken Tobe Hooper accepting. The ever-obnoxious Gilbert Gottfried, joking about his apparent snubbing by the “Emmy Academy” (no, I don’t know what that’s about, either), provides a “shriek preview” of several then upcoming horror releases, including THE ADDAMS’ FAMILY, GUILTY AS CHARGED, HIGHWAY TO HELL and ALIEN 3.
Steve Johnson and Linnea Quigley are back for some silly make-up tutorials—with Steve stabbing himself with a trick screwdriver but “accidentally” using a real one, causing water to spout from his wounds—that are spiced with primitive video effects. Sam Kinison, another returnee from HORROR HALL OF FAME 1, turns up to shout Englund off the stage and introduce a tribute montage to Freddy Kruger, set to Bobby Lewis’ “Tossin’ and Turnin’”
Jimmy Workman and Carel Struycken, a.k.a. Pugsley Addams and Lurch from THE ADDAMS’ FAMILY, induct EC Comics. This portion contains one of the show’s better mini-features, with commentary by EC’s honchos William M. Gaines and Al Feldstein, and footage from the 1950s congressional hearings that shut down EC’s horror line. Gaines turns up in person to accept the “great honor,” providing what has to be the lengthiest bunch of “Thank Yous” of any Horror Hall of Fame inductee.
Richard Moll, who looks like he could have stepped out of a horror movie, inducts Bela Lugosi. William Shatner inducts Roger Corman, which provides another good montage, featuring interviews with Sam Arkoff, Dick Miller and other Corman cohorts. Next the industry’s “top spookswoman” Elvira gives a special award to Universal Studios, which has apparently “been on the cutting edge of horror for the past 75 years,” followed by Dee Wallace and a supremely awkward-looking Brad Dourif, who induct THE BIRDS. Morgan Brittany (a little girl in THE BIRDS) and a very gracious Tippi Hedren accept the award.
Finally a frail Vincent Price, supported by Elvira, hobbles onto the stage to present Best Horror Film of the Year. It goes to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and is accepted by executive producer Gary Goetzman, who says “I always thought we were making a romantic comedy, I’m surprised at this award.” Ha, ha.
HORROR HALL OF FAME III followed in 1992. It was the final HHOF, with Englund promising a fourth that never arrived. That’s no surprise given the severely scaled-down nature of part 3; the version currently streaming on YouTube only runs 36 minutes and has evidently been cut down from the original broadcast, but not by much.
Gone are the old movie recreations that commenced the previous two
programs, and also most of the celebrity introductions to, and recipients of, the inductees. “America’s Number One Scream Idol” Robert Englund is back as host (no Cryptkeeper this time), and does the induction himself. Yes, just one film, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, is inducted into the Horror Hall of Fame this time around.
The first of the two celebrity (or more accurately “celebrity”) appearances is by a comedic magician known as Amazing Jonathan. He begins his set by calling up a woman from the audience, putting a black hood over her head, wrapping masking tape around it and fake-stabbing her in the top of the skull with a knife. He also slashes his own arm and swallows several razor blades (or at least appears to), followed by a length of thread, and then pulls the blades out of his mouth, all of them connected by said thread.
The second celebrity is “Cool Ghoul” Bobby Boris Pickett. He performs the classic tune “Monster Mash” together with performers dressed as Frankenstein’s monster, Beetlejuice and the Wolf Man, with the best parts of this portion being the cutaways to dancing audience members.
The program concludes, none too auspiciously, with the Best Horror Film award. The nominees are THE ADDAMS FAMILY, CHILD’S PLAY 3, FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE, ALIEN III, THE LAWNMOWER MAN and PET SEMATERY TWO, with the award going to THE ADDAMS FAMILY, and Lurch accepting.
In truth THE HORROR HALL OF FAME’S creators can’t be accused of causing this program’s premature demise. The Horror Boom of the 1980s was in severe decline at the time, and people simply weren’t interested in scary stuff. These programs, then, are perhaps most interesting for the fact that they provide a detailed (albeit unintentional) accounting of precisely why that was.