We have hundreds of television channels these days with quality programming 24-7. It wasn’t always that way. Boomers remember late Saturday nights, in particular. That’s when the producers scheduled the cheapest available old movies – generally Grade B horror films.
Yet, we watched. In fact, for my boyhood friend, Brad Stuart, and I, Saturday nights were special. We often had sleepovers and even though we knew we had to get up and go to Sunday School at 9 AM the next morning, we begged and pleaded with our parents to let us stay up and watch the horror films coming on at eleven. These were among some of Bela Lugosi, Lon Cheney and Boris Karloff’s most forgettable films. The Werewolf Meets Frankenstein, Son of Dracula, They Came From Outer Space, The Swamp Monster Strikes Again, Aliens From Mars and … well, you get the picture.
Brad and I showered, popped some popcorn and settled in in front of the TV at 10 PM. Then, before the old horror films even came on, we fell asleep. That’s probably why our parents let us stay up, because they knew we couldn’t. I don’t think I ever made it all the way through one of those old movies. Maybe halfway, but never till the end.
Boomers will recall that the hosts of these awful shows were usually poor souls in trashy make-up to resemble a vampire or a wolf man. We recognized them as the weathermen at 6 PM, who apparently had done something to tick off their bosses – thus the late night stint as a make-believe monster.
There was one movie, however, that scared me so much that I checked beneath my bed every night till I went to college and that was The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In this 1950’s movie, aliens somehow planted pods near their intended victims and the pods morphed into these people, and the aliens took over their minds and souls. It freaked me out. There was no blood, no guts, no gore, just suspense as – one by one – the town’s people were consumed.
There was a remake of that movie about 20 years ago. I saw it, but it was not the same. The emphasis was on special effects, not the suspense and drama.
Today, late Saturday night programming is typically highlighted by Saturday Night Live and hosted by Caitlyn Jenner. You know, that’s almost as scary as the old horror films.