By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
BOSTON – “Creature Double Feature” introduced a young audience to campy horror films on Saturday afternoons. But to the not-so-mature mind, those two-headed monsters and bloodthirsty giant insects were rather terrifying. Equally interesting is how youngsters so easily segued from viewing cartoons and wrestling to watching scenes of murder and mayhem.
Syndicated in the Boston and Philadelphia areas during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the television show sometimes aired under the name “Sci-Fi Flix.” For three hours on a Saturday afternoon, viewers watched classic Universal Horror movies (1930s to 1950s), Hammer Studios and American International Pictures films (1950s), the trailblazing “King of the Cult” director Roger Corman’s flicks, of course, Toho Studio’s Japanese monster movies, including Godzilla and his giant enemies.
Fans reminisce
Fans who remember the show often take to YouTube to express their thoughts.
@utube9000 wrote:
“Ah yes, Saturday mornings in the Boston area. You’d start out with cartoons, championship wrestling came on at 11 and Creature Double Feature at 1 pm! Then another Creature Feature at 8pm! Heaven!”
@uncharted-desert-isle added:
“Every Saturday from 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm I was glued to Creature Double Feature, thanks for the memory.”
@boofdfast shared:
“Now, this is EPIC old skool!! Gotta love growing up in the Boston, MA area in the 70s and early 80s. Love the part at the end of the intro, where they used Anguirus’s roar (the part that sounds like a siren). Love the part with Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidrah. So classic.”
Enduring popularity
The B-movie showings were extremely popular with audiences and were a staple of WLVI’s Saturday programming in the 1970s and 1980s. At some point, during the early to mid-1980s, “Creature Double Feature” was replaced with “Martial Arts Theater” which featured cheap English-dubbed Hong Kong martial arts movies.
A Facebook page dedicated to the horror show is filled with snapshots of old movie posters, film screenshots, and reflections. Commenting on the movie “The Man from Planet X,” Steve Vance wrote: “Interesting aside: the female lead in this entertaining oldie, Margaret Field, was also the mother of Oscar winner Sally Field.”
WLVI staffers have reported a continuance of receiving more emails and phone calls about “Creature Double Feature” than about anything else. In 2006, Channel 56’s Steve Ratner was quoted in The Boston Globe as saying “I’m amazed at the following the show continues to have. It’s just insane how many people come up to us and ask after the ‘Creature Double Feature.’ Every day we get e-mails from people all over the country.”
The main voice on “Creature Double Feature” was a Channel 56 long-time booth announcer Neil MacNevin (his radio/TV name was Tom Evans). He and an engineer named Press Campbell would create sound effects like echoes and wind during the weekly recording sessions for the movie and promos for “Creature Double Feature” during the week.
Boch brings it back
In June 2006, the Boston Herald reported that Boston-area car dealership owner Ernie Boch Jr. would be bringing the show back to WLVI in its original timeslot occasionally. The first two films of the new series, “Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster” and “The Giant Gila Monster” aired on June 24, 2006.
Boch himself hosted the show in full costume and makeup as host The Ghoul. The original show only had on-screen announcers other than for a brief time when Rich Koz, Son of Svengoolie, hosted “Creature Double Feature” in the early 80s. A second installment aired on October 28, 2006, featuring 1973’s “Horror Express” followed by 1968’s cult classic “Night of the Living Dead.” The broadcast showed no pop-up ads during the films or interruptions from any on-air talent personnel during commercial breaks.
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