San Francisco’s Annual Classic Horror Film Festival
Due to unforseeable scheduling conflicts, the GODZILLA & THE MASTERS OF MASS DESTRUCTION event slated for the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on August 21-23, has been postponed until further notice. When the event can be rescheduled, we will break the announcement here, on our official website. So, stay tuned!
We thank you for your interest and consideration and hope to see you in 2010!
Best Regards,
August Ragone
Organizer & Producer
At SHOCK IT TO ME! Central this morning, we received a nice autographed 8×10 and a note from one of our guests of honor last year, Kathryn Leigh Scott, who played “Maggie Evans” (and many other characters) on the legendary gothic series DARK SHADOWS and feature film HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS. Here’s what she wrote to us:
“Thank you so much for your lovely note — we really enjoyed the event. Thank you so much for inviting us. It was also great to see ‘Milk’ having seen the neighborhood — All the best, Kathyn.”
Thank you, Kathryn! You and Lara Parker were wonderful, and along with the legendary Sid Haig, you made our 2008 event the greatest yet! Everyone here at SHOCK IT TO ME! wishes all of you the very best!
Beast Witches,
The SHOCK IT TO ME! Grue Crew
Bob Wilkins during the early salad days of “Creature Features” on KTVU TV-2.
Bob Wilkins, the legendary host of KTVU’s “Creature Features” has been suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s for the past several years, and suffering from declining health. Now, I am afraid to report that only four hours after his wife Sally, and the Bob’s doctors, said to preparing for his passing, Bob Wilkins, has left us.
This is indeed sad, but was inevitable… His state was advanced and there was no hope to save him. Bob means a lot to me, not only as a legendary horror host I grew up with, but as a mentor. Man, Bob Wilkins was our hero — everyone at school talked about “Creature Features”! It was the greatest thing at the time — it’s hard to explain the impact the show had on Bay Area viewers in the ’70s. Especially the impact the show and its host, had on me — he was a personal friend, and like a father to me. So, if you were a fan of Bob Wikins, please send your respects to the links below.
For those who grew up with “Creature Features” and it’s host, Bob Wilkins, you can leave messages at his Official MySpace page or at the Official Bob Wilkins website — thanks!
Farewell Bob, rest in peace!
August Ragone & the SHOCK IT TO ME! Grue Crew
Here’s a classic Bob Wilkins Creature Features clip from the mid-’70s.
GUYS & GHOULS! THE “SHOCK IT TO ME!” GRUE CREW IS BUSY PLOTTING OUR NEXT SINISTER SHOW AT THE HAUNTED CASTRO THEATRE FOR 2009! SO, WRITE DOWN THESE DATES IN BLOOD: OCTOBER 16th, 17th & 18th—THREE BIG DAYS! STAY TUNED FOR MORE GORY DETAILS AFTER THE NEW FEAR!
UNTIL THEN, STAY CREEPY!
“The villagers stormed the Castro Theatre with their little wooden stakes—the fools! And while they may have driven us out for now… we’ll rise again next year for another spooktacular! On the behalf of the SHOCK IT TO ME! Grue Crew, fangs for the memories and we’ll be lurking for you!” — Shockie
On the morning of October 19th, we received our first review through our official MySpace page:
WOW! You guys really made my Halloween season special this year! Every year my friends and I get together and watch horror films at my place for the entire month of October. But, since I’m currently in school, my schedule hasn’t allowed me to keep up the tradition this year.
This was the first year I heard of the SHOCK IT TO ME! fest. It was a great way fo us to keep our tradition and enjoy it with other horror hounds like us! The guests were great and Ms. Monster was perfect! We will definitely be back next year! Perhaps we’ll have to save our personal party for November? Besides… everyday is Halloween right? LOL! Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all again next year! Until then…
Rest in pieces,
Marcus
Phil C. through our official MySpace page, wrote:
I just wanted to say that I had a blast last weekend at the Castro. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for next year’s film fest. Happy Halloween!
