Saturday night, Pittsburgh 1950’s 1960’s, choose a decade but just remember to watch Channel 11, {at the time called WIIC} at 11:30 pm, right after, on Channel 2, where the news host, Bill Burns would ask, “Its 11:00 pm, do you know where your children are?” The children, at least my younger sister and I in the Buncher house, were sitting on the sofa, surrounded by two afghan blankets {even in the most humid and hot summers} having tightly closed all of the curtains, so the possibility of any creature, monster or alien peeking in was IMPOSSIBLE. We prepared all kinds of snack, and POP {soda for those not familiar with Pittsburghese.} I, being the older brother and {back in those days it was necessary to demonstrate male machismo by being the brave one}, made one last effort to see if the back door was locked, the scary curtains in the dining room, which overlooked both the most horrifying alleyway AND the 15 steps which led to the MOST terrifying cellar…another Pittsburghese term for basement…,{especially during the night} were SEVERLY TIGHTLY SHUT! I also turned off any unnecessary lights {to avoid having to do it later that night} and my little sister’s and my journey into the world of CHILLY BILLY CARDILLE, began as we focused intently on CHILLER THEATER! Yes, our parents warned us we might have nightmares, BUT at the time THAT was a well worth risk!
At first Chiller Theater had one HORROR/MONSTER/ALIEN/CREATURE movie, which usually ended around 1:00 am, {which anyone of ANY knowledge of EVIL} understood was a scary time NOT to be in bed; because, HONESTLY, MONSTERS love MIDNIGHT. And one day out of the blue Chiller Theater had double features…OMG/Holy Shit…my little sister and were of course forced to stay up till 2:00 am and ANYONE WITH SENSE would have been fast asleep because at that hour even ZOMBIES were free to roam {and these were not the Walking Dead Zombies or the George Romero, The Night of the Living Dead Zombies}, but the kind that became Zombies from something called VOODOO!
My sister and I held on to one another once the second movie ended and the National Anthem with the Flag flowing in the background, began, announcing the end of that day's televised program. It was about 17 steps to our second floor, but be it 1:00 am or 2:00 am, 17 steps in the dark, offered any lurking monster a chance to grab you before you could safely get under the protection of your blankets!
I have never stopped watching HORROR movies. I knew and know, they were the creatures of a wild imagination. That was then, but RECENTLY, ever since 2016, I no longer have to watch Chiller Theater genre movies to see CREATURES, I sadly just either watch the news or read, online about REAL MONSTERS… and here are a few who give me NIGHTMARES and DAY-MARES…Trump, Dumb and Dumber Trump, Lauren Boebert, Teddy (I See Jesus) Cruz, Little Lindsey, Tucker (I Will Invite Fascism to the US) Carlson, Margorie (Jewish Space Lasers) Taylor Greene, Moscow Mitch, Dandy Randy (I Swear I Am Some Kind of Doctor) Paul, Jimmy (Wanna Take a Shower) Jordan, Matty (I Only Adopt Young Men as My Son) Gaetz… and these horrific THUGS are not going away, even in the light of day!
