Svengoolie’s January Schedule Is Here, So Put Some Fear Into Your New Year
It’s time for out with the old and in with the new … including a new Svengoolie schedule for January. Each week on his MeTV series Svengoolie Classic Horror & Sci-Fi Movie, Svengoolie will be stirring up classic frights that go bump in the night — including one new film that has never been aired on the show before!
Read on to find out what he’ll be scaring up on the show this month, every Saturday night at 8pm EST!
January 4: Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Everett Collection
The beloved comedy duo encounter a gruesome twosome (played by Boris Karloff) in this 1953 film, which follows two American police officers who become involved in a series of mysterious murders in London. This was the second time the pair played against Karloff — he had previously appeared as their nemesis in the appropriately titled Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. But Karloff only appears as Dr. Jekyll — the transformed Mr. Hyde is played uncredited by Eddie Parker, an acclaimed stuntman who appeared in Rear Window, as well as the previous Abbott and Costello monster-piece Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
January 11: Dracula’s Daughter
Everett Collection
In this 1936 sequel to Universal’s Dracula, the bloodsucker’s daughter (played by Gloria Holden) becomes obsessed with freeing herself from the curse of vampirism — and doesn’t care who she has to hurt to do it. The film is ostensibly based on “Dracula’s Guest,” a chapter that Bram Stoker wrote for Dracula, but ultimately cut from the final version. Though it’s a sequel, Bela Lugosi doesn’t reprise his role — in fact, no one from the original film does, except for Edward Van Sloan, who played Van Helsing in both movies.
January 18: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Everett Collection
This 1978 camp-fest has never been aired on Sven’s show before! In a parody of The Birds, Willard, and other movies about nature gone wild, tomatoes rise up against humans and attempt to overrun the earth. Who will survive and what will remain of them (and will there be any ketchup)?!
Director James Stephen Peace only made a handful of films — Killer Tomatoes, its three sequels, and a 1987 film called Happy Hour. But his Hollywood career ended for a very interesting reason: he got involved in local politics, eventually spending 20 years in the California State Assembly and Senate (a bill he co-authored has been blamed by some for the 2000 California electricity crisis, which caused Peace to not seek re-election). In the years after retiring from government, he held some other intriguing jobs, including advisor to the San Diego Padres.
January 25: Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Everett Collection
This 1956 film took the original 1954 Japanese version of Godzilla, and revised it with an eye towards making it more palatable to American audiences. That didn’t just mean dubbing the dialogue — it also meant eliminating all the film’s references to the atom bomb, and recutting the film to add scenes of star Raymond Burr interacting with body doubles, so it appeared as if he were part of the original film. Burr worked for six days, and was paid $10,000 for his time.
Alternate titles considered by the filmmakers included Godzilla, the Sea Beast (which is technically accurate, but lacks the zing of “King of the Monsters”).
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Each film airs at 8pm ET on MeTV. Which movie are you looking forward to the most?
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