Here are more comments about this year’s show, which have come in to us. Lee, who came all the way from Germany, wrote:
I hope I will make it again to your festival one day. You really did a great job and The Castro is a wounderful movie theatre. In Munich we do have a movie theatre wich is even older than The Castro but its not as nice (even though its a great place with history). Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS had it’s permiere there in 1927. Its called “Filmtheather Sendlinger Tor”, Thanks again. Good luck for your future projects. P.S. Meeting Sid Haig made me very happy, too! 
Basenman on the Classic Horror Film Board wrote:
The Dark Shadows double bill was a real treat. Darren Gross presented quite a bit of the nearly 40 minutes of footage that got cut out from Dan Curtis’s NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS and will hopefully be restored… The interview segment on stage with Lara Parker and Kathyrn Leigh Scott was quite marvelous. John Stanley wisely let the two actresses just go and tell all their stories, including the unvarnished truth about their interesting co-stars… As both women are writers, (Parker even has a Masters in creative writing) they also expounded quite eloquently about the art of Horror and Terror. So, thanks for putting together another great SHOCK IT TO ME! horror film festival.
Lawrence French of Cinefantastique.com wrote:
SHOCK IT TO ME! was another great success… another terrific job! I was quite impressed by the on-stage interviews with Lara and Kathyrn… I think it would be a very good idea to get the info about the restoration of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS out there on the net, so we can help to light a fire under Warner Bros and get them behind funding the restoration.
One of our guests, Darren Gross, wrote:
Thank you again for allowing me to participate in SHOCK IT TO ME! and showcase some of the NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS restoration work. [The Castro is] a fantastic theater—probably my favorite, now, and to be able to take part in the event as a guest/presenter was quite an honor, especially at so nice a venue. I had a fantastic time, the venue and staff were amazing, and [the show was] extremely professionally executed… and it was over way too soon. You have my fondest and sincerest appreciation for a wonderful, thrilling time.
Chris B. on the AV Maniacs Forum, wrote:
[HORROR OF DRACULA and THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN] was a double-feature that I had first heard of 40 years ago, and to get the opportunity to see it projected—in what’s come to be my favorite theater—was a major, major treat. I’m looking forward to next year’s lineup!
(For the SHOCK IT TO ME! Grue Crew, this is what makes everything worth dying for!)
Do you remember that popular Bay Area show, “Creature Features” and its cigar-smoking host, Bob Wilkins? Well, even if you’re not a local, it seems there was a horror show in everyone’s hometown—long before multiplexes took over and slashers replaced Dracula and Frankenstein as our favorite screen monsters.
Well, we’re digging them back up—SHOCK IT TO ME!, San Francisco’s annual film festival, devoted to the Golden Age of Horror Cinema, returns to the historic (and haunted) Castro Theatre on October 17th & 18th, 2008 for a fourth year of monstrous movies, live presentations, celebrity guests, trailers of terror, and a vendors area on the Castro’s monstrous mezzanine.
This year, SHOCK IT TO ME! features six sinister films: Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY (1964), George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), Terence Fisher’s HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) and CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), Dan Curtis’ NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971) and HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970), on the Castro’s gigantic screen—the last single-screen theater of its size in San Francisco, is the only setting for such a film festival devoted to classic horror cinema.
But, SHOCK IT TO ME! isn’t just a film festival, it’s a bonafide Horror Convention in a theater setting, with guests, special on stage presentations, giveaways and more. SHOCK IT TO ME! is proud to present cult actor Sid Haig to our gruesome guest line-up this year! Mr. Haig is one of the stars of Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY, who is best known today as the creepy clown, “Captain Spaulding,” in Rob Zombie’s HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS.
In honor of the upcoming Johnny Depp/Tim Burton remake of the cult ‘60s series DARK SHADOWS, our special celebrity guests will include the stars of the original series and movies, Kathryn Leigh Scott (“Maggie Evans”), and Lara Parker (“Angelique Bouchard”). Film historian, Darren Gross, will also be on hand to present a look at the extensive restoration for the upcoming DVD release of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.
