SOURCE-Amazon Prime Creepy Koffee Movie Time airing
I'm fairly sure most people that read my annual 31 Days of Horror reviews at least knows of Carnival Of Souls. With the proliferation of cheap Public Domain Movies on DVD,lots of people own this movie. So while I will go into the film some I am gonna spend more time on Creepy Koffee Movie Time.
Starting back in the 2000s in the San Francisco Bay area,and airing on Over the Air channel KOFI,Creepy Koffee Movie Time is one of the best modern horror host programs. Hosted by Balrok and No Name,plus house band The Deadlies,this program shows the same Public Domain movies that pretty much every modern horror host airs. What makes CKMT stand out is the feel of the show. Airing late at night the hosts make you feel like it is midnight on a Saturday,you have been drinking for at least a few hours and got a few friends over to watch some old horror movies.
Like with most horror host shows in the modern era the succeed or fail on the charisma of their hosts. And charisma is one thing both Balrok and No Name have in abundance.
Balrok is either a gargoyle or some kind of demon. But he is way more interested in drinking,watching goth or punk women dance,listening to some stand up comedy and getting sex tips from Annie Cruz. In this first episode of season 1 Balrok's makeup and outfit are fairly cheap. But look much better than makeup you will see on some low budget DTV horror movies.
No Name is I'm guessing some kind of ghoul or zombie.Bald,pasty white and him being a bit slow are why I lean towards Zombie/Ghoul. No Name is also the one you can count on to make a few jokes or references that I've heard got the show in trouble with KOFI.
That is another thing that makes CKMT stand out. Most modern horror host programs are aimed at everyone. For example Svengoolie markets his show to families. And I know of a few families that sit and watch Sven together. Elvira's most recent show was aimed at kids and the older folks that grew up on Elvira in the 80s. But CKMT is obviously aimed at people 16 and older.
What makes me say this? Well there is so many things. First off the previously mentioned goth and/or punk women that are always on the set. Usually wearing as little clothing as can be allowed on a show carried over the airwaves. The various jokes the two hosts make are not the normal "nudge nudge wink wink" slightly racy jokes most hosts make. And finally most episodes they have on Porn Star Annie Cruz to give sex advice.
Plus going to the show's merch website it appears they had at least one episode each season that only aired once. All cause KOFI got too many complaints about stuff No Name said.
I'm sure by now yall,that haven't seen it before,are wondering "How is Carnival of Souls?" Out of all the horror films in the public domain,Carnival of Souls is one of the best. While it's low budget origins are all over the film,the crew did so much with so little.
Being in B/W adds another layer to the oddness of the film. Same with the cast.The lead is Candace Hilligoss.
Who was a model before becoming an actress for a short while,she has about 5 roles credit to her. Mrs Hilligoss not being a polished actress gives her performance this off beat feel that just adds to the over-all weird feel of the film.
The other stand out in the cast is Herk Harvey. Like many directors of low budget cinema Herk took on many jobs. Herk produced,directed and was the lead antagonist in Carnival of Souls. He is the lead ghoul
and his look in this film has been homaged,parodied and just flat out stolen by so many generations of horror fans.
Yea I know there is a few of yall reading this thinking "OK asshole I have never seen this movie. Stop rambling and give us the plot."
After a accident during a drag race in Kansas the lead played by Candace moves to SLC Utah. Candace gets a job playing the organ for a church. The further into the film we get the more and more odd stuff happens. Like how Herk appears as a ghoul.
And just when the viewer is thinking the film can't get any weirder Herk tosses us a twist ending.
From what I have found online this movie wasn't a hit when it came out in 62. Then cause of it being public domain it started getting aired often late at night UHF channels. Thru these airings it became one of the biggest cult horror films from the early 60s. Thanks to it's cult following Criterion put out an amazing DVD of this film. With a print that looked better than the film has looked since it's first theatrical screening. And the DVD is loaded with great extras.
After seeing how good Creepy Koffee Movie Time was with their first episode I knew I was gonna watch more. And as of this writing Amazon Prime has 5 seasons of the show.
Carnival of Souls Creepy Koffee Movie Time airing gets a A-.
Carnival of Souls by itself gets a B+.
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