Friday, February 11, 2011

Things I Miss: Saturday Afternoon Horror Movies

Jimmy J Aquino at A Fistful of Soundtracks posted about a music/image cue at the beginning of Ocean's Thirteen that referenced a particular movie program in New York, and it made me think about something from my youth in my neck of the woods.

You see, when I was a kid, there were two decent sized UHF stations in the Detroit area which took it upon themselves to both show horror movies on Saturday afternoons at one time.

But one of those horror showcases was a lot more memorable than the other. If you are of a certain age and you grew up in Detroit, I am sure you were familiar with the Channel 20 Thriller Double Feature.

Now, there is a particular piece of music from a well known song in the second commercial/opening in that clip which always makes me think of edited grindhouse movies now.

I don't know if they got the rights to use that music or if they just snatched it thinking that Led Zeppelin would never know, but that small section of Whole Lotta Love is now implanted in my brain. The first time I heard the whole song and that section came on, it blew my mind.

For me, it seems like the 1970's and 80's were a golden time for horror on television because it seems like it had quite a hold on a number of television stations.

But I really miss those days when there were always movies on during the weekends on regular television. I didn't like that they were cut and edited for time, but it just seems that with the proliferation of cable and satellite, somehow regular TV got the shaft.

I mean, it was a huge part of my youth, and now it seems like it is gone.

Granted, I had an awesome sister who let me/forced me/encouraged me to watch horror movies too from our local video stores (which were awesome, awesome places), so I may have had a slightly unique experience with the genre.

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