Our guests will be in attendance all weekend and will meet and greet with fans and sign autographs up on our monstrous mezzanine. Your horrible hosts for this year’s SHOCK IT TO ME! are award-winning author and veteran horror host John Stanley (Creature Features) and the beautiful, but deadly, Ms. Monster (The Search for the Next Elvira), who will temp you to try out for our infamous Zombie-Eating Contest for putrid prizes! We will also be giving away a real dead body to a “lucky” member of the audience each night.
SHOCK IT TO ME! is guaranteed to pop the stitches off of a mummy’s britches—we’ve pulled out all of the stops (and a few bloody stakes) to make this the most haunted happening of the Halloween season. SHOCK IT TO ME! is so shocking, that we can’t promise you will make it out of the theatre alive!
(Tickets for each SHOCK IT TO ME! Double Feature presentation are only $10.00 for Adults and $7.00 for Children/Seniors. You may purchase your tickets at the Castro Theatre’s box office the day-of-show or in advance from ticketweb.com. Check out “This Year’s Films” for details on our monstrous movie line-up and showtimes.)
On Saturday night, October 11th, our horror hostess with the morbid mostest, Ms. Monster will be appearing live on the Rondo-award winning Cult Radio A-Go-Go. Get the scary scoop straight from Ms. Monster and her Monster Melons, as she joins the CRAGG crew to talk about this year’s SHOCK IT TO ME! event—at 8:00 pm Pacific Ghost Time (11:00 pm EST)—don’t miss it!
Also, if you can’t make it to SHOCK IT TO ME! this year, Cult Radio A-Go-Go, will be broadcasting live from SHOCK IT TO ME! at the Castro Theatre on October 18th. This broadcast will be a special event, and you’ll need to tune in the special alternate feed at Live 365. CRAGG tells us that if all of the listeners’ slots are full, you should scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Terra link, to listen to their commercial-free alternate VIP stream with unlimited listener slots.
In the meantime, be sure to tune in on Saturday night, October 11th, and listen to Ms. Monster on Cult Radio A-Go-Go Live!
SHOCK IT TO ME! is proud to present cult actor Sid Haig to our gruesome guest line-up this year. Sid began his long association with horror films when he was cast as “Ralphie” in Jack Hill’s SPIDER BABY, and is best known today for the creepy clown, “Captain Spaulding,” featured in Rob Zombie’s HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. Sid will be at SHOCK IT TO ME! all weekend up on our monstrous vendor’s mezzanine, and will be interviewed on stage by our SHOCK IT TO ME! hosts John Stanley and Ms. Monster on Friday night after our screening of SPIDER BABY!
Barnabas prepares to take Maggie as his unholy bride in HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS.
DARK SHADOWS was a gothic soap opera created by producer-director Dan Curtis (The Night Stalker), which ran weekday afternoons on ABC from 1966-1971. The story follows the strange happenings surrounding the Collins family and the people of the town of Collinsport, Maine. DARK SHADOWS featured everything from Vampires to Werewolves, and gained a fan following rivaling the Beatles and Batman—mostly due to its resident vampire, Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid. One such fan, Johnny Depp, recently optioned the rights to the series from Warner Brothers, and is planning to star in a remake to be directed by Tim Burton in 2010!
Therefore, this year at SHOCK IT TO ME! we are presenting a terrifying tribute to DARK SHADOWS and its creator, Dan Curtis, with a special double-feature screening of the feature films NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971) and a rare, IB Technicolor print of HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970)—both films are not available on DVD—along with an on-stage interview with two of our guests of honor, DARK SHADOWS actresses Kathryn Leigh Scott and Lara Parker!
KATHRYN LEIGH SCOTT (Maggie Evans) & LARA PARKER (Angelique Bouchard)
In addition to our lovely guests, film historian Darren Gross will also be appearing on stage to host a presentation on the on-going restoration and reconstruction of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS for an eventual DVD release (hopefully to coincide with the eventual release of the Burton/Depp DARK SHADOWS film). Darren will be screening rare footage, missing scenes and show samples of the painstaking restoration—don’t miss it!
